Beacon Academy
The aircraft touched down. Everyone rushed off, excited to finally be able to see the prestigious Beacon Academy. For some, this was a dream come true; for others like Theo, he honestly could care less. Even when he attended Signal the only thing he wanted to do more than run away from his village was to just travel. Didn't matter where or what dangers there were if he could just get away from his life he would do it in a heartbeat.
Theo, Ruby, and Yang walked past one of the passengers as they were vomiting into a trash can.
"Lightweight," Theo mumbled under his breath.
Yang punched his arm playfully. "Hey be nice Theo. Not everyone can handle the awesomeness of this place."
Theo just snickered with a wave of his hand. "I'm pretty he was air sick but what do I know? I'm just a guy."
"and you'd be right to remember that." Yang quipped back.
Now the two were going at it again.
Ruby on the other hand ran to each person she could find with a weapon in their hand. She was a literal child in a candy store.
"Look at all these weapons!" Ruby exclaimed. The girl couldn't hold back her excitement.
Yang chuckled at her little sister obsession over weapons. "Why are you so excited? You have credentials rose. It's a scythe Ruby."
Ruby didn't bother to understand the question. "I know that," she drew credentials rose from her lower back. "I made crescent rose myself, there's nothing wrong with enjoying the view."
Theo stood between then with his hands in his pockets. He was enjoying the view of the school itself. It was larger than any other structure he had ever seen. A frown appeared on his face. It would have made his grandfather proud that he was here. Despite the beatings he endured by him he had to respect the man for giving him the ability to be here. The circumstances could have been better.
"Hey you, you doing alright?" Yang leaned forward to get a better view of his face from behind him.
Theo took his right hand out of his pocket to poke her in the forehead. "Yes," he turned to walk away. "Thank you for asking." Before he could let her ask any more questions he wandered off. A jerk move but he wanted some time for himself. After walking for about ten minutes he came across a garden. It was filled with a variety of flowers. A bench was set in the middle of it for those who wanted to enjoy them.
Theo on the other hand just wanted to be able to unwind by himself. A tree adjacent to, the garden would be as good a place as any. Theo jumped up to the low hanging branch then pulled himself up. The branch shook, threatened by the heavyweight but slowly settled. Theo leaned back and relaxed. With his eyes closed, he blocked put the world. Breathing in, then out, Theo allowed himself to slowly relax. After what felt like an eternity he started to fall asleep.
"Theo!"
Theo found himself standing in front of what was his home. Fire so hot he thought getting any closer would roast him in a matter of seconds. He couldn't take his eyes off of the fire no matter how hard he tried. Years of training could have never prepared him for something like this.
A hand slapped him across the face so hard his nose began to bleed. His grandfather, as strong as an ox and looked just like one stood in front of him, gripping his shoulders trying to get his attention. When he finally took his eyes off the fire he saw that his grandfather was crying.
"Theo she's gone!" His husky voice broke through the rest of his confusion.
Theo knew who he was talking about. His grandmother must have been in there. He wanted to cry, scream in rage and curse out against the Grimm. Theo couldn't say anything though.
His grandfather pushed a sword into his hands. "Listen Gravewolf!" He ordered. Theo always hated it when he called him by his last name. Made him remember that he always hated him because he had his father's last name.
"You need to get to the square. Hold off the Grimm long enough to get the villagers out." He pulled another sword from a sheath on his back. He spun around to the sounds of growls coming from house. Five Beowulf's seemed to just manifest themselves from around the burning house.
Theo's heart began to race. How were they going to fight these things? Half the village was in flames. Theo moved to pull his guardian back. When he placed a hand on bus shoulders his grandfather pulled him by the scruff of his shirt. Eyes so full of fire he thought they could match his burning home.
"Get out of here. Protect the people, live!" He shoved Theo back till he fell backward. With a mighty watch, his grandfather ran into the pack of Beowulf's.
No time to waste. Theo wanted to stay and fight. Help his grandfather fight against their enemies. The people needed him though. Needed to get the women and children out before he would be able to help anybody. So he ran.
"Help me!" A scream broke through the air. So full of pain that it made it him sick. He passed around the corner to see a Beowulf ripping into the village baker. His cold eyes staring up at the red moon that hung in the air. His family hid behind some shrubs. Wife and son both holding hands to their mouths at what they were seeing.
Theo took no time to wait. With the blade he had, he ran at the Grimm. The beast looked up just in time to see the blade being thruster towards his face. With his entire weight behind the blade, Theo stabbed the beast in its throat knocking it backward and on its back. The beowolfs struggle came to an end when he twisted the blade.
Tiredly he looked up to see if the family was okay. Frozen in place, no doubt from what they had just witnessed. A husband, a father died to protect his family. There wasn't a more honorable death that a baker- a father could wish for.
No time to mourn his death. "Let's go!" Theo roared. His voice got through to them and they started to run. They passed by more bodies. Torn and ripped apart. A few dead Grimm but not enough to stop this madness. Finally, they made it to the square. Chaos.
A man pinned on the ground by two Grimm. A wife holding back another with a makeshift spear. People kept dropping like flies. The mayor stood atop of a wagon letting loose arrows with his bow. He turned to him with the now and let the arrow fly. Theo rolled out of the way just in time for the arrow to bury itself into the throat of a Grimm sneaking up on him.
"Get the women and children out!" his hand pointed to a group of men holding off Grimm. Women and children ran down the trail to a cave that weaved through the mountains. He turned to run.
"What are you doing up there?"
Theo's eyes shot open and he sat up too quickly. His body shifted too far and he rolled out of the tree. The air was knocked from his lungs and his eyes screwed up in pain.
"You have a wolf on your jacket." The soft voice of a girl stated as if he didn't know that.
One eye opened up to see who was bugging him. It was a girl. She had to have just been a little bit shorter than him, maybe Ruby's height. Her hair was a jet black and her skin a pale silky color. Theo rolled over so that he wasn't seeing everything inverted and wiped his eyes. Her eyes looked like a pair of blood red rubies. She was dressed in a traditional komon kimono. Its silky material matched her hair. A large blood lotus decorated the right side of the chest while a nine-tailed snow fax trotted across her back, under her arm, and across the left side of the chest just barely touching the lotus.
"Can I help you?" Theo asked. When he noticed that he was still on the ground he jumped to his feet. As embarrassed as he was he tried to hide it behind a cough.
"I apologize if I disturbed your nap. I was only curious what you were doing up in that tree. " She sounded shy yet still held a firmness that he couldn't quite place. She gave him an apologetic courtesy of the head that stunned Theo. He couldn't help but feel a rush of heat to his cheeks. This was getting kind of weird now.
Theo bowed his head. "I apologize if I broke any rules. I'm new to the academy and didn't mean to cause any offense." When she didn't say anything he looked up at her. Her expression was unchanged. Instead, she pulled a handkerchief from a small frog purse he just now noticed.
She pushed the handkerchief in his hand. "Your sweating. From the sounds of it, you were having a nightmare. You were whispering something."
He didn't like where this was going. If he had the power to teleport he would have been gone in a heartbeat. "I have nightmares sometimes it's not uncommon-"
"You kept saying live, over and over again."
Theo took a step back. Leaned against the tree to try and calm his thoughts. When he didn't say anything the girl bowed again.
"Please. If your having nightmares talk to somebody. You wouldn't want to stress yourself. Have a nice day." Her voice drifted away with the wind just as fast as she said them.
When Theo looked up he was shocked. She was gone just like that. No footsteps on the dirt of the garden. She was real though he knew that much. Then again his episode in the forest almost made him question whether anything was real these days.
"Hey look its Theo. Hiiiii Theo!" Ruby's childish yell disturbed the quiet peace of the garden. Still, he couldn't help but laugh at her.
Ruby was running up to meet him, alongside her though was the same young man that was puking. A blond haired teen dressed in moonlight colored armor on top of a black hoodie. When he finally reached them Ruby had turned to introduce the teen.
"Theo this is Jeanne D'arc. Another freshman and nooby to Beacon Academy."
Jeanne rubbed the back of his head. "Aw, you don't have to go and say all that. Besides aren't we all noobies when it comes to the other students of this school. Looks like this year is gonna be full of excitement right?"
Theo nodded in agreement. "I'm hoping for it. A chance to learn from Huntress's and huntsmen of such elite caliber should bring some good excitement. Maybe Ruby here will get taller too if we all keep hoping."
The little girl stamped her feet. "Hey give me a few years and I'll be even taller than you."
Jeanne and Theo laughed at her.
"Hey does anyone know where we're at?" Theo asked.
Jeanne chuckled hopelessly. "I was kind of hoping you might know where you were."
"So were all lost?" Theo asked with a sigh.
Ruby tried to hold back a laugh.
Theo rolled his eyes, not in annoyance. He was feeling a little bit better with friends around. Even if they were all lost, in the school… on the first day.
Author notes:
I apologize for the long wait. Been really busy with work as well as all of life's road bumps. I'm crossing my finger to get two more chapters out this week as a way to make up, if not I'll make up for it this weekend. Please if anyone has any remarks PM me or just drop a review. Thank you for reading and have a nice one.
Shadow out...
