The Birth of Utter Chaos

part 2

The two began to trek across the forest in search of the temple. It seemed an eternity due to the lack of communication between the two. Finally, Cerys broke the silence.

"Um.. Hey, Ciar? Why did you come back for me? I mean, if you didn't, I wouldn't be standing here now."

"I was just passing by and noticed the pathetic excuse for a battle. Don't expect me to be 'nice' or 'kind' or whatever you expect me to be, okay?" His voice was harsh like an afternoon storm.

"But you are kind. You came back and saved me, that just proves it." She smiled gleefully. He was shocked again, but tried to hide it.

"Y-You're unpleasant.."

"Hehehe.. You'll just have to get used to it. From now on, we're teammates!" She declared softly yet passionately. He tried to hide a smile.

"You'll have to just stay away from me in battle and spare the small talk, Cerys. I can't focus with you nagging at me."

"Aww.. I thought our melee tag-team would have been fun.." She pouted, but followed it by a slight giggle. She closed her eyes and rose her knuckled to her lips. Ciar laughed, but immediately began coughing to cover his tracks; he stopped and began to look away as if their conversation never happened.

Almost half an hour passed until they reached the sanctuary grounds. There were chess pieces varying from colors of gold—representing white—and black. Cerys wandered around the grounds to decide on her choice. Finally, she stopped before the pedestal with the black queen relic. Ciar strode over to her side.

"The black queen piece? Kind of a risque choice, Cerys." He sighed. "You're unpleasant." Ciar finished as Cerys began to pout again and puffed her left cheek.

"The queen is the uppermost important piece in chess. Without it, there is no guarantee of winning. I find it a powerful and regal symbol for a team, don't you think?" Her voice was hush and soothing. Ciar refused to lock eye contact.

"Just hurry up already. I don't care what you choose." Cerys smiled and snatched the piece. All they have to do is make way back to Beacon Cliffs. Suddenly, there was a shrieking cry echoing through the quiet and somewhat serene forest. Was it a bird? Perhaps reptilian? Cerys questioned herself. Without hesitation, she and Ciar sprinted toward Beacon Cliffs, the source of the cry.

There they met back at the cliffs, only to be accompanied by the large Grimm. It had a large, curved beak and slim piercing eyes. Its talons were long and wingspan of seven feet, a nice guestimate. Those red beady eyes, Ceres would never forget that look. Her hands trembled carrying Quicksilver. Ciar looked over at the pale girl.

"You sense it too, right? This Grimm isn't like the others."

"Nuh.." She shook her head and focussed on him. "Not only that," She paused and looked at her bow's string. "I.." Before she could finish, a large disk-like weapon flung through the air. On top of it was a student, riding the large throwing axe into the back of the Grimm's neck. It screeched profoundly. The Grimm swung for the student, only to miss for their incredible speed. Another student swung a heavy weapon against its wings. It was injured, but not dead.

"Sorry to keep ya waitin', Cerys!" A familiar voice chimed.

"W-Wah!?" Cerys yelped as Saffron hugged her from behind along the waist. The other student came to greet the others as he swung his sword, carrying him a good distance.

"This here is Mi! He's kinda pushy, but a nice tank~!"

"Hello, my name is Minh Phan." He sighed. "Saffron keeps calling me that name. Well, I suppose it isn't a poor choice." Minh played around with his messy snow hair and followed by closing his charming golden eyes. His outfit looked similar to a monk's, aside from gold plated armor covering his left shoulder and knees. He wore a grey bandana under his bangs covering a scar of some sorts. The Grimm screeched as the four looked toward its direction.

"Alright, everyone. We need a plan. Minh, Saffron discussed you are a tank, correct?" She looked at him with confidence. He simply nodded. "Your gunblade, we're going to take advantage of that ability. The three listened to Cerys' further tactics. Finally, they all nodded as the Grimm became more and more tenacious.

Saffron and Ciar ran toward front whilst Cerys and Minh took to the rear. Saffron sent forth her axe as it repeatedly came back and forth—due to her magnet arm cuff—slashing the beast's armor. Its speed is impeccable, a great engineer must be one of Saffron's hidden talents. Ciar lept damaging the armor with his claws. He was focussed, his lavender eyes were even sharper than usual. Minh slammed his sword into the earth. Its point is hollow, large enough for bullets or small grenades to shoot out. He sent out glass fueled dust bullets. Sharp translucent shards were sent out piercing deep into its armor. Cerys on the other hand sprinted past the students. She readied Petal Erosion in her tight grasp. She was nervous. Could her plan succeed, or fail?

Cerys sprinted behind the Grimm. It was too focussed over the pursuit over armor. She charged and wrapped her flail around the Grimm's neck. She pulled with all her might. The monster screamed, and Cerys trembled when realizing she was not strong enough to fully decapitate the Grimm. She hopped off and looked around her fellow students. They were no match for the armor. Rage filled throughout her mind. Anxiety, pressure, insecurity, failure, disappointment, anxiety, pressure, insecurity, failure, disappointment, anxiety, pressure, insecurity, failure, disappointment. Cerys screamed as her semblance awoken, for the very first time. Her eyes changed from a periwinkle color to a carnation pink. She yelled as her weapon transformed into Quicksilver. She charged for the beast and struck its chest; the point of the staff pierced its heart forcing its way through. A barrage of pain was throttled into the Grimm. With all her might, she stabbed through its entire body and pulled the staff back out. She cut through its head with one quick swipe. Her peers were astonished, perhaps horrified. The Grimm withered into petals, slowly turning to cinders.

Cerys' eyes slowly cooled down to her original color. She sighed and turned toward her teammates. Cerys let out a small gasp, her peers were sickened by the sight they witnessed.

"Huh, w-what's.. wrong?" She tilted her head. As she spoke those words, she turned back around to face the mangled beast. Gore was replaced with petals, yet she screamed in fear. Although, the cinders began rising along with the petals. They formed a familiar shape, the very same Grimm they had just finished. It was.. reborn!? The auburn colors of its wings were brighter than ever. Its magnificent appearance hid its hostile attitude. The beast faced Cerys, and dipped its head. The Grimm flew away taking off for the mountain range nearby.

At this time, the four students entered the amphitheater back at Beacon. After quite a while of Ozpin's "motivational" speeches of teams, he begins the formation ceremony. Cerys, Ciar, Minh, and Saffron were the third group to be called up. They stood next to each other with their arms behind their backs.

"Cerys Roseanne Lepidus," Ozpin began calling out their names as the embarrassed girl began having small tears in her eyes; she was embarrassed of being referred to by her full name. "Ciar Astrophel, Minh Phan, and Saffron Lux. You each retrieved the black queen relic. From now on, the four of you will be known as team CAOS, led by," He glanced toward Cerys' direction; she jumped when this happened. "Cerys Lepidus." He said with a curious tone. This time, he did not call her middle name, which sent a huge relief to Cerys, until Saffron pounced into her arms.

"A team led by Cerys.. I'm über excited! We'll make great heroes!"

"Her strategy on damaging the armor was quite reasonable, but the Grimm was like no other. If it were a normal beast, her tactics would have led to victory." Minh smiled reassuringly.

"You better not screw this up and make Ozpin regret this, y'know. Tch, you better step up your game, idiot!" Ciar spoke embarrassedly. Cerys faked a giggle, she was still upset after her semblance awakening. Ozpin and Glynda were on to her, monitoring her movements through the forest like the others. She looked toward the two instructors nervously, they glared back.

When the four students sat down watching the other team formations. Team CFVY, RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, etcetera. Until, Cerys spotted an unusual and flashy team.

"Nike Mapledew, Zinnia Aloe, Gaia Vanille, and Acacia Clove. You each retrieved the white bishop relic. From now on, the four of you will be known as team MAGC, led by Nike Mapledew." Their leader was wearing an auburn keyhole opened corset shaped like a leaf located around the center of her bust. Her pants are khakis stuffed inside her leather boots to make it bubble out. She has leather-strapped arm covers and maple colored hair tied in a long, thin braid.

Another teammate, most likely Gaia Vanille, was a deer faunus. She wore a sand brown hood covering her entire head down to her chest. The hood had two holes cut out so her antlers would be exposed. She also wore a bandana covering her mouth. Her outfit was one like a rogue's, or a bard's because of the flute hanging off from her belt.

As they walked off from the stage, Nike glanced at Cerys. She jumped when their eyes met. Nike silently giggled and winked. Cerys' face grew slightly red and looked away.

Ozpin thanked everyone and discussed how the new term will be more interesting than lasts'.

Students finally headed toward their new dorms; each team's dorm had four beds and enough space to add furniture. As Cerys' team left the amphitheater to their dorms, Ozpin grabbed Glynda by the arm. He came to her ear and whispered,

"We need to discuss matters on the team's formations. I will meet you in my office." He said with a hush. Glynda seemed confused, but nodded.

The two were in his large office. It had gears ticking everywhere, from the ceiling to the floor (obviously under the glass level) Ozpin sat down and began drinking from his mug. Glynda stood there across from him waiting impatiently. Finally, she broke.

"Professor Ozpin, why did you bring me here?"

"Glynda," He placed his mug on the table. "You do know why."

"Could this perhaps be about Ms. Lepidus? I don't know what it is, but I don't trust her or her newfound semblance. Why did you place her as leader for a team?" She angrily questioned.

"The reason for this is to examine her abilities. You saw how she took on each Grimm, the pack of Ursai and the.. other. Either way, we don't know for sure if she is stable enough to control it. If she isn't prepared, we will take actions into our own hands." He took another long sip as the frightened Glynda shook.

"But Professor, I have another bit of information you may find interesting. Her parents were both hunters and workers at a Grimm experimentation facility in Atlas, Mantle. Their deaths were ruled incomplete and left Cerys at an orphanage around the age of seven. Ten years of wanting revenge, but on who? Could that have anything to do with her semblance?"

"I don't know. Although, I'm now curious. Glynda, tomorrow morning I want you to find all files under 'Lepidus' and the Grimm experimentation facility they worked under. We could be in danger, and no one even knows it. Not even Cerys herself."

Chapter one is finally finished, wheh.. This took about nine months to piece together theories, characters, etcetera.

Cerys was a tricky character to develop. I usually don't like writing about "insanity" or "despair" tropes, but the birth of this story's plot and characters found to be an exception.

Feel free to leave comments or reviews. What will happen to CAOS next? What will Ozpin's next actions be? Who is Velesnaga and what is Cerys' secret behind her newfound semblance?

I am quite pleased with the turn of events the chapters' plots came out to be and I hope you continue to follow me on this journey!

—Morgan