Chapter 1: Welcome to Haven
The journey to Mistral felt extremely long, but conversation was the best way to pass the time, albeit Reimei was nervous when she conversed with the headmistress. Kaguya seemed to understand, the young girl was from a rather secluded village, so it was only natural for her to be nervous. Nevertheless, she was impressed that the child kept trying to make conversation.
"So what were you doing at the village, if you don't mind me asking," Reimei asked nervously.
"I was wondering if I could come across a talented student for Haven Academy," Kaguya answered. "I didn't expect to meet you. Did you happen to hear the bandits that raided the village when you arrived?"
"Um, yeah, I heard screaming, and I couldn't just sit in the inn when there was trouble happening," the teen said.
"I must say, the warriors in your village have taught you well in combat," the headmistress said with a smile.
Reimei blushed at that. "A-Ah! Yeah! They taught me all styles of martial arts!"
Kaguya chuckled before looking outside of the carriage they were traveling in. "Ah, we have arrived," she said.
The silver eyed girl peeked out and gaped in awe at the scenery. "Wow!"
The woman smiled as the girl stared out at the city of Mistral. She could tell that this was the first time for Rei to be in such a place like Mistral. When the carriage stopped, the driver came and opened the door for them. Before them stood a man and a woman. The man was tall with slicked back azure hair, a goatee, azure robe, pants and black boots. His dark grey eyes landed on the two and he bowed in greeting.
"Lady Kaguya," he said.
The woman with vermillion hair in a bun that was kept up by a golden bird pin, wearing a vermillion kimono with golden designs, her golden eyes holding warmth as she welcomed Kaguya in the same fashion, bowing down.
"Rei, this is Professor Seiryu, your combat instructor, and Professor Suzaku, your literature teacher," Kaguya informed. "Professors, this is Reimei Niijima, I have recruited her as a new student for Haven Academy."
Seiryu and Suzaku examined a nervous Reimei before they frowned.
"Are you sure, Lady Kaguya?" Suzaku asked. "She looks so young…"
"Yes, she is young," the headmistress said. "However, this girl has a very special gift…"
The professors did further inspection on the girl before understanding why Kaguya said she was special the very moment they saw Reimei's eyes. They looked towards each other before nodding in agreement.
"Lady Kaguya, one of the councilmen has come to discuss something about the politics with the other kingdoms," Seiryu informed.
Kaguya nodded before she looked to the young girl. "Reimei, stay close to the armory shop," she instructed. "I must take care of this matter before we can reach the academy. It shouldn't be long."
Reimei nodded. "Yes, ma'am, I'll stay put!"
The headmistress chuckled before going off with Seiryu and Suzaku, leaving Reimei to go stand by the armory shop as instructed. As she stood next to it, she gazed at the sets of armor in awe. "Wow…" The shop owner chuckled in amusement when sparkles appeared in her silver eyes, like a child discovering a new toy.
Before Reimei could take a further look at the armor, she heard screaming on the far side and looked to see three thugs beating down a poor dog faunus.
"Pests like you need to learn to get out of people's way!" one of them yelled as they kicked him down.
"Hey, we need to head back, or the boss will get angry," another said.
"After this little punk has been taught a lesson!"
The silver eyed girl stared in shock and disbelief at the display, causing the shop owner to sigh. "You'll see a lot of those guys around here," he said. "Just wait for the authorities and it will get- h-hey!" He gaped in shock when the girl ran at the speed of light towards the group. "Kid, what are you doing!?"
The thug held the faunus up with a spiteful grin before raising his fist. Unfortunately, Rei had made it in time to kick him in the face, sending him flying into a stall full of sake. The other two thugs gaped as the man held his swollen cheek.
"What the he-" one of them was cut off as Reimei grabbed his face with a strong and firm grip.
The dog faunus stared up at her in shock when she turned to him. "Are you okay?" she asked in concern as the thug in her hand struggled. "Did they hurt you really bad?"
The thug she kicked recovered with a glare and got up. "You little!" He rushed to punch her. "Now it's a fight!" Reimei was quick to dodge the punch and trip the thug before she threw the other into the third one.
A few feet away from the fight, there had been two people having a conversation as they looked at some goods. One was a male faunus while the other was a female human.
The faunus boy was at least nearly 6 foot tall with a fair skin tone. He had dark red coloured hair that was long enough to make a stub ponytail if he wanted, but he had it let loose and free. His eyes were of an amber colour, and two red wolf ears that were on top of his head. He wore a flowing Persian orange colour trench coat that has been weathered quite a bit. Under the trench coat he wore a tight dark grey shirt, a pair of merlot red pants that are slightly loose which are held up by a black belt, with dark grey sneakers. There seemed to be two metal platings being held on a brown holster on his back.
The human girl stood at 5'6" with athletic build that had some noticeable curves and a C cup bust, She has a cream colored skin complexion, long straight forest green hair with a small wave to it. She wore it up in an semi rough ponytail with her bangs framing her face. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses. She wore a purple v neck shirt with an dark green jacket that reached her abdomen over the top. Her jacket had a white falling leaf design on the back and sleeves. A pair of black pants with brown knee high boots. Her emblem was a leaf split by a ripple. Her emblem had been engraved into an emerald pendant that hangs around her neck. On her back was a large sword in its sheath, most notably a nodachi.
These two were locally known as Jin Merlot Persian and Chloe Jasmine Parker. Both looked like students of Haven Academy, but they were just in Mistral so that they could enroll as first years. They had met when they were headed towards the academy, and immediately became friendly towards each other. Jin had noted that she always wore sunglasses, and Chloe noted that he was very popular with the ladies, immediately started teasing him about it.
"Names Jin," he had said with a friendly smile. "What's yours?"
"Cj," she replied, returning the smile.
They had decided to go grab a bite before they could head to the academy grounds and had been discussing a few things about each other when something caught their attention. Jin had rushed along with Chloe when they heard a commotion somewhere near by them as they ran towards the sound.
The faunus had skidded to a stop, putting his arm out to signal the girl to do the same. Once the pair had slowed down, they saw a girl about a couple of years younger than them throwing an adult male like he was a toy.
"Damn that girl's got an arm on her," Chloe said as she witnessed Reimei's throw of the thug.
Each of the thugs tried to come at her, but Reimei was quick to jump up and knock the larger of the three down. She grabbed the skinniest one and threw him into another stall. Rei heard the thug with the swollen cheek yell as he attempted to assault her once again, but she quickly nailed him in the gut before getting behind and twisting his arm.
People laughed when she twisted, causing him to spin around in circles before falling on his face.
"You're right, she does have good arm indeed, she is a good dancer in battle" Jin said as he saw how Reimei had moved around the three thugs laughing with the people by the man who fell on his face.
"Need a hand?" Chloe asked from the crowd to the younger girl.
"No thanks!" Reimei called back as she had the large one by the neck. "I've got it!" She picked him up with ease and threw him at the skinny one, crushing him in the process.
Jin could only watch at how effortlessly that the younger did what she did. "Damn... that was intense" he said. Chloe whistled in agreement.
The thugs groaned before they spotted the Headmistress Kaguya and the professors by her side.
"Uh guys, this is getting kinda serious," the large one said nervously as he and the skinny one got up.
The swollen-faced one gave a nervous look to the serious looking headmistress before he swiftly got up and started running. "Screw this! We're outta here!"
Professors Suzaku and Seiryu watched the thugs ran away. "Do we go after them?" Seiryu asked.
"No, those three belong to a certain someone," Kaguya said calmly. "I'm sure he'll deal with them." She turned to Reimei as the teen went over and helped the injured Faunus up.
Jin and Chloe walked up to the group where Reimei was standing "I just wanna say, that was awesome to watch!" She said as she could not contain her excitement.
Meanwhile, the wolf faunus was curious as to how she took down the thugs with ease. "You must have been trained by a few great teachers?" He said to her.
At the sudden praise, Reimei blushed, feeling rather bashful at this. "Umm yeah, but it's n-no big deal!" She said shyly, scratching her cheek. "The warriors taught me a lot..."
"Warriors? Don't you mean Huntsmen?" Jin replied to the blushing Reimei.
Chloe squeaked in the middle of the conversation "Are they super strong and talented like superheroes?" She asked the younger girl all too excitedly.
"Um, we don't have Huntsmen where I'm from," the silver eyed girl said to the wolf before looking to the older girl. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call them superheroes..."
"Awwww, they must be super cool then," the older girl replied back to Rei as she awed the silver eyed girl.
Jin chuckled at Chloe's antics. "Whoever they class themselves as, they did a fine job mentoring you," he added his compliments to Rei.
Reimei's blush grew darker as she fiddled with the loose strands of her hair shyly. "T-thanks..."
"It's true," the wolf said as the older girl beside him looked at the blushing Rei
"Are you okay, you seem a bit flustered?" Chloe asked her in concern.
"I-I'm just not used to being praised is all," the silver eyed girl said bashfully.
Jin couldn't help but grin at the cute display of bashfulness the younger girl had. He also couldn't help but find it very adorable, and he ruffled her hair. "Hey, don't worry, I used to get embarrassed all the time," he assured. "You'll get used to it."
Reimei responded by giving him an adorable smile.
'So adorable!' the older two screamed in their heads.
Kaguya took this as an opportunity to clear her throat in order to get the other three's attention, which it did. "I'm assuming that you two are new students of Haven?" she asked.
The older two gaped in awe. "Oh my gosh! Kaguya Sekai! In the flesh!" Chloe cheered.
Jin had to bite his tongue to contain his excitement before he spoke up "Yes, ma'am," he answered.
The headmistress nodded. "Very well then, let us be off," she said before turning and walking away with the two other professors beside her. Reimei was quick to follow the headmistress, and the older two soon followed after.
"So we never got to introduce ourselves," Jin said as they walked. "I'm Jin."
"Name's Cj," Chloe added with a grin.
"I'm Reimei," Reimei said with a smile, "but people call me Rei."
"Aw, that's a really pretty name," the older of the two girls said. "Who gave you that name? Your mom, or your dad?"
At this, the silver eyed girl grew silent and she looked to the ground, suddenly growing sad. Chloe immediately regretted asking that question and she turned to Jin for help, who had bitten his tongue when he saw the look on Rei's face. Luckily, the wolf was quick to change the subject.
"So um, where are you from, Rei?" he asked.
At this, Reimei immediately perked up and she smiled proudly. "Oniyuri!"
This caused the two to blink in surprise. Oniyuri? Why would someone from Oniyuri come to Mistral to become a huntress? Didn't they strive to become independent decades ago?
"We've arrived," Kaguya announced, interrupting their train of thought.
Reimei's eyes sparkled in awe as she took in the surroundings of Haven Academy. It was bigger than she imagined it! Kaguya couldn't help but chuckle at the silver eyed girl's excited expression. "The first years must head on to the grand hall," she informed. "It's straight to your left. If you'll excuse me…"
The new students watched as the headmistress left with the other two professors. Reimei was quick to follow the other two teenagers as they headed towards to ballroom.
"This place is so much bigger than I thought!" the silver eyed girl said excitedly as she looked around. "I mean, I've seen a few pictures in the books, but this is way too real!"
Chloe and Jin both chuckled at the childish excitement the younger girl displayed. It was completely adorable for Reimei to act this way.
"So, what's a girl from Oniyuri doing here in Haven Academy?" Jin asked curiously. "Isn't Oniyuri supposed to be independent or something?"
"We are, but Headmistress Kaguya offered me a place here in Haven so I could become a Huntress," Reimei explained.
Jin and Chloe were shocked. Nobody thought that the headmistress herself would recruit students on her own, much less someone from Oniyuri. How did she manage to get someone from Oniyuri, the exact village that wanted absolutely nothing to do with Mistral, to attend Haven? Well, she was the one who was able to bring Mistral back to its former glory four years ago. Perhaps she was able to put in enough encouragement in the girl in order to convince her to attend Haven Academy.
"You must be really special if she personally invited you herself then," Jin chuckled.
Reimei blushed from embarrassment and scratched her cheek a bit bashfully. "Um, I don't know about that," she said shyly.
Once they entered the grand hall, the silver eyed girl beamed in awe at the design. Chloe and Jin couldn't help but find her reactions to the small things cute. However, Reimei soon grew nervous at the many people that were gathered around and chatting amongst themselves. Chloe made Reimei feel a little better by giving her a light nudge with a grin. The younger girl smiled before becoming confused.
"Um, why are you wearing glasses inside?" she asked curiously.
"Because I'm too cool for this room," the older girl said, giving a cheeky grin.
Reimei covered her mouth to contain her laughter as Jin sweatdropped at what Chloe said, "Um, I don't think that's the correct response" he mumbled.
"Well, I'm too cool for correct responses anyway," Chloe said smugly.
Before the wolf faunus could say anything, everyone began to quiet down as the headmistress arrive on the altar with the rest of the staff on each of her side. Professors Seiryu and Suzaku were on her left, and two others were on her right, both being faunus and one being older than the other. Kaguya stood proudly up on the altar with her bamboo cane in her grasp as she looked down upon the new students.
"Welcome, young warriors, to Haven Academy" she begins. "You have all gathered here today because you have been chosen to hone your skills in order to become the next generation of huntsmen and huntresses."
Some of the new first years eagerly listened while others gave her skeptical looks. "Before your time here, Mistral had fallen into chaos after the disheartening betrayal of one Leonardo Lionheart, a huntsmen who once had the title of headmaster of Haven Academy. Because of his questionable alliance with the darkness, Mistral was deemed untrustworthy by all of the kingdoms of Remnant. Haven Academy was practically empty the past few decades because no one wanted to be branded a traitor to society.
"But in the past four years, we citizens of Mistral, as a whole, were able to find redemption by working hard to fight against the darkness, and are getting closer to bring Haven Academy's name from shattered pieces into a glorious sculpture once again."
"That's all thanks to Headmistress Kaguya," one student whispered.
"I know, she's so amazing!" another said.
"I still can't believe she's not even a huntress herself," another student said.
"So again, I welcome you all to Haven Academy," Kaguya continued. "May the fallen proudly smile down upon you and give you courage."
Once the welcoming speech was done, Suzaku stepped forward and cleared her throat. "All students must remain in the grand hall to sleep" she said. "Your orientation will begin in the morning. Do get some rest, you will all need it."
With that, everyone began to gather together in groups of friends who have already been acquainted with each other. Reimei looked around nervously until Jin pat her shoulder with a reassuring grin.
"Hey, let's go ahead and find a place for us to sleep," Jin said.
The silver eyed girl smiled and nodded in response.
As night had fallen upon the city of Mistral, those same thugs were running down in the alley. If anyone ever looked at their expressions, they would see that they were extremely terrified, which meant that they were running from something. Before they could go any further, a hand shot out from the shadows of a pathway in the alley and grabbed hold of the giant.
"Found nya~" a female voice called before pulling said man into the shadows, a scream could be heard then nothing.
The two remaining thugs fell to the ground and began to scoot away in fear when a faunus girl emerged from the shadows with a cat like grin on her face. She stood at 5'8" tall with alluring curves, long black hair with a slight wave to it and purple eyes. Her bangs framed the right side of her face, as the left side has been partially braided. She was a rather unique looking cat faunus, as she had both cat ears and a tail
For clothing, she wore a modified navy blue furisode styled kimono dress with swinging sleeves and a purple tribal pattern. The swinging sleeves were large enough to hide her hands, which if anyone ever dared look, was currently stained with blood. The bottom section of the furisode seemed to be designed to be more like a skirt than an traditional kimono allowing her to move freely while still having that elegant look. She wore pair of black gladiator sandals with the ribbons criss-crossing up to her calves.
The thugs seemed to know who she was as they squirmed under her gaze. However they held their breaths as they heard someone make a tsk-ing noise from behind them.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, how disappointing," a male voice said. "I gave you three one job. One simple job, and yet you all failed the job at hand because you all ran away from the sight of some huntsmen and huntresses, like some spineless rats you are."
They slowly turned to see a human male standing at 5'9" tall with a slim yet muscular build, having medium length silver hair that was slicked back and deep blue eyes that seemed to be giving the thugs beneath him poor judgement. For clothing, he wore a black ghost pinstripe suit jacket with a deep red formal shirt underneath and a black tie matching his jacket that hangs loosely around his neck, the top couple of buttons on his shirt being undone. He also wore a large black overcoat that rested over his shoulders and matching suit pants and black formal shoes.
From the way he seemed to carry himself, and the way the thugs squirmed in fear at the sight of his smile, this man appeared to be their boss.
"B-Boss!" The thug that caused the trouble yelled in panic. "W-We were in the middle of g-getting the job done, I swear! But a faunus punk got in the way, so we thought we'd teach him a lesson!"
"That wasn't what I told you to do now, was it?" their boss said, the frightening smile never leaving his face.
"I-I know, sir!" the thug replied in fear. "B-But that wasn't all! We didn't just run because that headmistress and her lackies were there! We got our asses handed to us by this kid! She was young! Red and blue hair! And-and-and she had silver eyes!"
This seemed to remove the smile on their boss' face as an expression of surprise seemed to take over. "Silver eyes…?" he mumbled. "Tell me more about this silver-eyed girl?"
The faunus girl seemed to blink in slight awe at how the boss' expression had changed so suddenly just by the news of a silver-eyed girl. It wasn't everyday that he would have that sort of expression when something piqued his interest.
"We don't know much, b-but rumor has that the headmistress found the kid and invited her to come to Haven Academy," the thug answered timidly. "That's all we got from the gossip people were spreading."
The silver haired man was silent for a few moments before turning away from them. "Thank you for the information, boys," he said. "You have been removed from your duties."
The thugs got scared for their lives after hearing that. "Boss, wait!? We won't mess up again! We swear!"
"Krystal, please take care of them," the boss said with indifference.
The faunus girl, Krystal, gave a grin. "Right on nya, Silver!" she giggled, locking her eyes on the thugs in front of her with blissful expression on her face as five curved metallic blades appeared from each of her sleeves.
The man, Silver, began to walk away as the thugs scooted back in fear of the faunus girl. "Silver eyes, huh," he mumbled to himself before his smile returned, not paying any mind to the horrific screams coming from the alley "This girl might prove to be very useful for what's to come…"