RWBY: Beacon's Fading Light

Chapter 3

oxoxoxo

Thatch Edwards had caused a lot of terror in his life. He'd intimidated those who didn't pay him, he'd scared off anyone who had ever tormented him, hell his semblance was terror, so by dust, he knew how to scare someone.

At the moment, however, the once terrifying Thatch Edwards screamed at the top of his lungs as he was dropped down a tube from the surface.

He mentally struggled for a moment as half his mind tried to figure a way to survive the inevitable landing while the other half was too busy screaming. In the end, the more rational side won out, and came up with one idea. The other side was terrified of it, but it was either this, or become a stain on the cave floor.

Seeing the end of the drop approaching as the pipe opened up to a chamber bellow, Thatch knew it was now or never. He immediately drew both his swords and jammed them into the wall. Anne and Elizabeth bit deep into the stone walls, but he just kept falling, carving two trenches into the wall until he finally ground to an agonizing halt. Thatch took a moment to look down. From his chest up he was still in the tube, but from the shoulders down dangled into a large stone chamber.

It was a fairly featureless room carved into a giant dome like shape. The ceiling, luckily, wasn't very high, so Thatch could drop down and have a better look at the room.

As soon as my heart stops racing. He thought. Then I'll pull the ladies out of the wall.

oxoxoxo

An empty, grey, stone room. Nothing in sight but dust and the occasional spider. This room may once have sported life, but if so, that was long ago, nothing had even entered through the long, straight passage to the surface for quite some time. It was truly peaceful.

Then, one day, from the pipe to the surface, if one was listening from the chamber they could swear they heard screaming from above.

This thought, however would only last a few seconds before the thinker... well didn't think much anymore.

Looking up through the tube to the surface, one would see that the light seemed to be getting closer and closer, and with the light came heat. Continuing to look, and in fact, remaining in the room at all would soon be found to be a mistake as a blazing inferno surged out of the tube, hitting the floor of the chamber and splashing all over the floor and even up the walls. It would go on for a few seconds, and then about as quickly as it began it would cease and into the room would drop a young girl in red robes and a green chestplate and boots carrying a zhua.

Alison Zu took one look around the now blackened room. Looking around, she would see that there were no other entrances, so at least no one else would be hit by the blast. She ejected the now used up fire dust cartridge in her zhua, Pianji. She had a feeling she'd need the extra firepower.

oxoxoxo

In another empty room, if one looked to the surface, they'd see dust and a few small rocks fall through the tube flowed soon by a large, purple shield and a girl in segmented armour and a helmet.

Maria Gaia counted herself lucky. The tube she had been dropped down had begun to become narrower as she fell, allowing her to wedge her mighty shield in between the walls and slow her fall enough to safely hit the ground.

She counted her blessings again to have a near indestructible shield as she didn't want to risk losing her sword.

Recovering her shield, Imperator, Maria drew the blade from the sheath on her hip and looked at her reflection in the dim light of the room. Her own red eyes stared back at her, defiantly, as if daring her to not keep moving.

Looking around the room, she noticed there was only one door. Determined to not waste any more time, Maria marched, shield raised, towards the door.

oxoxoxo

Rather than come out a tube in the top of the room, the path Francois Delatrois had fallen down had twisted and turned a lot, allowing him to slow his momentum down enough so that he wasn't immediately launched out of the tube to make an impression on the opposite wall of that which it ended on.

When the tube ended, spitting him out of a wall in another empty room, Francois hit the ground, rolled, landed on one knee, drew his sword, Mademoiselle, shifted it into its carbine form and looked around the room, gun pointed. Seeing that the room was clear, Francois rose to his feet, keeping his gun in hand, and made for the only exit: a single door on the opposite side of the room.

Making his way there, Francois looked over the door. It had no handle and didn't seem particularly sturdy so he took the only way through: he took one step back, raised his foot and kicked down the door, immediately aiming through it. Seeing that he now faced another empty room, this one a large cube shaped room with a door on each wall, Francois lowered his gun, but didn't holster it. He took a few steps into the large room, noticing only two other doors on opposite ends of the room.

Suddenly, he heard a loud noise as the lock was knocked off one of the doors. The nobleman wasted no time in aiming at the door. Finger on the trigger, eyes looking down the lights at the door, he felt a single bead of sweat drip down his brow.

The door flew off its hinges in a cloud of dust and Francois heard the sound of guns being cocked. He still didn't take his finger off the trigger until the dust cleared whereupon he wished he had just fired. "Oh merde..." He muttered.

Thatch Edwards looked across the room at him. "Bloody hell..."

oxoxoxo

Maria opened the door to the next room and immediately raised her shield. She had encountered no Grimm so far, but that meant nothing. She knew full well that every room she came across could very well be full to bursting with the creatures and she wasn't going to be killed by them today or ever. Not if she could do anything about it.

She looked around from behind her shield to see, surprisingly enough, another empty room, this one with four doors, one of which she had just emerged from.

Taking a moment to catch her bearings, she looked around the room trying to remember what turns she had taken on the way here before remembering one crucial detail: she hadn't made a single turn on her entire way down here.

That was when a door burst apart and the centurion turned, opening the boss of her shield to reveal the spinning barrels beneath.

She needn't have worried, for emerging from the door was not a monster of Grimm, but a tall, red haired boy in full plate armour carrying a large mace over his shoulder, clearly what he had used to knock down the door. 'Great.' She thought. 'Stuck for four years with some random meathead.'

She was about to introduce herself when the boy did it for her. "Well hello hot stuff." He said in a smug voice and with an expression that made her throw up a little in her mouth. "Name's Cardin, Cardin Winchester," he said, striking a pose. "And since my team's not full yet, maybe you'd like to join, it could always be a little better looking."

Maria wanted to vomit again, but then she noticed something about what he said. "Wait, what do you mean 'not full yet?'"

Her question was answered when another boy emerged from the door behind Cardin. He wore brown armour and had a head of blonde hair. He carried a halberd with him, the bottom edge looking like a barrel of some kind. Cardin turned to the other boy. "Hey Dove, look at what I just found."

The boy he had called 'Dove' gave her a quick once over, lingering on her legs that were visible beneath her skirt. Feeling her face heat up, Maria quickly hid her lower half behind her shield.

Dove turned back to Cardin. "Nice one."

Cardin looked like he was about to say something else when one of the other doors flew off its hinges and nearly smacked right into the two boys. Maria looked at the door. There was one single scorch mark on it. She looked to where it came from to see an oriental girl dressed in red and green standing in the door frame carrying a large metal pole with a claw on one side, a zhua, if she remembered correctly. The girl gave a shy smile and a small wave.

Cardin was the first to say anything. "Well looky here, we've got two lovely ladies on our new team, I like where this is going." He looked over to Dove and gave a smirk. "I think I should get first pick of the ladies."

"Why you?" demanded Dove as he tried to look threatening and failed due to Cardin being a full head taller than him.

Before Cardin could respond, Maria snapped at him. "Look, I don't care if I have to be on the same team as you. You don't get to touch me, you don't get to touch her, and that's final. Got it."

"Ooh, I like 'em feisty." Cardin grinned. "I'm sure you'll come around eventually, after all, we'll be on the same team for four years."

"Uh, actually..." the entire room turned to look at the new girl. "The eye contact rule only applies to the first person on your team, so really neither of us is on your team. You lose." She said in a quiet voice.

Cardin's mouth hung open. Dove tried to find the right words. Maria just smirked and walked over to the other girl. "I think I'm going to like it on your team." She said, patting the other girl on the back. "What's your name?"

"A-Alison Zu." She said softly.

"Well Alison, I'm Maria Gaia, nice to meet you. Now come on," said the Centurion, pointing to the last door. "We've got relics to find."

The two girls walked over to the final door, Cardin and Dove following. Cardin raised his mace to break the door, but Alison put up a hand to stop him. "Allow me." She gave the door a quick once-over, her eyes glowing blue for one second before she raised her weapon and gave one smack to a point just off the centre of the door. It flew right off its hinges and hit the wall of the next room.

Cardin looked at this tiny girl in awe. Maria resisted the urge to laugh. "I'd like to see you try to do that." She said as she and Alison walked through the now open door.

Oxoxoxo

Well, now that exams are over I can get back to the things I love. Oh and writing too I suppose.

As for why Cardin's in the caves, think of it this way: we never see him in the Emerald Forest with the rest of the group, so in my story I give a reason why.

Also, seriously, no guesses as to who the characters are? None at all?

Well, while you guys decide whether or not to try and answer that, here's another deleted scene.

"Ooh, I like 'em feisty." Cardin grinned. "I'm sure you'll come around eventually, after all, we'll be on the same team for four years."

Maria watched in disgust as the boys didn't even try to hide the fact that they were ogling her, but she knew what she would do about it. 'Time for a little something from an old friend.' She thought, remembering someone at sanctum.

Strapping her shield to her back, she waltzed over to Cardin, swinging her hips with every step until she was right in front of him. She raised her hand up to run a finger down the front of his chestplate. "You sure I'm a nice one? Maybe I'm a little naughty." She said, wrapping a hand around his back.

Cardin opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a high pitched squeak when Maria's knee met his family jewels. He wanted to collapse, but her arm around his back held him up to face him.

Maria, all the while looking him in the eye, used her free hand to draw her sword and point it where she had just kicked. "Talk to me or look at me like that and I'll make sure you never feel pain like that again. Got it?" Maria said in a sickly sweet voice.

Cardin meekly nodded.

Maria let him go and he fell to the ground. She turned to walk away, but looked back for just a moment. "Oh, and I'll break both your legs too if I see you do that to her," she said, pointing at the Oriental girl standing in the newly opened doorway.