Rephaim.

Yes, that was what Aspen was: not human, but rephaim, like the man in front of her. The word filled her with a sense of power, of identity. She finally knew what she was, even if she didn't fully comprehend what it meant yet.

The two carefully studied one another, each sizing the other up. She could not feel his aura, so she had to rely on her vision. Because of his nakedness, Aspen could see that, at one time, he'd had an athletic build, though his muscles had… atrophied since then. He was at least a half foot taller than her, and the three silver streaks in his long, messy black hair showed that he was older than her, though she wasn't sure by how much. He looked at least older than Oliver. Of course. Aspen's focus faltered at the errant thought. Yes, but… why 'of course?'

"You felt my call," the man said, his voice coming out in a dry rasp. Something in the sound felt foreign to her ears, but was still comfortingly familiar. "What is your name?"

She answered immediately. "Et vay Aspen Gray." I am Aspen Gray. The language they were speaking was not the same as the one she had heard and spoken since Laurel and Oliver had found her, but she knew by instinct that it was her own.

The man's eyes narrowed disapprovingly. "That is not the name of a rephaite."

"It is my name."

"As you say." He straightened, spacing his feet out and keeping his arms ready at his sides. "I am Deirean." The name held the vaguest hint of familiarity, and his stance was one that spoke to a well-buried part of Aspen's mind. "You are young, but your armor is not that of a warrior. Do you walk your own path?"

The girl looked down at herself. Was she a warrior? The other hunter-students fought each other in the colosseum, but that was hardly war. Were they at war with the Grimm? They didn't seem to be organized in any unified way, so it couldn't be much of a war. Hunting was much more appropriate "I am to be a Huntress," she replied, looking back up.

A harsh sound emanated from Deirean's throat, made worse by the rasp that afflicted him. "There is a nobility in the hunt, one which our kind has long been denied. Tell me, where did you enter from?"

The girl turned and pointed back the way she had come. "A tunnel in that wall."

"Show me." Aspen nodded once and began leading him out.

As they passed the rows of pods, the girl struggled to discern why they felt so familiar to her. Birth. No, birth was violent, messy, personal. These were cold and sterile. What came after birth? The word was just beyond the edge of her conscious mind, out of her reach, and it aggravated her.

"This is where I entered," Aspen said as they arrived at the tunnel's mouth.

Deirean flared his nostrils and walked through the opening. "I know this path. When last I checked, the entrance had been blocked by stones and dirt." Despite the darkness, the man's strides were purposeful, showing a knowledge of and familiarity with the structure's layout. Aspen followed him but, in the low visibility, she did not have the same confidence in her step. Next to him, she felt like a child stumbling in the dark.

That seems an apt comparison. She frowned. No, it wasn't right. And yet…

The slope of the floor changed, and soon they were ascending up the stairs toward the surface. There was a glimpse of light in the distance, but it wasn't until the pair neared the end of the tunnel that it offered any illumination whatsoever. Through her boots, Aspen could feel the loose dirt and stones that covered the steps, occasionally forcing her to shift her weight lest she lose her balance. Deirean seemed unaffected by the debris, treading over it with bare feet as though the stairs had been swept clean.

After what felt like mere seconds, they were at the surface. Deirean slipped through the gap Aspen had created and out into the open air. Closing his eyes, he took in a breath of the cold damp air before turning toward the large boulders and collapsed structures with a scowl. "How long has it been?" he asked, running a hand over the surface of the stone that had once blocked the tunnel.

Aspen looked at the boulder as well, as if she it would help her discern the man's meaning. "I do not understand."

Deirean shuddered as he released his breath. "If you do not know, then it is beyond your lifetime and that is my answer." His hand dropped and he looked at her. "How did you intend to return to the surface?"

"By the same path I came down," she answered, walking past him toward the collapsed pillar. As she neared it, she pressed down on one leg and leapt upward to land atop the fallen stone. The man flared his nostrils again—a sign of approval—and followed her lead. Despite his emaciated state, he was still able to make the jump with ease. "This leads further up the cliff, though we will have to climb it to reach the top."

"Very well. It is not the first time I have had to scale these cliffs."

As Aspen led the way up the precarious and broken path, she recalled her own climb back up to Laurel and Oliver after her test the day before. She hadn't fallen, though there had been moments where her grip had faltered. If they were fortunate, there would be no such issues this time around.

Several minutes later, Aspen crested the top of the cliff, hoisting herself up onto the grass. She stood and began brushing dirt off of her armor before turning her attention to her duffel, still lying where she'd dropped it. A quick check confirmed that all her prizes were still inside, and she turned back to the cliff just as Deirean pulled himself up. His pale skin was now marred by numerous black lines, particularly on his hands and feet. With the full light of the sun, Aspen could see that his body was covered in ashen gray scars, far more numerous than the few nicks and scratches he'd collected during his ascent.

Deirean did not seem to be bothered by the dirt that had begun to cake his skin. Instead, he scanned the ruins, jaw clenched. Eventually, he stopped on a particularly shadowy part of the forest beyond the stone structures and pointed toward it. "There are two havneel hiding in the trees there. Do you feel them?"

havneel. Aspen knew what the word referred to, yet it did not feel correct in her mind. "They call themselves 'humans,' " she stated flatly. "Those two followed me as I hunted."

Deirean turned toward her with a snarl. "And you are to be a Huntress?"

Aspen remained neutral, unaffected by his rage. "I was not here for them," she answered, lifting her duffel onto one shoulder to emphasize her point, "and they did not interfere with my hunt."

The man continued to eye her with anger before turning back to the trees. "I suppose there is no honor if they come to you." He began walking forward, but as Aspen made to follow him, he held up a hand to stop her. "No. You have my thanks for freeing me, but…" He slowly turned his head to examine the surrounding forest."…I must meditate. I will find you if you are needed."

Needed for what? Aspen nodded. "As you say." Without another word, Deirean resumed moving toward the opposite side of the ruins from the two humans. Aspen adjusted the strap onto her shoulder and began making her way back toward Laurel. She had gotten everything she needed from her hunt—with the added bonus of finding another of her kind—but she still had another cliff to climb.

(-)

Ilex grunted as the top of Mantis's gun smacked him in the forehead, and he stumbled backward for what felt like the thousandth time. He looked up as Carmine attempted to come down on the man using his weapon as a hammer, only to receive a similar treatment to the faunus's, albeit with both hand cannons.

What the hell is this guy's deal? Ilex didn't need to look at his scroll to know his Aura was getting low again. Maybe he was doing some evaluation thing before, but he's just screwing with us now! It had started off simple enough, fighting him and Carmine one-on-one until their Auras dipped to the half-way point—his and Carmines, that was. They'd barely scratched the Huntsman before he decided to give them a short break to recover.

The real dickery began when they'd started up again. Mantis finally gave Rhys a chance to fight, but stopped it after only a minute. The battle-happy faunus had been rather irate and tried to keep fighting but, when he attacked again, the Huntsman took him down so hard even Carmine cringed. Then, after sending Rhys limping back to the sideline, Mantis had apparently thought it funny to challenge the other two to steal his hat.

Flicking the blade from his right vambrace, Ilex took a step and dove toward the Hunter. The man dodged easily, but the faunus was expecting it this time. He dipped downward into a roll while aiming his other arm toward his opponent's ankles. A thin wire shot out, the small hook on the end seeking out Mantis's boot so the teen could pull him off balance. He'd managed it once during his one-on-one using a different approach, so he hoped he could at least pull it off again.

Fortune was not in Ilex's favor, however, as the man simply lifted his foot out of the way of the wire. Rolling to a crouched position, the faunus triggered the mechanism to reel the line back in, but the man brought his foot back down on to pin it to the floor. The sudden change in tension caused Ilex to jerk forward before the miniaturized motor could stall, giving Mantis the opportunity to pivot and kick at his head. In a brief moment of pride, the teen managed to bring his other hand up to catch the blow, but his defense quickly crumbled as a flash of light blinded him and the Huntsman kicked again, catching him under the chin.

As the black spots faded from his vision, Ilex saw Carmine on the attack again. He had changed his weapon's form to one the faunus knew to be a favorite of his partner's: a saber in his left hand and a tonfa in the right, with the excess length of the weapon connecting them as a sort of semi-flexible chain. The teen stabbed forward, toward Mantis's head. The man slipped easily to the side, even able to avoid Carmine's secondary motion: a flick upward with the tip of the sword intended to remove the leather hat from his head.

The Hunter retaliated, swinging one of his hand cannons toward Carmine's chest. The weapon clattered against Carmine's as the younger combatant brought his tonfa up to protect himself before he spun into a crouch, aiming both parts of his weapon toward Mantis's knees. Skipping back out of the saber's range, the man dropped into a roll as Carmine stood, coming up within his reach. At some point during the maneuver, he must have holstered one of his guns because his fist was empty as it connected with the human teen's jaw.

There was an audible clicking sound as Carmine's mouth was forced shut by the uppercut, replaced by a grunt from Mantis as he spun around and flipped his opponent over his shoulder. Seeing an opportunity, Ilex rushed forward as his partner was hitting the ground, only to come to a jerking halt as the barrel of the Huntsman's gun was pressed into his throat. The faunus swallowed, the pressure from the weapon causing some discomfort.

The man gave him a hard stare for several seconds before relaxing himself. With a sigh, he pulled the gun away with a twirl and stood up from where he had Carmine. "I think that about decides it," he said lazily, holstering his weapon.

"Decides what?" Ilex asked, rubbing his throat as his partner picked himself up and holstered his weapon. Having apparently worked out that the session was done, Rhys ran over to the group, showing no signs of the limp he'd had not that long ago. Resilient little runt.

Mantis didn't answer immediately, pulling out his scroll and writing down several notes that Ilex couldn't make out through the screen. "None of you," he started, tapping through several confirmation boxes, "are fit to be the leader of your team."

The silence in the room fell like an anvil, the news coming as a surprise to each of the teens. Wait… That was what this was all about? All the… poking and pushing our buttons? Ilex blinked, ignoring the angry signs of complaints Rhys was directing at the man. "Wait, if it's not—" Cutting himself off, he reached out to slap at the otter faunus's still-moving hands. "Hey shut up! I'm talking!" With a scowl, Rhys crossed his arms. "If it's not one of us, then who is it?"

Mantis stared at him in bewilderment before saying, "Aspen," as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Ilex let out a short, breathy laugh. "No, that's… That's a joke, right?"

The Hunter bristled. "Do I look like I'm joking?" he asked, hand drifting toward one of his holstered weapons.

"Not really," the faunus said, eyeing the motion as he put his hands up defensively. "Look, I'm sure she's a decent fighter—I've gotten my ass kicked by plenty of girls—but she can't lead a team of three guys. That's just not going to work."

Ilex was sure Mantis would have shot him then and there if Carmine—of all people—hadn't spoken up. "As much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with the faunus on this one." To his credit, Carmine didn't so much as flinch when Mantis turned his glare on him, weapon half-drawn. "Different reasons, though." The teen did wait for a nod of approval from the Hunter before continuing, however. "Like he said, she seems like a good fighter. I saw what she was able to do to Team RWBY before they blacked out the arena, but that hardly makes her qualified. She doesn't seem to have an interest in getting to know any of us or even a basic grasp of social interaction, for that matter. Can't help but feel like you might be playing favorites."

Much to his chagrin, Ilex found himself actually agreeing with his partner. Despite his best efforts, Aspen had barely spoken to him, and at least half of that had been asking him to stop talking because it was "distracting."

Venting his frustration through a sigh, Mantis pushed his gun back into its holster. "I wasn't the one who made the decision," he informed them. "I'm just a second opinion. As far as Aspen goes," he continued, addressing Carmine specifically, "just give her some time. It's only been a day." Finally, he turned to Rhys, who was still bouncing around on the balls of his feet. "Anything you'd like to add?"

The twitchy faunus froze for a moment before quickly uncrossing his arms and flashing a few signs, a frown on his face. Ilex gave him a look of disbelief before shaking his head and translating. "He says he doesn't care; he just wanted a chance."

Mantis cocked his head and knelt down a bit as if chastising a small child. "You did get a chance. Next time, try doing what I tell you to do without throwing a fit." The faunus scowled at him and recrossed his arms. Straightening up, the man looked at Ilex and Carmine, whose lips were curled up into a faint smile. "As for you two, you're both decent fighters on your own, but you need to learn how to fight together." The smile fell away from Carmine's face.

"What are you talking about?" Ilex asked, feeling much the same as he assumed his partner was. "We just fought together for, like, fifteen minutes."

"There's a difference between fighting together and fighting at the same time." Mantis deadpanned. "You'd best hope you work out your differences sooner rather than later." Slipping the scroll back into a pocket, he began to turn away. "We're done for now. Tawny or I will let you know what you'll be doing next." Ilex scowled at Mantis as he walked away. He did not like that man.

(-)

"What do you mean 'another one?' "

Mercury casually leaned forward in his seat, watching the fight between two girls from Atlas and two boys from Beacon. Calling it a fight seemed pretty generous to the team from Beacon, however, as the one orange-haired girl—Penny, if he recalled—was completely dominating the match. "We followed Aspen like you told us to," Mercury said, keeping his voice low despite the noise of the crowd. "She spent a few hours ripping plates off of Grimm, then went out to that cliff in the middle of the forest and jumped off." The teen shifted as he remembered the feeling of absolute terror and dread he had felt at the time. "When she came back up, there was a man with her. We were kind of far away, but he looked like he could have been her father. Red eyes, black hair: the whole package."

Beside him, Cinder hummed thoughtfully, keeping her eyes on the arena as the Atlas girl crushed her two opponents beneath a pair of boulders. "You said he looked older than her?" Mercury nodded. She thought for a few more moments. "Don't worry about Aspen for now. Everything will still work out as planned." Cinder stood and nodded toward the arena. "In the meantime, I believe you and Emerald are on next."

So… Been a while, hasn't it?

Sorry about that. I got a little caught up finishing Wayward Son and, as soon as that was done, work got super busy. With luck, updates here will pick up now that I'm only actively writing one story, though I can't really promise much since I'm going back to college in a few weeks. You win some and you lose some.

Speaking of winning and losing, something occurred to me about the Vytal Tournament schedule. Clearly the match-ups are supposed to be random (Professor Port says as much in Episode 3), but everyone still seems to know when the fights are going to be. Obviously, the "randomization process" actually spits out the entire lineup and then people know when they're scheduled to fight, but the way it's presented makes it seem like the fighters are picked right before their match with no notice. Pretty inconsequential in the long run, but it did cross my mind becaaaauuuse…

…as you'll notice, I mixed the schedule up a bit myself. It actually wasn't until I got to the last scene here that I realized Mercury and Emerald probably should have had their match during the time they were out following Aspen. So, I worked a little jiggery, pulled Penny's match in a day early, and pushed their match back a little bit. Again, not really that important, but I do enjoy playing with all the ripples that come from Aspen's involvement with canon.

Of course, I don't think I could get away with posting this chapter without addressing Aspen herself. If it wasn't obvious, the rephaim are a separate species from humans and faunus. Just what that means for the future is something I'm not quite ready to comment on, but I will bring up the matter of language. In order for this story to work, Aspen needed to be able to speak English—or whatever they speak on Remnant—but as she realized here, that's not her native language. The only way around that is for her to somehow learn it, and doing that the normal way would have been boring. Instead, she can learn languages from just a small amount of interaction with them—hence her also knowing sign language and occasionally fixating on a single word.

Hopefully, I didn't pull back too much of the curtain there; I could go on for a while with all the details. That's all for this update, so I'll leave the door open now for you to follow or review or whatever you like. Until next time (Which, hopefully, won't be too long!), au revoir!