Scythe woke to the sound of someone singing that it was morning. He looked over to see an orange haired girl dancing around a man wearing a Japanese style robe shirt, with black hair and a bit of pink in the bangs.
He started to get up before he felt some weight on his left arm. He looked over, noticing Ruby was fast asleep, sitting against the wall with him, and holding his arm like a teddy bear. When he tried to remove it, Ruby mumbled in her sleep.
"Scythe, it is okay… please don't cry,"
Scythe blushed a bit when she said that. He felt his face and noticed it was stained with tears.
"Ruby, wake up," Scythe stated getting his nerves together. He shook her shoulder a bit and she woke up, looking directly at him.
"Gah, um sorry Scythe, I saw you were crying in your sleep and… well…" Ruby stated jumping a bit back.
"It's fine, Ruby, but just to let you know, you talk in your sleep," Scythe smiled.
"Well, so do you, you were murmuring something about Acnologia and… I think you were begging him to have mercy on your sister," Ruby explained getting closer.
"I… I…" Scythe stammered, remembering the nightmare he was having.
"Ruby, Scythe, what's going on?" Yang asked, coming over in her pajamas.
"Oh um… well I woke up last night to get some water, and when I returned, I… I found Scythe crying in his sleep," Ruby explained. "So, I sat next to him, wanting to provide comfort, and before I knew it, I fell asleep."
"Holding my arm as if it were a teddy bear," Scythe added.
"What was the nightmare about?" Yang asked, sounding concerned.
Ruby was silent for a moment.
"Yang, you remember that note you read explaining Scythe's sister, and how he got his… powers?" Ruby questioned.
"The nightmare was about your sister," Yang stated, putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
"More specifically, it was the memory of the day she was taken from me," Scythe sighed before getting up, heading towards the men showers.
Scythe removed his tank-top remembering that his scales would confuse people of him being a Faunus, instead of human.
"Well, well. What do we have here boys?" A voice asked from behind.
Scythe turned around to see a young man with brown hair, cut in a military style, wearing black sweats and a red long sleeved. Two boys were beside him, one of them had tan skin while wearing a white T-shirt, and tan sweats, while the other had a sort of pale looking skin while wearing a brown shirt and a blue pair of sweats.
"Looks to me we got a Faunus here Cardin," One of his pals stated.
"One with some pretty impressive scales to boot," The other one smiled.
"Hey, check out the tattoo on his shoulder, how much you wanna bet he used his feral looks to get it for free?" Cardin question.
"Go ahead and ask your mom, how much it was, she gave it to me after a good night of fun," Scythe stated with a grin, looking at them through the mirror.
"What you say?" Cardin asked, the fun in his voice disappearing.
"You heard me, you heard what I said," Scythe smiled turning around.
"Yeah, I heard ya, now I'm going to make you bleed," Cardin stated cracking his knuckles.
Scythe just stood there with a grin, as Cardin pulled his fist back. Without flinching, Scythe took the hit, and smiled as Cardin pulled back in pain.
"What are you made of?" Cardin screamed, drawing in the attention.
"Scales," Scythe smiled as the scales he made appear on his face disappeared.
"You freak," One of Cardin's friends stated kicking at him.
"You're dead," The other one stated throwing a punch.
Scythe sighed and blocked the kick with his wrist, and grabbed the fist with his eyes closed, only to open them to reveal they were nothing but a glowing mass of red. Cardin's friends flinched in fear before they were both sent flying.
"Next time you want to attack someone, make sure you're ready to take a beating," Scythe stated stepping into the shower, throwing the rest of his clothes out over the door.
By then most of the people out in the ball room heard what was going on, made it in time to see Scythe wipe the floor with the two who attacked him.
"Wow, he's strong," Blake, the black haired girl from the other morning, stated, her nose bleeding a bit.
The rest of the morning was nothing but chatter about what had happened in the showers. Scythe, Ruby and Yang were all at the lockers that they left their stuff in the other night, Ruby and Yang were combing their hair, while Scythe was putting on his gloves, and military compact goggles.
"Wonder what those two are so worked up about?" Ruby asked as the boy and girl from earlier walked past, the girl all hyped up.
"Oh who knows," Yang stated. "So you seem awfully chipper this morning."
"Yep, no more awkward small talk, or 'getting to know you' stuff, today I get to let me sweetheart do the talking," Ruby stated pulling her folded weapon out and holding it like a lover.
"Remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation," Scythe stated.
"He's right, if you wanna grow up, you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work together," Yang stated.
"Ugh, you both sound like dad," Ruby groaned. "Okay, first of all, what does meeting people have to do with fighting? Secondly I don't need people to help me grow up, I drink milk." She stated mater-o-factly.
"But what about when we form teams?" Scythe asked.
"There's that," Yang added.
"Uh, I don't know, I'll just be on one of your teams, or something," Ruby stated, sounding a little scared.
"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Yang asked nervously, playing with her hair.
"My dear sister Yang, are you implying you do not wish to be on the same team as me?" Ruby asked.
"W-what, no, I do I just thought… I don't know, maybe it would help you break out of your shell," Yang stated.
"What the, I don't need to break out of my shell, that is absolutely-"
"Ridiculous, there's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday. I would have remembered having to count that high," Jaune stated unintentionally interrupting their argument.
Scythe allowed his gaze to follow him before he spotted a certain white haired woman trying to sweet talk another red head.
"Excuse me for a second," Scythe stated heading over to where Weiss was.
"So Pyrrha, have you given thought on whose team you would like to be on?" Weiss asked. "I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong well known individual such as yourself."
"Hmm, I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may," Pyrrha stated.
"Excuse me ladies, I need to talk with Weiss for a minute," Scythe stated, interrupting them.
"Of course, I'll give you two a minute," Pyrrha stated leaving, though against her better judgement, she was close enough to hear it all.
"What are you doing you musclebound meat head Faunus?" Weiss asked.
"Okay first off, I hate racism, second of all, I know what you're up to. You are trying to sweet talk her into being on the same team as you, so you can be popular all around the school and get everything you want, like you always expect," Scythe stated.
"Wha… oh why are you even intervening?" Weiss asked.
"Because I don't like it when people take advantage of others, no matter who they are, or what their title is," Scythe stated before walking off.
Pyrrha ran after him and grabbed his hand, surprising him a bit.
"Thank you, I didn't really know what she was up to, so I guess I should be more careful about who I'm with," Pyrrha smiled.
"Hey, it's no problem, name's Scythe," He stated shaking the hand Pyrrha was holding.
"Pyrrha, though you probably know that already," She sighed.
"Why would I know that?" Scythe asked.
"She's on the cover of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes cereal box," Weiss shouted.
"Oh that's you, I thought you looked familiar, my friend Ruby told me they only do it for celebrities and athletes," Scythe smiled.
"The photo shoot was fun, but the cereal isn't very good for you," Pyrrha smiled.
"Hey Scythe, c'mon, we're heading out to the Cliffside, hurry up," Yang called out.
"Coming," Scythe called back. "Nice meeting you Pyrrha, I'll see you later."
"Goodbye," Pyrrha called before going her own way to the Cliffside.
Out at the cliff, everyone was gathered, and standing on platforms, facing Professor Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin explained.
"Now I'm sure you've heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well allow us to put an end to your confusion," Glynda stated. "Each of you will be given teammates, today."
"What… oh," Ruby exclaimed, a bit scared.
"These teammates will be here with you for the rest of your stay here at Beacon. So it is within your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," Ozpin added.
Ruby gave off some more scared noises, not wanting to be paired with someone she didn't get along with.
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing, will be your partner for the next four years," Ozpin finished.
Ruby's world broke around her, as Ozpin said that.
"What?" Ruby asked extremely scared.
"See, I told you," The orange haired girl stated to her friend.
"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," Ozpin stated.
"Just the words I wanted to hear," Scythe stated with a smile, slamming his right fist into his left palm, making a few sparks appear from nowhere.
Jaune gave a nervous laugh and gulped in fear.
"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 that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately," Ozpin explained. "Are there any questions?"
"Yeah, um sir-" Jaune started.
"Good, now take your positions," Ozpin instructed, ignoring Jaune's inquiry.
Scythe took his normal battle stance where he looked like an animal ready to strike, Ruby was ready to pull out her weapon, as were all the rest, even Cardin, who had a small ice pack wrapped around his hand.
"Um sir? I've got, um, a question," Jaune stated. "So this, landing strategy thing, uh, w-what is it, you're like dropping us off or something?"
"No, you will be falling," Ozpin stated.
"Oh, I see. So like, did you hand out parachutes for us?" Jaune asked, his face going pale.
"No. You will be using your own landing strategy," Ozpin stated.
"Relax Jaune, the worst that could happen is you land in an Ursa's mouth," Scythe laughed before he was launched.
Right as Jaune was about to ask about what a landing strategy was, he was sent flying, leaving Ozpin to smile, turn to the group of flying students, and sip some coffee from his cup.
Scythe was flying through the air, smiling as he started going down. He curled himself into a ball, and activated his Iron-Dragon-Scales, and started spinning until his body was moving so fast he looked like a buzz-saw flying through the air. As he landed, the spinning motion caused him to create a hole in the ground too deep for the naked eye to see all the way down.
"Sweet, I found an adolescent t-rex skull," Scythe's voice sounded from inside the hole.
About two hours later, Scythe emerged from the hole, with the top part of the skull on his head.
"Weird, it looks similar to those Grimm creatures faces, oh well at least I've got something I can put on my shoulder now," Scythe smiled placing the skull on his shoulder, right above his Fairy Tail emblem. "I wonder how they're all doing without Wendy or I. They probably think we're dead, wouldn't blame them if they did."
Scythe started running north, remembering that he had to find a partner, but he knew by counting the number of people on the cliff that he was what made the group an odd number of people.
"I've got a feeling that most of them were already got together and are making their way to the ruins," Scythe sighed running off. "What I wouldn't give if Natsu or Gajeel were here."
Scythe continued running until he stopped, hearing the sound of large wings beating in the air. He looked around before he found a giant black feather.
"Nevermore," Scythe stated, remembering reading about them in the school's library yesterday during his free time. "Crap, of all the times there had to be one, it had to be during initiation."
Scythe ran faster north, before he came across Yang and Blake at the ruins looking up. He looked up to see the Nevermore with a red and white dot on it's side. His eyes widened when he noticed it was Ruby and Weiss hanging on for dear life before Ruby let got and started falling. Scythe ran and used the structure of the stone ruins to leap into the air and catch her, landing on one knee with Ruby in his arms bridal style.
"My hero," Ruby stated rhetorically.
"Did she just fall from the back of a Nevermore?" Blake asked.
"Yee-Ha," A voice shouted out before an Ursa came through the trees, falling to the ground, with the orange haired girl on its back, and the boy dressed in the Japanese style clothing panting.
"Nora, never do that again," He stated.
But Nora, the orange haired girl, was gone and already grabbed the relic, a gold bishop chess piece.
"I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle," Nora sang.
"Nora," Ren, the boy, shouted.
"Did they just come in riding an Ursa?" Blake questioned again.
A girlish scream came from the eastern side of the forest, and they all turned to see Jaune and Pyrrha being chased by a Death Stalker.
"Don't even say it," Scythe stated, covering Blake's mouth.
"Could everybody just stop for two seconds before something crazy happens?" Yang shouted.
Two seconds past before Ruby tugged her sleeve and pointed upwards. The rest of the group looked up and saw Weiss hanging on to the Nevermore for dear life.
"How could you leave me?" Weiss whined.
"I said jump," Ruby stated.
Weiss jumped and started falling.
"I got her," Scythe stated pulling out his ice blade. He threw it as if it were a throwing knife, and it hit her dress, pinning her to a tree.
"You brute, do you realize how expensive this dress is?" Weiss complained.
"You're welcome," Scythe stated pulling his sword from the trunk, allowing Weiss to hit the ground with a light thud.
"Scythe, where'd you get that skull?" Ruby asked pointing to the dino skull on his shoulder.
"From the hole I made when I landed," Scythe chuckled. "Took me a couple hours to get out, but I managed."
"Guy's as much as I'd like to continue with the pleasantries, we've got a bit of a problem," Yang stated.
"We can win," Ruby stated using her speed semblance to zip around, the Nevermore saw Ruby and shot its feathers down, pinning her with one by the cape.
"Ruby get out of there," Yang shouted.
"I'm trying," Ruby shouted as the Death Stalker raced towards her.
"Ruby," Yang shouted before a blur of black and red shot past her.
Ruby closed her eyes, not wanting to see her own demise, but the only thing that came was a deep grunt and the sound of something splattering over the ground. She opened her eyes and saw the Death Stalker's stinger, was sticking out of Scythe's chest, where his scales didn't cover at the collar bone.
"Scythe," Yang shouted.
Ruby looked up, her eyes filled with dread as Scythe reached up and put his hand on the gold stinger sticking out from his chest.
"Huh… guess the material wasn't as strong as it used to be," He stated before spitting out blood.
With a fierce look in his eyes, Scythe pushed the stinger out and turned around quickly, grabbing it before the Death Stalker had a chance to back off. Ruby noticed the Death Stalker wasn't retreating in tactics, it was scared, scared of Scythe. She looked back up and noticed blood was spilling like crazy from his open wounds, but he still pushed on.
"What's wrong? Is the scorpion scared of a little dragon like me?" Scythe mocked as he had scales cover his wounds.
With all the strength his weakened body could muster, he lifted the Death Stalker by the tail and spun it in the air before throwing it off towards the Nevermore.
"D-did he say he was a d-dragon?" Blake asked eyes wide in terror.
"I-I think he did," Weiss stated.
Scythe puffed his cheeks and aimed up in the sky.
"Logia dragon, ROAR," He shouted as a crimson red flame shot from his mouth destroying the two Grimm's in one shot.
"Scythe," Ruby stated reaching for him, but she pulled back when he fell to his knees.
"Huh, I'm not done yet," Scythe smiled, getting up on shaky legs. With what little strength he had left, he went to the ruins, and grabbed the Black Knight piece, and the White Knight piece, tossing the White Knight to Ruby before he passed out, from the massive blood loss he suffered.
"Scythe," Ruby screamed out.
On the island Ruby and Yang grew up on, Tai was busy making him and Wendy some lunch.
"Wendy, do you like mayonnaise on your sandwiches?" Tai asked shouting to the living room.
"Uh no, but I could give it a try," Wendy stated.
"You're not obligated to have mayonnaise Wendy," Tai laughed making her sandwich without the condiment.
Tai smiled as he brought their lunch into the living room where he found Wendy sitting on the couch enjoying the movie, while trying to scratch and itch under her cast.
"How's the movies so far?" Tai asked.
"Well, Captain America and Iron-man are fighting now, along with Bucky because the bad guy revealed that Bucky killed Tony's mom as the Winter Soldier," Wendy explained.
Tai's scroll buzzed and noticed it was Yang.
"Hey my sunny little dragon, what's… okay slow down what's wrong? I can have here there in half an hour, twenty if I take her on my bike. What happened?" Tai asked. "He's what?"
"What's wrong?" Wendy asked.
"We've got to get to Beacon," Tai explained, grabbing his jacket, and a pair of crutches in Wendy's size.
"What's wrong?" Wendy repeated, sounding more scared.
"It's Scythe, he's in serious trouble, and only you can help him right now," Tai explained helping her up.
"What are we waiting for? Let's get going," Wendy stated crutching out the door followed by Tai.
'I hope by the time we get there, it won't be too late,' Tai thought.