Chapter 3

Alice

*drip*

The sound of a single drop of water falling down and onto the floor pulls me out of my hazy daydream. Focusing my eyes, I realize that I am in a very familiar place; one that is outside the realm of reality. Looking around, I am greeted by this world's usual scenery: both of Remnant's moons in a sky bright with twilight, what looks like a thin layer of water which covers the ground as far as I can see and a single tree nearby. I stretch my arms out behind my head, the quiet poop of my joints being accompanied by a flash of lightning and a roar of thunder off in the distance. I always seem to forget the true nature of this world when I occasionally wander here. The nature that it is a reflection of my inner self, as looking down into the perfect mirror that is the water on the floor and seeing myself with dead, empty eyes and surrounded by a malice-filled aura always proves this truth to me.

Ignoring my darkness, I walk over to the lone tree in the distance. My feet seem to glide over the water, not causing a single ripple to shatter the reflection of the star-filled sky. What does cause the occasional ripples are the small droplets of water that fall from the sky. I make it over to the trunk of the young tree, noting the small amount of growth that the grey trunk made as well as the lengthening of the branches that hold dark leaves. I lay down on the ground below the tree, resting my back on one of the roots and my head on the trunk. I close my eyes and appreciate the relaxing wind that gently flows through this peaceful world. I remind myself of just how far I've come, changing from the endless maelstrom and tidal waves, that existed in the past, to the clear sky and occasional drop of water of the present.

As nice as it is to be here, I remember what I was doing before I visited here. I'm actually on my way to Beacon currently and, being bored by the long flight, ended up drifting away from reality. I sigh. I figure I really should be getting back as I can hear the faint report of a nearby television. Something about one Roman Torchwick... Oh well. I bite my lip and wait for the sensation of blood to bring me back to my senses.

I blink once and my peaceful relaxations are clashed against the interior of the Dust-powered cruiser I'm currently in. The assorted "oohs" and "aahs" of the students that have never seen Vale from above before cements my mental place in reality. An announcement sounds from the loudspeaker that we'll be at Beacon in about five minutes. This is where I decide to take my leave from the rest of the passengers and I make my way to the other side of the ship, where our equipment is located. I make sure to take light, reserved steps to help compensate for the missing 50 pounds of equipment that would usually be strapped to each of my legs. I locate my Boxes and attach them to the two identical bands of heavily-reinforced leather, each with a piece of metal that looked like the socket of a joint, that are wrapped around my thigh.

I had managed to find my solution to keeping my ever-active Aura in check during my time as a merc in Vale. At first, it seemed the wrappings around both my arms, enhanced by the Suppression Glyphs that were etched into my forearms and the actual Seal I managed to stitch into the inside of my trench coat over my back, would be enough to keep my Aura at bay. And it did, for the most part, do its job, but like most Seals it wasn't absolute. I noticed the small amounts of Aura working its way through my body every now and then but while the average sell-sword didn't have ability to notice something as small as this, I would be spending the next four years with teens that were at least adapt with understanding Aura. Considering that most of my "classmates" were pubescent eager to prove themselves against something with more backbone than the average Grimm, I basically left a wolf pack and wandered into an Ursa den. Except I had shown up right after winter hibernation and they were hungry.

This is, of course, where my Boxes come into play. The magnetic "joints" that connected them to me allowed for the rather discrete utilization of the trickles of Aura that escaped me. The metal absorbed the electricity which it then used to power the equipment when needed. The power could be used, for example, to power the electric transceiver that I had implemented into each of the Heavy Barrel Adaptive Rifles that were hidden in the tops of the Boxes save for the barrel, naturally.

After checking to make sure none of my equipment was damaged during the flight, I adjust the Boxes so that the handles of all four blades are pointed up. This allows me to fit my coat over the over-sized sheaths, keeping them out of sight. With my training weights back where they should be, I prepare to depart seeing as the ship is beginning its final approach.

*CRASH*

I spin around on my heel to see what caused the massive commotion behind me. I see a man that is dressed like a butler, a young woman who might as well have been the polar opposite of myself and a large black case that once held several vials of Dust. It now only held three vials, seeing as the remaining were scattered over the floor in front of me. The girl in white is in the middle of a verbal assault against who I can assume is her butler, considering how he's just standing there with his head held down in shame, as I casually walk over to the vials. Checking each one for cracks, I grab a few of them in my hands and walk over to the case on the ground. I place the vials on the floor and pick up the case, placing it next to the vials.

"You use standard Dust sorting protocol, right?" I ask.

The girl looks at me, her face contorting between anger and confusion, "Excuse me?"

"I'll take that as a yes, Ms. Schnee" I say. I put the rest of the vials in the case and close it.

Weiss is still just standing there, attempting to come up with something to respond to my actions. "Just what do you thing you're doing?"

The butler attempts to pick up the case and move it back onto the trolley but considering how badly he's shaking, I grab the case and move it myself.

"I understand that you're probably used to being around people that you know but in a place like this," I stand up and look directly into her eyes, "you really shouldn't treat people like this considering you don't know what any one person is capable of".

"I know enough about those I interact with!" Weiss says this with an air of confidence but I can hear the panic seeping through.

I grin at her, "Oh really? Then who am I?"

Weiss' composure nearly cracks. "I'm not just going to stand here while some commoner goes ahead and lectures me!"

Commoner? Phff. I barely manage to stifle my laugh. If only I was.

"Lecture? Nah, try something along the lines of a life lesson" I say, turning around and walking away. "Take it or leave it"

Weiss Schnee. Not exactly the pride of the human race but her family is up there. Being the heiress of the largest Dust corporation in Remnant probably didn't help her already less than saintly heart, but its not like there isn't a chance of her improving. After all, not condemning people for the cards they were dealt was what allowed me to break out of my old assassin ways. Specifically, not condemning Weiss was what changed me. While my doubts and, more so, regrets about my actions were there already, it was looking through the file of the person who was to be my next target that was my final straw against the Dusk.

I exit the ship and begin to walk into Beacon. I slip around the crowd of students, most of them with their mouths agape from the view. The research I had already done didn't quite do the place justice but I manage to keep my jaw on my face.

It takes all of a minute for me to realize just how ridiculously out of place I am seeing as almost all the other girls are clustered in groups, either chatting away, comparing outfits or drooling at some of the guys. I seem to stick out like a sore thumb with my dark clothes where as almost everyone around me are strutting around in brightly colored threads.

Orientation is going to be starting soon but not quick enough for me to just stand around by myself.

*BOOM*

The explosion from somewhere behind me is loud enough to make every other freshman almost jump out of their shoes. The only other person to not flinch was someone I barely got a glimpse of: a guy with silvery hair. Our eyes meet for a second but I turned and used the confusion of the crowd to walk away.


Daniel

It had only been for a brief moment, but it was long enough. The look in her eyes was the same as some veteran soldiers I've met in my time. Throw in the fact that she was the only other person in the crowd to not flinch from the small explosion that came from the landing area and I could tell that whoever that girl was, she had years of experience fighting with whatever weapons she had hidden under that coat. I file a mental note to watch out for her and walk off to where orientation should begin shortly.


"Sir, looks like Command's prediction was correct. I've got visual confirmation on the target"

"Confirmation on Zeus?"

"Correct, Zeus is right where our informants said she'd be going"

"Roger radioing it in now, standby" "This is Recon team 3 to Base with visual confirmation Zeus, I repeat visual confirmation on Zeus, over"

"Solid copy Recon team, hold position until further orders, out"


A/N: I apologize for how slow this story has been progressing but things will be taking off sooner rather than later. Feel free to review and give me feedback.