Chapter 2: Born a Thief

My eyes slowly open, only to meet a dark ballroom. The light of the moon still shines through the window, and a quick look at my scroll tells me what I already know; it's four in the morning, and old habits die hard.

I sit up to inspect the room and see that the other students are still asleep. Not an empty sleeping bag in sight. Deciding it would be best to get ready now, because of my special... needs, I get up and head to the locker room.

After putting my regular clothes back on, and making sure my sword is snug at my waist, scabbard and all, I make my way back to the ballroom. Looking over the still sleeping students, a smile starts to make it's way to my face.

'A room full of hunters and huntresses-in-training, each one capable of making their way here by their own merit.

I've never had such wonderful crops before.'

Slowly making my way over to the nearest student, I slowly bend down and place my hand on the sleeping man's shoulder. A faint green glow begins to radiate from my hand, and after a full minute I pull it back. Once I allow the green glow to disappear, I replace it with a stark blue one.

'Interesting, but not quite what I'm looking for.'

Slowly allowing the blue glow to expel itself from my hand, I make my way to the next student. Repeating the process, I look at my hand that now radiates a bright yellow light. I frown.

'How useless. And this girl's supposed to be a hunter?'

Releasing the yellow light, watching it dissipate into the air, I repeat the process four more times before I finally come across a Faunus in the corner.

After placing my hand on her soldier, once again bringing the green glow into being, I draw my hand back and look at the purple light that now graced my hand. A wide, toothy grin spread across my face.

'How interesting. Alright, I can make this work.'

Looking over the Faunus girl, who I now thought might make out to be quite the interesting individual, I turned around.

After giving one last fleeting look to the ballroom, I left. It was now 5:30 in the morning, and students would likely be waking up soon. Making my way to the cafeteria, while it was still closed I heard noises coming from the inside. The staff was getting ready.

The day was starting.

Standing on the cliff, overlooking the green sea that spread out below me, I felt the wind blow through my hair.

'How quaint.'

There was nothing like this back in Vacuo. Where in Vale you might have a vibrant forest that spread out before you, with a pleasant breeze flowing in between the trees, Vacuo had endless deserts with an unforgiving sun hanging overhead.

Turning to Ozpin, who was explaining our initiation, I began to listen intently.

"...that being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

It was at this moment I heard Ruby's heart break. Well, if I had to guess anyways. All I know is that something shattered.

After a brief pause, Ozpin continued. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way, do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard the item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately.

Now, with all that being said, I feel the need to mention the do to some unforeseen... circumstances, that we accepted a student after we already had everything sorted out." It was at this moment I saw Ozpin glance towards Ruby, giving a brief smile.

"Because of this, should everyone pass initiation, one of you will be without a partner, or a relic. This next part is for that person; we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. After making your way to the relic site, should you at no point find a partner, simply return to the cliff. At that point, we'll further discuss your situation."

At this, I noticed Ruby begin to panic even more. "What if I'm the one that never finds a partner! Yang, what'll I do?!"

Smiling, I instead found the entire situation perfect. 'Eye contact? Looks like I have even more to thank that Faunus from earlier for than I thought.' In that instant, I came to a decision. I will search out Ruby, the remarkable girl, and if she should already have a partner I will opt out of anyone else, becoming the odd man out. So far, no one has proved to stand out as much as her, and the way Ozpin phrased it, it didn't sound like the partner-less person would simply be failed.

After all, there's no need to discuss a failure.

Confirming my plan, I got ready. If I was right, these metal squares were actually launch pads of some sort, and we would be sent flying into the forest. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly have a means to make sure I didn't smash into the forest floor.

'And neither did the Faunus girl from earlier.'

Recovering from the wild spin I was flung into, I quickly assessed the situation. Yes, I was falling.

Fast.

At this point, the best I could hope for was aiming for the tree with the most branches. Honestly, this was a bit ridiculous. Was this supposed to be practical training? When am I ever going to be sent flying from the top of a cliff?

Picking the tallest tree I could see, I quickly unsheathed my sword. Aiming my body, I was quickly approaching. With both feet now aimed for the thinnest branch, because to slow my decent I need it to break away, I impacted. As soon as the branch snapped, I stabbed my sword into the tree. I grimaced, knowing how bad it was for the blade, but I could always sharpen it later.

As I slid down the side of the tree, I maneuvered myself to make contact with the thinner branches. As long as the branch would break, I hit it. I avoided the thicker ones, dreading what would happen if I hit and made a sudden stop. As I slowed, the ground got closer. Satisfied with my current speed, I put my feet against the trunk of the tree and pushed off. As my sword ripped free, I prepared myself to make a roll upon hitting the ground, negating any force that hadn't already been stopped.

With my feet now firmly on the ground, I closed my eyes. Time to put my new little toy into action. As I began to sprint forward, eyes still closed, a ring of transparent purple energy shot out from around me, disappearing into the forest, phasing through anything it came into contact with.

A little map of the surrounding area began to form in my mind.

'Interesting indeed.' I smiled, realizing I really did pick the right one. 'Eye contact? Nothing to worry about if I never have to open my eyes.'

My ears twitched, picking up the surrounding sounds. The 'vision pulse,' as I had dubbed it, let me form a perfect map of the surrounding 100 meters, that updated every 3 seconds. My ears, however, picked up things much further out.

'The perks of being a Faunus.'

Making my way through the forest, avoiding any potential partners I detected, I moved north. I haven't encountered many Grimm yet, avoiding the stragglers before they could get close. No point in fighting them, it would just be a waste of time.

I needed to find Ruby.

It was at this point I heard what sounded like a fight, with a very familiar voice ringing out. 'The blond.' Remembering her relation to Ruby, I started to weigh my options. If the two were sisters, that would mean they would keep in close contact. Beacon teams are composed of four students, two pairs. In all likelihood, it's very possible that Ruby and her sister, Yang, would end up on the same team. Even if they weren't partners. So, if I was her partner...

Making up my mind, I decided to check out the situation. So far, I had only picked up Yang, but it's entirely possible she had a silent partner with her. As I grew closer, I finally 'saw' everything. Yang, absolutely destroying a couple of Ursa, and a girl with a bow, the same one I noticed on the airship before, silently watching from a nearby bush. Before I could get any closer, she jumped out to assist the blond brute.

So, realizing the sister wasn't an option, I frowned.

'Unfortunate.'

And unfortunate it was. I realized fairly quickly just how skilled the blond was. Just how remarkable she was.

'She could probably beat me, If I was unprepared.'

Which would have been perfect. So that is how I found myself frowning even more, all too aware of how likely it was that the little red cloaked girl also found a partner. 'I guess I should see what Ozpin has in store for me now that I've decided to go partner-less.'

Coming to terms with my decision, I decided to make myself known. Sure, the two girls wouldn't be my partners, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be allies. And with that, I stepped forward from the brush, opening my eyes and caming face to face with the blond brawler and the mysterious girl with the bow.

'Something about training with Aura seems to help with appearances. Everyone I've seen so far is at least fairly attractive. To say nothing of these two.' I idly thought, unused to being surrounded by fellow students. Lacking any kind of formal training, I was used to the beaten down faces of people stumbling around the alleys of Vacuo.

'Oh well.' I smile, watching as recognition crosses Yang's face, no doubt remembering me from the previous day. "Well, hey there kitty cat." She adds a flirty wink, for effect.

'At the very least they'll be pleasant company. If I'm going to have to make way towards the temple, may as well go with them.

I need to get away from my thoughts every once in a while.'

Walking towards the temple, Yang having got a good look at it as she was flying through the air, I made sure to keep a smile on my face.

Yang, equipped with shotgun gauntlets, eager to pick a fight with any Grimm we came across. She fought for the sake of fighting, for the thrill. My smile grows even wider, watching as she finishes up with a lone Beowolf that had attempted to attack the walking force of nature.

Yes, I like her. Truly remarkable. Already so skilled, and only seventeen years old. The more time I spend with her, the more I doubt my ability to beat her in a fight. As someone who lives for combat, she constantly trains, and constantly grows stronger. Just imagining what she would be like after our four years at Beacon...

'I need her.'

Moving on to the girl with the bow, now known as Blake, I feel curious. She hasn't fought much, in favor of letting Yang have her fun, but she helps out when necessary. She's skilled, I can tell, but what I'm more interested in is the way she carries herself. This entire time we've been walking...

she hasn't made a single noise. Completely silent, every step filled with purpose, she carries herself. Which shows more about her than the few displays she's put on ever will.

I'm impressed, to say the least, with these two. Priding myself on making the right choice, to tag along with these two, I tune back into the conversation at hand.

"So, kitty cat, what about you? I've told about Signal, least you could do is give me a little something too." Yang says, grinning widely as she wiped her hands clean of the Beowolf.

Yang, this entire time, has kept a conversation alive. Mostly one sided, of course, but I made sure to respond every now and again. Learning about her life before Beacon was a good thing, as I could use that information to be better acquaintances with her. Every girl loves a guy who listens.

Blake, for the most part, has kept silent. Seeming to be the type to only speak when spoken to, she watched idly from the side, only saying something when Yang asked her a question. I do keep notice her looking at my additional features though.

My tail twitches.

"Well, there isn't a whole lot to tell, to be honest." I begin, turning to face Yang. "I'm from Vacuo, originally lived in a small village in the middle of one of the larger deserts. Grimm attacks were fairly common, but we had a few retired Hunters living with us. They usually handled it just fine. At thirteen, I left the village, wanting to go to a big city. I wanted to become a Hunter, you see, and none of the old guys living there wanted to train me.

After wandering the desert for a time, I came across a woman. She was sitting next to a fire, surrounded by Grimm. She didn't even spare them a glance. From where she was sitting, she unsheathed a sword, much like mine, and causally swung. Setting her sword down next to her, she turned back to the fire as all the Grimm around her started to evaporate.

Knowing I found who I wanted to teach me, I followed her until she agreed. Four years later, here I am." I finish with a smile, leaving out some of the finer details, such as the fact that she only allowed me to follow her, and I learned by watching. I never actually received any type of training. Though, to be honest, I think observing her was more valuable than any time I could have spent at school.

'Or why I 'left' the village.' I thought darkly.

Seemingly satisfied with what I gave her, Yang turns back around and begins a tale about how she took the top of Signal, becoming the 'Queen,' as she called herself.

Before long, we reached a temple that held several 'artifacts.'

'Chess pieces,' I thought, 'I hope this isn't supposed to be some kind of metaphor about how we're just pieces in a game. Though, I guess I'm hardly one to talk.'

Walking over, I watched as Yang grabbed a Knight piece. "How about a cute little pony?" Sighing, Blake only gave a short "sure" as she walked over to her partner.

I smirked, 'so much for being the Queen.'

It was at this moment that a very odd series of events unfolded, one after another.

To start, Ruby fell from the sky only to be stopped when a flying Jaune Arc collided with her, knocking them both into a tree. "Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Came in Blake.

Following that, an orange haired girl came riding in on an Ursa, giggling madly until it fell to the ground, dead. "Awww, it's broken." Came her voice, seemingly upset that her 'toy' stopped working. Following her was a black haired boy, with a magenta streak through it. "Nora, please... don't ever do that again." Came his strained voice, out of breath no doubt from chasing the Grimm riding girl down.

In an instant, it seemed, the girl was already by the chess pieces, claiming a rook for herself while singing about castles. 'Close enough, I guess.'

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Contributed Blake. Just as Yang was about to respond, a red haired girl, one that I recognized as Pyrrha Nikos the famous Minstralian, a girl that so many people labeled 'remarkable,' came charging into the clearing, with a Death Stalker on her tail. I smiled at that, thanking my luck for allowing me to be in the same year as such a prodigy.

'Another one I must have.'

"Juane!" Came her voice, calling out to the teen who was still hanging from the tree.

"Pyrrha?!" He oh-so-helpfully called out, still not able to get himself down. At this, Ruby jumped down from the tree, right next to her sister.

"Ruby!" Yang called, happy to see her sister.

"Yang!" Was Ruby's response, ready to embrace her sister.

That is until "Nora!" as she made herself known, jumped in between them.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Came Blake's voice, still focused on the fleeing red head. At this, Yang finally blew up, fed up with all the going ons around her.

"I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" As if on cue, Ruby pointed to Weiss, hanging from the talons of a Nevermore.

"She's going to fall."

"She'll be fine."

"She's falling."

"Never a dull moment around here." A let out with a low chuckle, amused by the events that played out before me.

Jaune, finally untangling himself from the tree, jumped out to catch Weiss in an effort to look like a hero... only to continue falling and have her land on his back. "My hero." Was her bored response, busying herself with her nails.

Following the elegant, as Jaune later put it, rescue, Pyrrha was batted away from the Death Stalker and landed in front of the group. "Great, now we can all die together." Yang, ever the sarcastic, quipped, clearly annoyed.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby jumped in enthusiastically, charging towards the Death Stalker at breakneck speeds, with a trail of rose petals behind her. 'Speed, huh? ...I might have a plan.'

After a series of rather unimpressive events, Ruby was narrowly saved by Weiss, who froze the stinger of the Death Stalker. As everyone gathered around to snag a chess piece, as they were planning on making a run for it, I let the purple light flow freely from my hand, releasing it into the air.

Just as everyone was ready, I walked over to Ruby and placed a hand on her shoulder, a faint green light emanating from my palm discreetly. Her knees grew weak for a second, and she grabbed onto my arm to keep from falling over. "What just happened? Asked Ruby, recovering as I let the light fade.

"Nothing much. Just took a little piece is all." I said, a smile on my face as I looked down at her. She looked up at me, confused, not knowing what I was referring to. 'I'll explain it later. After all, what's about to happen may seem a little... odd, to her.'

Giving a reassuring smile, I told her to hurry up as we made our way towards to cliff, everyone following after us.

Rather quickly, we came upon a bunch a ruins, just below the side of the cliff. 'Perfect.' Only having taken enough to pull something like this off, I turned to everyone.

"Okay, here's the deal. I'll take care of the Death Stalker, so long as you guys can get the Nevermore. Cross the bridge, I'll wait here."

See all of their doubting looks, I merely gestured to the stone bridge that hung over the chasm behind us. "Trust me, I got this. That Nevermore will be on us any second, take care of it."

Ruby, being the trusting soul that she was, nodded. After seeing her run off towards the bridge, the others followed suit. Pulling my sword from it's scabbard, back to the group of teens that began firing the the Nevermore, I came eye to eye with the Death Stalker that had just emerged from the brush.

'I can't finish it off yet. Have to wait for them to take care of the Nevermore. I need all eyes on me.'

Steeling myself, I charged the armored scorpion. Dodging left as it took a swipe at me, I had to jump backwards the second I recovered. In place of where I was just a moment ago, was it's stinger. Continuing to dodge, as I ran in circles around it, the Grimm was starting to get angry.

'Good. I need you mad.' Narrowly dodging a wide attack from one of it's claws, I used my sword to deflect the tail that was heading my way. Looking over my shoulder, I could see that Ruby and the others were setting up some sort of plan, a slingshot of some kind it looked like.

Turning back to the issue at hand, I started to prepare. I could tell the others were about to finish off the Nevermore, and I needed to act the moment they did. Couldn't let them come over to help. I needed to impress.

'They need to see me as someone strong, and dependable.

Someone they need.'

With my sword poised, I lunged myself forward, sinking my blade into one of it's many eyes. The Grimm swung randomly when I pulled the sword from it's face, now in a mad fury. As the Death Stalker prepared to charge me, I turned to see Ruby standing atop the cliff, as the Nevermore's headless corpse fell to the ground.

All eyes were on me.

I smiled. 'Showtime.'

As I let a red energy slowly start to flow around me, clinging to my body, the Grimm charged at me, rage boiling over. As the stinger came charging down, ready to run me through, everyone gasped as I made no indication of moving. Then, all of two seconds later, they were gasping for a different reason.

Yes, in my place, where the stinger was currently embedded into the ground, was a trail of rose petals.

"No way..." Came a voice that sounded like Ruby's, shocked that she was witnessing her semblance first hand.

"Impossible..." That time it was Yang, all to aware of what Ruby's semblance looked like, and how unlikely it was to encounter someone with an identical one. Even the rose petals were the same color.

Reappearing behind the beast, in a flurry of petals, I charged. Nicking everywhere there was a break in the armor, specifically joints, I watched as it started to lose control over itself more and more. After taking out a second eye, it seemed to lose it completely.

Gone, were all attempts to attack me. Now, it just charged blindly at where ever I stood. Smiling as it finally got to this point, I ran to the middle of the bridge, leaving rose petals everywhere I went. Sliding to a stop, I flipped my sword over to my left hand.

'Just a bit will do. Need to save as much of it as possible.'

As I turned around to face the charging Death Stalker, the red light around me slowly faded, and in it's place a bright orange light came to be, making it's way towards my sword. After coating the blade, I stood ready. Just before it reached me, I gave two casual swings of the blade, which were by no means fast. As the orange light receded, the Grimm attempted to come to a halt, doing everything it could to stop itself.

Because, in front of where I stood, there was now a large gap where a section of the bridge used to be. 'Honestly, what a ridiculously overpowered ability.'

However, it was too late. It was moving too fast. And it run right over the edge, plummeting into the abyss below. As I turned around, I crossed the rest of the bridge and came to look upon everyone's faces. For the most part, there was one commonality; shock.

"You... You... But how..." Came Ruby, looking at me with wide eyes. Smiling, I simply let out a chuckle as I continued to walk towards the cliff, wanting to see just what Ozpin had in store for me.

"Don't worry, little red, I'll explain it to you later. Besides, I gave you hint earlier didn't I?" I asked, turning just long enough to flash a smile. "I took a little piece."

"Wait!" Called Ruby, as I turned to face her once more. She stood for a second, as if debating what to ask, when she finally settled for something easy.

"What's your name? You still haven't told me."

"Oh yeah, now that I think about it you still haven't told me either." Came Yang, thinking back on our walk to the temple. "I guess I just settled for calling you kitty cat."

Smiling, I gave my answer. "Cain." I said, looking her in the eyes. "I call myself Cain."

"Call yourself? You came up with your own name?" Came her reply, obviously confused.

Still smiling, I continued. "I left my old name behind years ago. Cain is what I go by now, nothing else."

"So how did you come up with it?" Yang, once again, "seems pretty random."

"I read it in a book," I replied as I turned back towards the cliff, ready to walk away. "The character in this book does a certain... something. That something just so happens to be my goal. Thought it was a good fit."

As Ruby and Yang turned to look at each other, they merely shrugged before following after me. The rest of the group, eager to get initiation over with, followed.

'A goal I will do anything to accomplish.'

A/N: Wow, that was a chapter. Still not super long, but to be fair it also isn't a whole lot of original content. As I still haven't actually gotten to Beacon, I'm just working through what everyone already knows, while changing a bit of it to suit my needs. Next chapter, we should start breaking off from the show. We'll still follow the plot that's already in place, sort of, but there will be extra stuff added in between. He is his own character, after all. He needs his very own adventures.

Anyways, until next time!

~YeOldDoorHinge