RWBY: A Fox's Tale
I'd apologize for the lateness, but I'm a college student, so infrequent updates are going to be the norm for a while, and possibly forever.
On a more serious note, I borrowed part of this introduction from the brilliant Kuribayashi, Author of The White Rose of Vermilion. Mostly because they really hit the nail on the head with it, and I couldn't think of a better way to say it.
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Without further ado, please enjoy the next chapter of RWBY: A Fox's Tale.
Chapter 7: Initiation Part 2
These woods were boring if you weren't being attacked by Grimm, Conway thought as he and River followed a rough game trail that wound through the Emerald Forest. He had never been more grateful that Aura had healing properties. His ears, all four of them, were still ringing from River's near-incoherent screech of rage he had unknowingly triggered by asking about eye contact.
The pair walked in silence for a short time, neither willing to disrupt the awkward silence. Both teens carried their weapons with the ease of long familiarity. River carried Sileigeach Faireoir against her shoulder in its compressed rifle form. Conway had been surprised to learn that River's weapon had two forms in addition to its base form of a blackthorn staff, a high-powered sniper rifle, and a smaller semi-automatic version with less power. Conway held Spritely Whisper loosely with its blade unextended in his left hand, while his right rested comfortably on Crescendo Blitz.
"So…" River began uncertainly, clearly searching for a safe topic of conversation. She more than likely felt guilty about the damage she had inflicted on his sensitive ears, so she felt obligated to supply the conversation. "Aside from the obvious reasons, why put yourself through so much pain to hide your heritage?"
"Why don't you use your Semblance to find out?" Conway shot back defensively.
"You know I don't like using it like that, Conway." She huffed. "Besides, it doesn't work quite that way. Because I can see your Aura, I can pick up some deeper bits of information from the way your Aura looks. Because Aura is a manifestation of your soul, it shows everything about you. It just takes my Divination time to sort through it all, and I can't exactly choose what I see. So yes, given enough time and motivation, I could just Divine the answer, but I won't do that to you."
Conway was taken aback by the vehemence of River's rebuttal. He remembered too late that she tried to avoid using her Semblance as much as possible. The fox Faunus drew in a deep breath before he replied, in a very small voice, "I hide what I am because I don't want to be hurt for it anymore."
"Conway…" River began softly, "I know you've heard it before, probably dozens of times, but…"She paused. Conway thought she looked embarrassed to say what he knew she was going to. "Not all humans will hurt you. Maybe… you could try giving us a chance?"
Conway suddenly stopped walking causing River to glance over her shoulder at him. "Tell me something, River…"His voice was tight with barely controlled fury, "Do you have any idea what it's like? Having to deal with prejudice from what feels like an entire species, just because you look different than them? Did you ever fear for your safety or your very life, simply walking out of your front door?"
Conway gave River no chance to respond before he scoffed bitterly. "Of course you don't. How would someone like you," He spat the word like a snake spits venom. "possibly understand? You haven't suffered like the Faunus have. You haven't had to spend your life in fear of your own classmates, your own roommates, or any human walking the street!"
Conway ripped off his hat, revealing his fox ears. "Because I was born with these," He gestured to his ears, and then at his midsection, where his tail was concealed, "and this, I get to be ostracized from most of society for life? How is that fair? How is that any sort of argument for me, or any other Faunus for that matter, to give humans a chance? When have humans ever given Faunus a chance, huh?"
Conway took another deep breath to continue his rant, but River interrupted him. "I understand more than you think, Conway." She replied softly as her fingers ghosted over the embroidered cloth of her blindfold. "Well, I might not understand the pain of being a Faunus; I do know what being alone feels like." River sighed as she traced the delicate needlework of leaves and vines. "A few weeks after the attack that claimed my sight, my Divination manifested itself. At first, I was overjoyed, ya'know? I could see again, after a fashion. But then…"
"Within a few weeks, I noticed something odd. I started knowing things that I should have no knowledge of, like the businessman who ate lunch at the playground having an affair with his secretary, the man who abused his children, or where a drug dealer hid his stash. I could see all of it, and you want to know something, Conway?"
River paused to let her words sink in.
"No one believed me. Not even my parents. When I tried to tell anyone, I was just ignored. Even when I went to the police about a murder that I Divined being planned, they didn't believe me either. Surprise of surprises, when that guy turned up dead was when people started to believe me."
"Of course, I thought that it would get better once people found out I was telling the truth." The redhead laughed bitterly. "Of course they didn't. Instead, I was even more isolated from my peers than when I was first blinded. Who wants to spend time with the 'freaky blind girl' who can see your secrets?"
River turned back to Conway, who was too shocked to even put his hat back on. "You weren't the only one hoping for a fresh start at Beacon, Conway."
"I… I didn't…" Conway stammered.
"No, you didn't consider that other people have suffered too." River said gently as she tentatively put her hand on Conway's shoulder. "That doesn't mean your suffering doesn't matter, but please just remember that you don't have to be alone anymore. Just remember that there are people who understand."
Conway didn't shrug her hand off, despite not expecting the touch. Having someone who understood felt… nice.
It was a scary thought. Was he actually letting someone get close to him again? That hadn't happened since Bryony. To be honest, the thought scared him. Did he even know how to be close to someone else anymore?
The partners stayed where they were for several moments, both hurt souls taking comfort in finding a kindred spirit, before River let her hand fall. With a suspicious-sounding sniff, Conway carefully flattened his ears and put his hat back on.
"…Thanks."
River smiled kindly. "Anytime, partner. I just wish…"
Whatever River was going to say was interrupted by a trio of Beowulves bursting out of the underbrush off to their right. Unlike the majority of Grimm in this forest, these three bore the telltale bony protrusions and armor that showed years of experience in fighting humans.
Both students moved the instant they heard the disturbance. Even with their reaction speed, the pair barely dodged the Beowulves' furious charge. River leapt aside and brought Sileigeach Faireoir to her shoulder while Conway dove to their left, extending his sword's blade as he rolled to his feet with the blade in a ready position.
"I'll take this one, you keep those two busy!" River called as she peppered the largest of the trio with short bursts of Earth Dust. Her weapon differed from most in that it actually utilized tiny flecks of the stable Dust as ammunition instead of the more commercially available Dust rounds. The downside was difficulty in reloading, but a single crystal provided her with enough ammunition for nearly a month if she was careful. Her Semblance aided her in locating the weakest spots of the Grimm's dense armor, looking for a quick kill. It was not to be. The large Beowulf cleared the distance separating them with a mighty bound. River barely had time to switch her weapon into melee mode before the Grimm was upon her. The blind girl flipped her staff and grabbed it by the lower end. With a yell of "Fore!" she swung the weapon up into her assailant's jaw, clamping its wickedly sharp teeth down on its own tongue.
The blind girl calmly sidestepped the stunned Grimm as it hit the forest floor. Its bulk sent a cloud of leaves and other forest detritus flying through the air, which she dodged. Calmly shifting Sileigeach Faireoir into its sniper mode, River took careful aim and put a pair of Dust slivers into its bone-plated face.
Meanwhile, Conway had his hands full with the two smaller Grimm. His animal instincts screamed at him that these were apex predators, beyond his capabilities to fight. Conway growled in defiance and ruthlessly suppressed his urge to run and hide. He was a predator, not prey dammit! He ducked under a savage bite and parried the other Grimm's claws and spun around to give it a kick in the back. He was forced to abandon his plan when the other recovered its position and tried to strike him with its claws. The fox only avoided being laid open by hopping back half a step and sucking in his gut.
Conway felt the air practically vibrate with power as it rippled around his clenched fist in a rough sphere of combined Aura and sonic energy gathered from River's gunfire and the Beowulves' snarling. When he couldn't hold the sphere in place any more, he punched towards the larger of the two Grimm, releasing the small orb in a devastating sonic blast that knocked the creature completely off its feet and gained him some much-needed breathing room to deal with the smaller one. He wasted no time in pouncing on the second Beowulf, cutting at its upper body and probing its defense with his sword. As expected, the monster blocked his sword with its bone-plated forearms which screeched in protest as Sprightly Whisper's sharp blade scored a shallow groove onto their worn surface between two bone spikes.
Undeterred, the Faunus dodged a retaliatory claw strike by mere inches, and drew his handgun. The Grimm lunged forward with its right arm outstretched. Conway deflected the Beowulf's lunge with the flat of his blade and moved to its flank. He drew his handgun in a flash of motion, aimed, and fired three times at the Grimm's unarmored neck as it barreled past. The first two bullets missed and hit the armored head, but the third tore through its vulnerable throat tissues. The Grimm stumbled a few yards, clutching at its destroyed neck before it collapsed and dispersed into smoke. Conway didn't have time to celebrate his victory though, since the other Beowulf had recovered its footing.
Foul spittle dripped from the larger Beowulf's slavering fangs as it roared its fury at the puny Faunus who dared kill its fellow Grimm. Conway aimed his gun at the monster's head as the large beast bounded at its prey, namely him, with wide open jaws. Conway pulled the trigger again and again; firing bullet after bullet, but the experienced Grimm blocked or took the bullets on non-vital areas.
Blitz clicked when its magazine ran dry. Conway quickly holstered the weapon, but the Beowulf took advantage of his momentary distraction and swiped at him with its claws. He wasn't fast enough to dodge this time. He gasped in pain as pain blazed through his arm when the gleaming white claws raked down his upper right shoulder down to his elbow, tearing through his sleeve and inflicting four long, but shallow scratches that his Aura quickly healed. Conway growled and grit his teeth in anger and pain. This was his favorite/only jacket for Oum's sake! Also his favorite/only right arm, but that was beside the point.
Conway thumbed a button near the middle of his flute, causing the tiny Dust generator within to whir into life around the Fire Dust crystal. The Dust energy flowed down into the blade, turning it into a blazing firebrand that quickly found a new home stabbed into the Grimm's midsection. Blade met flesh with a satisfying sizzling noise accompanied by the large Grimm's unearthly howls of pain and rage. He released his grip on his flute while he drew his balisong and flipped it open with a well-practiced motion before he stabbed it through the Beowulf's lower jaw. Conway yanked his smaller blade out, flipped it once to clean the blood and then ripped the still-burning sword from its fleshy sheath, causing the dark creature to fall to its knees, clutching its belly. Conway grinned savagely at the sight of the Beowulf writhing in agony at his feet.
"That was for my jacket, you mangy whelp!" the Faunus shouted, kicking the mortally injured creature in the chin. The Beowulf flopped weakly onto its back and Conway quickly finished it off with a downward stab through its snout. His flaming blade pierced the bone armor from within and buried itself in the dirt, pinning the dissolving monster in place. Conway withdrew the sword from the Beowulf's head with a sigh of relief and deactivated the Dust generator. No sense in wasting such an expensive resource after all, he wasn't sure when he'd be able to afford another one. He kept a close eye on the fallen Grimm, wary of any tricks, until it disappeared completely.
"I'd like to think that was necessary." River remarked calmly. The blind girl was leaning on her weapon, still in its staff form, several yards away.
"I was always taught that it was best to be sure that a Grimm is dead, no matter the method." Conway returned while he retracted his blade and put the flute away.
"Did Ákos Altair teach you that?"
A faraway expression crossed Conway's face while he drew his gun and replaced the ammo magazine, like he was reminiscing about days long past. That feeling was apparently enough to make him ignore the fact that she had just used her Semblance on him. "Yeah, he did."
"You really look up to him, don't you?"
Conway holstered his gun and glanced back at River. "Of course I do. I mean, he's my mentor and the closest thing to a father I'm ever likely to have, so why wouldn't I?"
"What do you mean?"
"Let me put it to you this way," Conway started. "Human teenagers don't get adopted often, especially not after the age of thirteen or so. The odds are even worse for a teenaged Faunus, especially in an area without many Faunus families, like where I live."
"But that's…" River began.
"Not fair?" Conway interrupted, "Probably not, but that's just the way it is. I made my peace with it after the council passed that law eight years ago that prevented Huntsmen and Huntresses on active duty from adopting children." He turned away and continued, "No point talking about it now. Not like it'll change anything. Come on, the temple is this way."
River was uncharacteristically silent during the rest of their short trip to the temple. If Conway didn't know better, he'd say she felt guilty. But what about? It didn't really matter, Conway supposed, as long as it didn't interfere with their mission. It was better to avoid making deep connections anyway. He had learned through long and bitter experience that it hurt less when you were alone. Even if she was telling the truth about them being similar, no one could stab you in the back if you weren't standing in front of them.
The pair of students cleared the tree line and quickly closed the distance between them and the half-destroyed ruins.
~AFT~
Amber hacked through another immature Beowulf as her partner strolled nonchalantly along behind her. The brown-haired girl practically growled in frustration when Morgan started whistling a particularly annoying tune.
"Are you going to, I don't know… contribute to this partnership in any meaningful way besides annoying me, at any point?"
Morgan shoved his hands into his pockets. "Eh… Probably not. You've got this under control. I'd probably get in your way, if I were being honest."
Amber absently blocked a second Beowulf's claws with a projection of her Semblance before she dispatched it with a lightning-quick flurry of stabs to its midsection. A large vein pulsed in her forehead in time with her furiously pounding heart. "Then why are you even here?"
"My drop-dead gorgeous looks and stellar personality?" Morgan replied, with his tone implying the answer should have been obvious. Amber's darkening visage should have warned him to quit while he still had all of his limbs. Morgan, apparently oblivious to the signs of his partner's impending apocalyptic rage, kept talking.
"I mean, obviously, I'm the good-looking one of the two of us, so…"
Whatever else the redhead was going to say was abruptly cut off by a solid hexagon of yellow Aura slamming into his face.
"Owww…"Morgan moaned piteously from the ground as he clutched at his bleeding nose. "What was that for?"
Amber remained silent, but fixed him with her most withering glare.
A mercifully short time later the pair came upon a large open clearing where the crumbling ruins of an old stone building still stood. Their path had been curiously free of any more Grimm, and conversation had been (to Amber's not-so-secret enjoyment) nonexistent.
"Think that's the temple Ozpin told us about?" Morgan asked cautiously, wary of offending his partner again.
"Well, let's see." Amber said, while she sheathed Jade Dragon. "It's the only building we've come across, in a large clearing, and I can clearly see at least a few pedestals from here. Obviously, this is the decoy temple, with fake relics designed to trick unintelligent students."
"You really think so?"
Amber spared about a second to palm her face before she snapped, "Of course it's the temple you blithering idiot! Now if you'd care to not waste any more time, then we should go grab a relic and get out of this forest."
"Geez, fine. You don't need to insult me. I was just kidding earlier."
Amber pointedly ignored him while they made their way across the clearing. When the unwilling pair finally arrived at the temple ruins, Morgan broke the silence.
"These are the relics? I wonder why they used chess pieces. Seems arbitrary if you ask me."
"Then it's good that no one is asking you, you doddering Neanderthal. Obviously," Amber spat, her voice layered with contempt, "They used chess pieces to determine how the chooser views themselves. A pawn would be useful, but ultimately either expendable, or hiding potential, while a knight is a stalwart defender, though unconventional in its ways…" The Mikado Heiress glanced over at her partner, who was currently eyeing the gold chess pieces with a hungry look. "…and… I'm not going to waste our time explaining this further, since you haven't been listening since you saw something shiny."
Morgan either ignored her, or wasn't listening, thereby proving her point.
Amber pressed her fingers to her brow and temple. Honestly this guy was like a brick wall. An obnoxious, arrogant, extremely dense brick wall. Without waiting for Morgan's input, she grabbed him by the collar and then snatched a black queen piece with a flare of her Semblance. Once she had both in hand, she started to drag the recalcitrant Morgan towards the cliffs.
"Come on, partner, I got our relic. It's time to get out of here. I saw a way up the cliffs to the east, should only take us an hour to get there."
Morgan actually whined. "But I want a shiny…"
"Too bad, we're leaving."
~AFT~
If they never felt the jostling sensation of being carried around by an ox Faunus, then Wendelin felt they could die happy. That isn't to say that getting a free ride from your giant ox Faunus partner wasn't convenient per se, but Owen wasn't exactly the most, shall we say, delicate mode of transportation on the face of Remnant. Wendelin was pretty sure that their retinas had detached from all the shaking and bouncing.
"We should be getting there soon!" the tiny student called from their precarious perch on their large partner's back . "I saw a ruined temple when I entered the forest!"
"Good! Question tho' lil' buddy."
"What's that?"
"Now, Ah'm no expert, but last Ah checked, trees ain't supposed to be on fire. So why are those?"
Wendelin glanced up from holding their death grip on Owen's shoulders. They could barely feel their fingers after clenching them in the fabric of his shirt for so long. Surely enough, there was a decent sized plume of smoke off to their right. "That's… not good. We should go check it out. Maybe we can do something about it."
Wendelin nearly fell from his partner's back when Owen shrugged. "We migh' as well. 'S near enough where we're goin' anyway."
There was silence for a few moments before Wendelin suddenly asked their next question.
"I've been meaning to ask you something ever since I fixed your weapon."
"What is it?" Owen replied as he ducked under a lower branch.
"What exactly is your Semblance?" Wendelin felt Owen's broad shoulders stiffen for an instant. Dust. Looked like his Semblance was a sensitive topic.
"I mean, you already know my Semblance is Winter and that I can use it to make Ice. I figure if we get into another fight, then it would be best if we know the full measure of each other's abilities, right?"
"R-right," Owen stammered uncertainly. "W-well… Mah Semblance is…"
Owen visibly struggled for a moment before he looked away and blurted out quickly, "MahSemblance'sRampage."
Wendelin cocked their head to the side, "Sorry, what? I didn't catch that."
"Ah said… Mah Semblance is Rampage."
Dear Oum, even the taller boy's neck was red from the force of his blush! Wendelin couldn't determine if it was due to embarrassment…
Or shame.
Ah, Dust. Rampage. From the name alone, they could surmise that Owen's Semblance was either Unstable or nigh uncontrollable. Just like their own. Wendelin hesitantly touched Owen's shoulder.
"Unstable?" They whispered, unsure if they truly wanted to know the answer.
Owen's silence was more than enough.
Wendelin sighed. "Mine too. It's why I wear this suit all the time. It helps me contain it."
Owen stayed silent, so Wendelin continued. "I've tried to control it for nearly my whole life, ever since I first drew out my Aura and it had an inherent Nature of Ice. I just had too much Aura and it kept bursting out at… shall we say, inopportune times. It got bad enough that I had to make this suit to hold it in, just so I wouldn't accidentally hurt someone."
"Well, at least yeh've got that." Owen muttered lowly, "Ah got nothin' but mehself, and nobody's strong enough to stop me once Ah get goin'. Rampage turns me inta somethin' Ah don't ever wanna be. An' that's a bloodthirsty berserkin' animal! Every time Ah fight, Ah risk that, because Ah can't turn it off!"
Shame filled his face, his very being as he stared down at his boot-clad feet.
Wendelin stayed silent. What could they say that would be even remotely helpful? Wendelin gathered their courage and spoke softly. "Does it matter what strangers think of you if your friends know who you really are? I've been called many things because of my Semblance. Snowflake, Icicle, the list goes on, but the important thing is that, no matter what people call me, it's not a reflection of who I am, unless I allow it to be."
"Ah guess you're right…" Owen trailed off. "Friends, huh? It'd be a nice change of pace."
Owen suddenly stopped moving. The air was thick with smoke and ash from the burning forest. Any and all creatures had long since fled, even the Grimm. It was easy to see why. The lush forest was ablaze with roaring flames. Thankfully, the fire was somewhat contained and the burning area was partially separate from the main forest by a wide outcropping of rocks.
Wendelin gratefully dislodged themself from Owen's shoulders. "You might want to stand back a bit. When I use Winter, it's got a habit of being hard to control."
Owen nodded and backed off a few paces but stayed within easy lunging distance. Apparently the giant believed that he could save them from the throes of their own Semblance. Wendelin appreciated the gesture more than Owen could probably fathom, but in all honesty, a few feet wouldn't save him if they lost control.
Wendelin drew in a deep breath in preparation for what they could feel would be an uphill battle against their Aura. The diminutive teen was thankful that they and the others who had created Khione Blessing had thought to include air filters in the mask and hood; otherwise they would probably have suffocated by all of the thick, choking smoke that filled the air. They weren't sure how Owen hadn't even begun having difficulty breathing, if they had not been wearing the suit, they'd have either choked or cooked by now. Maybe the Faunus was just that tough?
Wendelin pointed their cupped palms at the nearest blazing tree and dredged up the smallest bit of Aura they could, which was still rather substantial, and fed it thought the Aura-sensitive circuits woven into their suit's fabric. Unlike the Aura of almost everyone else, their Aura was rigid and crystalline like ice, which naturally made it difficult to manipulate. The delicate circuits bled off the excess energy, storing it in capacitors that were in turn used to power the suit and allow Wendelin's Aura to be used through its dense weave.
A thick fog of tiny ice crystals formed between their palms. With a firm mental push, the cloud of ice particles swarmed the burning tree. Millions of the ice crystals melted long before they reached the blazing inferno, but Wendelin persevered, pushing more and more of their Aura into the circuits, pushing them to the brink of failure. Charred wood hissed in protest as the consuming flames were slowly beaten back by the encroaching ice. Wendelin didn't notice. They were so consumed with the tug of war with their Aura that they didn't notice when the last few pockets of fire sputter and recede, nor did they take notice when large ice crystals started to form. They didn't notice anything until their trance was broken when Owen gently grabbed their shoulder. Wendelin jolted in surprise, and it was at that moment that their tenuous control slipped.
With barely any warning, a massive amount of Aura tore its way from their body. The wild energy formed a barrage of large icicles that launched out from their outstretched hands and tore the area immediately before them apart in a chaotic explosion of wood, stone, earth, and ice.
All Wendelin could feel was the intense draining and ripping sensation of about half of their Aura being torn from their body in one massive burst. The ambiguously gendered student instinctively knew that if they kept losing Aura at this rate, the results, put bluntly, would be devastating. Suddenly, they were aware of a new presence, in the form of Owen's large hands slamming down on their shoulders.
"Reign it in, Wendy! This is your Aura, and your Semblance! They don' control you, you control them!" Owen shouted over the howling tempest. "Ah know yeh c'n do it! Ah do the same thing every day, so c'n you!"
With a cry of equal parts fear and effort, Wendelin yanked all the Aura energy they could out of the wildly-flying shards of ice, channeling it back into their tiny body by way of the Aura circuits in the suit. The short teen collapsed heavily on their knees. Their breathing was as ragged and harsh as that of a man who had just run a dozen miles or done something equally strenuous.
"Knew ya could do it Wendy." Was it just their imagination, or was that pride they heard in the larger boy's voice?
"What?" Wendelin gasped tiredly.
" 's what Ah do, every minute of every day. Sure, it's not as flashy as yer…" The Faunus searched for a word, "col' snap, but if'n a big dumb Faunus like me c'n do it, so could you."
"You're not dumb." Wendelin panted before they turned to witness their handiwork. The entire clearing from where the partners were standing, to about fifteen feet behind the tree that had stated the blaze, was completely encased in a gleaming layer of pure ice. Sunlight glinted off of random curves and edges in a scintillating cascade of reflected brilliance.
Owen whistled lowly. "By Monty… yeh were tellin' the truth when you said it was Unstable. Sorry I doubted yah, little buddy."
"It's… fine…" Wendelin rasped. The diminutive ice-wielder tried to get up from the ground, but their legs felt like they had been made boneless by the strain of controlling their monstrous Aura. "You might need to carry me to the temple though… my legs feel like they're filled with lead pudding."
Owen laughed and easily picked up the (much) smaller student after slinging Fatale Berserk across his shoulders by its strap.
"Thanks, Owen."
"Anytime."
~AFT~
Taiyo wondered why he bothered to exercise such caution as he carefully wove his way around a low-hanging branch, careful not to accidentally bump into it, break it, or touch it in any way. Even looking at it might've been too much, but he actively tried to avoid situations like what had happened earlier.
"Uintah is glad that you aren't being mean to Uintah's planty friends anymore." Uintah chirped from her position just behind him.
Ah there it was. One *ahem* 'warning' from the bubbly rabbit Faunus had been more than enough to tell him that breaking, touching, or thinking about the trees or plants was a bad idea. Say what you would about her mannerisms and strange attitude, that girl could be scary when she wanted to be. Hidden behind that soft, inviting exterior was a core of unyielding steel. That, coupled with an apparent willingness to inflict harm to get her way, made Taiyo more than a little wary.
When he'd accidentally, accidentally! broken a green branch after tripping on a root, the rabbit Faunus had nearly turned murderous. Only a last-second flare of his Semblance had saved him from a more painful thump on the head than the one he'd gotten, courtesy of an oak tree that he just knew Uintah had influenced with her Semblance. How else did one explain an otherwise out-of-the-way branch suddenly swinging down of its own volition?
"Ya'know, you didn't need to hit me. I said I was sorry I tripped on that root."
"Of course Uintah knows that," Uintah practically sang, "Uintah just didn't want you to do it again."
"Seriously?" Taiyo demaded incredulously, "Then why hit me at all?"
Uintah had the nerve to actually giggle at his shocked expression. "Because, silly, lessons that don't hurt don't last as long." She absently brushed a hand across the back of her head, her fingers ghosting over a small stripe of white hair that he hadn't noticed before. "By the way, Mr. Mossbank, the one you are trying not to step on, says that he doesn't mind being walked on, as long as you're careful."
Taiyo gave Uintah a quick sidelong glance before she vanished beyond the next set of trees. Had she been hurt before? Was that what she was trying to tell him, in her own quirky way? Well, if she had, there wasn't much he could do about it, except stop it from happening again.
"Tai! There's the temple! Hurry up or she will leave you behind!" Uintah's voice echoed from just beyond the next trees.
That… was the wrong way. Again.
"Be right there, Win!" the redhead called back. He didn't rightly know why, but every time he looked at the rabbit Faunus, his protective instincts surged. She was like a child, both wise and ignorant of the world at the same time. At least he could do his best to protect her from here on out.
Neither ever noticed the thin silken strings that trailed in their wake.
~AFT~
Blaise was at a loss. How on Remnant was he supposed to get to know someone who couldn't talk? Alban wasn't just mute, he was completely silent! The red-eyed teen made absolutely no noise and left no trail when he ghosted along the forest floor, it was like the world itself didn't want to acknowledge his passage.
Safely cocooned in his Aegis Black, Blaise wondered just what he had gotten himself into. The armored teen wasn't ashamed, at least, not in the sanctuary he had crafted for himself, to admit that he was afraid. After all, it wasn't every day that someone with his condition tried to become a Huntsman.
Blaise was paralyzed from the waist down. It had been caused by an injury to his spine he had received in an accident when he was ten years old. His parents, who were high ranking executives of an Atlesian robotics company, had gotten the very best possible care for him, but in the end, it had all been for naught. While his paralyzed legs could still feel sensations, he could not walk on his own, and needed his weapon's base skeleton, carefully fitted around his slender body at all times in order to retain some semblance of self-sufficiency. His parents had only kept him in a wheelchair for about a month before they had cobbled together the machine that would one day be the base for Aegis Black.
The frame had been a far cruder machine when he had first been connected to it, barely capable of performing its designated function. When he turned twelve, in a fit of frustration, his Semblance had activated for the first time, and he instinctively knew how to improve his mechanical prison.
Genius, the other employees called it. Blaise knew better. It was not knowledge, but understanding that allowed him to see how to improve the exoskeleton. An instinctive intuition on how things needed to be done in different ways to how they had always been done. A strong desire to improve what was already in use, and the inborn knowledge of how to do so.
In layman's terms, his Semblance was Aptitude.
Once he had improved the skeleton, Blaise moved on to ever more complex machines, both smaller and larger, all without any formal training or schooling beyond what was readily available on the Worldwide Information Network. Due to his youth, many of his projects were attributed to other roboticists, but he didn't mind that nearly as much as he minded his parents' constant dismissive attitude towards his gift. Their relationship had deteriorated over the years since he had managed to outshine them in robotics skill, to the point where he was basically a stranger living in their house.
In a fit of rebellion, he had secretly taken a scrapped AK 110 and modified its chassis to link with his exoskeleton. He had added extra armor, a more efficient Dust Generator of his own design, and several experimental weapons to the obsolete robot, making it into a formidable anti-Grimm weapon. If his parents couldn't accept him as he was, then he would find another way to live. His parents hadn't even noticed when he moved out, so absorbed were they in their work. No, not their work, their obsession. He had written them a note, and simply left.
They never contacted him. Blaise couldn't muster up any strength to care anymore. Sometimes he wondered if they even noticed he had left.
Blaise had met Morgan Kaine at Cloister Academy in Atlas when they both took the entrance exams. The redhead had quickly won him over with his easy confidence and devil-may-care attitude, and the two became fast friends. The rest, as they said, was history. The pair was inseparable, simultaneously the best of friends, and the friendliest of rivals. They had wanted to be partners, but now, Blaise just hoped they were on the same team.
Blaise shook off his trip down memory lane in time to see Alban block his path with the shaft of his cane.
"What is it?" Blaise asked.
Alban gave him a deadpan look in return before he gestured at a large, crumbling structure with his other hand. The building had clearly seen better days, at best, it was only a half circle of hewn stone held together by age-old mortar, which itself was half-covered by the fallen remains of a roof. Using the Aegis Black's optical zoom function, Blaise was able to spot a number of waist-high pedestals with small figurines around the circle's perimeter.
"That looks like our objective. Shall we?"
Alban gave a pronounced eye roll in response. Blaise took that to mean 'well, duh' and just started walking. His partner strolled nonchalantly a short distance behind, red eyes constantly alert for danger.
"So… Which one do you think we should take?"
Alban favored him with a glare that Blaise interpreted as 'you incredible moron.' It was a slight comfort to the armor-clad paraplegic that his Semblance apparently worked as well on his partner's expressions as it did on machines. Without even waiting for his partner's input the white-haired youth snatched a black queen piece from a nearby pedestal and left the ruins.
The mute regenerator gestured to a trail of flattened grass that almost looked like someone had been dragged over it and then motioned to Blaise that they should follow it. The armor-clad teen just shrugged and followed Alban's lead.
~AFT~
"We must be getting close. There's much fewer Grimm around here." Tyrian observed as he fired a beam of concentrated heat from Dextro through another Ursa's chest while pushing his glasses further up on his nose. He really should get a better-fitting pair; these ones gave him nothing but trouble. And sight, but that was beside the point.
"I hope so." Ianthe huffed while she reeled her razor wires back into her Marionette Grace. "I never thought I'd complain about the lack of Grimm, but this forest is boring if your life isn't in danger from black monstrosities."
"I didn't take you for the bloodthirsty type, Aega." Tyrian remarked as he checked Dextro's Dust level. Satisfied that he wasn't going to run short of Dust for now, he holstered it and repeated the process on its twin, Sinistro. "I've got enough Blaze Dust for a few more shots, but after that, I'll have to go melee."
"Ordinarily I'm not, but aside from finding this temple, fighting Grimm is the only thing to do here. On another note, I've never heard of Blaze Dust before." Ianthe stated, as she raised an eyebrow at her partner.
"Well, it's a new type of Dust my family experimented with a while back." Tyrian revealed offhandedly. "Basically, it's a fusion of Fire and Earth Dust, with a bit of Wind tossed in for combustion. It's fairly dangerous to use in large quantities, and production is not much of a priority right now, but it's dead useful in the small amounts the twins use. It gets harder to control when I use Tyche, though."
"Don't leave me hanging Sparrow, you've got me curious now."
Curious to know whether or not she was going to die in a few minutes because of one miscalculation. Death by science…. What a way to go. At least it could be at the hands of someone she didn't absolutely hate.
"Oh, Tyche? That's the name of the combined melee form of the twins. If we run into anything more dangerous, I might show it to you, but considering we haven't run into anything high level, and the fact that Tyche and the twins are technically prototypes that I might not exactly have permission to field test, you might want to keep at a safe distance."
"I've always wanted to be involved in weapons testing, but…" Ianthe trailed off, looking for the right words. "My… condition precludes me from most occupations that don't take place in near darkness. Well, the overprotective parents don't exactly help in that regard either…"
"Well, maybe over the next long break, I can introduce you to some of my family's contacts in the weapon development field. Those guys are always eager to have new weapons testers. You know; ones that actually have permission."
"I'd greatly appreciate that, Sparrow." She paused and cast about for a moment. "I think the temple is this way. The trees thin out a bit, and I can see a clearing."
"Then let's go. Maybe if we're lucky, we can get out of the forest before nightfall."
The pair exchanged no more words until after they traversed the wide, open clearing and entered the ruined temple. The grass was almost fully grown in some areas, but in others, it seemed to be a tame length. All of it was green, no dry spots or muddy places.
"Looks like someone else got here first." Tyrian commented as he and his partner inspected the remaining relics. Several pieces, both gold and black, were already gone. "Any preferences as to which we claim?"
"Actually, yes." Ianthe decreed as she lashed out with one finger. A single strand of wire leapt from her weapon and wrapped around a golden queen piece and quickly retracted back into its spool with a faint whirring noise, carrying the piece with it. "The Queen was always my favorite piece in chess." Ianthe tucked the large chess piece into a hidden pocket in her sleeve before she froze in place. "Someone is coming."
"Excellent," Tyrian replied, "It'll be good to know who got partnered up."
Ianthe and Tyrian took up a position next to the crumbling wall. The precariously stacked rubble might not offer much in the way of cover, but it was better than nothing. Tyrian made the mistake of leaning against the worn stone, only to nearly fall when the block he leaned on gave way in a cascade of loose gravel and dust. Tyrian brushed himself off with as much dignity as he could muster; an endeavor that was not assisted by his partner's muffled laughter.
"Did you hear that?"
Was that Uintah?
"It sounds like the sound of two of our friends hiding from us and revealing themselves because one of them broke something!"
Yes. Yes it was.
"Win, just because they are fellow students, doesn't mean they are our friends. Remember that one guy on the airship you told me about?"
And that would be her partner.
"At least that one only pulled on Uintah's ears! That tends to happen a lot… Oh, but one time someone tried to cut off Uintah's foot to make a lucky charm! That day wasn't Uintah's favorite…"
"WHAT?!"
Never a dull moment.
Ianthe cocked her head to the side. "Is that my little brother?"
Before Tyrian could answer her, a brown haired rabbit Faunus wearing a large straw sunhat skipped into the temple and immediately went to the nearest pedestal, apparently enthralled by whatever chess piece was there. So much so that she grabbed it with an honest to Dust squeal of excitement. Tyrian only caught a glimpse of gold before Uintah slid the figure into one of her belt pouches. She rubbed her hands together and clapped some imaginary dust off of them, having apparently not noticed both Ianthe and Tyrian standing near the wall. Her tall rabbit ears twitched slightly.
"Uintah wonders why Tai didn't follow her and said something about giving a beating to someone else…" She turned and saw the other pair of students. "Oh hi, Tyr! Uintah found a nice partner who doesn't mind that Uintah is a Faunus! Also, he's really strong!" She paused for a moment as she studied Ianthe intently and smiled. "Is this your partner? Uintah likes her! She's beautiful!"
"What…?" Ianthe was taken aback. This was the first time she had been called 'beautiful' in someone's first impression. Normally people took one look at her and immediately classified her as some kind of freak. She was mostly beyond that now, but that experience had permanently soured her belief in the possibility of good first impressions.
By the time Ianthe's brain rebooted, Uintah had already skipped out of the ruins and was currently using her Semblance to encourage grass and flowers with dark orange petals to grow in the meadow while she carefully danced and spread seeds. She held on to her hat with one hand while she spun and leapt, following a pattern only she seemed to know.
"Is she always like that?"
Tyrian chuckled. "Yep, that's Win for ya. Sorry, she gets like this in places with a lot of plants. Usually she's a bit more… composed. Just a little."
"Whatever she's on, I want some."
Before Tyrian could explain further, he was interrupted by the appearance of a shorter teen clad in a slightly ragged red gi with a yellow belt and cuffs over a black shirt appearing in the doorway. There was a sunburst pattern over his heart in the same color scheme, and the boy himself was in extremely good shape for someone of his age. Though, precisely how this was the case was a question that occurred to Tyrian, because the boy was currently chugging a liter bottle marked Dust Shot. Traces of gray dust and blood were visible on his hands, almost like he had just finished beating a rock to dust.
Man, this guy had a stomach of steel, to say nothing about the rest of his digestive system.
"Whoa buddy, you might want to slow down." Tyrian remarked. The other boy favored him with a light glare.
"Haah," the boy gasped after he finished off the bottle, "Hoo, that's some good stuff there." At Tyrian's incredulous stare, he continued, "Oh, don't worry, that wasn't the concentrated stuff you buy in a store. I cut it with some protein powder, whey, fiber supplements and milk. Tastes kinda weird at first, but eh. You get used to it."
The boy held out his right hand. "I'm Taiyo Akairo, Uintah's partner, just call me Tai, everyone else does." Tai, glanced over Tyrian's shoulder, "Hey sis,"
"Little brother." Ianthe replied evenly, "I see you've found a good partner."
"I could say the same about you, sis." Tai turned to Tyrian, "when I said everyone, I meant everyone besides my uptight big sis."
"Wait, little brother?" Tyrian broke in, glancing at Ianthe, who was glaring daggers at Tai. "Sis?" he echoed, with a glance at Tai.
"Yeah, I'm adopted." Tai interjected before Ianthe could explain for him.
"Well. Okay then. We should probably get going." Tyrian said with a shake of his head.
"Wait a second. If you two are over here, then I have two questions. Who is watching Uintah? Also, since clearly none of us are, where is she?"
"Not again." Tai groaned. "She did this earlier on the way over. That's why it took us so long to get here, she kept wandering off."
Tyrian sighed. "I'd suggest getting used to it. She does that pretty much whenever you take your eyes off her for more than about four seconds."
Just like a hyperactive rabbit.
"Have you considered a tracking device? Or a leash?" Ianthe deadpanned.
Tyrian turned to glare at his partner. "Because I just met you, I'm going to let that one slide. But," His voice lowered threateningly. "I don't ever want to hear you suggest something like that again. She gets enough crap just for being… well, being Win. She doesn't need the added burden of being treated like a child or an animal. She understands more than you know."
"Woah, okay man, Ianthe was just messing with you," Tai interjected on his sister's behalf. "I know, it's hard to tell sometimes, but underneath the emotionless exterior she does actually have a sense of humor. Its tiny and stunted, but it's there."
"I… Sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that. Come on, let's go find her."
Before the trio made it too far, they heard someone singing softly from the other side of the crumbling wall. Tyrian motioned to his companions to be quiet and inched his way along the wall, until he caught sight of the wayward Uintah kneeling by a patch of dirt near the tree line. The rabbit Faunus was carefully depositing individual seeds into small holes she had dug with the tip of her trowel-like dagger. She was singing quietly to herself while she watched the tiny seeds sprout and grow in response to her Semblance feeding them her Aura.
"This is Win's garden, she'll plant it with care,
Here are the seeds she will plant in there,
The sun will shine,
The rain will fall,
The seeds will sprout and grow up tall."
Uintah paused in her planting and singing long enough to cheerfully wave at the dumbstruck trio. Did she not realize that they were in the middle of apparently dangerous territory?
"Oh, hello again everyone!"
Apparently not.
"Uintah was bored with waiting for our other friends who Grass-Grass says will be here soon, so she went to plant some seeds to say 'thanks for telling her'."
Tai and Ianthe both looked over at Tyrian, who shrugged in confusion. "Who do you mean, Win? We're all here already."
Uintah laughed as she got up and dusted some stray dirt from her dress. The Faunus skipped over to the trio before she replied. "Not you three, silly. The Blind One Who Sees More, Conway Kieran, Wendelin, and Owen. They'll all be here soon."
"Who?"
"Don't you remember? You and Uintah met Conway Kieran yesterday on the airship, and then Uintah met Owen Alpine and Wendelin Match after that. Though…" She tapped her chin with a puzzled expression on her face, "Uintah doesn't remember meeting the Blind One Who Sees More. Grass-Grass says that Mr. Oaky's friends told her about them."
"All right, Wen. We'll wait for them." Tyrian acquiesced. The black-haired boy glanced back at their other two companions. "You two ok with that?"
Ianthe shrugged while Tai dropped to all fours and started a set of pushups. "Got nothin' better to do, and my partner looks like she's not going anywhere anytime soon, so sure, why not?"
~AFT~
"I'm sorry."
It was a testament to Glynda's self-control that she didn't gasp in shock when she heard those two words from her boss. Years of holding in her reactions when faced with unruly teammates and students alike had given her plenty of practice, but to hear him actually apologize was something of a shock. She knew he carried years' worth of regrets for decisions or mistakes he had made, but to hear him actually say those words… It had never, to her knowledge, happened before.
"For what?" She asked cautiously.
"It was not, and is not my place to remind you of things we both know you'd rather not remember. It was wrong of me to do so, and for that, I apologize." Ozpin took a breath, as though fortifying his courage for what he was going to say next. "However, I will ask you to remember that Terran's son, despite the resemblance, is not the man himself." Before she could respond, he continued. "I admit; I don't know the details, but… As I recall, he told Crystal…"
"I don't give a damn what he told her! As far as I'm concerned, I should have put that… that mongrel down myself!"
"His last words…."
"Oh, his apology. Yes, well it certainly did me a lot of good." She said sarcastically.
Ozpin was taken aback by the sheer hatred Glynda expressed. She was rarely outwardly kind, or even sincerely concerned, but she was almost never quite this vehement. He knew of course that bringing up Terran Grey or any member of her former team was sure to provoke a reaction, but he hadn't expected it to be this extreme. He supposed that the complicated emotions she had for her late partner were still too raw even nearly two decades later for her to even consider any feelings aside from anger and hatred.
"I understand if you have no respect for his actions or his memory, but if nothing else, at least give Terran the respect of the dead. He may have made a grievous error, but he was a powerful Huntsman and a decent man. Now I'll say no more on this subject, but I will request that you give his son a chance to prove that he isn't his father."
Glynda looked back to her Scroll. Several moments passed before she looked out over the forest and replied. "I can only say I'll try. I make no promises, Headmaster."
Ozpin recognized that this was the best answer he was likely to get out of his employee and nodded in tacit acceptance. Well, he had done all he could for Terran's son, now the rest was up to him. He only hoped that the boy could make a good impression.
The headmaster's attention was drawn back to his Scroll when it emitted a series of high-pitched pings.
"Hmm. That's odd. Most of our cameras in the temple region have been disabled."
"What could've caused that?" Glynda queried while she attempted to access the cameras Ozpin mentioned. An error message appeared on her Scroll's screen that read Error 404: Camera Not Found. With a growing sense of unease, she checked the rest of the cameras only to receive an identical message for each of the dozen or so devices hidden in that area of the forest.
"Should we intervene? Or at least investigate?" She asked. Though she could care less about Terran's spawn, she did have a responsibility to protect the rest of the students from danger beyond their skill.
"No. Whatever is about to happen, I trust they can handle it. All the other student partners have already retrieved their relics, so those twelve are the only ones in the forest. If twelve prospective first year students aren't enough, Professor Green was able to preserve a small amount of Terran's blood and Aura before it dissipated." He didn't miss Glynda's flinch when he touched his cross pin. "Enough for a single use of his Semblance, should it be necessary."
"Don't you mean eight students? Mikado, Kaine, Noir, and Radley have already arrived at the base of the cliffs." Glynda remarked. The thought of any part of that man still existing beyond his moldering bones rankled her more than she cared to admit, especially to her boss. If only his Semblance weren't so blasted useful…
"Then I suppose we will just have to trust those who remain." The headmaster returned. "Don't worry, I shall step in myself if need be."
~AFT~
"Well, we're finally here." River said as she and Conway approached the ruin. "Honestly, you'd think this place would be easier to find. Or maybe we just got flung further than others. In either case, meh."
"Yeah. Meh." Conway agreed. His fox ears twitched in their confinement. Even under the cloth and his hair, they still had more acute hearing than his human-looking ones. "We're not alone. Relax," he continued when River visibly tensed, "I met them on the ship yesterday. I think they're waiting for us to choose a relic."
"Oy there! Got room for two more?" A surprisingly deep voice echoed across the open clearing. The partners turned just in time for Owen to appear next to them in a burst of unexpected speed, with the smaller Wendelin still held securely in his arms.
"Why not?" Conway replied with a grin that could accurately be described as 'foxy'. Ugh, now he was making puns on his own species. What was wrong with him today? He glanced at his silent partner. Maybe her attitude was rubbing off on him? "How 'bout it, River? You good if they come with?"
River tilted her head and turned so she was facing the giant. She remained silent for a few moments before she finally replied with a small smile. "Sure. I heard teams are supposed to be four people anyway."
Conway almost wanted to ask what she Divined from their two new companions, but thought better of it. He had no wish for his secrets to be exposed, after all, what right did he have to ask about others'? People had a right to their secrets, and River didn't like her Semblance's 'side effects' anyway.
"So what happened to… him? Her? Is Wendelin a boy or a girl?" Conway asked.
"Semblance overuse ta the firs', an' for tha second, honestly, ah'm not real sure. Did'n think it'd be proper ta ask." Owen returned, shifting his partner's limp form in his arms slightly.
Honestly the question of Wendelin's gender was pretty much a moot point to both young men. Owen didn't care because he and his partner shared the burden of having Unstable Semblances that could be a danger to people around them, and Conway simply thought that having a one-to-one ratio of males to females in the potential team could only help later on. Raging hormones, close quarters, and frequent exposure to high stress situations did not make a compelling case for celibacy.
Seriously, they had been taken past the dorms earlier that morning on the way to the cliff, and almost every room they had passed had absolutely reeked of sex pheromones. As to how he knew what those smelled like… Well, Conway tried his hardest not to remember. It didn't help that Ákos had given him 'the talk' later that day. He still yearned for the days of youthful innocence.
He'd have to invest in some powerful air freshener once they moved into the dorms, but that was a problem for later. Owen and Uintah couldn't have found it particularly pleasant either, especially Uintah. Rabbits have a better sense of smell than most animals, but she very well might have not even noticed. It was hard to tell with her.
"Well, all that's left is to grab the relics and get outta here. After you," Conway said, gesturing to the temple.
Owen entered the ruins, carefully balancing his semi-conscious teammate on one arm while he grabbed a gold chess piece that Conway didn't see before the larger Faunus stowed it in his pocket. The fox glanced at his partner who shrugged.
"Pick whichever one you want. It makes no difference to me."
Conway nodded and, after a moment of consideration, picked up a gold bishop piece. It just… felt right. As he didn't see himself as a true powerhouse, like a Queen, or a figure of authority, like a King. No. Like the Bishop, he didn't try to work in a direct fashion, he just moved around obstacles in his path. Conway hefted the piece experimentally. It was surprisingly light for being made of metal that looked like gold. With a shrug, the blond stuffed the piece into one of his cargo pockets and stepped back over to River, who was leaning against an intact column.
Before Conway could say a word, a loud thud echoed through the clearing. Conway felt the ground tremble slightly while the loud noises built in frequency. After a particularly powerful tremor, the tiny form of Wendelin broke free of Owen's grip when the next rapid series of thuds actually shook the ground, but luckily for the ambiguously gendered student, zhe was already well on their way to waking up. Gravity just expedited the process.
"What's going on?" Wendelin asked as Conway, heedless of the potent chill that emanated from the smaller figure, grabbed one of their grasping hands and hauled them to their feet.
"Whatever it is, I can't see it. Means that it's either out of range, in which case, we're thoroughly in trouble, or its underground, so, you know, not quite as much trouble, but still pretty bad." River remarked as she pushed herself off the column and brought Sileigeach Faireoir up to her shoulder in its burst-fire mode. Conway drew Spritely Whisper and thumbed the stud that controlled the blade, launching it from its confines with a flash of steel. Owen unlimbered Fatale Berserk from his back in its collapsed shot-cannon form and extended the shaft and blades with a single, well-practiced motion. Taking a cue from their companions, Wendelin primed the Fire Dust in their gauntlets, sending small sparks of flame from their cupped palms.
Just as the foursome drew their weapons, Conway caught sight of a few very familiar figures running towards them.
"Conway Kieran!"
Ah, of course. She had found him.
"Win?" was all he had time to say before the rabbit Faunus glomped him. Good Oum, how had she gotten over here so fast?
"Something big is coming this way!" His fellow Faunus chirped cheerily when he managed to disentangle himself from her arms. "Grass-Grass says it's underground!"
Just as the bubbly Faunus finished her declaration, a massive pair of spine-covered limbs burst from the ground mere yards from the group of eight, only to be immediately retracted. Moments later, four more legs widened the hole enough for the main body of the monstrous Grimm to be pulled from its earthy prison.
It was truly a titanic specimen. Each of its eight black legs was at least twelve feet long and clad in dull white bones that were chipped and scarred from what had to be decade's worth of battle and tunneling. Those were attached to a smaller, round central joint that also attached to a much larger bulb-shaped appendage and an ugly head, both plated with dense bone covered in red markings. Eight red eyes glittered like dark rubies in the depths of the spider-like Grimm's bone mask. Two smaller legs lay curled below its giant mandibles. The Grimm reared back onto its four hind legs and emitted a piercing screech that would probably have sent them all to the ground had Conway not diverted it in time.
"Welp. We're boned."
"Thanks for summing this situation up so nicely, Sparrow." Ianthe deadpanned while she unspooled her wires.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm more excited to fight this thing than I think I've ever been before!" Tai proclaimed as he took on a ready stance with his gauntlets and boots expanded. "I'm getting more pumped up than ever!"
"Uintah wants to call it a Spinnerling! She'll keep it in a shoebox, and feed it every day..."
"Um… Win, I hate to break it to you, but that's not a pet…"
"You know what?" Conway began, "Fine. Let's call it that. Now that we have that important detail out of the way, let's kill it. River, aim for the eyes or any weak point you can Divine."
Ryan nodded and wordlessly transformed her weapon into its sniper mode.
Uintah, Wendel, can you use your Semblances?" When the two nodded, Conway continued, "Good. Win, can you try and slow it down with some vines or something? Wendel, try and impale it from below if you can. Ianthe, you use wires? Try to restrict its movement. Tai, Owen, get in close and cause havoc."
"That's my specialty!"
"Alrigh' Con, yeh got it."
"Tyrian, can you provide ranged support, and move in close when you can? Those guns of yours are Dust-based?" At the glasses-wearing teen's answering nod, Conway continued, "Use anything that can pierce, like Wind or Lightning if you've got it. That should give us the best chance of getting through its armor."
"What about you?" Tyrian asked while he drew Dextro and Sinistro.
Conway drew his gun. "I'm going to try and break its armor. Everyone ready? Let's move!"
It was impossible to tell who moved first, the eight students, or the newly-named Spinnerling. Tai reached the spiderlike Grimm before his comrades and opened combat with a strong punch to the spider's front right leg that left a slight crack in the bone-armor. The spider screeched and swiped at the redhead, who ducked under the offending limb and the following attempted bite, which he countered with a punch to its mandible. Owen, who followed mere steps behind the martial artist, was less lucky. The ox Faunus blocked the swipe with his weapon, but the force behind the blow was enough to send him flying into a tree. Undeterred, Owen, along with Tyrian, Conway, and River, opened fire on the old Grimm. Tiny explosions of multicolored light burst against its armored head and forelegs as the spider covered its vulnerable eyes with its forelegs, opening itself to a leaping strike from Tai. Ianthe wove her way through the forest of stampeding limbs with her wires extended to maximum length. With a few deft motions, the wires scored multiple thin scratches on the miserably strong armor.
"Move!" Wendelin shouted as they slammed their hands on the ground. Ianthe quickly anchored herself to a tree and used it to pull herself from the fight, while Tai opted to simply take several leaping strides back. A trail of ice leapt from Wendelin's hands and raced under the Spinnerling before it coalesced into a trio of thick icicles.
"Owen!" Conway shouted, "Smack it down!"
Without the slightest hesitation, the ox Faunus let out a bellow of rage. His muscles visibly bulked up and his stance became more feral, though he retained his death-grip on his weapon. With surprising speed, Owen closed the distance between himself and the Spinnerling and jumped with his axe raised high above his head. It was a good attempt, but the Spinnerling blocked Owen's strike with one of its massive legs. The axe blade sheared through the offending limb at the second joint, but the old Grimm was quick enough to strike Owen with two more of its limbs while he was overextended before launching a spray of thick webbing at him from its spinneret that trapped the near-berserk Faunus against a tree. The Grimm's thrashing shattered Wendelin's icicles like so much spun glass, scattering glittering shards through the air.
While the Grimm was distracted by the largest member of their party, Conway and Tyrian both rushed in. The former ran to Owen's side while the latter ducked under a large chunk of ice and thumbed a button on both of his twin pistols, which caused the blades under the barrels to extend, changing them into a pair of shortswords that he quickly connected spine to spine, forming a broad sword hilt. The blade extended further, and he hit another button, covering the large blade with a thick coating of Blaze Dust.
"Let's gamble, Tyche!" he shouted as the blade ignited. He swung at the closest limb, coincidentally, one of those that had been scored by Ianthe's wires. Tyche's sharp blade sliced through the armor and bit deeply into the black-furred flesh below. The Grimm roared in pain and jerked its injured limb away from the black-haired boy. Its frenzied thrashing nearly pulled Tyche from its owner's grasp. While Tyrian was distracted, the Spinnerling's jaws closed around his right arm from wrist to shoulder and bit down before it sent him flying with a blow from another limb. Tychewas sent spinning out of its holder's hand as thick blood mixed with a foul dark liquid stained his white coat. Luckily for the rest of the forest the blazing sword melted halfway through a rock before the Dust deactivated.
Uintah screamed her friend's name when she saw him get bitten, and quickly used her Semblance to influence the trees into catching him with the same kind of net she made for herself earlier. The rabbit Faunus breathed a sigh of relief when her planty friends gently caught her first non-planty friend and lowered him to the ground. The Eden-user sensed that her friend was alive, but unconscious. The holes left by the Spinnerling's fang emitted faint electrical sparks as Tyrian unconsciously tried to move his unresponsive arm.
Uintah turned back to the spider-like Grimm just as it launched a spray of silk at Wendelin, pinning the elfin teen to the ground.
"Careful!" they shouted, "This thing's silk disrupts Aura and weakens Semblances!"
The rabbit Faunus' brow furrowed in anger and her eyes almost blazed with the force of her released Aura as she stomped on the ground, sending a wave of thick roots towards the Spinnerling.
"You hurt Tyr! Uintah won't ever forgive you! DIE!" Waves of thorny vines and brambles burst from the ground beneath the giant, spider-like Grimm and wrapped around its limbs, tightly restraining it. River took the opportunity to shoot out one of its eyes, showering the destroyed meadow with spurts of black gore.
"Damn! I can barely see it! It's like it disrupts Semblances just by existing!" The flame-haired sniper cursed as she fired again. The Earth Dust projectile scored a thin line into the Spinnerling's face, just below one of its other eyes.
"Now, Conway Kieran! Hit it!" Uintah yelled before she collapsed to the ground, temporarily exhausted by overuse of her Semblance.
Conway had been far from idle while his friends fought. Using his balisong, he had carefully cut Owen free from the web that imprisoned him. Once that was done, the fox Faunus started quickly spinning Spritely Whisper between his fingers, letting the eerie keening sound build as he trapped the errant sound waves with his Semblance. With a delicate application of his Aura, he shaped the chaotic waves into a cohesive mass of roiling sonic energy in the rough shape of a basketball-sized sphere over his left palm. When he could barely contain it, Conway turned to the recovering Owen.
"How good is your aim?"
Owen gave a feral grin in response and grabbed the smaller blond by the shoulders. With a mighty heave, Conway got to experience flight for the second time that day. This time was only slightly more enjoyable though, since instead of falling from the top of a cliff into a Grimm-infested forest, he was only being thrown from a much lesser height, to his potential death against a single unknown Grimm.
Conway yelled as he slammed the ball of condensed wave energy against the Spinnerling's armored midsection. The shell of Aura that barely contained the trapped sonic waves shattered on impact, releasing the contained energy in a single, directionless, shrieking burst that shattered the armor that protected the old Grimm's back and sides. Conway was not spared the backlash of his risky attack, but thanks to his Faunus reflexes, he managed to keep his balance on the Spinnerling's thrashing back. The flutist extended his blade and engaged the Dust reactor. Fire leapt along the sharp steel just before he stabbed it into the Grimm's back. The ancient creature shrieked in fury and redoubled its efforts to escape its arboreal prison. The vines and creaked and groaned in protest as the Grimm tore three of its legs free with a deafening roar. Conway lost his grip on his weapon when the Spinnerling freed the rest of its legs from Uintah's plants, followed by the loss of his footing on the Grimm's back when the spider reared back on its four hind legs.
For the third time that day, Conway felt himself fly, but this time, his impromptu flight was arrested quite violently by way of an oak tree. The fox Faunus yelped in pain as the radius and ulna in his left arm cracked and broke on impact. He grit his teeth and shouted, "Gah! Owen! Tai! Break it!"
"Right!" Tai shouted just before he charged headlong at the Spinnerling. This proved foolhardy mere moments later when the spider batted him away. The redhead merely grinned and righted himself in midair, extending his left arm toward his sister, who immediately lashed her wires around his thick gauntlet.
"I love when we do thiiiiiiiis….!" Tai started just before Ianthe yanked sharply on the wires, pulling her brother into a circular arc.
"That makes one of us, you heavy idiot!"
"Thanks Sis! Plus Twenty-Eight Percent! Suisei Dageki!"
Her muscles burned with the effort of swinging her brother. Despite having practiced this maneuver practically since he came to live with them, it had never gotten any easier for her to actually spin him, even with the assistance of her Semblance. Tai's hair gained golden streaks as he flared his Aura even higher to overcome the Spinnerling's dampening effect.
Owen opted for the simpler approach. After his Aura patched up the minor cracks in his bones from his sudden impact with the tree, the ox Faunus crouched down on all fours with a deep growl and simply gave in to his Semblance. His horns grew several inches, and the rest of his muscles also visibly grew. His normally kind brown eyes became bloodshot and angry. The Rampage-user bellowed his anger to the sky and dropped to all fours, with his axe clenched in his white-knuckled hands.
Several things happened at once while the spider was distracted by River and the recovering Uintah's continuing barrage of bullets. The blue-haired giant charged, Ianthe detached her wires from Tai's arm, which sent him flying, Tyrian regained consciousness, and Conway drew his own gun. What was most surprising though was Wendelin. Instead of fighting to get free of the webbing that bound them, the tiny teen looked like they were actively gathering as much as they could hold on their arms, and wrapping it around their limbs.
"Everyone! Don't touch the ground!" Wendelin shouted as they slammed their hands on the ground again, only this time, the amount of ice was much greater. It spread along the ground in a wave of freezing Aura, leaving everything in its wake coated in a crystal-clear layer of pure ice. The sheer presence of Wendelin's released Aura was enough to send the Grimm reeling in shock. Just before the wave of ice reached Owen, he took a running leap towards the Spinnerling. Uintah had grown a tall, leafy vine that snatched up Tyrian and River, while Ianthe had anchored herself to a tree with her wires, and Conway hurriedly scrambled up to a low branch as fast as he could with a cracked arm.
The effect of Wendelin's attack on the Spinnerling were immediately apparent. The Grimm's muscles and armor froze in an instant. A smooth, hard shell of ice completely covered the ancient creature in a splintered moment. Just as the ice finished coating the Grimm, Tai struck it feet-first in the side with all the force of a small meteor while Owen swung his ax at the Grimm's other side. Caught between an unrelenting force and what amounted to a splitting wedge, the frozen Grimm did the only thing it could. With a tremendous screech, the spider's damaged midsection gave way to the crushing power of both prospective students and dissolved into black dust, followed quickly by the rest of its body.
Conway dropped from his tree and made his way over to the others who were congregating by the pile of black dust that was all that remained of the monstrous Grimm that had been trying to kill them mere moments ago. The blond grit his teeth and bit back a yelp of pain as he roughly set his fractured arm. He quickly snapped a pair of sticks from a nearby frozen tree and pulled off his red scarf with gritted teeth to roughly splint it. He used his scarf as a makeshift sling, using his teeth to pull the knots tight enough to hold the ersatz splint in place.
"Well. That worked." Tyrian commented when Conway reached the group. The other boy had long since retrieved his weapon from its rocky sheath and reverted it to its dual pistol form. His arm had stopped bleeding, though the entire sleeve was still stained bright red. "Good plan, Con."
"Whoo! That was fun, can we go again?" Tai laughed from his current sprawled position on the ground. "On second thought, can we wait for me to heal from all these torn muscles first? My Semblance makes me stronger, not invincible, and that thing's dampening field messed up my control a bit."
"Idiot. Why did you push your Plus Scale so high?" Ianthe muttered while she used her wires to carefully move his limbs into positions where the muscles would heal more easily. The puppeteer was somewhat disheveled, but still completely covered. "Also… What have I told you about naming your attacks?"
"Um… Not to?" Tai replied sheepishly. "Ow, why!?"
"Oh stop whining, you've done worse to yourself," Ianthe said while she ran her sleeve-covered hands over Tai's arm, "You should just be grateful that my Semblance can also knit body parts back together. Otherwise, it would take you forever to heal up."
"Conway Kieran! You dropped this!" Uintah said, holding out his weapon. The Dust generator had deactivated itself when the Spinnerling vanished. The Fox gratefully took his flute back and inspected its sleek casing for damage. Apart from a few minor scratches, the weapon was in fine condition. He carefully put it back into the sheath on his leg, mindful of his cracked arm.
Conway took a seat beside the silent River on a mossy boulder that Uintah had cleared for that specific purpose. Wendelin was still gathering as much of the Spinnerling's silk as they could hold in their arms, which was a fair amount for someone of their stature. Tyrian was pouring the contents of a glass vial on his bitten arm. If the ensuing steam was any indication, it was some sort of mixture that promoted rapid healing. When the steam cleared, the black-haired boy flexed his arm, showing unmarked skin through the holes in his stained jacket.
"Alright people, let's get moving." The bespectacled student said as he got up from his seat on a fallen tree.
"Yeah, we need to get back to the school and tell them about this new Grimm we discovered." Ianthe said as she heaved her brother to his feet and draped one of his arms across her shoulders, conspicuously ignoring the redhead's sounds of discomfort. "Seriously, stop that Tai. You are not hurt that badly."
"I can't believe the teacher's didn't come to help us…" Wendelin muttered as they gathered more silk and began tying it into a bundle.
"They might have not known we were in trouble. Or maybe they decided to let us handle it ourselves. The Headmaster strikes me as the type to refrain from interference unless absolutely necessary." River remarked.
"I doubt that assistant Headmistress would've helped us anyway. I swear that woman has something against me…"
"Oh, by the way, Conway…" Ianthe started. Conway turned to look at the albino. "You might want this back. You lost it when that Grimm knocked you into the tree."
In her hand was his hat.
Conway's hand flew to his head, and to his horror, he felt his fox ears were completely exposed. This was it. The end of his social life at Beacon before he was even officially accepted as a student, and all because of his hat's inability to stay on his head. Before he could get properly worked up though, Uintah piped up.
"Uintah knew you'd look better without that."
"She beat me by one second." River commented with a shrug. "Though, I guess it works better for her. You all look pretty much the same to me."
Everyone, sans Conway and Uintah, who was examining a butterfly that had chosen to perch on one of her ears, gave the druidic-looking girl an incredulous stare. After a moment, the redhead continued defensively. "Hey, I can only see in Aura, remember? I see people as blobs of color, and everything else is kind of gray, or black. Unless I get close, and I'm really looking, I can't see faces that clearly."
Conway was taken aback. Here he was, ears exposed, and all the others could think about was River's Aura Sight? Then he realized, his partner had deflected the other's attention on purpose.
But why?
Conway jolted in surprise when Owen clapped a large hand on his shoulder. "Ah unnerstand Conway. Sometimes, Ah wish Ah weren' a Faunus either. But. Yah cn't ever be ashamed o' what yeh are. If'n yah are, then they win."
Tyrian shrugged. "Yeah… My best friend slash little sister is a Faunus, so… I don't really mind that you're one too." He chuckled. "Your species sure didn't stop you from coming up with that battle strategy."
"Uintah is a Faunus! It's always nice to know another Faunus, even if she already knew Conway Kieran was one." Uintah glanced at the others, who were giving her an incredulous look. "Nature told Uintah." She said while she took a length of creeper vine from her sleeve and added it to Conway's scarf in supporting his arm. "Though, Uintah doesn't know why your ears are gold with white tips, and not orange with black tips like other foxes… Or why you don't really smell much like a fox..."
River leaned on her weapon. "I already knew. I Divined it yesterday on the airship. Didn't matter then, doesn't matter to me now, we're still partners."
Wendelin glanced up from their task of folding the gathered silk into a manageable bundle. "Human, or Faunus makes no difference to your skills, and those are what matter most in this place. I don't care either way. Heck, my partner is a Faunus too."
"I still want a rematch!" Tai exclaimed loudly, prompting his sister to elbow him in the ribs. "Ow! This time with both of us at our full potential! Don't think I didn't notice your balance was off when we fought last time!"
"But… why?" Conway asked, confused. "Why don't you care? All my life…"
"Because we fought together, and besides, my little brother likes you. What more reason do we need?" Replied the formerly silent Ianthe, as she proffered his hat to him again.
Slowly, hesitatingly, the revealed Faunus reached out and took the hat from the albino's hand.
~AFT~
"Ugh… finally back to the school. I'd say it's a sight for sore eyes, but, well… " River trailed off as she leaned heavily on her weapon.
"Ha. Ha. Really funny River." Conway deadpanned while picking at the sling that held his right arm. "If this whole 'Huntress' thing doesn't work out for you, you could always try being a comedian."
"You're just jealous because I said it before you could. I know you were thinking it." She smirked and tapped her temple. "Face it; that would've been a heck of a lot more tasteless coming from you."
Now it was Conway's turn to huff in annoyance. Cheap-ass Aura-reading Semblance…
"I thought it was funny." Wendelin chirped from their position on Owen's shoulders.
Conway rolled his eyes in mild aggravation. Ever since the battle with the newly-discovered Grimm, the tiny, ambiguously gendered student had been almost annoyingly chipper. Thankfully, he (or possibly she) wasn't as bad as that one red-clad girl, whose name still escaped him. Probably had something to do with the conspicuously large bundle of silk fibers he/she was carrying…
"She's righ' tho.' T'woulda been pretty bad, comin' from anyone but her."
"All of my hate…" groaned the frustrated fox.
~AFT~
The ceremony took place at dusk several hours after the end of initiation. Long enough for the students to freshen up, or for those injured to be patched up enough to be presentable. A large crowd of students, ranging from the freshly-initiated all the way up to the battle-hardened seniors. Conway and the group of people he was beginning to see as friends were sitting in the third row of seats, just in front of the second-year students. He had managed to patch up the tears in his jacket after the nurse had patched up his arm.
The headmaster began, "Congratulations to all the first year students who managed to pass the initiation ceremony. I am proud of each and every one of you for prevailing against the many obstacles put forth by the Emerald Forest, and it is my utmost pleasure to welcome you all as Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training at our school. This school has a rich history dating back to nearly the time when the Four Kingdoms were formed, and I hope you all feel as privileged to attend it as I do, serving as its Headmaster."
The headmaster shifted his weight to lean more heavily on his silver-handled cane and cleared his throat before he continued, "Now, it is time to officially recognize the first-year teams and their leaders. When I call your name, please come up to the stage."
The crowd of first-year students all stood, waiting for their turn to be called. Most of the groups that had joined together in the forest stood close to each other, especially those with partners that they had been familiar with before the test.
"Amber Mikado, Morgan Kaine, Blaise Noir, and Alban Radley." The named students all stepped out onto the stage. "The four of you retrieved the Black Queen pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team AMBR, led by Amber Mikado. I know you'll bring pride and honor to your family name, young lady."
Amber visibly tensed at the mention of her family name, but still shook the Headmaster's hand in acceptance. Alban walked silently beside her, his blank eyes revealed no hint of what was going on in his mind, while Morgan and Blaise exchanged high-fives, happy to be on the same team. The newly-named Team AMBR vacated the stage while Ozpin called the next four up.
"Tyrian Sparrow, Uintah Oihana, Ianthe Aega, and Taiyo Akairo." Conway watched with mild interest as his four 'acquaintances-friends' took the stage. Uintah seemed to have settled down a bit from her more… excited persona since leaving the forest. Her blue eyes were hooded and still somehow bright, despite nearly being tripped at least twice on her way to the stage. Tai was just as energetic as he always seemed to be, but he was visibly restraining himself from bouncing around as he normally did. Ianthe walked as sedately as any noble woman. Her arms were held loosely at her sides, though her long sleeves hid her hands. Tyrian was the most relaxed of the four, he ambled along with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Apparently the time between their return from the forest and now had been enough for his Aura to patch up his arm. The stage lights glinted off his glasses as he glanced around the auditorium, presumably memorizing faces and weapons. "The four of you retrieved the White Queen pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team SUIT, led by Tyrian Sparrow."
The named boy graciously accepted the applause of his classmates while Uintah gave an excited cry and clapped with the rest of the crowd, happy for her old friend, brother, and new leader. Ianthe was more restrained in her excitement, only offering a murmured 'congratulations' that was almost lost in the roar of the crowd. Tai, however simply exchanged a fist bump with Tyrian as his way of placing his trust in his new leader, receiving a subtle nod in return. The newly christened Team SUIT made their way off the stage.
"Next, Conway Kieran, River Caeli, Owen Alpine, and Wendelin Match." Conway and his apparent teammates threaded their way through the crowd. River wove around the other students with the grace that Conway was beginning to expect from her. Wendelin had actually climbed onto Owen's broad shoulders, taking advantage of the larger teen's crowd-clearing ability. The ox Faunus was literally pushing other students out of the way, through no real fault of his own, considering his massive stature. Conway simply followed in the giant's wake, murmuring apologies to the disgruntled students they passed. When they finally reached the stage, Ozpin continued.
"The four of you retrieved the White Bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CROW, led by Conway Kieran." Conway was so taken aback by Ozpin's declaration of him as the team leader that he nearly missed the Headmaster's parting comment. "I'm sure you'll make your parents proud, and I hope that you discover their identities soon." Ozpin covered the microphone with his hand and whispered, so softly that Conway could barely hear, even with his Semblance. "You are closer to them than you think."
Conway took in a deep, shocked breath while his teammates ushered him off the stage. He felt like his entire world had just tipped on its axis. The headmaster knew who his birth father was? Did that mean that he also knew his birth mother? No… from the way that comment was worded; his mother was both still alive, and someone he was, or would be, familiar with. Conway resolved to ask him as soon as he could, though he doubted he would get any useful information from the experience. The headmaster seemed like the kind of man who delighted in ambiguity.
"Hey, are you alright?" River asked, breaking through his musing and adopting what might've been an expression of concern on an uncovered face.
"You know… I'm not sure."
~AFT~
Author's Note
Fun Fact #30: Uintah's song lyrics are from a children's song called My Garden. I don't own this song, nor do I claim ownership.
Fun Fact #31: Owen's Semblance was originally going to be Gravity.
Fun Fact #32: I don't know if Aura storage and Semblance use after death are possible in canon, so… yeah. Just roll with it. Please?
Fun Fact #33: The whole story of Terran and Glynda will be told (eventually) [probably later] {Maybe in a short work}.
Fun Fact #34: Suisei Dageki allegedly means something like Comet Big Strike.
Minorly edited a bit of Uintah's dialouge 11/26/2015.
Massively edited a lot of the chapter 11/24/2016
