The orange-red leaves of October blew lazily in the cold breeze. Thick, steel grey clouds loomed overhead, the dense fog below them shrouding the campus in mist. Over a month of the school year had already passed, and Autumn was in full swing. The usual warm, clear days of late Summer had been replaced by dreary, rainy, cold, weather.
Greyson loved it.
Team GRAE walked in a huddle on their way to Professor Port's lecture hall. The evening before, a holographic message was sent to all first-years of Beacon Academy. Apparently, a special class was to take place. No one knew exactly what it was, though guesses were thrown around. A few teams had been taken to the forest of Forever Fall, and students had speculated a smaller mission was in store for them. Others were convinced something horrible had happened, and the "special class" was a somber assembly to discuss whatever it had been.
Azure shivered, lowering her head against the breeze. "It's freezing out here. My hands are so cold..." she noted. She leaned into Greyson, pressing her left arm to his right.
"Oh. Uh. Sorry," Greyson awkwardly apologized. With his next step, he moved to the side, leaving a foot between the two.
"Why couldn't we go to Forever Fall? I'd say we're a solid team," Rusty wondered.
"Not sure," Greyson admitted. "RWBY is strong too, they beat almost all of us. They're with Pyrrha's team, she's an obvious choice for some special mission."
"There were some other dudes going too, right?"
Greyson cocked his head. "I think so, yeah. They must be good too."
Professor Port's lecture hall had been filled to the last row. The seats were abuzz were speculation and conversation, meshing together into one loud murmur. Professor Port stood in front of the students, preparing to begin his speech.
He cleared his throat. "As you all know, a select few teams have been chosen to go to Forever Fall for a very important mission. The rest of you are trapped here with me!" He chuckled heartily. "Now, allow me to explain. We have set up an obstacle course just outside of campus. Your four person team will be assigned to work with one other, each member assigned exactly one partner from the other team. Each pair will run one leg of the relay. The two partnered teams with the lowest time will be the winner."
"So, this has nothing to do with fighting Grimm at all, huh?" Greyson asked himself. "Still, I guess this seems kind of fun..."
"So this is a teambuilding exercise, with other teams?" Ember asked quietly but severely. "I just started getting used to you guys."
"This exercise is meant to train a skill that is of paramount importance!" Port continued. "Though many huntsmen work alone, to adapt to unexpected situations and overcome obstacles with others is one skill we hope you learn in your time at Beacon."
A holographic blue screen suddenly opened above Port's head. Dozens of team names populated a list. Greyson narrowed his eyes, scanning the board. About halfway down the second of four columns, he saw his team name. Next to it, Team DARK. He noticed something else, but paid it little mind. On a red bar, black letters scrolled across the screen.
"BREAKING: BURGUNDY BANDIT REAPPEARS IN VALE"
"Your partner team's information has been transferred to your scroll," Professor Port Announced. "Seek them out, and acquaint yourselves with them. We will leave in ten minutes."
The team matching system was inefficient, Greyson thought. He had the names and faces of Team DARK at his fingertips, but no way to find them among the swarm of first years crowding the lecture hall. One 'Dunder Leone,' leader of Team DARK, would be easiest to spot, Greyson guessed. Short golden hair, listed as six feet, four inches tall.
"Oh. That's one of them," Greyson pointed out, locking eyes with Dunder. He stood next to his still-seated teammates at the front of the hall. Greyson called for his team to follow, and began working his way through the mass of first-years, down to the front of the room.
Dunder looked like a bodybuilder, most of a head taller than Greyson and nearly twice as wide. Greyson marveled at how the school managed to fit him for a uniform. He had a broad and sharply defined chin, stubble tracing across it. Most notable were his icy blue eyes. Standing next to him was a girl with long silver hair and grey eyes, a look of disapproval rivalling Ember's cast onto her face. She met Greyson's gaze and he quickly looked to the next teammate, a short boy with a crimson headband that positioned his jet-black hair to cover his right eye. His left was blood red, darting back and forth with a crazed look as people passed. The last team member was tiny. Her hair was the same color as the boy's and was near the exact same length as Azure's. She rubbed her left elbow nervously, watching the people moving and speaking around her. Her eyes flicked to Greyson as he approached, and she shrunk backward.
"Hi. Dunder, right?" Greyson said, holding his hand out to the other team's leader for a handshake. "I'm Greyson."
"Yup. Dunder's right. Now who's that blonde on your team?"
"Oh, that's Azure—" Greyson began. Dunder interrupted him by cutting past, knocking against the much smaller grey-haired boy on his way to Azure. Greyson turned halfway with muted indignance painted across his face. He shook his head and sighed, trying his best to ignore the pang of jealousy that had begun to creep into his mind. He looked to the silver-haired girl, hoping for better luck on a handshake.
"Have you washed your hands recently?" she questioned.
"Yeah, just before I left my dorm," Greyson said. "Twenty minutes ago, maybe?"
"Then don't even try to touch me," the girl demanded.
"Oh. Alright then," Greyson awkwardly replied. He turned to the short, dark-haired boy. His one visible eye glared at Greyson maliciously.
Disheartened, he turned back to Azure, Rusty, and Ember. "What a team," he thought. "This'll be fun."
"E-Excuse me..." a shaky, near-silent voice asked. Greyson paused, unsure if he had heard what he thought. As he turned, the black-haired girl started in surprise. She took a deep breath, as if to gather any traces of courage she had left. "I-I'm Raven. Raven Corvis."
If the room was one bit quieter, Raven's heartbeat would have been easily audible. Any louder, and her voice would have been drowned out. Black feathers stuck out from her hair at seemingly random intervals, until shoulder level. Below her shoulders, her hair appeared to puff outward as it became a mass of black plumage.
Her skin was pale as a sheet of paper, her hair, prominent eyebrows, and irises of her large, wide eyes appearing as if they had been drawn on in permanent marker. Her eyes carried an eternally anxious look, darting between people who moved around her, analyzing them for any hint of a threat. Greyson marveled at how such a short, petite girl could hunt creatures of grimm, being a foot shorter than Greyson. He was just shy of six feet tall.
"Nice to meet you. Would you like to come meet my team?" Greyson asked with a breath of relief. One team member, at least, was cooperative.
"O-Okay," she confirmed. She ducked her head slightly as she stood up and followed Greyson to his teammates.
"You know, I'm surprised a guy like you isn't more used to being rejected by now. Back off," Ember challenged, her usually calm voice raised to an edge.
"Why wouldn't she be interested in me?" Dunder yelled, pointing to himself. Several pairs of cautious eyes flicked his direction. "I'm much better than the guys on your team!"
"How you're acting right now is cold, hard, proof that you're delusional."
"Screw you and your HAT!" Dunder yelled, reaching for Ember's head. She quickly dodged backward, grabbed his arm, and twisted until she was close to him again. Cold fire raged in her eyes. He tried to wriggle away, yet was held in place by the girl over a foot shorter than he.
"Don't touch it," Ember demanded. "I didn't want to have to embarrass you more than you embarrassed yourself, but now that I am, promise me you'll back off before I twist your arm out of its socket."
"Sylvia, help!" Dunder commanded. The silver-haired girl drew a peculiar blade, which extended both forward like a sword, and back past her elbow. She swiped the sword toward Ember's neck. Ember looked at her attacker, looked at Dunder, and sprung backward.
Azure came in from the side, stopping the blade with the two halves of Moonbow. Sylvia kicked Azure in the stomach hard enough for her to fall to the floor, and jabbed downward towards her. Azure rolled back and onto her feet, fixing the two halves of her Moonbow. Each shot was blocked by Sylvia's weapon. Sylvia swiped her blade in the air, launching a blade of dust at Azure. Azure put her swords in an X to destroy the bright silver blade. Once again she fixed the halves of her blade together. She strummed repeatedly where a string would be on any other bow, launching bolt after bolt at both Sylvia and Dunder.
"They brought their weapons?" Greyson questioned. He looked to both sides, grabbing at where the handle of Blitz would be. His finger passed through air, and he grit his teeth.
"KURAI, STOP!" Raven suddenly shrieked. Greyson stood, confused and concerned, as Raven drew a beautiful silver Xiphos out of the sheath secured to her arm by an array of metal straps and rushed behind Greyson. He heard a clash of metal, and the sound of fallen steel clattering across the floor. Greyson looked back. Raven was on top of the mysterious, dark-haired boy. A long, crooked dagger was next to him on the floor, nearly as big as Greyson's own weapons.
"You... traitor," He struggled. He pulled a second knife out from his belt, and stabbed at Raven's shoulder. Black waves rippled around the point of impact, and he attacked again, blade still held at bay by Raven's aura. She yelped in pain and rolled off the boy as his blade came in once more.
A shot was fired into the air by Professor Port. Everyone froze.
"Enough! All eight of you will see Headmaster Ozpin immediately," Professor Port demanded.
"Whoa! Hey!" Rusty exclaimed. He dashed in, kneeling next to where the black haired girl knelt on the ground, quivering and clutching her arm. "Hey, I think she's hurt!"
Professor Port saw Raven on the ground. Blood oozed between her fingers and ran down her arm, dripping off of her elbow. She cried and shook from the intense pain. "Mister Skye. Take her to the infirmary at once. The rest of you will be seeing Ozpin."