How is everyone? I hope you all are doing good and having a great day. I want to thank you all for taking the time and reading the story and I hope you all will let Dayton and I know what you think of the story but no flames please. A big thanks to Dayton McCloud for being Co-Arthur to this story and if you enjoy this story look up Beacon of Hope it's a great read as well. One last thing after this chapter Dayton and I will be slowing down a bit with the chapters but we will keep going with this story. Hope you all are looking forward to the future of this story.

We don't own RWBY and Lance is Dayton McClouds OC

Now sit back and enjoy the chapter.


Chapter 4: Onward to Beacon!

It was late dusk as Lance and the others got back to Faranos, the sun barely peeking over the west horizon. Once inside the walls, they saw in the entrance proper were groups of survivors and guards alike, resting, mending, doing head counts, doing what they could to best secure their safety and calm some nerves. Continuing on, the group saw most everyone rescued generally had minor injuries, besides some guards who got more caught up in the fighting. Stations were set up to distribute water and medicine, while other guards and medics distributed different medicine and supplies where they were needed.

"Looks like we suffered minimal losses," Roland looked about the pseudo camp set up as they walked through, "I'm glad. An attack like that could've been much worse."

"I'm glad too, but we couldn't save everyone," Lance said, downtrodden as a frown came across his face.

"Unfortunately that's combat. Not everyone can live, but we do what we can to save who we can. So we can continue on for the sake of the lives lost," Roland put a comforting arm around Lance's shoulder.

Lance looked down in thought, processing his father's words. He nodded, still conflicted, but shoving those negative thoughts aside.

"There you are!" a familiar feminine voice said.

Rushing up to the group from another small crowd of people was Levi, her eyes lit up with worry upon seeing Lance.

"Oh dear god, what happened to Lance?" Levi gently grabbed Lance's face, attempting to wipe some of the soot and grime off of it with her thumbs, "Are you all okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, Levi. Just out of Aura, tired, and sore…" Lance said.

"What happened? How could you two let this happen, he's still just a kid," She turned to the two adults with an irritated expression.

Roland let out a breath, closing his eyes, as Duncan stiffened his posture a bit, his expression changing to one of apprehension.

"Look, dear, they performed like true Huntsmen, I witnessed it first-" Duncan said, but Levi poked a finger onto his chest, staring daggers and stopping him in his tracks.

"That's no excuse. They haven't even made it to Beacon yet and here they are in the heat of combat fighting Grimm larger than the ordinary Beowolf!"

"Mom, we're okay, trust me," Kaiser stepped up to his mother, putting on the most reassuring smile he could muster. Levi just went to him and wrapped him in a tight embrace which took him by surprise.

"I'm glad…" she nearly whispered.

"But that still doesn't excuse your actions," She parted from the hug, her caring but angry tone returning, "That was dangerous! I could've lost all of you!"

She gazed upon all of them, who had varying degrees of guilt on their faces and or in their postures.

"We were careful, honey. We're still here," Duncan held up his arms in a half-hearted shrug.

"If you weren't I'd find a way to yell at you in the afterlife," She gave a faint smile, her voice dropping a bit.

"My apologies, Levi, but we have to go and see if Ozpin is still here," Duncan moved over to Levi, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Right. Take care of business," She looked up at him with a soft expression, "When you're finished I'll be waiting for you at home. Don't take too long,"

"It shouldn't be too long. We'll have your family home as soon as we're done talking with Ozpin," Roland said.

"Good," Levi replied.

By the time they made it back to the Azure home, they found Ozpin just leaving from the front door. He stopped, giving a relived smile as he walked over to meet them.

"I'm glad to see that you've returned safely. Is the Grimm no more?" Ozpin asked.

"No, it got away. We hit it hard though," Kai replied.

"What was your encounter like with the creature?"

"The thing was fast. Both in flight and on the ground" Duncan used his hands to speak, mimicking flight with them, "On top of that, the creature had plenty of tricks up its sleeve."

"The Grimm was able to let out blue flames in a big stream. They stuck to the terrain and would burn for some time," Lance chimed in.

"It also flung bone-like projectiles from its tail," Roland paused a moment, looking to the side before looking back at Ozpin, "It looked as if it needed a short amount of time to regrow the bones, but the regrowth was unnaturally fast making it hard to pin down a specific time."

"Yes, those projectiles are used for wrapping around its prey in an attempt to restrict or impair the target's movements," Ozpin shifted his glasses on his face, a gloomy look came about him.

Everybody had curious expressions on their face, Duncan one of slight surprise, at Ozpin's sudden knowledge of the creature.

"Why do I get the feeling you know something about this thing?" Duncan asked.

"It was once called a Night Terror," Ozpin moved in more to the group, leaning in slightly to make sure they heard, "This is the second time in recent history it has been seen, the first sighting of it was around Mistral."

"I've never heard of that Grimm before." Lance crossed his arms, bringing a hand up to his chin.

"It's one of several unique Grimm that has been showing up all over Remnant as of late. Many Hunters have never seen anything like them before. They are unique and dangerous as you all experienced today it seems," Ozpin continued.

Kai lost focus on the conversation, his mind wandering. It wandered back to the fight, the creature's fast and destructive movements, its abilities, and above average intellect for Grimm. All that and the thing that bothered him to no end was the person he saw with the mask.

"Kai you haven't said much since we got back," Duncan looked at Kai with slight concern. "What's on your mind?"

Kai turned to his father a moment before turning to face Ozpin. He furrowed his brows, trying to piece together the right words to speak his mind.

"After that final devastating attack I went to make sure that the Grimm was killed. While I was checking, it started to move even though it didn't even move a muscle a few seconds before. As it got up I saw a person," Kai paused, spending a moment to think back at the scene again, "They were standing next to the Grimm dressed in a black cloak and a mask that resembled a Grimm's head,"

"What was this person doing?" Ozpin looked at Kaiser quizzically.

"They were standing next to the Grimm. I don't know what they were doing, but it seemed like the creature didn't care or mind this person. Even if it was injured, a person standing that close to a Grimm is," Kai searched for the right word, "Uncommon."

Roland raised a brow, turning to Kai

"This was a person you saw, correct?"

"I saw the figure with my own eyes but when I tried to find them with my semblance there was nothing; As if they weren't there in the first place," Kaiser shrugged, shaking his head.

"Could the figure be a humanoid Grimm?" Lance shifted in place, looking amongst the group, "Is that even possible?"

"Perhaps… either way it's an ominous sign." Ozpin walked around the group and down the few steps leading away from the entrance before stopping, turning to Lance and Kai.

"Rest and recover you two and remember you have a month to prepare until the airship to Beacon Academy departs. I look forward to seeing you there."


A month's time flew by in what felt like the blink of an eye. That month Lance and Kai spent preparing, training, and enjoying time with their friends, family, and Faranos before they had to leave.

Lance currently stood with Kai outside of a small transport ship that was scheduled to pick them up the morning of orientation. The early morning sun shone down, the gentle breeze a welcome feeling as Lance and Kai waited for the brief maintenance check to finish with the airship. They both took this time to appreciate their home town of Faranos for perhaps the last time.

"I'll miss this place," Lance said.

"Me too," Kai replied, nodding.

"At least we'll be training to be Hunters. It's what I've always wanted."

"Same here," Kaiser turned to his friend, "That and it's not like we're leaving forever. I'm sure we'll be back."

Lance smiled back at him.

"Right,"

The sound of shoes on concrete caught their ears. They turned behind them to see a man wearing a pilot suit.

"The final preparations have been made. We're ready to go," he said.

"Well then, let's get going," Kai said, following the pilot. Lance followed suit, joining them on board.


They sat in seats opposite each other, the inside of this particular model of airship was a touch more comfortable than what one would normally find. Buckling in, the pilot went through the initial prep for takeoff and soon enough they were on their way, hovering over the walled in town of Faranos. Both Kai and Lance looked out the window in somber silence as they watched their home town grow ever smaller into the distance until they lost sight of it.

"Lance, hey," Kai nudged Lance, "We're almost there,"

Lance awoke to Kai's prodding. He rubbed his eyes, sitting up properly in his seat.

Lance yawned, stretching his arms out above his head.

"Sorry, early mornings are hard."

"Don't worry. Take a look out the window though," Kai pointed past Lance to his side view window.

He turned and saw a sprawling city. Tall buildings were scattered amongst the great metropolis were they were flying over. Lance saw varying architecture styles, paved streets with fancy holographic stoplights, lamp posts, and most of the buildings had brick incorporated into their design or structure.

"So this is Vale," Lance nearly whispered.

"I know, it's amazing," Kai replied.

Their conversation was cut off by the sounds of a static crackle.

"We'll be reaching our destination soon. Buckle up and I hope that your flight was an enjoyable one," The pilot's tinny voice said through the intercom.


The aircraft touched down on a small landing pad on the main port. The pilot informed them that their luggage would be sent straight to Beacon and not to worry. Once informed, they disembarked the craft, making their way to a gathering of future Beacon Academy students. The first thing that caught both of their attentions were the three large, white, and luxurious looking aircraft that seemed to be their transport to Beacon. They continued on, joining the throng of students.

As they walked Kaiser's eyes darted around studying every detail of their new surroundings, taking everything in. He continued this until someone caught his eye.

"Hey Lance check that guy out." Kaiser said pointing to a man standing a few feet away looking around as if he was lost.

He was on the tall side wearing a dark brown shirt and pants that had square pouches supported by multiple belts. He also had short and unkempt brown hair, but the thing that caught Kaiser's eyes weren't his clothes or the suitcase he had beside him. It was the large raven black wings with red stripes

"I've never seen a Faunus like him before." Kaiser remarked as he walked over to the man looking at him curiously.

"Yeah, it's not every day you see somebody with wings. That's a rare trait," Lance said, neglecting to notice Kai waking off. He looked over at him wandering off. Lance sighed and began walking, trying to catch up as nonchalantly as he could.

Kai walked up to the stranger, who gave him a strange look.

"Can I help you?" He said, his voice softer, but was low with a surprising amount of bass.

"Um no sorry, it's just I'm amazed. I never saw a Faunus like you before!" Kai said excitedly.

Lance sighed walking up to Kai and the stranger.

"Sorry about him, he can get easily excited at times."

The stranger looked them over, curiosity and annoyance written on his face.

"That's okay?" The tone of his voice matched his expression

"So are you attending Beacon as well?" Kai asked.

"Uhm, yeah…" the Faunus shifted in place, "What're your names?"

"My name is Lance Azure."

"Kaiser Forrester."

"My name is Brock Falren. You two are," he trailed off, spending a moment to search for the right word and cocking his head, "Strange,"

"We get that at times," Kai looked off to see crowds of students shuffling into the massive ships, "I think that they're beginning the boarding process so we should get going," Kai turned, making his way towards the airships with Lance following suit shortly after.

Brock paused, looking left then right and down to his suitcase. A moment passed before nodding to them and picked up his luggage, following after Kai and Lance.

They climbed the ramp up the airship with their future classmates and soon their footfalls fell upon a fine red carpet. The interior was sleek and reminiscent of a fancy home rather than an airship. Large windows ran along the side of the craft, hologram televisions played a news channel, while there were many long benches in the center of the long and spacious area.

Lance gazed about the entire space in awe.

"I didn't know what to expect, but this wasn't it."

"No kidding," Kai walked over to the large glass window, "this is pretty extravagant."

Lance joined him over at the window, Brock a few paces away from them. They watched the take-off process, looking at the view that was Vale. Soon enough, they flew over a ridge side lake near a forest. Atop that ridge were white spires and buildings with a central tower that had green glowing orbs or lights within the tower. The sight amazed not only Lance and Kaiser, but all of the students seemed to flock to the windows to gaze upon this picturesque scene.


There you have it everyone; i hope you all enjoy the chapter and the story so far. Thank you all for reading and please let us know your thoughts. I hope you all are looking forward to the next chapter. Til then have a good one everyone.