The entire world was consumed in fire and darkness, or at least that's what Cinder thought as she looked down from her vantage point from a building standing high above the streets of Vale. The city appeared to be burning, and roaming the streets were armies of shadowy beings that killed whatever was unlucky enough to cross their paths. This scene should have been horrifying to her, but she couldn't help but feel the unnatural smile on her face as she viewed it. Destruction and death seemed to own the entire city, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. Cinder stepped off the building and slowly fell down to the ground, landing softly among the chaos and watching as the monsters turned and paused as she walked passed them. They knew who she was, the power she held, and they were her weapons now. She passed by mounds of dead bodies which were set aflame by her very presence. Finally she found herself in front of a window, staring into the reflection and finding that she didn't look like herself, instead she looked like the woman who had killed both of her parents, Ruby Rose. A laugh escaped her mouth and a massive pair of red eyes filled her mind until she was shocked out of her sleep by a sudden push.

"Come on Cinder, wake up!" Emerald pushed her arm again, trying to wake her up. "We are going to be late!"

Cinder slowly got up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, trying to banish the nightmare from her mind. It must have been a holdover from the news Emerald dropped on her last night. Yeah, simple as that. At least she hoped it was as simple as that. Cinder yawned and grabbed the bottle of water she had put next to her and remembered the boy she had met last night. Two people in a single day that she had met and had gotten along with, the very idea of it was kind of exciting if she were being honest. She turned toward Emerald and noticed her eyes trailing a few of the guys as they woke up and decided to keep that little encounter to herself though. Emerald could be great, but also a massive pain in the butt.

The two of them got up and went toward the bathroom with their change of clothes in hand, taking quick but cold showers and changing into their battle gear. "So, I hear the teams are getting picked today," Emerald looked at Cinder as the two were walking out of the bathroom. "Nervous?"

Cinder shook her head. "No, I don't think so." If she had been asked yesterday, the answer would have been a loud yes, but after meeting people and talking to them, she felt like even if she didn't get teamed up with Emerald that she could survive.

A smile formed on Emerald's face and she gave her friend a hug. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast, apparently Beacon has some of the best food on the planet!"

Cinder nodded and walked with her friend toward the mess hall.

Ruby tapped her foot impatiently as she stood next to the airship they would be using to deliver the massive cage to the Emerald Forest. It was a special model that had been made for stealth, unable to be picked up on any form of radar and with the ability to cloak itself from things within a certain distance from itself. A true piece of art developed by the geniuses that used to work for the Schnee Corporation. Of course when the company had been acquired by a new CEO who didn't find much use in it -after all, it couldn't carry much in the way of weapons with the stealth system aboard- and since Grimm could detect a human's aura without needing to see the thing in front of them, the entire invention was rendered pointless in Torchwick Company's mind. No, instead they just continued to develop their battle drones and new forms of Dust. Seemed a shame to Ruby. Given a bit more time, you could at least load up the ship with explosives and invisibly ram it into an enemy flagship and take it out in a second. But since there was only one of them, it was doubtful that Weiss would let her just use it in the fun ways that existed only in her mind.

"So I know Weiss is the person who supplies us with money and weapons and stuff, but does that really excuse her for being ten minutes late?" Yang complained as she ran a brush through her long mane of blonde hair. "I mean honestly, I am itching to watch some chaos but instead all I can do is…" she winced as the brush caught on a snag. "Son of a—"

"I hate to say I agree with Yang, but her timing is rather insulting," Blake said from the top of the airship. "It's especially surprising that you aren't angrier about this," she said, directing her words at Ruby.

Ruby raised an eyebrow at the leader of the Black Fang. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked indignantly.

"You once caved in a man's skull with a tea kettle because you said he had let it go cold, and then you poured the steaming hot water on his face," Yang pointed out, enjoying getting off the occasional jab at her sister/leader.

The most feared killer in Vale crossed her arms and huffed. "The water had gotten a bit cold; it could have been way hotter in fact!" she threw up her arms. "Are you trying to say that I have a soft spot?"

"Maybe it's a twisted form of love," Blake joked dryly, not believing for a second that the monster who could somehow kill people without batting an eyelash could actually love anyone.

"I will love carving you up if you keep talking," Ruby said before pulling her hood over her head.

Before the conversation could continue, the door to their temporary base opened and two figures walked in before the door slowly closed behind them. On one side was a person who was dressed in full armor and seemed to stand at an intimidating 6'5''. The armor was pitch black except for a white T that sat on the left shoulder blade. She also wore a helmet that covered her head and face, an orange visor blocking away anything from view. The other figure wore a pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress. On the back of the bolero was an ash colored snowflake, the symbol of the once proud Schnee family. And the person wearing it was none other than Weiss Schnee herself, former heiress and current crime lord and ally to Ruby Rose in all she did. She stopped a few feet away from them and raised her left arm straight up, opened her hand and pointed each finger straight. "Weiss Schnee." On the back of her hand was the symbol of her family etched in pure black.

Yang made the same movement. "Yang Xiao Long." With her gauntlets in their bracelet forms, the symbol on the back of Yang's hand was clear to see, a black dragon that spun itself in a circle, moments away from biting its tail.

Blake sighed and followed suit. "Blake Belladonna." On the back of her hand sat the symbol of the Black Fang, a wolf's head with an X running through it, a bright red that matched perfectly with the pitch black of the wolf's head.

Finally Ruby ended the chain by raising her own arm. On the back of her hand sat a symbol made of a skull wearing a crown atop its head with a wide grin. Where the eyes would normally be were two points of the darkest red that could ever have existed. "Ruby Rose." A cold wind went through the room despite the room's perfect temperature control and vents.

The four slowly lowered their hands and Weiss spoke. "Now that that is out of the way, we get to business," she snapped and the various workers sprang to life, doing their final checks to make sure all of the preparations were ready. "Run me through the plan one last time," Weiss demanded, looking toward Ruby.

The slightly younger woman rolled her eyes and gave a shake of her head. "I swear I have repeated this like a hundred times," she cleared her throat before speaking. "We release Mega Oozaru—"

"What?" Weiss asked, clearly confused.

"Her name for the Grimm," Yang and Blake said with an almost perfect harmony.

"You mean the Pitch Affe?" Weiss asked.

"Mega Oozaru," Ruby continued with a tone of annoyance coming to her voice. "To slaughter the new students, forcing the teachers to step in to fight the S-class Grimm in order to prevent it from murdering all of the precious little things," she giggled behind her hand before going back into her serious mode. "From there Blake takes over."

She nodded and stepped forward. "From there me and a small army of Black Fang members—"

"And me," Yang interrupted, pointing toward herself with a rather cocky grin.

"…and Yang will attack the school and acquire the sword and proceed to destroy as much property as we can before making an escape on the stealth ship, striking a blow against our enemies and bringing us one step closer toward our ultimate goal," she didn't feel the need to speak their goal, it was something they all desired.

"I still don't see why you don't just let my people take care of this," the person in the armor spoke finally, and with a feminine sounding voice. "No offense to your people Blake, but the Hunter Slayers are fully equipped to take down Hunters, even on their home territory."

Blake nodded to this. "Normally I would agree, after all sacrificing a few human lives doesn't bother me that much," no one in the room reacted to her words, it was something they had known already. "But your people… well…"

"Most of them are really dumb… like… really, really dumb," Yang said, not able to accurately describe how she thought of the group.

"You and yours are better suited for single target hunts or large battlefields where you can cause as much chaos as you want, we want a scalpel for this mission. You know what I mean Alli—" before Ruby could complete her words the person in the arm had leapt forward, placing a blade with a number of small saw-like blades around it against her neck.

"Don't. Call. Me. That." A number of clicks rang out from around the hideout as every person in the room aimed a weapon at the armored woman.

Ruby for her part didn't even seem mildly worried by the blade being pressed against her throat, or the threats being made against her life. She seemed more bored than anything else. "If I call you Tex will you let me keep talking?"

The armored woman held position for a few moments before stepping back and sheathing the blade back into a slot within her armored leg, making it look like it had vanished. Without a word, she stepped back to Weiss and resumed her silence.

"The plan seems fine," Weiss said finally, watching as everyone in the room went back about their business, putting their weapons back into their holsters.

"It should, it's the same exact one you approved back when I first pitched the idea," Ruby sighed a bit before beginning to cough violently into her hand for a few moments, causing Yang to flash over to her side and place a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry… bringing the S-class under my full control was straining."

Weiss nodded a bit at that, knowing that Ruby was already doing the impossible. One of the objects by itself was supposed to be strong enough to destroy a human's soul just by using it one time, yet Ruby was actively using two of them for long stretches of time and still engaging in dangerous activity. "What did the doctor say?"

Ruby laughed a bit and stood up straight once more. "Same thing as before, using the two artifacts will slowly eat away at me until there is nothing left, and that only all three together might have a chance to stabilize the power."

"Right, all factors approved then. I will see you three once it's completed and we have the keys to the kingdom in our hands," Weiss turned away and made her way toward the exit, the armored woman known only as Tex following closely behind.

Ruby walked into the stealth airship and took a seat, looking idly at the ring on her hand. The deeper she looked into the black jewel, the more she felt herself slip away into darkness, and the more the voice in her head rose in volume.

Soon.

Cinder put a hand on her stomach and pushed the food away from her with a content sigh. "I will admit that even Qrow's birthday breakfasts are a bit bland compared to what Beacon's staff can make," she quickly turned toward Emerald and raised a finger toward her. "And if you tell anyone I said that, I will tell your parents about the 'field trip' incident."

Emerald raised her hands in front of her. "Hey, hey, I am not going to tell anyone and you are going to just forget that," she tapped Cinder's forehead. "Forget touch!"

Cinder raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Really?"

She shrugged. "Worth a shot. Anyway, let's get our gear before we are late."

The two of them got up and moved toward the lockers where they had been asked to store their weapons and other equipment the previous night. Emerald reclaimed her guns and put them into the waiting holsters on her back. While she was doing that, Cinder pulled out a Burn crystal that the old man whose shop she had saved had given her for free after her fight. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, drawing the energy from the crystal into her Aura, summoning the two forces into one. Once it was done, the crystal was left grey and dead, and quickly dissolved into dust and blew away, fading from existence.

While the two of them got equipped, another pair were making their way down the hallways. Jaune and the girl he had met yesterday after Cinder and Emerald had ditched him, the girl named Pyrrha. The two of them had spent some time hanging out the previous day, discussing stuff and kind of just passing the time. Pyrrha had been surprised that there was a person at the school who knew nothing about her championship victories or minor fame outside of a cereal box, and Jaune was equally surprised that there was another person willing to listen to him being an awkward idiot and discussing his mostly boring life from back home.

"So, are you nervous?" Jaune asked as they made their way through the lockers, looking down at the piece of paper he had written his locker number on. When he had lamented that he would probably forget it, Pyrrha had written it down for him on a spare piece of paper she had on her.

Pyrrha took a moment to think on that question. "Well I don't know if nervous is quite the right word, but it comes close enough I think."

Before Jaune could ask what that meant, the two were suddenly separated by another figure that made its way between them; Roman Torchwick in his white suit and hat atop his head. "Morning to you Pyrrha, how are you surviving the waves of inadequacy this place has to offer?"

"I am quite fine Roman, what about yourself?" Pyrrha spoke in the measured tone of someone who was used to dealing with someone she didn't really quite like.

Roman smiled and gave a nod. "Great to hear. So I was thinking that when it came time for team selection that you and I should make a great pair. After all, with my brains and your skill we would easily make the strongest team."

"Oh… uh…" the first word that came to Pyrrha's mind was no, but she didn't want to hurt the guys feelings. "I suppose we will have to see how the dice roll themselves."

"Hey," Jaune finally spoke as he got a good look at Roman. "Are you Roman Torchwick?"

The young man in the bowler hat finally turned to look at Jaune and gave a rather cocky grin. "It's amazing, even among the unwashed masses my name is legend."

Jaune blinked and looked at himself, thinking that he had done a perfectly fine job of washing himself off this morning. Sure he didn't have time to exactly soak under the water but a guy couldn't do everything in just a few minutes no matter how hard they tried. "Well uh… it's more that I heard you kind of took a swim in the fountain last night."

Roman's smile vanished and his eye twitched dangerous. "If you two will excuse me," he walked off mumbling something about annoying woman and burning something down.

"He seemed…" Jaune looked for a word. "Uh… I got nothing," he said, scratching the back of his head. He knew that his mom had always told him to not say anything if it wasn't something nice, so he was just going to stay silent on that one.

Pyrrha laughed and turned the corner. "My locker is this way, I will see you out in the field," she disappeared with a shake of her head, unable to believe that someone had actually managed to silence the ever infamous Roman Torchwick and his bragging ways.

Emerald turned and watched as the two separated and nudged Cinder. "Looks like someone has their eyes set on your boy toy, better make a move quick," her words were teasing and lighthearted, not really meaning anything by them.

Cinder shook her head but couldn't deny a pang of odd emotion in her chest at Emerald's words. Maybe it was her just feeling possessive over someone she considered a new friend, after all she could get rather annoyed when Emerald's special someone of the week starting eating up their time. Despite that though, she put on a smile and walked over. "Hey Jaune."

"Got ditched?" Emerald asked playfully. "Young love is so cruel," she gave a dramatic sigh and laughed afterward.

Jaune's face lit up and he quickly shook his head. "No, no, no, no, it's nothing like that."

Emerald laughed and nodded. "Sure it ain't lover boy. Anyway, grab your stuff and let's go!"

Cinder nudged Emerald in the ribs. "Ignore her, well other than the equipment thing; we really do need to get going if we don't want to be late."

Jaune nodded and grabbed his equipment, walking with the two young women out toward the field where they were told to meet.

After another few minutes, all of the new students had arrived at the base of a rather steep cliff, lined up shoulder to shoulder and looking down upon the forest that sat at the bottom of the cliff. Ozpin and Goodwitch slowly walked down the line of students before Ozpin finally spoke. "Today begins the first step in your journey toward being Hunters, the day when you either rise or fall," he turned to look out toward the forest, taking a drink from his mug. "The forest bellow is filled with the creatures of Grimm, and at its center lies a temple holding a number of treasures. You and your partner will collect a single artifact and bring it back here. Oh yes," he turned back toward the students. "As soon as your feet touch either ground or nature this rule comes into effect, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years of your training here at Beacon."

A number of gasps made their way through the line. Cinder wanted to gasp, but couldn't feel any part of herself as a cold sense of dread ran through her body. At first it just felt like the dread of being forced to partner with someone she didn't know, but it somehow felt deeper than that. Like there was a storm on the horizon that was just waiting to break.

"While you will be monitored throughout the exercise, no teacher will come to your aid unless your death is assured, but if a member of the school staff saves you, then you will be asked to leave Beacon and never return," his words were sharp but honest, telling the students the fact that he was sure none of them wanted to imagine. If one couldn't survive a simple exercise like this then they would never make it through anything. "You will have to work out your own landing strategy, by the way," he raised his mug. "The test begins now." The ground beneath the students shot forward all at once and launched each one of them into the sky. One loud scream seemed to break the air and despite his years of training and disciple Ozpin allowed himself a smile. He really did love this job.

Ruby looked down upon the ground of the forest through the monitors within the stealth ship and finally raised her hand. "Stop the ship." The airship paused its flight at her command and she drew in a deep breath. "Release the cage." The chains under the ship let go of the massive cage containing the S-class Grimm landing on the forest with a massive boom, like the sound of a bomb dropping. Within seconds, the cage was ripped apart and the massive shadowy figure was released into the forest.

"Today, chaos reigns," Ruby raised her hand and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them next they were bright red, the same as a Grimm's. "Let's get this party started!"

In the next chapter

Cinder and company find themselves in the first part of their entrance exam, making their landings and forming alliances as they do. However, with the massive beast that has been unleashed onto the forest by Ruby, all of their lives are put into even more danger. How will the students of Beacon survive a creature that even skilled Hunters have learned to fear?

Find out next time in A Light in the Dark chapter 5: Emerald Forest Part 1: Landing Flame

Thanks to everyone who reads this little story of mine. I would love to hear feedback from all of you and find out what I can do to make this story even better for you guys. Thanks for everything and don't forget to leave a review or comment.