WARNING! This story does not stand on its own, it builds off of the journal entries that begin on chapter sixty-four of my long fic Blossoming Rose. So, if you have not read up until that point this story will start to contain major plot twists that influence events in that storyline at a later point. This is an in medias res prequel to that story and will probably contain references to things that have happened to Team STRQ that are not expanded upon. This is going to be the only such warning that is given, you have been notified.
Chapter one
Arrival In Vacuo
Summer could hardly contain her excitement as Beacon's airship touched down at the docking tower. She had been waiting anxiously to come to Vacuo, the sun-kissed desert kingdom, all semester. The Vytal Festival Tournament had passed, and now the beginning of team STRQ's final semester abroad was about to begin.
She had spent a lot of time in Beacon's expansive library in the months leading up to their trip. The time was spent learning everything she could about the kingdom that STRQ would be calling home for the next six months.
Geography, culture, mythology, food, weapon forging, Grimm types, everything related to Vacuo that she could find she read. Many of the books that she had perused were rather expansive and voluminous in size. But she didn't care. She had been reading before she had decided to talk after all.
As the docking ramp descended and then clicked into place, she made sure that Team STRQ were among the first people out of the airship, bags in hand.
Raven and Qrow stuck close together, their hands hovering over their respective weapons as they eyed the landscape warily. Ever since the twins had been ambushed by assassins in one of Mistral's many back alleys during STRQ's stay. They always approached new situations and places with the utmost caution.
"Wow! You can see for miles! It's so different from Atlas's views." Summer peered out over the sandy, wind-swept dunes that were on all sides of the docking tower.
"If you think that's impressive, you should see what's below our feet. Now that's the real treasure." A deep voice boomed softly across the sands as four figures approached the team from Vale.
"Terra! Nice to see you again, how have you b-" Before Summer could finish her question, she was quite literally knocked off her feet with her bag falling next to her.
"What in the name of the Brothers...?" Summer asked before she shook the dizziness from her vision. "Sunstone! Hi!"
Spirit Sunstone, the leader of team STNE and Summer's best friend, looked down at her. "Hi, Summer! Sorry about tackling you… I was just so excited to see the Valian airship that I kind of got carried away."
"Yeah, carried away is right. And that's after staying up all night because she couldn't sleep," A third voice. This one tinged with the vague remnants of an Atlesian accent that she had never managed to get completely rid of, chimed in as she walked up. "Sunstone, don't you think you should let her up?" Neph asked as she walked up.
Tai, Qrow, and Raven had all admired Neph's figure the first time they had met her, and Summer could still see why. She might not have been into girls, but she couldn't deny that Neph was attractive.
Terra's girlfriend looked like a model with her green eyes and hair, long legs, and a tan that came from living in Vacuo for years. She could easily pass for a native daughter of the kingdom. Her slight Atlesian accent was the only thing that gave her true heritage away. She was the second tallest of Team STNE, being quite a bit taller than both Summer and Eclipse.
That didn't mean a lot when Terra was even taller than both her and Qrow. A fact which irked the younger Branwen to no end and made Terra smirk.
Sunstone squeaked softly before standing up and giving Summer a slight, apologetic smile. "Sorry, Summer I got carried away."
"It's fine, really, I promise." Summer bent over and slung her bag back onto her back.
Sunstone looked at Neph, staring into the other girl's green eyes. "There, I apologized, can we move on?"
Terra clicked his tongue, then smiled. He moved his dark brown eyes towards the rest of Summer's team and made a "Can you believe these two?"
Neph disconnected her hand from Terra's and offered both of the girls one, blowing a strand of hair from her face as she did. Sunstone and Summer both took one, and Neph hoisted them up as Raven drew Omen and whirled around only to see the fourth member of team STNE standing there.
Eclipse didn't seem to notice or care that the very tip of Omen was resting against their neck as they tilted their head. Their heterochromatic eyes, one blue and one yellow stared back at Raven blankly.
"I almost sent you to the Feathered One, don't sneak up on people." Raven snarled, more out of annoyance than malice, and Eclipse nodded apologetically before muttering, "Apologies." Their Mistralian accent was still heavy as they made a rare vocalization.
As Raven sheathed Omen and grumbled under her breath before she stalked away, Neph pointed Sunstone towards Qrow and playfully shoved her team leader towards him.
"While those two lovebirds are catching up, I'll show the rest of you to your dorm!" Neph exclaimed before she took off at a full sprint, her legs carrying her easily over the sands.
Terra simply sighed before chasing after her, leaving the black-haired Eclipse to lead Summer, Tai, and Raven after their teammates. Eclipse rolled their eyes before beckoning the three to follow.
The small group finally caught up to Terra and Neph a few moments later when they saw the two at the bottom of the sand dune that was close to Shade Academy, a large area of which had been disrupted. "Did you two roll down the dune or something?" Tai called downwards.
"The only reason we did, was that somebody decided it was a good idea to tackle me off the dune!" Neph yelled back.
"How was I supposed to know that you would throw yourself down it trying to shake me off?" Terra asked.
As the couple playfully bickered, the rest of the group slid down the dune to join them.
"C'mon, let's get you to your new dorm room," Terra said before he and Neph started to walk with Eclipse right behind.
The three Valians looked at each other before following them.
Terra led them to the mouth of a cave and then proceeded into it.
"Wait, why are we going underground?" Summer asked.
"Because that's where our dorms are, we sleep underground," Neph said with a smile. "The rooms are super comfortable!"
"Huh, interesting. I guess I'm looking forward to seeing them?" Tai asked with slight worry in his voice.
Raven seemed at home underground as she followed Terra and Neph, Eclipse seemed to have used their semblance to vanish into the darkness.
Tai and Summer had no other option but to follow behind them as well.
As they did, Terra explained to them that this was just one small part of a cave system that ran under the entire kingdom of Vacuo for hundreds of miles in any direction.
His explanation lasted the entire walk through the underground passages until the group arrived at what Summer assumed was Team STRQ's dorm.
"We'll let you settle in, okay? You all have our scroll numbers so just message if you have any questions, okay?" Neph asked, a smile on her face.
"Of course, thank you for guiding us here." Summer said politely with a small bow. That was one habit that she hadn't managed to get rid of.
"See ya two later," Tai shot Terra a peace sign which he returned.
"Yeah, see you, man."
Raven simply moved the curtain aside and went into their dorm room before poking her head out. "Thanks."