"Beacon Academy. For the citizens of Vale Kingdom, it is as familiar to them as the names of the Grimm. Every single person up and down the kingdom, from small town shop owner to the metropolitan office workers in the largest cities, tells stories of wonder about this training ground for future Hunters and Huntresses.
But what is actually known about this Academy? Compared to the more transparent Atlas Academy or even the oddities of Shade, Beacon stands out as a mystery to a majority of the common citizenry of the kingdom of Vale.
Part of this, most people suggest, is down to the headmaster. "Ozpin," a tall man with an long slender cane at his side, has been encouraging enrolment heavily for the majority of his tenure in charge. More students have joined the ranks of Beacon Alumni over the last five years than have graduated from any other in the last ten. Despite this, Beacon also possesses the dubious claim of the largest drop out rate amongst the Academies. Whether through exhaustion, failing combat marks or in some rare cases crippling injury, many students don't seem to go the distance at Beacon. It may only be ten or eleven out of each new cohort of students, but compared to Shade's near perfect graduation rate, it stands out as a little odd.
I spoke to a Huntress who counted herself amongst the legions of Beacon graduates and she had no idea why Beacon had the image it did. "Unaccessible?" She said puzzled. "Every time I spoke to Headmaster Ozpin, he always seemed open and willing to talk. True, I didn't talk to him more that a handful of times but he never struck me as the secretive type." She laughed a little as she continued. "Well, it might have something to do with his choice in teachers. They used to terrify me!"
As we walked down the Vale High Street, she paused for a moment as she considered her earlier position. "The Headmaster does report to the Council though and everyone knows they're about as transparent as mud hiding behind a wall." I asked her about the Council as we stopped outside a clothing shop. "Hm? Oh, they're a branch of government. You know, like there's the royal family as a figurehead who "approve" the Law Chambers laws as the Judges preside over legal cases and such. The Council are the military branch of that. I'm surprised you haven't of this before! I surely can't be the first Valian you've talked to on your journey?"
She smiled prettily as I blushed a little. To tell the truth, she wasn't the first by any measure but I thought it best to encourage her to see if she knew anything my other fellow travelers had left out.
"Atlas and Vale work pretty closely together, especially the military branches. Some people think that Atlas has a backdoor to the Council and that an Atlesian General has a seat. But that's ridiculous!" Her laugh grated slightly as we walked away together down the street.
I was later informed by a friend of mine that she never let go of the lotus I left her, even after she married a Mistrali baker. She eventually passed it in on her daughter on her deathbed, or so I'm told."
Tatar of the Wandering Tribes, "Marvels of Remnant - The Hunting Lodges."
The storm broke into new music as the lightning began to strike the base. The stomping strides of the woman in front of him punctuated the roaring rain around him like thunder.
"Did he hurt you, Ren?" She said calmly in stark contrast to her demeanor not five seconds earlier.
Ren just held up a hand and gave the thunderous amazon a thumbs up. "Go… for it, Nora."
A wolfish grin overtook Nora's face as she held her hammer aloft to the heavens. The mighty war hammer glistened in the downpour as a bolt of lightning struck it.
Oh, don't tell me-
BOOM.
Right. Thought Jaune. She can call down lightning. The woman who just threatened to break my legs can summon lightning.
Run!
With blistering speed, Jaune held tight to his weapons as he took off in the complete opposite direction to the-
WHAM.
The hammer sent Jaune flying like a baseball back to the open courtyard he'd fought Ren in. The high flying journey didn't end when Jaune's shattered body collided with the ground. The momentum managed to carve a neat divot into the earth before Jaune eventually came to a stop.
"Can't let you get away that easy." Nora smiled without mirth. She flashed forwards again, the lightning coursing over her frame, as she swung down mightily with her hammer once more.
Even in his battered state, Jaune managed to have the presence of mind to raise his dented shield up in front of him. It was all his body could manage to keep his eyes on his opponent.
Just… gotta...
A shouting form burst forth from the rain and the hammer slammed heavily into the shield with a resounding gonging noise.
The shockwave that followed sent both Jaune and Nora flying into masonry. The walls that surrounded the base now had matching holes at either end.
Jaune frantically tried to stand and force his Aura through his body to heal it. He glanced quickly at his shield and tried hard not grimace at the large crack that cut through the midline.
He failed.
"Gotta say," Came a voice from his left. "That's a pretty good shield! Can't say I've ever left one intact like that before. How's your armor?" Another rippling swing managed to miss Jaune completely before he found himself being tackled from the other side.
"Get off me!" Jaune shouted at Ren, elbowing his head repeatedly as the two flew through the air.
Ren just landed on top of the armor clad man and began punching him in any soft bit of skin that he could find. Naturally this meant focusing almost exclusively on the face.
Jaune's thoughts were slightly distracted.
Why. Punch. Won't. Punch. They. Elbow strike. Leave. Hammer fist. Me. Another punch. Alone?!
As another strike forced Jaune's head to the side, he caught sight of a wondrous object. The sword of Crocea Mors lying not three feet away. It was more effort than he could gather to not cheer in relief.
Ren paused in his relentless assault of Jaune's facial features. "Nora! Need you over here!"
It was the last thing he managed to get out before Jaune headbutted the cowled man before throwing him off and dashing for the sword. His pistol poised for suppressive fire, he dove easily and grabbed the heirloom from the ground and jumped to his feet.
No sign of either opponent now. Jaune's ears searched through the cacophony of the rain even as he held an awkward stance with his new combination of weapons.
While his ears focused on finding his foes, Jaune's mind focused on trying to assess the damage.
Pain. Everywhere. That hammer's something else. Nearly shattered my arm along with the shield. Along with the chest pains when I breathe, I don't think I can-
No. I can and I will. No other options.
A familiar slicing sound flew through the air as Jaune parried the bladed machine pistol straight out of the air and aimed reflexively into the rainy arena he found himself in.
"You mind telling me, before you try and take my head off, why the hell you were even here?" Jaune shouted to the air around him.
A low splashing noise forced Jaune to spin around and play acrobat as Nora barged into view swinging. While the hammer didn't quite have the speed, missing by a few inches each time, Jaune had to grit his teeth throughout the ordeal. His body spun rapidly as the hammer just kept on coming at him.
"I mean, you must have been here for the same thing I was!" Jaune shouted. "Couldn't be that you just happened to find this place!"
"I'm here for Ren." That same wolfish grin that promised pain dominated her face as Nora spoke. "He said he was just gonna do some recon but oh no, he had to get captured and get into a fight with a… whatever you are."
"Listen, I didn't want to fight your boyfriend!" Jaune lashed out with a quick barrage of fire before hearing an empty click from the chamber.
The empty pause between both combatants hung in the air before Nora sprung backwards and flicked her weapon to change it into-
That's a grenade launcher. Oh fu-
That was all he managed to think before his instincts forced him out of the way of the heavy piece of ordinance and further into the storm cover. But even as he forced Aura reserves he hadn't felt before into his muscles, Nora's aim remained almost perfect as she managed to catch him in the blast of every grenade she fired.
"Now, Ren!" She shouted before unleashing a full barrage of grenades right at Jaune's feet.
No way she can be this accurate. How?!
Jaune sprung back even as the blast forced him high into the wet air. It was a momentary gasp of stillness that filled him before he saw a rapidly-becoming-familiar form flicker above him, ready to axe kick.
All Jaune could see before the blow landed was those same orange eyes, now a little dull compared to earlier, glaring furiously.
WHAM.
Jaune laid in his neat little crater, still gripping tight to his sword as he tried to stand up.
Something's broken. Still, that kick didn't have the same strength - ack!
Another pained breath tore itself through Jaune's body even as both enemy combatants stalked to the edge of his little hole in the ground.
"I'm gonna hit him with the lightning now, okay?" Nora said, raising her hammer high over head.
"Wait." Ren's deep baritone resonated above the storm.
"Aw, but why?" Nora pouted.
"I have questions. Besides, I don't think he's going to be much threat at the moment. How're the ribs?" He asked tersely.
"Broken, thanks for asking." Jaune snarked back.
"Your sense of humour is still intact, thief." Ren stated. "It may be the only thing left if Nora gets her hands on you." As if on cue, Nora punched her fist into her palm and thunder pounded Jaune's ears.
"Why are you so willing to talk now?" Jaune said, sliding gently over to his sword.
Ren kicked him in the head away from the metal on the muddy ground. "Because I have questions. Where is your master?"
"He's not my-" Another punishing kick to the chest shut Jaune up.
Okay. Just gotta focus on building up the Aura. Stall, play for time. Pray that Lightning Girl at the back there doesn't get bored and toast me to pieces.
"You serve a coward." Ren's almost monotonous voice whispered, barely audible above the din of downpour. "He leaves you here even as he flees the scene. He builds up your talents without telling you where he stole them from." Ren's face morphed into a snarl before quickly assuming the more neutral expression it had earlier. "He forced you to be like him. To have your Aura twisted and warped by Dust-"
"That wasn't him!" Jaune coughed out, ribcage still aching. "I chose that! I fought my butt off to be like this! Just listen, I don't serv-"
Ren gripped the Arc's throat as he pulled Jaune close. "Your very existence is proof of your loyalty to him. No-one else outside of my village and that lunatic knew how to do that sort of Aura reinforcement! So you are a liar, just as your master is. I give you one last chance to be truthful: Where. Is. Outis?!"
Jaune's eyes flickered to the left of Ren's head as he saw another familiar figure stalk through the rain.
Finally.
"Oh, he's not what you need to worry about now." Jaune managed to cough out before a battle cry tore through the crumbling fortress.
Pyrrha Nikos, the Lion Heart of Mistral, gave an easy grin as she settled into her combat stance. Her flaming red hair stood out in bright contrast to her slick bronze armor as she glared daggers at her enemy.
"Put. Him. Down." Came her solitary warning.
"Make him!" Replied Nora, taunting.
A blast of rippling force struck Nora right in the stomach as Pyrrha dashed across the distance between them. A series of precise strikes managed to leave minor slashes all over her opponent, who just smiled back in response.
"Alright then!" Nora shouted, holding her hammer aloft once more.
Jaune headbutted Ren as he lunged for his sword. As both pairs of fighters stared down their opposite number, the battle began in an instant with renewed ferocity.
Pyrrha lunged at her opponent, feeling the familiar weight of Milo clash against the colossal hammer. With a nimble dash around Nora, she began an efficient methodical series of blood letting blows. The steel slid easily against Nora's skin as the flurry of slashes finished with a final breath of pride as she stared at the -
What?!
Nora just stood there, her uniform slightly torn but with not a single actual wound ruining her casually strong form.
"Nice try!" Nora smiled as she held her hammer to the sky. The lightning came down on cue, striking the great metal weapon as Nora's grin widened. "My turn."
As the crackling lightning swarmed around her opponent, Pyrrha began her familiar routine of acrobatics as Nora started swinging like a baseball player at her head. A flip here, a narrow escape there and eventually Pyrrha forced a gap between the two might amazons.
"You're good." Pyrrha said, still trying to keep that distance. "Still, easy to be good when your Semblance is all you have."
The hammer being thrown was a surprise, Pyrrha would later admit, but even more more shocking was the blow that struck her in the back. A massive crack of a strike forced Pyrrha down to the ground as Nora laughed a little again.
"The hammer helps." Nora said before a sonic boom propelled her into the air.
Oh. Thought Pyrrha.
She rolled to the side mere instants before Nora crashed into the ground, leaving a small but easily noticeable crater. As Pyrrha flicked herself back into her fighting stance, she found herself facing that same doomed sight that had forced her to eat mud mere seconds before hand.
She smiled a little grin as she flipped into the air, over the hammer, and then landed on the return flight back to Nora's hand. Her balance stabilised by her Semblance, Pyrrha rode the mighty hammer back to it's owner and slammed her shield straight into Nora's face with an Aura propelled burst through her legs.
A flurry of shield bashes managed to force the lightning enhanced woman back. As Nora raised her hammer in defense, she found her feet sliding inch by inch back as the battering blows struck her torso repeatedly.
Nora roared in defiance as she leapt back and flicked her hammer into it's grenade launcher form. A hail of explosions surrounded the two as Nora pulled the trigger as fast as her gauntleted hands would let her. The harsh shaking forced Pyrrha to once again go on the defensive as she held her shield up. Nora just kept on firing.
The rain had started to lessen as Jaune lashed out with his sword once more. A wide, easily dodged slash led to a rapid series of punches to his chest from his shadowy opponent. Ren simply eased his way around the wild strikes and struck with a slash of his own.
A clang resounded in the crater as the two warriors slammed their blades together. Muscles tensed on both sides as the two struggled desperately for every inch of solid ground on the wet slippery crater. A yell from Jaune and another wild swing sent both combatants weapons flying out of their hands. No sooner had metal left leather, both men went straight into hand to hand.
Brutal blows from Ren began the back and forth of their combat. A high kick along with a knife hand to the throat forced Jaune back into the edge of the crater as Ren lashed out harder, still keeping his face neutral even as he slammed a fist into Jaune's face.
Jaune retaliated hard even as his ribs sang in agony. A far less skilled punch nonetheless managed to force Ren off of him as Jaune propelled himself directly into a tackle. The men landed in a squelch of mud as Jaune attempted to disable Ren with an arm bar hold. A flick of the wrist freed Ren before he leapt into the air and kicked Jaune.
Why is it always the face!?
Jaune roared once more, desperately trying to pin down his far more agile opponent with his limited repertoire of offensive moves. A punch, a lunging kick, even another few attempts at wrestling moves he's seen as a child did nothing to slow Ren's blinding speed. The rain had died down enough to see, in almost perfect clarity, the stalwart form of Ren.
"You fight well. But I must finish this now." Ren flicked out his hand as a low sharp noise pierced Jaune's ears. Before he even had a chance to raise his arm in defense, he saw only a flicker of movement before Ren was standing in the same place he had been before.
What happened? There's -
A single drop landed in the puddle underneath Jaune's feet.
Another.
Another.
A slow, inevitable trickle slid down his chest as Jaune gently touched it, feeling only the warmth against his gauntleted fingertips.
"What did you do?" Jaune's voice whispered weakly as he slid back against the muddy edge of the crater.
Ren shook his head, the orange light in his eyes having now faded to reveal a vibrant pink. "I- I don't -" He shook his head again. "The gem. That prison. It-"
"Enough!" Pyrrha's voice ripped through the battlefield as Ren became intimately familiar with the ground. The dark shapes of his claws held his hands down. "This ends."
Both Ren and Nora found themselves flung into the air before being completely wrapped up in steel bars from the littered buildings of the once mighty fortress that surrounded them. As Nora's eyes closed, Ren's remained wide with guilt.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried, pulling Jaune's battered form towards her rapidly with a flick of her wrist.
A loud cry of protest ripped it's way through Jaune's mouth as he felt the weight of his injuries finally catch up.
"Sorry! Little too much power there." Pyrrha nodded as Jaune descended to the ground as Pyrrha tore off his chest armour.
"Heh," Jaune laughed feebly. "Never thought you'd be so bold."
No blush came to Pyrrha's face. "Broken ribs. A very deep set of slashes on the chest along with numerous bruises. Possible concussion and Aura exhaustion. We need to get you back to base." Her voice would have been right at home in the Atlesian frontiers.
"I'll be fine." Jaune insisted even as his voice told a different story. "Something's not right here."
"Shhh… Save your strength. Your Aura should kick in-"
"Lots of somethings actually." Jaune barrelled on. "Like how you managed to lift me out of that hole without lifting a finger."
Pyrrha sighed before gently grasping Jaune's hand. "I hate my Semblance." At Jaune's confused look, she continued. "I call it Polarity. If it's metal, I can control it."
"Seems pretty okay to me." Jaune coughed out.
"You've never seen what happens when someone gets impaled on a spike because you had a temper tantrum." She whispered bitterly. "Or how people look at you when they realise how much power you have. It's taken me so long just to keep it down to how I use it but it just keeps pushing me to do more. Be bigger, bolder with my displays of strength…"
"Hey," Jaune managed to whisper out again. "You're awesome. Doesn't matter what's going on, you saved our butts there. Well, my butt specifically." He laughed a little before grabbing his chest in pain. "Still, your kickass combat ability aside, what happened to you?"
Pyrrha turned away before answering. "Outis shut down my Aura."
"What?!" Jaune shouted before devolving into a fit of coughs. "How's that even-"
"I don't know, Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted back before taking a quick breath. "He waved his hand, these orange tendrils grabbed me and the next thing I knew I was on the floor pinned by my own armor. I never realised…" She just stopped abruptly. "It wasn't pleasant."
"Seems to be a common theme with that ass." Jaune whispered, eyes half open.
Pyrrha looked up and tilted her head slightly. Jaune continued. "That guy I was fighting, Ren I think? His eyes changed colour right after he decided my nice new armor needed some red on it. And before that-" Another gasp of pain as the blood started to stop flowing. "Before that, he was surrounded by these orange patterns in a cell. Maybe Outis' work."
"You think they're working together?" Pyrrha asked.
"Don't think so." Jaune inhaled sharply. "Okay, think I'm gonna try standing."
"What?!" Pyrrha snapped. "You've taken several high level injuries in the last hour or so alone! With your Aura in the state it's in - "
Jaune's clunking frame stood tall if not proud against the devastated backdrop of the destroyed base. "I'll be fine. C'mon, let's see if the town's got somewhere we can talk to Ozpin or Prism. Bring slashy and the electric girl." Jaune just staggered slowly with Pyrrha following close by.
(rwbyfan5. Beta reader extraordinaire!
Thanks to domzori, I-don't-like-pen-names, Kail Blade and Darzefader for favouriting this story!
Hope you're still enjoying it!)