"Alright guys. I do believe this is our dorm." Roland stated, matching the number on his key to the number on the door. With a smile Roland turned to his three teammates, all of them dressed in Beacon's school uniform. "So Teresa, let's get you to your dorm."
"What are you talking about?" Teresa asked. "This is my dorm too."
"Wait, wait, hold up." Roland said, looking back and forth between his teammates. "Are you guys telling me that the dorms are co-ed?" Upon seeing Vincent's confirming nod, a large smile broke upon Roland's face.
"Roland, I swear to God, if you try any funny business I will wrap Nebula around your neck and strangle you." Teresa growled.
Roland raised an eyebrow and was just about to respond when Vincent stepped between them. "Hey, how about we see what our new home looks like?"
"You're the boss." Roland shrugged as he passed his leader the key. A few seconds later the door was open and Team VTRY was inside their dorm room for the first time. The room was bare, with four beds and dressers lined up by the western wall and four bookshelves and desks by the eastern.
"Alright team, our first class is Grimm Studies with… Professor Port at nine. So that gives us two hours to at least start setting up our room." Vincent stated while looking over their class schedule.
"Ugh, why did you have to bring up classes?" Roland groaned while reaching for Lightning to spin around his finger.
"Weren't you supposed to store your weapons in the lockers?" Yuri asked, prompting a Roland to place a finger on his lips while making a shushing sound.
An hour and a half later, the beds, dressers, and bookshelves had been moved into the four corners and the desks consolidated in the center. Maps of the four kingdoms, Menagerie, and Remnant as a whole adorned the walls, along with some Vacuan western movie posters. At Teresa's insistence, a curtain had been draped around her bed and dresser. Roland spent the better part of ten minutes protesting it, claiming it would segregate and divide their team.
His 'impassioned' speech was met with a laugh from Vincent, an eyeroll from Yuri, and a punch in the gut from Teresa.
"Was… worth… a shot." Roland coughed out as he straightened himself.
"Come on buddy." Vincent comforted as he patted him on the back. "We got a class to get to."
Teresa always tried her best. As a Belmonte of Atlas, she was expected to always give it her all, and damn it she had. But as it turns out, sometimes her best just isn't enough. So it made sense for her to feel a little shame for falling asleep approximately ten minutes into Professor Port's unbelievably boring story about the time he hunted down a beowolf for his village when he was still a child. She had only woken up because Port had, rather dramatically, loudly asked the entire classroom if anyone felt they had what it took to be a true huntsmen… or huntresses.
Not wanting to get into trouble for napping in class Teresa's hand immediately shot up. Port was pleased at her eagerness and quickly input a six digit code into his scroll. Now that Teresa had a moment, she opted to reexamine the classroom. Roland didn't seem to be paying any attention whatsoever, focusing more trying to spin his pen around his fingers like his pistols. Yuri was just flat out gone. Teresa had to wonder if Professor Port even noticed. Vincent was hunched over his desk, leading her to believe that he too had fallen asleep, until he sat up to read over the full page of notes he had written.
'I'm going to have to borrow those.' she thought when she finally noticed a rather large, growling, and shaking metal cage at the front of the classroom. It took only minute to figure out what was inside. A grimm.
"Now then if you'll please prepare yourself for battle, Miss Belmonte, you can show the entire class how a true huntress fights." Professor Port said as a locker emerged from the floor. She recognized the lockers' number as her own. Teresa stepped down to the locker and opened it up, revealing her normal fighting clothes and Nebula, before Port indicated a door at the side of the class. "You can change in there."
A few minutes later Teresa stood at the front of the class, dressed in her huntress gear, Nebula held lightly in her hand. Across from her was the large, growling cage and Professor Port, who'd removed his blunderbuss axe from its spot on the wall. Teresa had to wonder if that meant he'd intervene if things got too dicey for her… or in case she failed.
"Are you ready Miss Belmonte?" Professor Port asked as he grabbed hold of the bolt holding the cage shut. Teresa nodded as she let Nebula uncoil at her feet. "Then face your enemy!"
With that Port threw the cage open, releasing the ursa that was contained inside. The beast lumbered out of the cage, a low growl rumbling in its belly as it glanced at the students at their desks. Desperate to keep the grimm's attention off of the students who didn't have their weapons on them, Teresa lashed Nebula forward, striking the beast on the side of its head. The grimm roared in anger and its attention now fully focused on Teresa. The young huntress smiled as the ursa charged. Before the monster reached her, Teresa opened a portal directly underneath her. The Ursa slid to a confused stop as its prey dropped into the floor. Its confusion was only compounded when Teresa emerged from the portal she made directly over it and she landed lightly on its back.
Before the ursa could stand on its hind legs, she wrapped the cord of the whip around the ursa's neck and pressed the button on the handle. At the press of the button dozens of one inch blades unfolded along the length of the whip, cutting into the ursa's thick neck. With a sharp pull Teresa tightened the whips wrap around the ursa's neck and the blades cut deeper. Black smoke leaked from the neck wounds as the grimm fought to release itself. Teresa, wasting no time planted the pommel of her whip against the ursa's skull, just behind its skull-like mask, and squeezed Nebula's handle.
A loud bang echoed through the classroom as the hidden gun in Nebula's handle discharged a bullet directly into the brain pan of the ursa. The grimm jerked once before it dropped to its stomach. Dead.
"Well done Miss Belmonte." Professor Port praised as Teresa hopped off the ursa's back. "You definitely show the makings of a true huntress. Now class that will be all for today. For the next class I want everyone to share their first time slaying a grimm. Good day everyone."
Teresa was joined by her two teammates as everyone was exiting the room and by Yuri a little further down the hall.
"What did I miss?" the large faunus asked as he fell into step next to Roland.
"You missed it partner," Roland started, placing a hand on Teresa's shoulder. "Our lovely Teresa here just killed an ursa in roughly ten seconds or so."
"Eight seconds." Vincent corrected, a smile on his face. "Great work in there Terri."
"Thanks Vincent." Teresa replied, happy with her performance and the praise of her teammates. Then she blushed as she prepared to swallow her pride. "Can I borrow your notes for that class?"
"You've got to be kidding me?" Roland's outburst echoed across the cafeteria, causing several eyes to be drawn to the gunslinger.
"Are the notes not good enough?" Vincent asked, genuinely concerned that he might've failed his teammate with poor note taking. He'd used his semblance to make sure that he could copy down every word Professor Port had spoken. Teresa and Yuri seemed to be making good use of them, so he wondered what Roland found wrong with them.
"All I heard while the man was talking was blah blah blah." Roland complained. "A straight hour and a half of nothing but that. Now I'm looking at what looks like half a notebooks worth of the same thing. Blah blah blah."
Vincent couldn't help but smile at Roland's apparent perception of his notes. "Well while you guys go over those, I'm gonna go grab a bite." His teammates waved him off as he left their table for the lunch line. Along the way a pair of brown bunny ears caught his attention. "Hey Velvet." he called out, getting the owner of the ears attention.
"Oh, hey Vincent." Velvet turned to him, a shy smile on her lips.
"You here for food too?" Vincent asked as she joined him.
"Caffeine run." she replied, holding up the cardboard cup holder with four drinks in it. "Caramel frappuccino for Coco, jasmine tea for Yatsu, and straight black coffee for Fox."
Vincent nodded before he realized that she left herself out, "And what are you drinking?"
Velvet's face turned almost as red as Vincent's huntsman shirt as he heard her mumble just loud enough to barely hear, "Carrot juice."
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." Vincent said while fighting back his laughter.
"Hey! Stop yanking on my tail!"
The cry of protest cut off whatever Velvet was going to say. The two of them turned to see a mouse faunus boy being harassed by a group of four humans, three girls and a boy. He recognized them from the initiation ceremony as Penny, Richard, Delilah, and Edith of Team PRDE. Looking back at his table, Vincent saw all three of his teammates start to rise to their feet. Vincent made eye contact with all of them and motioned for them to sit back down. Yuri looked doubtful but Teresa must've said something that convinced him.
"You should get back to your team." he told Velvet, who was staring at the four bullies with a mixture of fear and hate.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, voice trembling slightly.
"What a Helsing always does." Vincent stated as he started for the confrontation. "Stand up for the little guy." A few long strides was all it took for Vincent to close the distance to PRDE and their victim. "There a problem over here?"
Team PRDE all turned to face him, Richard still hanging the faunus a few feet off the ground by his tail. The four of them had a rather sadistic gleam in their eyes.
"No problem here." Penny started, speaking collectively for her team. "Just having some fun with rat boy here."
"He doesn't seem to be having any fun." Vincent stated, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now how about you put him down before things get ugly."
"You think you can take the four of us on by yourself." Delilah sneered.
Vincent shrugged, "Don't have to." Then he pointed at his team, all of whom were glaring at Team PRDE with murder in their eyes. "The big guy, Yuri Hawthorne, is a bear faunus and strong enough to fight a beringel… bare handed." Vincent followed his statement by pointing at the table Team CFVY was sitting at. They too were staring daggers at the bullies. "Pretty sure they'll gladly jump in to pound you into next week as well."
Penny scowled at Vincent before nodding at Richard, who unceremoniously dropped the faunus on the ground. As they skulked off, Vincent called after them.
"By the way, he's a mouse. The tail's too thin for a rat. Being a bully is no excuse for being stupid." Vincent waited until Team PRDE left the cafeteria before he turned to help the faunus to his feet. "You alright?"
"Yeah, thanks for that." The faunus said, "I'm Gregory Finch."
Vincent introduced himself as well, waiting for the inevitable surprised stare he always got from faunuses. To his surprise, Gregory smiled, showing two buck teeth.
"Father always said the Helsings were good people. Glad to see he was right." With that Gregory thanked Vincent again before he left, presumably to find his team. Smiling Vincent turned back to the lunch line, receiving a few pats on the back for his act of kindness. Once he received his lunch, a turkey and ham sandwich, he made his way back to his team and sat down.
"Good going out there boss." Roland said as he too patted Vincent on his back. Both Teresa and Yuri also praised his defense of Gregory. "Hey boss, someone left a note on your back." Vincent turned to Roland who was unfolding a sheet of paper. Once it was completely unfolded Roland read it outloud.
Greetings members of Team VTRY. I'm writing this little message to inform you of your imminent demise… by which I mean I'm going to prank the ever loving crap out of you guys. You may be asking why I've chosen you guys specifically. Well you can blame your leader for that. His brave little stunt has planted all of you firmly within my cross hairs. Until then ta ta.
With love Asagi Yamabuki.
The four members of Team VTRY reread the note three times before Yuri finally said what the rest were thinking. "Who the hell is Asagi Yamabuki?"
William had to physically stop himself from bursting into hysterical laughter when he saw the room that his potential new employers had decided to conduct their interview in. First off, the room was dark. Pitch black. So damn dark that William doubted that he'd be able to see his hand an inch from his face. Or at least that would've been the case, if he hadn't kept an eyepatch over his right eye for three straight days. After swapping sides, William could see almost as well as his faunus companions, who were trying oh so very hard to hide the fact that they were faunus. Well aside from his escort. No hiding rather pronounced tusks after all. Once he could see clearly, his impression of the room did not improve.
Three bare walls, one two-way mirror, a steel table with a seat at either end, and a small plastic flag that bore the symbol of the White Fang on it, all brought one word to William's mind.
'Boring.'
"Please make yourself comfortable Sir." his escort, a boar faunus judging by the tusks, insisted while pulling out the chair closest to the door.
"My such good manners you 'freedom fighters' have. Must really grind your gears having to refer to me so respectfully." William mocked as he stepped past the man and sat on the far seat. "So, when does your boss show up. Or does he expect me to do business with your sorry butt. Cause if that's the case you might as well escort me out of here."
To his credit, the faunus didn't seem flustered by the human's rudeness. "He'll be with you shortly. Would you care for a drink?"
"Some water if you'd be so kind." William requested, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet on the table. "Bottled please, the tap water in this city tastes like crap." The escort nodded before leaving him alone in the dark, boring, room.
'And now we play the waiting game.' William thought as he settled in.
William lost track of time not long after, so he wasn't too sure how long he'd been sitting there when the door opened again. His escort walked back in and placed a water bottle by his feet before he retreated to corner. The next person to walk through the door was a tall, pale skinned, man, dressed in all black, aside from some red fire patterns on his coat, a grimm mask. His red and brown hair was swept back, and two horns stuck from his head. In his hand was a katana with a sheath that looked like it was crossed with a rifle.
"You know I think I saw that same sword in a video game a few years back." William commented casually, "You a fan?" The bull faunus said nothing as he sat in the chair across from him and rested said sword against the table and scrutinized William. The frown on the man's face could've been from the mere fact that William was a human, which a faunus connected to the White Fang was guaranteed to despise, or from the fact that William had refused to clean himself up and decided to wear simple gray sweats to this oh so important business meeting.
William shrugged before reaching for the water bottle and draining the entire bottle in one gulp. Once the bottle was empty he chucked it at the escort in the corner. The two simply stared at each other in silence afterwards for what seemed like an eternity. Finally the faunus spoke.
"William Harker, born in Vale before your family moved to Vacuo at age ten. At age fourteen you got involved with several gangs without ever actually joining any of them, serving as a kind of equalizer amongst them. At age seventeen you graduated from equalizer to full blown contract killer. Over the next thirty years you've killed approximately sixty-eight people."
William nodded his head, "Well looks like someone knows how to do their research. But I fear I must correct you on one little detail. I haven't killed sixty-eight people over the last thirty years, I've been hired by sixty-eight people over the last thirty years. It's a subtle difference, I know, but the way you put it leaves out everyone I've killed when I'm not on the job. Rapists, pedophiles, wife beaters, the occasional husband beater, people who generally piss me off, but I digress. I know it hasn't been easy for you to find me, in fact you've been searching for me for about a year now. So I'll cut straight to the chase. Who do you want to die?"
A/N: And now I'm starting to introduce some family members starting with Roland's "very polite" father... I swear some of the things I have planned for this guy's backstory alone would make this story rated M. Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to leave any reviews or to ask any questions you may have about the story. I'll try to give the best non-spoiler answers I can.
P.S. Asagi Yamabuki is a character created by User Harukawa Ayame. If you have a character you would like to see appear in this story feel free to PM me.