DISCLAIMER: The first episode of Volume 4 for RWBY, which I don't own at all, was awesome!

Midterms got me freaking dead inside, especially that Spanish one, ugh, but that's not the point! New chapter, and this one is the longest one I have written to this point, being over 7000 words... to bad it's not 9000, you know what I mean ;). Btw, the title of this chapter is a song reference to a band called Evans Blue, and they're a really good, but really obscure rock/metal band, if you enjoy music of that genre, you'll like them, and there will be plenty of references to their music in this story I assure you, because a lot of their songs fit the story and characters pretty well!

I actually kind of have really mixed feeling about this one because there are a couple fight scenes, and I really don't think they were that good, but I will let you guys be the judge of that, because what do I know, I don't really think much of my work is that great anyway, and that's why I don't like to judge my own stuff. So without further ado, read on!


Olivia and Silver had been walking in total silence since their last conversation, if you really want to call it that, and Silver's curiosity had not let up, she was dying to know what had happened to the girl to make her look at faunas the way she does.

But she also knew that Olivia wasn't going to give up whatever she was hiding, and Silver figured that she knew why, because if something really happened, it must have been pretty bad, and Silver understood that, after all, she herself is no stranger to that.

Silver could think of several things that might've happened, but she didn't want to speculate, she just wanted to know straight up, but until Olivia was willing to tell her, and despite her undying want to know, she wasn't going to push, because something told her that Olivia isn't exactly the type of person you'd want to push for anything.

"So… what about you?" Olivia's sudden question was enough to derail Silver's train of thought, and it also caught her slightly by surprise.

"… what makes you think you can ask that?" Silver asked back, seeming to copy what Olivia had said earlier when she had first asked about her past.

She saw the orange haired girl roll her blue eyes, then shoot her an unamused look, before speaking in an irritated voice. "Funny. I'm just wondering since you haven't spoken about your past at all."

Silver's face and voice dawned their own look and tone of cross at those words. "Well gee, that makes two of us then. You know, I wasn't completely copying you with that, I'm genuinely inquisitive on why I should tell you anything about myself when you said yourself that you weren't going to tell me anything."

It took Silver a moment to realize that her voice about halfway through that had gone a little hostile, rancorous, and even a bit accusatory, which wasn't what she wanted, and she hoped that Olivia wouldn't get to upset and lash out at her for all that she had just practically spit out at her.

However, to Silver's surprise, Olivia seemed to be seemingly unfazed to all that Silver had said, but instead she hummed a bit, almost making it seem she was almost agreeing with her.

"I guess you shouldn't really, that would be unfair to you, I was just wondering if you maybe were a little more open with your past than I am."

"So you really are aware of you clandestine way then, huh?"

"Of course I am, I keep it that way on purpose. I mean, there are some things people don't need to know about me, and I'm sure the same goes for you."

And she was correct in that way, there were some things that Silver didn't need, nor want to tell anybody, and things she had done in the past that she didn't want to reveal.

Before she could get lost in her thoughts again though, Olivia spoke once more. "You don't need to tell me anything just as I don't need to tell you anything if you choose, your decision, I won't beg you for any of it."

Silver thought about it, and while she didn't really want to say anything about her past, she also felt that if she didn't say anything, they would never get anywhere in terms of getting used to, and familiar with each other if nothing at all was said.

But before the silver haired girl could say anything, Olivia stopped suddenly in front of her, and Silver looked around to see what had made her come to a stop, and it was actually what they were sent to find; the temple.

'What amazing timing.' Silver thought sarcastically.

The two girls remained stopped in the path to take in the sight of their supposed objective, which was a very broken down and dilapidated looking thing that they guessed was the temple they were looking for.

After a few seconds, Olivia spoke to get them back on track. "Well, I guess we're at the temple… or something like that. Let's get the relics and head back to the cliff side and get this over with."

As Olivia walked forward to the temple, Silver stayed behind a little bit, feeling disappointed that she couldn't get a bit more interaction with Olivia out of the way, but alas, so it goes. She then sighed and followed Olivia to retrieve the relics.

They walked up to the temple and found said relics on some pedestals, but some of the them had nothing on them, about half to be more specific.

"I'm guessing that we're not the first ones here, judging by some of the pedestals being empty." Silver said. "Although I find it weird that there aren't that many of them, I guess that means that only so many people could get them and complete initiation. Pfft, sucks to be them then."

Olivia only hummed and nodded in agreement, but did not say anything, and only walked up to one of the pedestals, and gave a questioning look.

"… gun shells?" She asked in a slightly confused way. (Okay, I couldn't think of anything better for the relics, but at least it's different then the actual show, but it's also to bad that I suck at creativity.)

Silver chuckled as she got up to one of the pedestals. "Well, at least it's different, I'll give them that, I guess. Let's just get them and get the hell out of here."

Olivia only nodded again, and picked up her own shell, while Silver did the same. They were about to turn back into the forest and go back to the cliff, but they were stopped by a voice shouting at them from the edge of the forest leading to the temple.

"Silver, wait!"

SMOKSMOKSMOKSMOKSMOKSMOKSMOK

Koel and Marriott had been walking in some direction Koel said was north, and Marriott didn't really have any reason to doubt because, as previously stated, she has terrible sense of direction.

Since they had found and partnered up with each other, Marriott had tried to create a bit of familiarity between them by asking random questions to Koel about herself and Silver, but she hadn't really said much otherwise, Koel didn't seem to be the most… social person around.

But something she had noticed about the raven haired faunas was that ever since she told her that she was adopted by Silver's family, every once in a while she would look off into the distance, a pensive look clear on her complexion.

And not only that, but the last time she did this, she looked especially troubled by whatever she thought of, if the grimace she gave afterwards was any indication.

Marriott was, by this point, extremely curious, and that still was probably still an understatement, and she desperately wanted to ask what it was that was troubling her, but she also didn't want to nose into any business that wasn't hers, but in the end, she couldn't hold that inquisitiveness back.

"May I ask what is troubling you so much?"

Koel jumped a little as Marriott's voice cut into her thoughts suddenly, and she looked back at Marriott with those wide gray eyes of hers.

"U-um, it's n-nothing, please, don't worry about it." She stuttered out in a not-so-convincing voice.

"Come on, you can tell me. I'm your new partner, I want you to know you can trust me."

Koel sighed. "It's not like I don't… trust you. It's just… I think it's something that is better off being explained by Silver."

Even though Marriott didn't doubt that, because it did seem like the two adoptive sisters had things to hide, Marriott knew there was more to this issue, and now that she has brought it up, and also gotten Koel to talk, she was going to find out what it was.

"That's not all that you're thinking about right? Come on, just tell me, I promise I won't judge you for it."

Koel looked really hesitant to say anything, like she really was scared of saying whatever it is that Marriott was asking for, and that's not at all what the tall redhead wants, she wants Koel to feel comfortable and safe when she needed to say something. How were they supposed to work with each other long-term if she wasn't comfortable with her at all?

Koel didn't respond at all for a whole minute, but Marriott was patient and let her collect her thoughts.

But finally, Koel spoke, albeit very quietly. "… it's about my family."

The faunas had said that so softly that Marriott had to strain to hear her, but she was still able to make out the words.

"What do you mean "your family", like, which one?"

"I mean the family I was born with, before I was adopted."

This confused Marriott a little. Why think about that now of all times? "What about them exactly?"

Koel's face almost immediately took an expression of something akin to pain. "It's… hard to explain for me." Her voice didn't fair much better than her expression.

This only served to make Marriott more curious, but she felt like if she would ask for anything more, she would be pushing it, hell, she was probably pushing it a long time ago.

"You don't have to tell me anything more, not if it brings up any bad memories or anything of the sort, we can just leave it at that." Marriott said quickly.

"Memories." Marriott heard Koel say in a distrait whisper before her tone picked up to speak once more.. "No, I can tell you, after all, you already told me about you and your life, it's only far that you know about mine… or rather, lack there of."

Marriott didn't miss the slight crack in Koel's voice at the end.

Koel closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then started to explain in a bit of a strained voice.

"I don't really remember anything from when I was really young. All I remember is this one day, when I was eight, I woke up in… like, an adoption house of some kind. I had no idea where I was, why I was there, and how I got there, all I did know was that I WAS there, I knew my name, my age and that I was a faunas, but beyond that, absolutely nothing."

Koel paused to take a slightly shuttering breath before she continued. "The people that worked there were nice enough to let me stay until someone, preferably my real parents, would come and take me with them, and they asked me questions about them, what they looked like, what their names were, where we were from, etc. But no matter how hard I tried, or how many times they would ask, I couldn't remember anything about them at all."

"I was confused and I didn't know what to do. I probably cried at least once every couple of days because I was so scared. And then about half a year after I woke up there, Silver's parents showed up and took me in, and the rest is history I guess."

Koel sighed heavily, and said the next part in a more distant tone. "At first, I was really wanting to find out about my real family, and why I couldn't remember them, but then I started noticing these scars I had on my arms and legs, but I didn't really pay them any mind until just a few years ago, and I started considering where I might have gotten them from, and from who. Now I'm not sure if I want to know anything about my past at all."

Koel sighed again, this one audibly shuttering, and she could feel the pinpricks in the corners of her eyes.

Marriott meanwhile was speechless, wide-eyed, and mouth slightly ajar in disbelief at what she had just heard from her new partner, and she was also bewildered as to how Koel might've lost her memory of when she was a little kid. But most of all, she felt incredibly terrible for her, now that she knew what she had gone though.

'No wonder she's so quiet.' Marriott thought to herself, sympathizing for the poor girl in front of her.

The Vacuo native looked at Koel and noticed she seemed to practically be on the verge of breaking down, and at this sight, Marriott's big sister instincts kicked in. She quickened her pace so that she was walking directly next to Koel, and once she was, she wrapped her left arm around the faunas in what she was hoping to be a comforting embrace for the normally introverted girl.

The faunas heavily flinched at the sudden contact, and Marriott thought she was going to pull away from her, but after the flinching, she made no move to break away from the embrace. No, instead she shakily asked a mere question.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"… why are you doing it?" Koel asked flatly.

Marriott then spoke in the most caring tone she could. "Because I don't want you to be suffering over this, and I want to show you I can care about you, even if we hardly know each other. Is that okay?"

Koel was amazed that this girl, this HUMAN, someone her adoptive parents taught her to be careful around, was saying she wants to show her that she can care about her, even if they've only known each other for a very short amount of time.

"U-um, yeah, I-I guess." Koel assured with a heavy blush.

Marriott smiled warmly and let go of Koel. "Good, because that won't be the last time I'll do this."

Koel merely nodded, the blush still a bright red on her face, but a small smile starting to accompany it as they walked further down the path, now in renewed silence, but a comfortable one.

As they walked for a few more minutes, they started to worry that they weren't going the right way, but then Koel's sensitive hearing caught some noises from just up ahead, and as they got closer, Koel could make a voice, a feminine voice to be exact, and one that sounded very familiar to her at that.

They kept walking and they soon came upon the source of the voice, and immediately, Koel gave a face splitting smile.

"Silver, wait!"

SMOKSMOKSMOKSMOKSMOKSMOKSMOK

Silver and Olivia looked over to the source of the shout, and Silver smiled.

"Hey Koel!" She shouted back at her adoptive sister, as Koel started jogging over to them.

While Silver still had the smile on her face, Olivia's eyes predictably narrowed at the sight of the other faunas, and then something struck her.

'Does this mean that the team I'm on is going to have TWO faunas?' She thought as a sudden feeling of uneasiness took her over.

Silver and Koel quickly hugged and started to catch up with each other on how their partners, and that led to Koel noticing Silver's partner, and her eyes slightly widened.

"U-um, Silver, isn't she the same girl… you know, from yesterday?" Koel asked nervously.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yes I am. Let's get this out of the way quickly, my name is Olivia, nice to meet you I guess." Olivia said in a quick but more-or-less emotionless voice.

Silver then rolled her eyes as Koel stuttered her greeting out. "I-I'm Koel."

Silver then looked behind her sister at the tall redhead. "I'm guessing you're Koel's partner? Your name is Marriott, right?"

Marriott smiled and nodded. "Yes I am. So is this the temple we were supposed to go to?"

"Yeah, we're supposed to get the relics that are on those pedestals." Silver answered

Koel and Marriott nodded as they went up to said pedestals and took their "relics".

"Gun shells? Seriously?" Marriott asked in the same tone Olivia used earlier, making Silver smirk and Olivia chuckle.

"Yeah, that was pretty much our reaction too." Silver said, her own chuckle coming to the surface.

"Well whatever, let's just get out of here, I want to get back to the-" Marriott said but then was cut off as growling sounded from the forest behind them, and as they looked behind them and found a sight they didn't want to see.

"T-that's lot of Grimm." Koel said.

Indeed, it was a lot, at least ten Beowolves, a few Ursa Minors. That didn't really get to them, but what did catch their eyes was what was in the back, towering above the rest of the Grimm: an Ursa Major.

"Oh how amazing this is." Silver said sarcastically, showing a rare case of intimidation, even if it was a small amount. "Alright everyone, get ready."

Olivia shot her a questioning look at the order. "What makes you think you're the leader here?"

Silver looked back at her with a soft glare. "First of all, I don't hear any of you taking that role," She looked back in front of her to the approaching Grimm. "Second, do you really think this is the best time to be asking questions?" And with that counter, she activated her wrist blades. "Now shut up, and get yourselves ready!"

Olivia opened her mouth to retort, but seeing the Grimm advancing towards them more, she sighed and stowed her rejoinder, and unsheathed her sword as Marriott activated her halberd, and Koel took out her daggers.

Marriott then walked up behind Silver. "So since you're taking the role of leader here, what's the plan?" She asked.

Silver looked back at her for a quick second. "Me and Olivia can take the Beowolves while you and Koel take the Ursa Minors, but whatever you do, do not go after the Major, we'll take that thing as a team. Once me and Olivia are done with the Beowolves, we'll help you two take out what you have left, or vice versa if you finish before we do. Got it?"

All three nodded, and they took their positions, Silver calling Olivia over to her so they could lead the Beolwolves away from Marriott and Koel, and after a few more seconds of waiting for the first move, a Beowolf jumped at them, and all hell broke loose.

Silver and Olivia successfully lured the Beowolves away from the other pair, while Marriott and Koel did the same with the Ursa's, but all of them made sure to steer themselves clear of the Major.

It didn't take long for Silver and Olivia to dispatch the Beowolves. To their mutual surprise, they found that their fighting styles mixed very well; Silver's was very strong and hard hitting, while Olivia's was more agility based, and they quickly found a rhythm in their attacks; Olivia distracts and tires out the Grimm, then Silver swoops in and delivers the finishing blows.

And once they got into this rhythm of attack, the Beolwoves stood virtually no chance in the end, and when they were over and done with, they turned their attention to the other pair.

Koel and Marriott worked very much like the other two, but their fighting styles were more diverse with each other. While Marriott fit the bill of being the powerhouse to a T, even more so than Silver, Koel was a lot more agile, and also a little faster than Olivia, so she could avoid, then strike fast, avoid, strike fast, rinse and repeat, and that made it perfect for her to weaken the Grimm to their breaking point, then have Marriott jump in and literally chop them down.

However, this also took them a little more time to complete, and since Ursa's are typically pretty sturdy in defense, so when Silver and Olivia were done with their part, there were still about two or three Ursa's when there were six to begin with.

But when Silver and Olivia got there, after running around the Major, trying to avoid it of course, the remaining Ursa's had no chance, not even knowing what had hit them when they were there.

When the Minor's were gone, Marriott laughed cheerily. "Damn, we make a great freaking team!" She exclaimed.

Silver chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we do." She then turned her attention over to the Major. "But this will be the true test of that."

Marriott smirked confidently. "And I'm willing to bet we'll pass this test."

"Is there a plan for this one Silver." Koel asked as they got ready to confront their biggest target yet.

Silver was silent for a couple seconds before she looked back at them with a smirk of her own. "Beat the shit out of it. Go at it with all you got."

Marriott then laughed wholeheartedly while Koel giggled, and Olivia rolled her eyes, trying to look annoyed, although her ensuing snicker betrayed her attempt.

They all turned back to the Major, ready to attack. "Alright, for real here. Koel, Olivia, you two go first and weaken it, hit it as much as you can, then me and Marriott will come in and finish it, got it?" Silver reported the real plan, and they nodded in conformation. "Alright, Koel, Olivia, go!"

As ordered, Koel and Olivia charged first, and as they did so, the Ursa stood up on its hind legs and reared itself back, and once it did that, they knew what it was going to do.

It briefly roared, then stomped strongly back into the ground, creating a shock wave that moved through the ground, and it moved straight for Koel and Olivia, but as it got to them, they quickly jumped out of the way of it, and they went at it from different sides, and it made the mistake of focusing only on Koel, completely disregarding the other.

It once again got up on its legs to stand upright and swipe at Koel with its claw, and as it did this, Koel jumped up and over it, swinging her daggers down on the back of its head, and as she landed on the other side of it, Olivia was directly behind it and she swung her sword at its back before it could turn around, but as Olivia was striking, the Ursa swung its arm out and struck her before she could block, knocking her down and slightly dazing her for a couple seconds, but she recovered quickly, and got back up, seeing Koel going back at the Ursa as she got up.

Koel quickly struck at the Ursa, her speed proving to be a little to much for it to defend against, and it desperately tried to throw her off by blindly swinging its arm, and it actually did make contact, a little harder than she had anticipated, and made her fly back a little, but before she could land, she pressed her palms into the ground and back flipped, and ultimately landed on a knee, and she then pressed the buttons on her daggers, and they transformed into their firearm forms, and she fired off a few shots to knock it back even further than she already had, and as she was firing, Olivia charged forward once again, and the Ursa, recovering from the shots fired from Koel, it tried to cuff her, but as it swung, she used her semblance and disappeared from its sight, then reappeared behind it, and struck rapidly at its back, making it stumble and fall forward.

And this is when Silver and Marriott saw their chance to finish it. "Alright Marriott, let's get it!"

Marriott flashed a smile that was probably the physical representation of confidence, and she nodded.

They rushed forward, Silver in front of Marriott, and just as the Ursa seemed to have recovered, Silver had already gotten to it, and she unleashed a flurry of powerful jabs with Azurewrath. Since she used wrist blades, she could fight like a brawler, but obviously much more dangerous, and this kind of style fit her perfectly, after all, she always enjoyed imposing her will in an old-fashioned fistfight, and she wasn't afraid to admit this, so she had plenty of practice.

After a series of powerful jabs, hooks, uppercuts, and maybe a few bullets thrown in there, she backed off and shouted out to Marriott. "Okay Marriott, finish it!"

Marriott, who had been holding back, letting Silver have her time, nodded determinedly, and broke for the Ursa, Maroonmite clutched tightly in her hand, and ready to do as ordered.

And it didn't take long, she hacked at it a few times, seemingly effortless, but she stopped for a quick second, then she let out a short cry as she let loose an extremely powerful side swing, and pretty much chopping the Ursa Major in half, finally letting it out of its misery.

Marriott waited to catch her breath, then burst out in joyful laughter again. "Oh gods, that was so amazing! We're gonna make the best team ever!"

"Well that has yet to be seen," Olivia said with the hints of a small smile. "But I'm sure we'll be tolerable at least."

Silver was the next to respond. "We'll find out soon enough, but for now, let's get back to the cliff."

Just as she was about to deactivate Azurewrath, Koel, who had been silent up to this point, spoke in an alert voice. "Silver… do you hear anything in the forest?"

This, needless to say, caught the attention of the other girls quite well, and confused Silver. "… should I? What do YOU hear?" She asked, starting to grow wary again.

Koel looked back into the forest. "It sounds… big, and like it's coming straight for us."

Silver narrowed her eyes, focused her cat ears, and listened closely, and sure enough, her sensitive hearing started to pick up what Koel was talking about. 'What the hell is that?'

Olivia and Marriott watched in mutual confusion. "What are you talking about? What's coming for us?" Marriott asked, clearly muddled.

Just as she asked this, the ground around them shook, and a few rocks went flying past them, and they looked over at the source, which they found to be a giant, golden stinger in the ground, and as they followed the stinger up the tail it seemed to be attached to, their hearts skipped a few beats.

"A Deathstalker!?" Silver cried in surprise, a feeling of rare intimidation starting to fill her.

"I wasn't expecting that of all things." Olivia said in a more controlled way, but feeling no less intimidated inside.

"Calm down, we can take this thing, I mean, look at all that we just did." Marriott said, trying to reassure them.

Koel, who was the closest to the Deathstalker when it appeared, started backing away from it slowly. "What do we do this time Silver?"

Silver collected her thoughts for a moment before answering. "Same plan as before; Olivia and Koel distract and weaken it, me and Marriott finish it."

Olivia glanced over at her in uncertainty. "Will that really work for this thing though? An Ursa Major is one thing, but this isn't exactly an Ursa."

"Ugh, I realize this, but we gotta try. Don't worry, me and Marriott will jump in if things start going wrong." Silver responded, just about as composed as she could be.

Olivia still looked very ambivalent, but nodded, knowing she didn't really have any time to argue.

"Alright," Silver took a deep breath." Go!"

Koel and Olivia once again charged first, Koel in front, but both of them not without some sort of hesitation. As they were rushing, the Deathstalker swung its stinger after it dislodged it from the ground. Koel jumped out of the way of it while Olivia stopped just short of it while Koel ran ahead, and the Deathstalker to swipe at her with its claws. She avoided all of the swipes and got to its exoskeleton and slashed at it a few times with her daggers, but after a few of these slashes, she noticed something was really off.

'Hold on… I'm not doing any kind of damage!' She realized, her eyes going wide.

Actually she had done a little bit, a few cuts here and there, but they weren't really hurting it, in fact, she was being more of an annoyance to it than a threat, so to get rid of this annoyance, it brought its stinger straight down, trying to impale her directly into the ground.

Koel jumped to the side to avoid it, and avoid it she did, but as she did, she saw its claw coming straight at her, but she saw this far too late, and it knocked her across the small clearing and into the base of a tree, back first, and not moving.

All three of the girls' eyes widened. Koel!" Silver yelled in urgency as she looked upon the fallen-for-now body of her older sister.

Olivia looked back at Silver with an exigent look in her eyes, and in her voice. "Silver, I swear, this isn't a good idea!" She shouted while slowly backing away from the just as slowly advancing Deathstalker.

Silver nodded quickly and shouted back. "I see this. C'mon Marriott!" She said as she gestured to Marriott to follow her.

Marriott nodded, and they ran up to Olivia's side. "Don't worry Olivia, we won't make you fight this thing alone." Silver reassured.

"Good, cause I wasn't going to fight it alone anyway, I would've let it follow me back to you." Olivia responded.

As the Deathstalker closed in on them, they got in their stances, ready to fend it off this time. "Fair enough I suppose. Ready?" Silver asked the other two around her as they nodded. "Then let's go!"

"That's gonna be your thing at Beacon when we're about to fight, won't it?" Marriott asked, providing a little bit of comic relief.

Silver for the most part ignored it though, and charged the giant Grimm, followed closely by the other two girls.

The Deathstalker once again tried to swing its stinger at them, and all of them either jumping out of they way, or if you're Silver, sliding directly under it, then it tried to bring its right claw right down on them, but again, they all avoided it.

They all tried attacking it all at once, Silver getting right up in its face and swinging Azurewrath at it, but she soon found what Koel's problem was, and she wasn't alone with said discovery.

"Guys, back off a little!" She commanded.

She jumped back from the Deathstalker, with Olivia and Marriott rapidly following.

"What the hell, we're not doing anything to it!" Marriott shouted as they dropped back from it.

"Yeah, all we're doing to it is giving it a bunch of miniscule cuts. What are we supposed to do to really damage it?" Olivia asked, then looking over to Silver. "Got any bright ideas, leader?"

Silver glanced at her briefly with a little annoyance in her eyes. "The only thing I can think of is just chip away at it until we find something about it that we can use to really get it."

Marriott looked at her in vagueness. "Are you sure? 'Cause if so, this is going to take a long damn time, and a lot of damage."

Silver looked at her with a raised eyebrow and responded. "Well, do either of you have a better idea? Because, believe me, I really would love to hear one." But no response came from the two addressed.

Silver sighed. "I guess not. Then come on, we gotta try here."

"That's what you said with your previous plan." Olivia said under her breath.

Silver didn't know if that was meant for her to hear, but whether it was or not, she still heard it, and she winced. "Just come on will ya?"

They rushed it again in hopes of actually doing something major to it, but hit after hit, slash after slash, hack after hack, and stab after stab, they just couldn't quite get through to it, and it was starting to quickly ware on them after a few minutes of this, and they were starting to get close to their limit.

They had just been knocked flat across into the middle of the clearing after being swiped by one of the Deathstalkers claws. They groaned as they sluggishly got up.

"Ugh, Silver seriously, something else needs to be done, we can't beat it like this." Olivia said, obvious fatigue and strain in her voice.

"I agree, we can't take much more of this." Marriott agreed, her breath a little labored.

Silver took a moment to catch her breath, before she looked back at the huge species of Grimm, her eyes narrowing as she tried her best to think of some sort of idea to take this damn thing out, but no matter what, she just couldn't come up with anything. Really, what were they supposed to do? This Deathstalker had taken everything they had on the nose, sometimes literally, and only has a few scratches as a result, so what the hell were they going to do to get to it?

She focused in on it, observing it for any possible sign of a weakness they could exploit. 'I would feel a lot better right now if Koel was awake.' She thought,

She briefly glanced at her fallen sister, then back at the Deathstalker, then suddenly, an idea came to her mind. 'Wait Koel's semblance is… that could work!'

"… Silver, you still here?" Marriott asked, and Silver looked up a them from her current kneeling position, and she could see the concern in their eyes.

Silver nodded her head with a new found fire in her eyes. "I have an idea, but," She looked at the body of her sister, still at the base of the tree she collided with. "I sorta need Koel a little more conscious for it. I really hate to tell you this, but… I need you two to distract it, while I wake up Koel, alright?"

They then looked at her in clear skepticism. "But we haven't been able to do ANYTHING to it, so how are we gonna distract it right now when we can't even hurt it a little?" Marriott asked.

Silver shook her head. "I don't need you to hurt it, or even try to, I just need you to run around it and keep it away from me and Koel while I wake her up, please tell me you can at least do that for me?"

Olivia and Marriott looked at each other, their doubt still clear, but they sighed and nodded their heads, knowing they couldn't think of some idea.

Silver then got up from her knee. "Alright then, hopefully we won't be to long. Once I get Koel up, I'll tell you what you'll need to do, but until then, just run around it, got it?" She asked, and they nodded once more. "Good, then let's go!"

They then ran, Olivia and Marriott straight at the Deathstalker, while Silver went to Koel, and urgently shook and spoke to her, trying desperately to wake her up. "Koel, come on sis, wake up, we need you, please!"

After a few nervous moments, she felt Koel stir, and heard her groan, and lastly saw her eyes lazily open. "Ugh… Silver?" She drawled as she slowly sat up.

"Koel come on, we don't have a lot of time, I have an idea to take out the Deathstalker, but I need you for it, so come on!"

Koel shook her head to clear the fog, and looked around quickly. "We're still fighting it? Alright, what do you need me to do?"

"I need you to use your semblance with me." Silver answered with a wink.

Koel immediately knew what she meant, and nodded, a smirk coming to the surface of her face.

"Olivia, Marriott, come here, quickly!" She shouted out to the other two that were currently doing all they could to not get crushed.

And they didn't need to be told twice, and they a little more than quickly ran over to the two faunas'. "Okay, you got her up, so what's the next part of your great plan?" Marriott asked, panting heavily.

Silver's smirk matched Koel's as she answered. "Alright, Koel's semblance is water okay, so she's going to make a trail of water and I need one of you to stand at the end of, right in front of the Deathstalker, so it will try to stab you with its stinger and get stuck in the ground, then I'll handle the rest of it from there. Now… which one of you is going to do it?

Olivia raised her hand. "I'll do it… but if I get killed because of this, you will be cursed for the rest of your life Silver."

Silver nodded, seemingly unfazed by the mock threat. "Just don't move to late or slow and you'll be fine. Now, let's finish it for real this time!"

Koel then used her semblance, and made the trail of water leading to the Deathstalker, coming up just short of it however, and Olivia went to the end of it, her worry still very present. 'I hope my reactions are really good enough for this, at least they better be.'

The Deathstalker slowly approached her, ready to finally get rid of one of these pesky girls at last, and as it got closer, it did exactly they wanted, and started to raise its stinger, and Olivia gulped nervously, while Silver smirked at its mistake, and started to tap into her own semblance, and Marriott and Koel could hear electricity crackle.

Of course, unlike Koel, Marriott didn't know what Silver's semblance was, so she was confused at first as to where the crackling was coming from, then when she took a glimpse over at her, she saw the electricity starting to build around Silver's right wrist blade, and her eyes widened slightly in amazement.

"Whoa, your semblance is electricity?" She asked, and the silver-haired faunas just smirked wider in response.

The Deathstalker, after it brought its stinger up to the highest freaking point it could, then thrust it down to Olivia, trying to impale her straight through her head, but just before it could get to her, Olivia leaped out of the way with a small yelp, and it hit the ground with such force, about half of its golden stinger got stuck in the ground.

'This could not have worked any better.' Silver thought, and she then focused on as much of her semblance as she could, and after a couple of seconds, her right wrist blade was completely engulfed in electricity, and she brought it down as hard as she could into the trail of water, and as she did, the current of electricity she had created traveled through the water, and when got to the stinger, it traveled up the tail of the Deathstalker, and electrocuted it with an incredible amount of power, so much so that it had no chance of surviving, which Silver made sure of, and after a short cry, it collapsed, and started to finally disappear in a cloud of black smoke, at long last.

Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. "Ugh, good riddance, I thought this would never end."

Marriott, on the other hand, was much more ecstatic. "That… was… AWESOME! I can't believe you can do that!"

"That was a good plan Silver." Koel complimented to the younger faunas.

"Thanks," Silver said, panting heavily with her wrist blade still in the ground. "Anything to get rid of the damn thing." She then said after she dislodged Azurewrath from the ground. "Now, do we all still have the relics?"

They all took said relics from their pockets confirming this. "Good, I have no idea when we all put them in our pockets, but whatever, let's just go before anything else shows up, we can celebrate when we get back to Beacon."

With that, they walked off, feeling pretty good about themselves, while on the cliff side, Ozpin and Gylnda were watching, Ozpin having the cockiest smirk currently, and looked over at Glynda. "Well, do you still have your doubts?"

Glynda shrugged. "My doubts might be confirmed later this year, but I will say, for now, she definitely fits in, there, I said it."

Ozpin chuckled but didn't say anything back, but instead took a sip of his coffee.

It was the same night, and they were back in the auditorium for the announcement for the teams, and it was Silver's, Marriott's, Olivia's, and Koel's turn to come up on the stage, and Ozpin announced their team, with that huge freaking screen behind them.

"Silver Porcello, Marriott Stoute, Olivia Doncieux, and Koel Marceleine; you will make up Team SMOK (Smoke… obviously), lead by Silver Porcello. Congratulations you four." He said with a smile, mostly directed at Silver.

Silver was standing there with her jaw dropped and eyes wide in utter amazement, incredulity, astonishment, and pretty much anything else that could be a synonym to disbelief.

Koel quietly squealed in excitement that her sister was going to be her team's leader, Marriott looked at Silver with a reassuring smile, while Olivia… barred no visual or verbal response, but since she was still quite uneasy with being on team that has TWO faunas' on it, having said team be lead by one of those faunas' did not help as you could imagine.

As they walked off the stage and back to their spot in the auditorium, Koel jumped over to Silver and enveloped her in a big hug. "Congrats Silver, you're going to be a great leader!"

Marriott nodded in agreement, her smile still on her face. "Yeah, and you deserve it."

"T-thanks." Silver responded shyly before she looked over to her partner, who hadn't said anything to this point.

Olivia caught her gaze, then sighed, and spoke in a near emotionless voice. "Just don't mess up, alright?"

Silver rolled her eyes. "Tch, we'll see how long that lasts, but I'll try my best."

As the night rolled on, they were still silently celebrating, or at least three of them. "We're going to be the best team ever!" Marriott said in enthusiasm.

Silver chuckled and closed her eyes. "Well, I don't know about that, but I will make sure that we certainly go beyond the stars."


Houston, we have lift off, the real story is finally underway! As you can imagine, the next few chapters are just going to be them getting used to life at Beacon, and used to each other, and there will be some parts that focus mainly on the relationship between Silver and Olivia, which let me tell you, I've got some fun plans for those types of chapters ;)! But I'll let you guys go for now, so I hope you enjoyed, please leave a review if you have something to say, and I'll see you guys next chapter!