Chapter 9
A Shining Beacon


"Oh come on!"

Ruby's exasperated voice suddenly sounded out, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had filled the Bullhead. She wasn't entirely aware of her situation, but at the moment, the teenager didn't care. "That explains nothi-!"

"Ruby! You're okay!" Her random complaints were cut off by the glomp of a certain blonde huntress, not giving the girl any room to respond as Yang hugged her little sister tightly. It took a few minutes before Yang finally loosened her grip, turning up to face Ruby, traces of tears still stuck in her eyes. "I was so worried..."

"Yang...? What happened? The last thing I remember was..." A light? Sky? Someone smiling? Honestly, Ruby Rose could barely remember her dream, but she had an odd feeling that it was something important. At least, something related to what happened back in... "Oh no, our exam! Did we pass? How'd I fall asleep? Did I fail us or something? Dad's going to kill me..."

Yang flinched at her sister's choice of words, her eyes falling downwards. To think that her sister would joke about something when she nearly died... The Huntress was about to respond, but a certain headmaster cleared his throat before anyone could say another word.

"I hate to interrupt this reunion, Miss Xiao Long, but I have a few questions for your sister." Ozpin's serious demeanor cut through the atmosphere as he turned to Ruby. "You have been through quite the ordeal. How are you feeling, Ms. Rose?"

"Um... Confused, I guess? I didn't know Beacon had teachers who had wings! Were they real?" Ruby immediately spoke her mind, paying no attention to her surroundings as her random questions cut through the previous unease. Instead, she began looking around, trying to find any trace of the Valkyrie from early, only to find that she was in a different setting once more "... Wait, where are we now? What happened to the floating lady?"

"Floating... lady?" Ozpin could glean a few bits of information from the confused student, but without context, most of her questions made no sense. But before he could ask her another question, Ruby spotted a familiar stranger.

"Hey! You! You owe me some answers!" The teenager threw an accusing finger at the bound Scholar, impatience growing on her face. It seemed like Ruby had finally remembered the attack from earlier, and everyone else wanted to know why h- "You're a friend of hers, right? Could you ask her where she got those things?"

...What.

The looks of concern, worry, and stress that had filled the teenagers' expressions immediately gave way to deadpan confusion. The first to recover, Weiss shook her head, turning to face her partner as she pinched the younger girl's ear. "Shouldn't you be asking about SOMETHING ELSE?"

"Mio... ypeg av kchn... Zk uos llnsaz hsij dqbr?" An voice rang out in response, and everyone's focus turned away from Ruby to the man she had been yelling at. Blake and Yang froze, barely recognizing it now that the man's voice was no longer distorted. Rather than sounding like broken, creaking metal, the two girls were able to identify coherent sounds. Not that those sounds made any sense, or even sounded like words, but it was a start, right?

"Hey, don't talk about her that way!" Ruby immediately answered the man, much to the surprise of everyone present. However, she was unaware of the attention, a tired expression on her face as she looked at the man proper. "She's still my partner... And she does have a point. You owe me answers. The floating lady even said so."

"Qqb apae ljl Jllbqtps."

"Yeah, that Valkyrie! What does she mean, anyways?"

"Zqd ox i jmrwcdeu lq rbzw?"

"Well, she did say you'd answer all my questions after th-"

"OKAY, HOLD ON FOR A MINUTE." Yang had had enough, and covered her younger sister's mouth. An incredulous look was plastered on her face as she turned to Ruby. "How the hell are you holding a conversation with him? You can understand him?"

Being the little sister that she was, Ruby accepted the hand for all of one second before pulling it aside, returning a confused glance to her sister. "Uh, what do you mean? Why wouldn't I? He's speaking clearly, isn't he?"

"He's speaking a completely different LANGUAGE!" By this time, the blonde huntress was trying to catch her breath, no longer able to keep up with the confusing turn of events. Things had gone from school exam to mystery man to grimm attack to mystery murder man to more grimm to mystery murder man that Ruby seems to be friends with. "And why are you so friendly with him? He nearly killed you!"

"Wait... he what?"


One explanation later, Ruby gave an odd look to the Scholar. From what she could tell, he wasn't a bad person, just a very... confusing person. And he was helping with the giant Nevermore before everything else happened... Plus, the Valkyrie from early had called him a hero or something. Heroes can't be bad, right? "This is probably just a misunderstanding or something. He didn't mean to hurt me, right?" She gave a hopeful glance to the man.

To the Scholar, the rest of the conversation was gibberish, but it no longer grated at him. Instead of twisted words with some ungodly filter wrapped around them, they were merely foreign voices and foreign sounds. Still, he could understand the girl in red for some reason, and her words coupled with the occasional glares from the other teenagers were just enough to understand what sort of conversation they were having. "Kqyfj... Ik ocz oy atukksyt. Pgw hdaerjgk gfduwpsm, lnu av dod ak s dhr eidw."

"See? he said it's an accident, so it's fine!" The young girl beamed at her sister, accepting the scholar's words completely as she brushed the issue aside. And then she felt her sister's arms tighten around her. "Y-Yang?"

"How can you say that?!" Her voice was breaking as she yelled, the outburst startling Ruby as much as her sister's sudden embrace. Yang held onto her tightly, the tears that had been quelled earlier slowly starting to form. Her body quivered, the stress of the day's events pushing the girl to her limits, and the next words she spoke were far quieter, barely audible as she whispered to Ruby. "... Don't you get it, sis? You almost died because of him..."

Ruby had no response for that. She of all people knew how important family was, after all. Rather than respond, the red girl returned the hug, patting Yang's back as she supported her older sister.

The flight continued on in silence.


He appreciated the silence. It gave him time to think.

The Scholar turned his attention away from the red and yellow teenagers as he began stewing over the Valkyrie's last words, piecing together the last few... Hours? How long was he out?

From what he could tell, the resurrection succeeded, but the Yggdrasil Leaf wasn't enough. According to the Valkyrie, it lost its power after leaving the influence of the world tree... Which meant that he was no longer in Midgard. So where was he?

And more importantly, what did the Leaf do? It didn't have enough power, so it took spiritual power from both him and the girl. And then he fell unconscious, and they both appeared in Valhalla?

"Gn, xb fsdba lct ria cmag hbctzfhzcl Zg. Qdar." Lost in his thoughts, the Scholar did not notice the other man sit down beside him. The person before him had a look of importance, sitting tall as he gave the Scholar an appraising look. "W gpdr azcg didhbvcmh nbf xdc, ois ipnh vxty vzkm gc vpqg imiqy Ftqg pom bmqwzim."

This language difference confused the Scholar the most. It didn't seem normal... But then again, the only other language he encountered in Run-Midgard was one that belonged to the mysterious Umbala tribe. Still, their words didn't sound so broken either. Actually, he couldn't remember what their words sounded like at all, only that he had eventually learned to understand it one day. 'I don't know why, but I don't think that's how language is supposed to work...'

But that was neither here nor that. He felt the imposing gaze of the man beside him, and the Scholar knew that he was probably the equivalent of being arrested. This was confirmed when the man gestured to his bindings, then to his adventurer bag that... 'Hey! Did he steal that while I was unconscious? Damnit.'

Even if he couldn't understand the language, he knew full well what the message was.


By the time they had landed, Yang's mood improved. She and her sister were the last ones to descend from the Bullhead, and the sight of Beacon Academy filled every student with a sense of relief. They had made it through the day, and despite everything, they had made it out safely. However, the academy grounds was filled with confused students who had taken the preliminary examination. From the sounds of things, no one was sure why the event was called off, and many were wondering if they had failed.

The two girls, however, were wondering where their friends were.

"Oh, there they are!" Ruby sprinted off with her usual enthusiasm, and Yang couldn't help but sigh as she quickly followed suit. The group was already talking about the events of the day as the two girls drew near, and they only caught the tail end of the conversation.

"...think she was talking about?" Jaune's confused voice was loudest as they approached the group, trying to puzzle what had happened to Ruby. "She said something about Valkyrie. Isn't that Nora's last name?"

"Just because that was mentioned doesn't mean it's related to me! I don't even know who that guy is!" The pink girl in question immediately protested, stealing a glance at the man being interrogated by the teachers. "And it's not like we can ask him. He only talks in that weird- Oh, hey you two! Over here!" Nora's waving quickly changed the topic, as everyone greeted the two latecomers.

"Hello! Um... I don't think I caught your name earlier..." Ruby greeted Nora's energy with her own, and it took all of one minute for everyone to get acquainted with each other.

"Ahem. Attention, students." Good thing, too, as Ozpin took this opportunity to address everyone's concerns. "As you all have heard, we had to cut our entrance examinations short today due to an unexpected grimm incursion. Rest assured, this will have no influence on your standing, as we have been evaluating all of you throughout this exercise.

"But remember that today was merely a taste of the life you've chosen to pursue. Being a huntsman is not a decision to make lightly, and I hope today's events reminded you of all that. If you continue to walk this path, you will need the resolve to push past this, and far worse in the future. For now, you are free to relax. The examination results will be announced tomorrow morning." The man gave a sigh, giving one final look to the students as he concluded his statements. His eyes soon fell on Ruby's group, as the events of the day replayed in the man's head.

This year was going to be an interesting one.