Delphi
Mistral was a wealthy country. Rich in culture and history.
And bloodsport.
To be fair, only the most gruesome of matches were reserved for the underbelly of the country. Where the criminals and villainous tend to stick to.
The Mistral Regional Tournament was one of the few gladiator type competitions to be held by the public eye. It was a chance for academies all over Mistral to show off the best of the best. One such best was a young Pyrrha Nikos third time reigning champion and on the fast track to a fourth time.
Delphi, needless to say, was hyperventilating into a paper bag right before the semi-finals. The girl honestly had no idea how she had gotten this far. Her opponents up until now had all been talented and challenging. She might even have to get a haircut to accommodate the now singed side of her head due to an explosion that went off dangerously close to her right side.
But Pyrrha Nikos was on an entirely different level. The purple eyed teen had been dreading this ever since the official tournament bracket had been posted. No amount of planning or preparation could have calmed the dread bubbling in her stomach.
Loud applause echoed from the arena to the chambers where contestants were kept right before their match. Dust fell from the stone walls and ceiling by the vibrations of stomping feet and volume alone. Maybe being crushed to death would be less shameful than the utter defeat that was bound to happen in a couple of minutes Delphi thought to herself.
Deft, tanned fingers pulled away the paper bag from her mouth as the girl mused to herself.
"You thinking clearly now?" The hard accented voice of her mother asked her. Crow feet wrinkled eyes bore into her own as the girl looked up.
"Yes?" Delphi muttered hesitantly. 'Clearly' probably wasn't the word for it. Mind still a jumbled mess, filled with fear and panic. She jumped as her mother pinched her cheeks and pulled them into a semblance of a smile.
"Don't mumble. It is a bad habit. You will do fine." Her mother reassured her as she let go.
Delphi rubbed at her sore cheeks as she said "Yes, mother. I won't let you down."
A warm smile took place over the usually stern face of the woman,"You never have, little one." Her mother placed a turquoise blue bo staff into her awaiting hands. The familiar weight of Bacchus helped to calm Delphi a bit. "Now go show this Nikos girl who is boss."
Her grip tightened as one of the administrative personnel of the tournament knocked on her chamber door. "You're up in ten, Ms. Levender." warned a gruff voice.
Well it was now or never Delphi thought to herself. As she stood and took one last moment to prepare herself, the girl's mother stood and with one last squeeze of her hand in encouragement the woman exited the room.
The administrator stood outside, waiting to escort the young contestant. It was a strained silence on the way to the arena. Footsteps echoed off the stone walls as Delphi's palms became clammy with sweat. Performance anxiety was normal. It was. Really. But there was performance anxiety and then there was fear of death. Granted the referee would definitely call the game before that. Hopefully.
Natural light pooled around the entrance to the arena. And Delphi's guide stuck his arm out to make the girl stop. The jovial high pitched voice of an announcer could be heard over the roar of the crowd.
"This next match is a good one folks and the last of our Semi-Finals! On the right we have a student from Sanctum Academy. She has participated in the last couple of years, and this is her first time making it this far. Let's give her a warm round of applause! Delphi Levender!"
With that signal Delphi felt her guide gently push at her shoulder to urge her forward. Delphi sucked in a large breath as she plastered a large smile onto her face. She sprinted from the entrance of the arena to the center. Waving her arm in greeting and swiveling around in order to see the whole arena. Each time she entered it never failed to take her breath away.
The stone arena despite it's intentionally older looking appearance was state of the art. Dust and technology enhanced ground made the field versatile and able to change before every match. Making it difficult to create a solid strategy before hand. As of right now the field was akin to compact dirt. Dust already clinging to the girl's flowing purple wrap skirt.
The audience was high above and away from the danger zone. With seats that circled the arena completely. So that no angle was missed. Cameras edged the outer areas of the field. Providing close footage of the matches taking place. The tournament could be enjoyed anywhere from Mistral Vacuo.
After the applause for her entrance died down, Delphi stood at the center, looking at the opposite entrance of hers. Excited murmurs erupted in the crowd as the announcer started up again. "And now ladies and gentlemen another student from Sanctum Academy, steps into the ring! Our three time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament and our Invincible Girl. You all know her name. Pyrrha Nikos!"
The crowds cheer was deafening. It took all of Delphi's self restraint to stop her from plugging her ears. Well that was a direct hit to the ego. How was she supposed to stay calm in the face of that?
Delphi watched as Nikos' spear, Miló struck straight up in a perfect perpendicular to the ground ten feet before her. She gulped as crimson red hair blazed across the field and straight at her. Hey the match hasn't even started yet! Pretty sure there are rules to prevent this from happening.
Before the red streak got to her though it leaped. Using the end of the spear as a stepping stool and launching herself into the air. Let it not be said the Pyrrha Nikos didn't know how to make an entrance. When she landed, Pyrrha knelt, head down and her spear back in her hands, shield strapped to her back. She admittedly looked very cool.
Yeah Delphi was screwed.
As the red haired girl stood applause met her. The audience cheering their loudest and Delpi could feel the earth beneath her shake with the enthusiasm the crowd was providing. Oh how must she look. Bacchus clutched close to her chest with her heart ready to pound out of her chest.
The Invincible Girl leveled her with a calculating look and as emerald green met purple eyes everything else fell away.
Here's the thing about semblances. They are very unpredictable. They can happen whether or not the host of the semblance wanted it to. In Delphi's case it was kind of both. Despite going to the same school, Delphi had never met Pyrrha Nikos face to face. They didn't have the same schedule nor did they share any classes. They didn't share the same friends and they didn't share the same hobbies.
It doesn't happen often but Delphi's semblance kicks in when she meets people's eyes. What better way to meet and get to know someone then to know what will happen to them in the future? The unpredictable part of her semblance was that it didn't happen with everyone. Her eyes can meet others and she would be none the wiser of what will happen to them. She can't induce visions nor stop them from happening.
But with Pyrrha Nikos, of course right before probably the biggest match of her life, Delphi has a vision.
A destroyed tower with two figures in it. One on its knees staring up at the other. Delphi can recognize the one kneeling as her opponent. But only just. The defeated girl, looking lost and afraid looked entirely different to the confident and self assured warrior she had just been facing in a stone arena Remnant knows how far away it is now. But the long red ponytail was unmistakable.
The other figure was much harder to discern. Curly ebony black hair sat contrasting with a red dress with gold embellishments. Striking amber eyes seemed to glow as the woman brought a hand to the crown on Pyrrha's head.
And slowly. So slowly it was like an eternity watching it, Pyrrha looked to glowing. No. Burning. From the inside out. Flaking into dust until all the remained was the girl's circlet in the older woman's hands. Until that too fell away and onto the ground.
Delphi was trembling. Tears gathering in her eyes. It was getting harder to breath. She didn't want to be here anymore. She was going to run. Attack. Flee. Anything but standing and do nothing as her classmate's murderer look down contemplatively at the gold circlet in the ground.
Than all the sudden there's yelling and a silver light encapsulates the room.
Delphi is then back. In the dirt floor of the arena looking up at the faces of the referee and her opponent. Pyrrha Niko with her emerald green eyes. Filled with confusion. But not pain. Not a trace of fear in those eyes.
The girl feels that her aura is depleted not that she thinks she could have fought anyway. She is declared unable to fight. But that doesn't matter to her. All the confusion and criticism in the world couldn't make her tear her eyes away from Pyrrha Nikos as she is taken away on a stretcher.
Her tired eyes stay on the Invincible Girl until she is out of sight.
Solace
Becoming a huntsman isn't what one would call easy. Years of training, hard work, and blood, sweat, and tears go into becoming a professional. It's not as if you can pick up a weapon one day and decide that you want to kill grimm.
Now on top of all that, attending a training academy isn't cheap. The staff must be paid, fairly modern technology provided to keep students up to date and safe, and most importantly developing a weapon that is perfectly suited to every student and their tastes.
So you could imagine that with such a high price to be a huntsman in training, it would be an honor to be given a scholarship. And Solace was grateful. Don't get him wrong. Without the Prism Scholarship he never would've been able to fulfill his dream of becoming a full fledged huntsman.
It's just that in the past couple of months while at Relay Academy, being a scholarship student has been hard. More than it normally has been anyway. Every student training hard for the final exam, a thing that could make or break your future ambitions of becoming a huntsman. Making sure that he has perfect grades in every class. Even having to go the extra mile and make sure to look presentable at any given moment. Scouts were always on the lookout for potential. Needless keeping up the appearances of scholarship student was very difficult and troublesome.
The boy was lost in thought when a sudden weight collided into his arm, drawing him out of his thoughts.
"You're going to get your face stuck like that you know." A laughter filled voice teased him.
"It'll still look better than yours." He shot back at the smaller girl now clinging to his arm.
She stuck her tongue out at him before holding on tighter. The girl barely reached his shoulder with the tip of her curly, unruly hair barely contained with a purple bandana. Ocean blue eyes looked up at him with a twinkle in them that he knew better than to trust."
"Tamika." Solace said accusingly. "What did you do?"
A smirk raced across his friend's face and was gone in the same second. "My dear Solace. Whatever could you mean? I have never done anything in my life to warrant such suspicion."
"Now I know you're lying." Solace tried pushing the girl away but to no avail. She was like a cat, digging her nails deeper into the fabric of the boy's uniform.
As if on cue, the loud stomping feet of way too many students came rapidly closer to the pair.
"Aw c'mon, Tamika! What'd you do this time?" Solace yelled as he picked the prankster up by her waist and hoisting her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. This working better to dislodge her from his clothes, of which she would never have let go of any other way. Something more akin to a cackle than a giggle escaped the girl as Solace ran for his and her life.
Solace didn't actually get an answer as he led the stampede of students on a wild goose chase through the courtyard and around the perimeter of the school. He was finally able to ditch the crowd by ducking around a corner and sticking close to a wall, keeping a hand over Tamika's mouth to keep the witch from drawing attention. He waited until he heard the yelling of students pass to take a deep breath and unceremoniously, drop the girl on her butt.
A low groan escaped his classmate as she lay spread out on the grass. "You could stand to be a bit more gentle you know. I think I'm gonna throw up."
"Well you could stand to not have the entire school calling for your head. Seriously 'Mika how do you expect people to take you seriously when all you do is pull pranks?" The male student knew he was giving the girl a hard time. Tamika was a serious student. She was in fact brilliant. Sharp witted and always light on her feet. If it weren't for a bad case of laziness and tendency to goof off, she could be one of the top students at Relay. It's just that Solace couldn't help it. With the year almost to a close he knew it wouldn't be long till the both of them would leave southern Vale and become students of Beacon. He wanted to be prepared and ready for the obstacles that they would undoubtedly face.
"It's not like I'll be there every time you want me to be your getaway runner."
"I know that." Tamika said dismissively, focusing on blades of grass beside her and avoiding eye contact. "And for your information I can run faster than you, Mr. Concrete Wall. I'm surprised you didn't trip over your big stupid feet."
Solace paused to look down at the girl. "I know you only insult my feet when you're upset." He said softly as his golden brown eyes searched out blue. "What's going on Tamika?"
"Don't you think that things are moving too fast?" He heard the girl mutter quietly after a pause. "Graduation is in a couple of weeks and then we'll be off to Beacon. We're going to leave everything we know here and go up there and everything's going to be different. I won't even know how to start."
A sigh escaped the boy at Tamika's confession, shoulders relaxing into a less strict pose. Of course she was worried. Changes brought new things and new things were scary. He can't be the only one that's worried about the future here.
"Hey." Solace pokes at his friend's cheek, lowering himself onto the grass. "Hey." He pokes harder only for tiny hands to swat them away and a scrunched up face glaring up at him. "It's not like everything's gonna change. You're still gonna have to see this tragically handsome face everywhere you go. "
"Blegh! I'd much rather go blind." Tamika giggled, moving her hands to playfully smack at the sides of Solace's head. "I'm gonna be stuck with you, huh?"
"Unfortunately." The tall paladin nodded solemnly as he pretended not to see the small smile on the witch's face. This time Tamika really did smack has face.
"Jerk."
Graham
Graham wiped the sweat from his brow as he placed the last cardboard box full of his mother's belongings into her new apartment. It wasn't everyday that your mother met a wealthy man who loved her just as much she loved him and offered to fly everything they owned from Vacuo to Vale just to have them be closer. But it had happened and five months later it was like he was transplanted into a new dimension.
Gone were the mountainous rangelands of Vacuo. With skies bluer and vaster than any ocean. Here there was concrete roads, skyscrapers, and traffic that grated on the gray haired boy's sensitive hearing. A dingo's tale swung irritably back and forth as Graham inspected the penthouse suite his mother would now be living in.
He was happy for his mother. Really. If any woman deserved a better life, it was her. Hard working and even supporting Graham his way through huntsman prep school, she deserved the world. It's just that why did the world she got have to be central Vale.
Graham shook his head, trying to dispel his less than happy thoughts. Sure his plans of attending Shade Academy were shot down as soon as his mother and new stepdad announced their plans of moving. And sure Beacon wouldn't have any of his friends from Caster Academy. There would probably be even less faunus here in Vale as opposed to those in Vacuo. But he had to look on the bright side. If no one knew who he was, then that means he can get away with all his old habits without anyone trying to correct them right away. As long as he was careful there would be none the wiser.
Ah who was he kidding. Graham missed his friends and home. It ached like a wound in his heart. A heavy sigh escaped him and he could feel his tail curl inward. Quiet footsteps made him perk up in curiosity. He turned to see his mother looking around at the new apartment in wonder and delight. The tight knot forming in the faunus' chest loosened the slightest at the expression on his mother's face. If she was enjoying it so much then he supposes the new place couldn't hurt too much.
Calloused hands took hold of the boy's own. "Isn't it wonderful Graham?" his mother breathed. "It's so much larger than our last home. And oh! The view is just gorgeous. You can almost see the whole kingdom."
"Yeah mom. It is pretty great." The gray haired boy acquiesced
"I'm just disappointed that you won't be able to enjoy it here for long. My little boy. Already leaving his poor mother for bigger and brighter things. I just hope he remembers to write now and again." Crocodile tears threatened to spill from the woman's eyes.
Graham rolled his eyes at his mother's theatrics. "Moooomm" he whined. "I won't even be that far away. Just a bullhead rides distance. I promise"
A warm chuckle sounded off behind the pair. Two hands wrapped their way around his mother's waist and pulled her back. Laughter escaped her as she was spun around in the arms of Graham's new stepdad.
Marc Vulcan was neither handsome nor ugly. Graham honestly couldn't tell what his mother saw in him. He was tall with slick backed, black hair. Dressed in a perfectly tailored suit, with a maroon tie and matching pocket square, Graham supposes he could strike quite the poised and sophisticated impression. Although after five months of knowing him, Graham knew that the man was actually pretty eccentric and in a word, weird.
Next to his mother though, with her silver hair and olive toned skin, both of which Graham had inherited, he could say that Marc was a bit below the woman's league. But who was Graham to judge true love.
The couple stopped long enough for both of them to regain their composure. Marc cleared his throat before stepping back and looking at the mother and son pair. "You have no idea how elated I am now that you guys are here!"
"This place is amazing Marc. I can't believe you're doing all of this for us." Gracia said.
"Well how could I leave the perfect woman right after I had just found her."
Graham had to hold back a groan as he watched the two adults make doe eyes at each other. It was kind of sweet the first week, but now, nearly half a year in and the lovey-dovey phase of a relationship can only last so long right?
"And her wonderful son of course. Couldn't forget about him." Marc tacked on, trying to make the boy feel less awkward. Although it aimed at doing quite the opposite.
"Yeah. Thanks Marc. For all of this." Graham appreciated everything the man was doing. And as far as Graham's opinion went, while weird, Marc was pretty cool. He couldn't hate him for making his mother happy. But it was weird after not having a father for so long. Marc was just filling a hole that wasn't there.
Graham knew about three things about his father. One, that he was a faunus. Two, the man was a huntsman. And three, he was probably dead. His mother always assured him that his father was a wonderful man. Strong and kind. Everything a huntsman should be. But after one mission, his mother recalls always with a wistful expression, he simply never came back. And that was it. Before Graham could memorize a face, he was gone.
"I realize that this move may be hard on both of you." Marc starts up again, rousing Graham from his musings. "But I really am so happy that you both have come here to Vale with me. You have both made me the happiest man alive."
The new family stood in an awkward but touched silence. "Oh! I almost forgot." Marc pulled two presents wrapped in neat red wrapping paper. "Some housewarming gifts from me." as he gently placed the smaller package in his mom's hand and the larger one in the faunus'.
The mother and son duo looked at each other before both messily ripping the paper off in their excitement and curiosity. In his mother's hands a small jewelry box was opened to reveal a glistening silver necklace. A triskelion formed to fit inside a circle was the centerpiece.
"Marc." His mother whispered. "It's beautiful."
The man seemed to relax over his lover's approval. He stepped forward to take the box from her hands and deftly took the necklace, hooking it around Gracia's neck.
Graham, grudgingly admitting Marc's slickness, looked down at his own present. Trying to give the adults some privacy. He opened the black box with an official looking 'V' logo on it. Steel gray eyes widened as a sleek white boomerang sat cushioned on black velvet.
The cool, sharpened, metal was heavy in Graham's hands. It would need a lot of force to be able to have it fly properly but it was still a beautiful work of craftsmanship. With a flick of his wrist, metal plates shifted and small mechanics clicked into place. He was soon holding a white automatic pistol in his hand.
Graham shifted the weapon back into a boomerang, as he did so he noted that the word 'Tempesta' was carved into the handle along with the same 'V' logo as was on the box. He lifted his head to look at the man who had gifted the weapon to him. Both of the adults were staring at him in anticipation. His eyes seeked his mother's first. The woman's eyes shifted to her lover and back quickly in a signal to thank the man.
"Thank you Marc. This is just . . . wow" The gray haired boy stammered, at a loss for words.
A chuckle escaped his stepfather. "I'm so glad you like it. I hope it serves you well and keeps you safe."
"Well this has been exciting." The silver haired woman stated. "How about we get take out and call it a day boys?"
"Yes ma'am" stated both Marc and Graham in unison.
While shaky, it was a good start to a new beginning.