A/N: So as the poll goes, Mark and his team will not be returning to the story. While I would've slightly enjoyed having them to use as pawns to my devilish creation that is the later chapters, I will now need to find more, shall we say unfortunate souls as catalysts. Thank you to all who have left your opinions, it's much appreciated.
Also, I want to write a one shot (what?!) Yeah, I know. I don't normally do one shots, but I kinda want to take a quick break from this story, so I need a cover art. I can always scavenge the internet and find one, but if any of you have anyone you'd like me to check out or a picture you'd like me to use, feel free to let me know. (Warning: It's a tragedy fic, so it won't be cute and cuddly.)
Anyways, that's it for today, so I'll leave you to what you came here for and as always, take it easy.
Beacon academy was a school, but not one that you entered without knowing the risks. Both students and teachers alone knew the risks involved with enlisting in this line of work, and the trade was quite hands on, requiring constant outings into the world to teach students the skills that could save their lives. You could teach students all their lives which part of a Grimm they needed to attack, signs of an ambush, how to take down a nevermore and how to track your opponents to the end of the world. But you couldn't teach them the horrors that they would experience, you couldn't teach them how to hold under pressure. You couldn't teach them how to fight together as a coherent unit, and you certainly couldn't teach them trust. All of these things needed to be taught through doing, bonds forged in the flames of war. They were all still students, mere young souls who had yet to have an impact on the world around them, and in this field of work, most of them wouldn't. Childhood naivety and the thoughts of your indestructibility were all well and good, but believing yourself to be invincible didn't save you from the forces that hid in the darkness, waiting for you to step out of place.
The girls knew this concept quite well, though Ruby had learned this lesson terribly. Her parents had been hunters and huntress's, and they knew what they were getting into before they agreed to this line of work. Her mother had known the risks that she took whenever she picked up her weapons and fought for her family, her city, and her planet, and she had performed the ultimate sacrifice so that her child might be able to live her life in peace, a world where the Grimm were mere lab experiments and you needn't worry about the shadows of the forest. But her enemies were unrelenting, never giving up their ruthless siege as they continued to batter themselves against the walls of humanity, the barriers that separated them from the evil slowly chipping away against the endless hordes of darkness.
But Beacon did a good job of boosting the morale of the students. Although their fates could be determined by the mere misplacement of a foot or a wrong positioning of a blade, they didn't let this falter the undying will of the students who fought for their freedom. They ensured that the students were well protected and travelled in large groups, often returning back with only bruises, scratches and stories to tell around the cafeteria. But the casualties were clearly present if you merely pulled the records of the year's attendance that was readily available to all students who knew how to unlock their scrolls. The amount of students that progressed every year dwindled, and only half of the students that had started their first year at Beacon had graduation photos. Hidden away out of sight and out of mind stood the memorial wall, the area of the school that everyone knew existed, but no one cared to venture. The faces of smiling students lined the walls, consuming more and more of the hallway as the years skipped by, their smiling faces forever resting against the smooth marble. The smiles of children who would never shine again, eyes that would never see their children play. Arms that would never hold their lover tight, bodies that would no longer comfort a saddened friend, hands that would no longer hold their children as they spun them in t he spring breeze, potential that would never bloom. They had been human beings worthy of the oxygen they breathed, and every single one of them meeting the same fate, all of them dying believing that they had died for a greater cause, a cause that would cause them as a species to continue, making the hard decisions when they needed to be made and willing to pay the ultimate price.
The girls had ran along this wall, trying not to catch the immortal glances of the students passed as they dashed to their next class, but their eyes couldn't help but meet the eyes of the students before them, all of their fates already sealed. They hung their heads low and stood still for a second, paying their tribute to the students who had passed well before their time, their limitless potential ended in a heartbeat. Below each picture rest the way of their passing, the stark contrast of their smiling pictures breaking even the toughest of hearts. They continued on in silence, leaving the wall of memories as they headed over to their class, walking in silence.
The thought of her face in one of those portraits filled the mind of the young heiress, the thought causing her a small shudder as they continued in silence, thoughts of her own demise filtering their way into her thoughts. She envisioned her own face plastered against the perfectly clean wall, her fast joining the legions of others in names forgotten in the fight for humanities survival. Her eyes traced their way back over to her partner as they continued, her gaze averting as her partner's eyes caught her own. The silence that they held continued all the way to the classroom, where they quickly entered and seated themselves, their eyes glued to the teacher, neither one in the mood for conversation. Ruby was too afraid that she would set off Weiss again like she had this morning, and Weiss too afraid that she was going to say something too obvious and give herself away. She rattled her fingers against the desk, her mind overflowing with thoughts as it always did. Her crimson partner's gaze met the stage behind the teacher who was currently tapping notes against his desk and clearing his throat. Her head quickly jerked to the side to meet the entrance of her sister and partner who quickly made their way over to sit next to their counterparts. Their joyful conversation came to a quick close as the teacher began speaking, cutting all other noise from the room.
"Welcome, proud students of Beacon, to the first Grimm hunt of your second year here at Beacon. As you are already aware having survived through your first year, these are a regular occurrence at which you are required to participate unless you have a clear and signed reason for why you are not here. Failure to abide by these rules will result in an immediate failure of my course and a stern talking to by the headmaster himself. Now back to the topic. The Grimm hunts that you had taken place in last year were merely a warm up, an introduction of sorts, to what you will begin getting yourself into this year. Instead of being allowed to team up with another, or even several other squads, you will be forced to partake in this challenge with the mere assistance of your teammates to guide you. Any questions thus far?" He asked as he flipped to the next page, clearing his voice once more before addressing a raised hand in the back of the class.
"So, what exactly happens if you find yourself close to another team? Do you just pack up and move away?" The student asked with a confused voice, clearly trying to find an exploitable loophole in the rules that him and his team could abuse.
"Of course not, we don't have the supervision needed ensure you follow these rules. So instead, we are going to drop you off in random portions of the forest and task you with your own survival. If you find another group, feel free to take their side. Your own survival comes first, of course." The confident voice of the teacher replied, causing the cocky students face to slump down, defeat painted on his features. Another hand was raised, this time by a girl on the other side of the room, small ears poised above a wave of brown hair.
"Excuse me for asking this, but don't you think that this is a little harsh? Just dropping students off into the forest and telling them to survive by themselves? What if we drop into an ursa nesting site, or stumble across a nevermore nest? What do you expect us to do then?" Shot the clearly angered voice, whose person was now standing from her seat, the rest of what could only be taken as her squad standing up to take her side. You didn't survive in Beacon by yourself, and most students quickly caught onto this. You took your teammates sides through the thick and thin, lived through your choices and decisions as a team, not as an individual.
"Clearly you do not believe in your squad's ability to function as a coherent unit, or you don't believe in your teachers abilities to do proper research on the forests we grew up in. So tell me student, which one is it?" He asked as he grabbed a cane from beneath his desk, posing himself against it as though he didn't quite care what her answer was. He had trapped her, and she had no logical way out of it. With what could only be taken as a huff of frustration, she sighed back down into her chair, her squad following her as they did the same, causing the teacher to grab the papers from back off his desk, placing his cane down behind it, out of sight of team RWBY.
"So as I was saying" he began once more, his confident voice failing to falter. "You and your team will be tasked with survival for one night, and are allowed back into Beacon by breakfast time tomorrow. If you do not return by the night after, we will begin a search for you, and you will quickly be found. Remember, your first priority is survival. Giving a grade to a corpse is not as effective as to a smiling student. Kill off what Grimm you can, but do not bite off more than you can chew. Any confusions with what you are being asked?" He finished, ensuring no more hands had lifted before dismissing the class to the cliffs with a smile and a quick phrase of motivation.
They quickly exited the room, all four of them walking together, and for a good reason. Outings like this were always a worry of hunters and huntresses in training. Although they were in the proper situations that had already been heavily thought over by their teachers and battle planners, they were still spending the night under the stars. All it took was your guard falling asleep and your team was coming home in body bags. It was a test of students training, patience and cooperation, and it tested bonds, and not all of them passed. There was always a new face to add to the wall after every away trip, despite their hardest attempts to keep them alive. Accidents were not made because you wished them so, and no perfect mindset could save you from a twisted ankle or a tired muscle.
Their leader wished to start a conversation, something to break the mindset they were all clearly sharing, but the words were caught up in her own problems. She was responsible for all of their well being, and she would be the one in trouble if anything were to happen to any of them. The thought always filled her mind any time they were about to go on a hunt, a thought that caused only pain. She bid the thought to leave, to exit her conscience, but the stubborn thoughts refused to leave. She tried to bring herself to better thoughts repeatedly, but every attempt failed. Her heart began to pump quicker and quicker, her muscles tensing. She understood the reason behind the hunts. You couldn't teach combat on a stage. You could try, but only training on the real thing would increase your chances of returning home every time. But the mental fortitude that it required to do her job took its toll. The childish demeanour that she had entered Beacon with shed long ago as responsibilities crowded her life.
They reached the cliffs with only small playful gestures being exchanged between the couple of the team, trying to lift their moods. Several bullheads rested next to the cliff, the Beacon logo proudly painted against their sides. Leaning against each one stood a pilot, their bright white jumpsuits and a white helmet tucked expertly under their arms as they watched the approaching students giving the students a sense of security. While launching the students off into the forest was certainly a viable way of performing the hunt, the areas next to the cliff had already been cleared off all Grimm threats and didn't need to be cleared again. Every student had been given an assortment of gear that resided in a backpack in front of their assigned bullhead, their logo attached to a flag as it danced in the wind. They quickly grabbed their backpacks and looked up to their pilot. She was a middle thirties lady with a petite physique, a blue eagle stitched onto the right shoulder of her white jumpsuit. Scratch marks lined the ship, the close encounters with nevermores shining through the repainted layers. You could try to cover up mistakes, but some never went away. Ruby opened up her backpack to find a canteen, several cans of food, a dust powered tent and a sleeping bag. Survival wise she found a small knife for opening cans, a compass for finding their way back, and a map that would do them no good once they landed in the forest. They could always walk back the way that they had flown from, but there was no guarantee that the plane wasn't slightly tilted whilst they flew, causing them to be off by kilometres when they thought they should've been approaching the cliff. Looking into the bags of her teammates, she found the same assortment of gear, not even the slightest of change between them.
"Hello girls, I'll be your pilot for today, and most likely every hunt you'll have for the rest of the year, so I feel like we should get to know each other." The pilot began, her small voice matching her physique. "I'm Syndra, nice to meet you all" she continued as she outstretched her hand, shaking all of their hands before continuing on. "Do you guys know how this kind of drop works?" Syndra asked as she placed her free hand on her hip, leaning over to the right hand side. Upon receiving shrugs from the girls, she began her explanation. "We're going to get above your drop zone, in which the back of the plane will open up. The light just behind the door will be red until this point. Once it is safe to jump, the light will go green, but be careful. You don't have a long time to go before that light goes red again, and that door closes faster than you'd think it does. There's an emergency switch next to the door on the left hand side in case anything goes wrong and you need to get that door shut immediately. Do you guys have any questions before we go?" The pilot asked one final time before pointing to the back of the aircraft. "Then let's get suited up and get you guys out there."
The back of the bullhead was surprisingly cramped once you got inside. The seats and think heavy armour caused it to be much more cramped than you'd assume if you'd never flown in one before. The two sets of partners sat on either side of each other, only ten feet separating their legs. They flew in silence, everyone preoccupying themselves as the bullhead engines roared around them, the dust propelled craft not quite excelling in the stealth department. Weiss kept shooting glances over to her partner, hoping her eyes would meet something to give her comfort. Instead, she found her partners' eyes glued to crescent rose, sharpening the blade to the point where even the air could be sliced and then sharpening it some more. Ruby had grown an unnatural attachment to her weapon, treating it nearly like a human being at points. She returned her gaze back to myrtenaster, her eyes tracing up the white exterior. She thumbed the cartridge around several times, ensuring the weapon had been fully loaded and stocked before heading out. She had stored away several cans of dust in her backpack in direct violation of what he had said earlier, but the teacher had said that that their survival came first, and she took his statement over the headmasters. Syndras' voice shot over the intercom, warning them that the drop was in less than one minute and that they needed to prepare. RWBY quickly stood up and took one final look over their equipment, ensuring the packs were strapped to their bodies as tight as they could get, and counted the breaths they took until the door opened. The door immediately launched open and caught the girls off guard, the green light causing them to double take before realizing that the time was now. Ruby, who led the group, charged out of the ship, vaulting herself out into the morning air as the wind screamed across her face, her cape being torn around by the wind. She turned around to see the rest of her squad following her, their rapid descent mutual. Above them, the bulldog began its turn back to Beacon, ready to pick up the next squad. She turned her sight back to the ground, tears forming in her eyes as the wind threatened to tear her frail form to pieces. She drew crescent rose, the scythe forming in her hands as she began firing off shells into the ground, her descent rapidly dropping. The sounds of weapon fire and glyphs from behind her brought her comfort as she knew her teammates weren't experiencing any difficulties of their own. The tree canopies approached as her muscles tensed, the death grip she held on her blade unfaltering. The tip of crescent rose caught onto a treebranch, slicing through it like a hot knife through butter, but slowing her speed nonetheless. She then caught her blade into the tree at an angle, slicing around it until she came to a stop at the bottom, the tree unravelling and collapsing to the ground behind her as she stood up and looked around, meeting the face of Yang and Blake, but not catching any sign of Weiss. The noise of rustling leaves brought her attention behind her as her partner trotted down a trail of glyphs which seemingly disappeared into the wind behind her.
"How are you guys feeling?" The youngest girl asked as she began patting down her body, ensuring everything she had brought was still safe and secure against her body. Several nods from her teammates brought a smile to her face as she pulled the backpack from its resting place and rested it against the ground, quickly grabbing the compass and placing it level in front of her body. Finding the direction of Beacon, which was currently west of where they were, she quickly replaced the equipment, shut the zipper and placed it securely against her back, tugging the strings once more before beginning their trek west. Although they weren't allowed back to Beacon before tomorrow, they could at least start the journey today and maybe sleep in a low Grimm zone by nightfall. They walked in two lines of two, arranging themselves into partners, a several foot space cushion separating them. Quiet whispers were exchanged between her sister and her "kitty" as she had aptly nicknamed her, leaving Weiss and Ruby free to converse. It took several moments, but Weiss eventually broke the silence, her form uneasy after not hearing her partner's voice constantly in her ears.
"Are you certain that this is the way we are supposed to be going? Did you double check to make sure we aren't just headed out deeper into the enemies territory?" She asked the first question that came to her mind, immediately regretting her decision as her partner looked at her with a piercing look, showing her lack of amusement to the older girls comment. The sound of leaves could be heard crunching under their feet as they continued, the awkward silence filling the air once more. Weiss took the time of silence to try and listen to the forest, listening into the noises of the forest as she began formulating a new match for a conversation. The birds sung high in the canopies, their melody grazing through the light breeze that drifted through the multicoloured forest. Small wildlife could be seen skittering up tree branches and against the forest floor, living their lives as though the intruders currently cutting through their homes were mere fragments of their imagination. They traveled quickly; quickening their pace whenever a flight of birds took to the sky of the rustling of brushes could be heard. It wasn't until over an hour later before the next word was exchanged between the duo, this time the conversation was sparked by the younger girl, her voice serious, but carrying sincerity with it as well.
"Weiss" she began, her words clearly carefully chosen "about what you said earlier." She continued before being quickly interrupted by her partner, her cheeks flushing with blood as she quickly tried to dismiss the topic.
"No, Ruby, I'm really sorry for what I said. I trust you, and I know you wouldn't lead us astray, I was just trying to start a conversation, but I spoke without thinking, and for that I apologize. It was very rude of me, and it was not the way that a heiress is supposed to act, so please, don't try to reason with me about why you didn't answer. The silence was well deserved." Came her quick reply, trying to sound as professional as her slipping demeanour would allow. What she received instead was a voice of true sincerity, her silver eyes carrying her emotions as she looked over to her partner, meeting the blue eyes of the heiress.
"Weiss, I know I didn't get it wrong, because that would involve hurting you. And I just can't bring myself to do anything that would hurt any of you; do you know what I mean? I know that it sounds corny, and yeah, it's really cheesy, but when you have this weight bearing down on your soldiers, you can't bring yourself to bring any harm to those who matter to you." She finished, the reflection of the sun in her silvers eyes giving her a sense of holiness and perfection as her partner caught her breath, struggling to create any words that could match the force of the ones here partner had just spoken.
No words came to the mind of the heiress as they continued their trek through the forest, the weight of Ruby's words causing her heart to nearly sink to into her feet.
A/N: There we go, another chapter down. I really feel like I did a good job with my descriptive writing in this chapter, and I also spent a lot of time trying to hide clues and foreshadowing in this chapter. A lot more than in the previous chapters. While the plot seems kind of slow, that's what I'm shooting for. I don't want to run out of Ideas for this story as I feel like I want to continue it for as long as possible. Interacting with my readers has really kept me going, and the amount of feedbacks, follows, favourites and private messages that I've been getting has really pushed me to keep going. If this story hadn't done so well, you probably wouldn't be reading this chapter right now.
As for this chapter, yes, it does seem kind of dark, and I can't tell you why. Maybe you guys can guess it.
Shoutouts: We didn't get that many this last chapter, but it felt rushed. Hopefully I get more on this chapter as I feel like I did a better job than I have been doing.
Rwbybomb21: Thank you for staying with me this whole time friend, through the thick and thin. Your reviews are always positive and always inspirational. Anyways, I hope you like where this story is going, but warning now, it is going to get dark and angsty eventually. In regards to my lack of motivation, it's not that I didn't have any motivation to write romance, it's that I didn't have motivation to write in general. But I've gotten it back, so no need to fret.
Master Kosa: Yeah, last chapter was meh. Didn't really think about it, just wanted a chapter online. Although this chapter doesn't seem too great, the hidden text and foreshadowing that I put into it makes me feel good, and I really hope you enjoy it. In regards to Mark and his team, he will not be making a resurgence unless he gets asked to be put back in by enough people, but right now they're gone.
Shadowmanji: Yeah, I really don't know what was going on with that chapter, so don't ask me. It was during my lack of motivation section, and I feel like I dropped the ball. I think I picked it up in this chapter by building up suspense, which is what I'm currently working on. Hope you like it.
Tatya1999: Thank you for your review Tatya. Sorry for the confusion that I may have caused, I really haven't been thinking straight, and for that I apologize. I like where it's going now, and I feel like I have the motivation to continue with a higher quality and hopefully some better story.
Chriz Myth: Unfortunately my friend, I am an honest man and a man of my word. (Yes, I am a man, and a hetero one at that) So I will display that sadly, Mark and his team failed in the poll and will not be making a return right now. If enough people ask for him to come back in reviews of PM's, they'll make a comeback, but right now, they're sleeping in the corner of my mind.
Question of the day: Do you guys want to see White Rose next chapter or do you want me to burn the candle longer? Also, what do you guys think the foreshadowing I did in this chapter was? (There was multiple).
So that's it for today, thanks for reading, have a great morning, day, evening, night and as always take it easy.