Present Day
Even though I drove a car to Dead-Man's forest, I had to walk most of the way in. There were too many bushes and trees for the Jeep to get around, forcing me to leave it parked on the forest's outskirts. It was an inconvenience to leave all my supplies behind, but lugging around a tent and food would only slow me down. Time was something that I was short on, and I had to throw away every precaution if I wanted to make any progress.
Still, even though I wasn't carrying anything, it was tedious to walk through the woods. There were dead trees lying everywhere, and the ground was uneven with cracks and holes from previous encounters. In short, the woods lived up to its name. Dead-Man's forest, a graveyard of hunters and Grimm alike, used to be one of the most dangerous place in Vale. It was filled to the brim with some of the most powerful Grimm on Remnant since Grimm came to be. Even full-fledged hunters that tried to thin the numbers had difficulty with the vast amount of Grimm that plagued this area. But now that the Grimm are gone, this place is finally open to investigation.
Ever since the end of the war, there were no traces of Grimm throughout all of Remnant anymore. Places where Grimm had infested were now cleared out. This meant that the government could send in scouts to investigate the once barred-off areas without having to fight for their lives. There were already dozens of areas that have now been updated in terms of landscape and resource materials. I was lucky enough that the government still had to do tons of paperwork before investigating an area, otherwise they would have turned the forest upside-down weeks ago. Still, even though I was the first one to explore the forest, it would be a miracle if I found anything of value.
Then again, it was a miracle that I'm exploring Dead-Man's forest in the first place.
One year, three months, and two weeks. Four hundred and seventy days is the total amount of time that the war against Salem lasted. Most people call the war the 'Final Extermination,' which is what Ozpin called the time from when I first enrolled into Beacon to when humanity finally got rid of the Grimm for good when he was interviewed a few days after the war was over. Since then, the name stuck with people. The name of the event doesn't matter to me though. All that mattered is that the war was over, and more importantly, there are no more Grimm threatening the existence of humanity anymore. Peace and equality is starting to bloom throughout Remnant, and the new generations of hunters and huntresses are starting to become the future protectors of the next era.
I, on the other hand, don't have the leisure to start catching my breath.
There are countless mysteries hidden in Remnant. Hidden passageways, ancient textbooks, secret archaeological buildings. Even the dust we use everyday have mysteries yet to be discovered. But with all these secrets that are scattered across Remnant, there was one certain mystery that I needed to solve. One that involved my mother before I was born. A mystery that, if I wanted to solve, I would have to dig to the very core of Remnant.
Digging to the core of Remnant... The last time I did that, I ended up splitting my team apart. I stop walking for a moment at the remembrance of my failure and pull out my journal from my pocket. I had bought a few days before I went to Beacon Academy, and within it contained my entire time at Beacon. In this journal contained my most greatest sorrow, as well one of the most defining moments of my life. I've already re-read the small book from beginning to end dozens of times, probably more than any other book I may have read. However, no matter how many times I read my journal, I would always have the urge to read it again.
The same urge came over me now. I knew from experience that I wouldn't be able to ignore the urge, so I decide to take a seat against a tree to read it for a few minutes. I flip the cover over with my left hand and begin to walk through my life again:
7 / 5 / 12
'Today was my first day at Beacon Academy. I have to admit, it wasn't at all like I was expecting it to be. And not in a great way either.
To start, the kids were very annoying. Most of them were either a jerk who had an ego the size of a Nevermore, or they were just too full of rainbows and sunshine. It wasn't bad seeing a few students with optimism, but some of them just seemed intoxicated with it. The girl I met on the ride to Beacon was one of them.
Her name was Ruby Rose. She's the youngest huntress-in-training to attend Beacon so far, as she was 15. It caught me a little off guard when I learned that she was that young, but when I took a closer look at her I saw why Ozpin took an interest to her: She had silver eyes. It was the only possible explanation that Ruby was able to enroll at Beacon Academy, as there was no way that professor Ozpin would let a girl as young as her into his academy. Even though it's been a few years, the incident with the huntress who brutally failed on her mission is still a topic of concern to new students who enroll into Beacon.
Still, even though she seemed pretty naive, I could see that she had a kind soul. I hope that she doesn't get herself killed out in the field. She might be a person I could actually work with.'
470 Days Ago: The first day of Beacon Academy
(Rwby)
I pout at my sister. "Yang, I told you I'm fine! I don't need to talk to anyone!"
She looks at me with her signature grin as she says, "I know that sis, but it wouldn't kill you to at least introduce yourself to someone! Anybody on this ship could be part of your team!"
"I…." I couldn't argue with that. Sighing, I reluctantly tell her, "If I go tell someone my name, will you stop pestering me about getting to know other people?"
She nods in agreement. "Fair enough, but you also have to know their name too."
"Fine, fine, whatever." I look around, looking for the friendliest person to talk to. No one seem to meet that criteria in particular, and one guy looks like he was about to throw up. As I keep looking around, I eventually see a boy sitting on the floor with a small book in his hands. He was nose deep into it as well, and he was sitting so still that he gave the impression that he was cut off from the other student's presence.
The first thing that I notice about his looks was that he was wearing gauntlets on his hands, kinda like yang. Each one was colored a light grey, and in the middle of them was a small circle. I look at it a bit more closely, and I see that it's actually a slot. My guess was that it was the place where he it unfolds into a gun.
As I keep looking at him, I start to picture him as Yang. He had gauntlets like she did, and he looked like the kind of person to always be down for a fight. I start to feel a little more relax at the thought, and so I decide to talk to him.
Slowly I walk up to him and ask, "Whatcha reading?" As soon as I say that, however, he immediately slams his book shut. Okay, that wasn't the reaction I was hoping for. I try a different approach to starting a conversation. "Sooooo…. Do you like books? I like books."
The boy sighs and says to me, "Look, I overheard your conversation over there. I would also like to have some peace and quiet on the rest of our ride to Beacon, so how about we just exchange names and go our separate ways?"
His rough words rattle me a bit. I start to brainstorm of a way to get him to talk some more, but I was afraid that he would just go back to reading if I tried to push him into a conversation. I guess introductions is one way to talk to someone. After coming to that conclusion, I put my arm out for a handshake and say, "A-all right, I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose."
He shakes my hand as he says, "Ralph Samuel Riana."
I slowly repeat, "...Ralph?"
He sighs, as if he's heard the same response before. "Yeah yeah, I know. My name isn't exactly symbolic like most people's."
I shift nervously, not wanting to accidently make him angry. "Well, it IS kinda plain…. But I think that's a good name!"
"Is that so….?" He looks at my face for a few moments before suddenly saying, "You look too young to be a huntress."
"Too young?!" I get offended by his remark. "W-well, I may be fifteen, but I am a very capable huntress!"
"Fifteen, huh?" He studies me for a few more seconds before replying, "I'm not saying you're incapable. In fact, you must have a lot of potential if Ozpin's letting you into Beacon. I bet that he's planning for you to be the leader for whatever team you land in."
His sudden change of attitude throws me for a loop. "O-oh. Thanks…."
He opens his little book and breaks his eye contact with me, changing his focus to what he was looking at before. "I think this conversation's gone on long enough. You can go back to your friend or whatever."
"Oh. Ummm…. See you around, I guess?"
I walk awkwardly back to Yang, who was eagerly watching the conversation. "So," she says to me, "How'd it go?"
I shrug my shoulders. "Ehhh... Good, I guess? He told me his name."
Yang lightly slaps me on the back. "Atta Ruby! See, I knew you could do it!"
I sigh in relief that she was going to stop pestering me about getting to know people, but at the same time I thought about that boy. There was something weird about him, like he had more to him than he was letting on. As if he was hiding a secret from the everybody...
...
Eh, I'm sure it's nothing. I'm probably just overthinking this. I then go back to chatting with Yang about what we should do during our year at Beacon Academy.
