Chapter 4: A glimpse

"To unburden one's heart. That is the purpose of an assassin."

"Cast away the empathy that makes you so tragically human and become the wretched, relentless monster a senseless world like this one calls for. Consider the prey a mirror of your past self and marvel at the horror in the eyes of the reflection before gouging them out. Be sharp, be precise, be methodical; a flawlessly executed kill is the only form of half-assed mercy you'll be able to afford your victims from here on."

Suddenly, Ren felt himself clutching the handle of his pistol. The blade at the tip of the gun had been plunged into the top of a Grimm's skull. Though he had no recollection of the fight, his ragged breaths and strained limbs were clear signs of a fierce struggle. Around him, the forest was deeply quiet, making the palpitations of his heart echoing in his head that much more unbearable. After physically shaking off the fog clouding his mind, Ren refocused his gaze on his weapon and retrieved it from the creature's body. With some difficulty, the young man stood back up. But then, from just outside his field of vision, a shadow reached out to him and…

"Boop."

And it booped him in the nose.

"Nora. How long have you been watching me?"

While hanging upside down from a tree branch, the girl looked visibly bothered by her friend's words: "Gee, that's all you're concerned about? Shouldn't you be saying something along the lines of 'Nora, I'm so glad you made it out of this Grimm infested forest'! 'Nora, I'm so happy you found me; now we can continue being the best team ever!' 'Nora, you're great and beautiful and smart!'"

Although he failed to notice it, the trembling of Ren's hands then subsided. Letting out a relieved sigh, the man once again spoke up: "One, I was confident you'd handle yourself against the Grimm. Two, I knew you'd probably make it a priority to track me down. Three, only one of those statements about yourself is true."

Having declared that, Ren jumped off the body of the giant snake he had been standing on; no doubt one of the dangerous Grimm in the area that was meant to be avoided. Without looking back, his aloof expression unchanged, he dashed deeper into the forest to proceed with his mission. Startled, Nora gave chase while screaming:

"Wait, which of the statements is true? HEY, WHICH ONE? HEY, WAIT! REEEEN!"

And so they pushed onward, a lonely shadow, tailed by a stubborn little lightning bolt.

xx

Many participants were surprised to encounter an administrator near the beacons of light where the chess pieces were located. Once they had collected their artifact, they were instructed to take it to a designated meeting spot near the edge of the forest. Some of the more astute candidates were able to infer that the goal of structuring the exam that way was to have two pairs convene at the end to form the fairly standard team of four huntsmen/huntresses. At least, so it seemed to them.

The first two people to make it to the rocky sanctuary at the east side of the forest were a very exhausted looking Jaune and a barely winded Pyrrha. In what he had thought to be a flash of brilliance, Jaune had offered himself as bait to attract the attention of Grimm so that his more capable companion could take them down. What he had not at all expected was to be such incredibly effective bait. Creatures of all terrifying shapes and sizes had kept popping out of bushes, jumping down from trees and sometimes even crawling out of the ground to try and attack him. Jaune couldn't come up with an explanation as to why it had happened, but regardless of the cause, the outcome was quite simple: he was stressed and worn out.

After making sure no more enemies would try to ambush them, Pyrrha decided to approach Jaune, who had sat down and remained in the fetal position, "You… you did a great job!" – She patted him on the back – "You were an incredible diversion! None of the Grimm even turned to look at me that whole time!"

But there was no reaction. Jaune cuddled himself tighter into a ball as he whispered under his breath. Pyrrha could just barely make out some of what he was saying: "I'm cursed. I knew it. I should have never tried to become a huntsman. I thought Grimm hated everyone equally, but they hate me just a little bit more. I wanna go home."

The girl chuckled a bit to herself, trying to cover her mouth so as not to be mean to her struggling partner. Then, poking him in the arm to get him to look at her, she explained:

"You're not cursed. It's actually quite the opposite. I don't want to patronize you, because you probably had to study this many times at school but, you remember the two things Grimm are attracted to?"

The thought 'AM I MEANT TO KNOW THAT?!' resonated loudly in Jaune's head, but the man forcefully caught the words before they could escape his mouth, chewed on them and then swallowed them down. Luckily, Pyrrha decided to proceed with her explanation anyways:

"Negative emotion and a strong aura. Those are the two things that can draw a Grimm's attention. In your case, I initially assumed it was fear that was making them so persistent. Yet, after taking a closer look at you, I realized there might have actually been more than one reason after all."

Jaune didn't fully understand what Pyrrha was trying to imply. He asked, hesitantly: "What do you mean?"

Pyrrha smiled as she helped him get back to his feet, "I learned to perceive auras as part of my combat training, so I can tell that yours is quite plentiful. That's not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, it can help make you into a great warrior! Learning how to control one's aura is crucial to enhance the body's combat capabilities as well as unlock the full potential of one's own semblance. Not only does the aura improve stamina and strength, but it can also be channeled in different ways to produce a variety of effects! I've even read about a rare clan of warriors who are said to be capable of suppressing their auras, thus making themselves completely invisible to Grimm, though that would be a very advanced technique and… uh, sorry, I'm rambling aren't I?"

With renewed confidence and even bigger gratitude toward his companion, Jaune replied: "Not at all. Thanks. Plus, if you think THAT's rambling then I should introduce you to this one girl that I met this morning…"

All of a sudden, Pyrrha covered Jaune's torso with her spear. The young man was confused for only a second, but after noticing the warrior's stern expression, he tensed up and looked ahead in the same direction she was staring towards.

Slowly, from out of the forest emerged two figures.

"Could you please knock it off?"

"I am NOT knocking it off until you tell me which of the statements is true."

"It's been over an hour…"

"And however much longer it will be is up to you!"

…two figures which turned out to be candidates holding on to a chess piece identical to the one Jaune and Pyrrha had found. Turning towards each other with knowing grins, they both relaxed and prepared themselves to meet their new team mates.

xx

"Would you just stop and listen?!"

"I'm listening! I just don't understand you. If I did things the way you tell me to then every encounter with a Grimm would last hours! Trust me; I know what I'm doing. My style is quick AND effective."

"Your 'style' is suicidal! The battlefield is a place where we risk our lives, it's not a place that's' meant to be 'fun'."

"Says you."

"Urrgh!"

Weiss and Ruby's trek through the forest had rapidly devolved into a chaotic clash of attitudes. Though, despite their constant disagreements, they were handily dispatching every Grimm that came across their path. In fact, the girls took every enemy as a new opportunity to assert their own point of view. Hence, cooperation between them was practically nonexistent: the prideful Weiss did not at all mesh well with the impulsive and hardheaded Ruby. That they were even sticking together instead of going their own separate ways was already pretty remarkable. Although, perhaps, they did so precisely because they didn't want to feel like they had lost against the other. Indeed, the girls felt much more than just contempt or confusion toward the other.

Whenever Ruby engaged an enemy, Weiss would criticize her unnecessary moves and her sloppy technique, but she would quiet down when she saw Ruby swinging her weapon against Grimm twice or three times her size without even flinching. In a similar fashion, Ruby also acted annoyed as she looked on at Weiss' methodical battle technique, but would sometimes remain silent as she saw the white maiden dance effortlessly around her enemies' attacks. In a bizarre way, the two had silently agreed on a system of taking turns when fighting which was as close to cohesive teamwork as they could hope to get.

Finally, they arrived at the rocky sanctuary near the east side of the forest, and there they were met with a surprising view. Four candidates, two boys and two girls, were standing in a circle and chatting amongst each other. Taken aback, Weiss rapidly took hold of Ruby's shoulders: "Did you seriously lead us to the wrong place?!

After a moment of silence, Ruby's bewildered expression morphed into one of childish indignation: "Hey, what are you blaming me for? You were supposed to be the one keeping track of where we were going!"

Weiss was reaching the limits of her patience, "What?!"

Distancing herself from her upset partner, Ruby continued:

"Well, you were the one who told ME to wait while you got the chess piece. Then you told ME that an administrator had told YOU to go to a 'sanctuary at the east side of the forest.' So you pointed to this place and said it was 'obviously here.' But now it turns out you were wrong, and I knew it!"

"You… You… You are unbelievable!"

The two kept arguing quite loudly. Meanwhile, Pyrrha, Jaune, Ren and Nora were looking on with dumbfounded expressions. But before they had the chance to approach the two girls, a voice rose up from behind them.

"LIL' SIS!"

Immediately, Ruby lost all interest in the discussion she was having and began running toward the source of the noise: "BIG SIS!'"

Leaving behind an utterly appalled Weiss (who was in the middle of a sentence) Ruby dashed right past the other four candidates and jumped into the embrace of Yang. Unfortunately, she missed her target by a large margin and landed in the arms of a black haired girl she had never seen before instead.

Yang was devastated.

"Blake! I thought I could trust you, but now you're stealing away my little sister's affection?! I cannot believe you."

Embarrassed, Ruby chuckled awkwardly before being unceremoniously dropped on the floor. Blake turned to Yang and, trying as hard as she could to ignore what just happened, she spoke: "Something's wrong. The administrator told us to head to this spot but there are way too many people here already."

Yang shrugged her shoulders, "No reason to be upset. Worst case scenario, we just find another sanctuary and plow our way through some more Grimm to get there. It'll be a piece of cake."

"IS THAT PYRRHA NIKOS?" Ruby abruptly raised her voice and pointed at a very distressed looking Pyrrha. She then remained expectantly silent, waiting for the same earth shattering realization to dawn on everyone else. Instead, there was just some awkward silence: guys and girls were staring at her more so than Pyrrha. Confused, Ruby inquired: "You guys seriously don't know who she is?"

"Am…ugh… Am I supposed to?" – muttered Jaune

"Nope!" – Chimed in Nora.

"I'm not sure I've heard the name either. Though Nora and I don't really know much about popular culture…" – explained Ren.

"Who?" – wondered Yang

"Is she a celebrity?" – asked Blake, mostly out of politeness.

"Who cares?! At this rate we're going to have to find another place to hand in our chess pieces!" exclaimed Weiss.

"I'm afraid there's no need for that."

Everyone in the sanctuary recognized the voice immediately: it had been the unmistakable, enigmatic tone of headmaster Ozpin. However, upon turning to where it had come from, somebody else was standing there. It was a man that looked a couple of years older than them wearing a uniform similar to that of the administrators that had handed each of them their chess pieces. The broom sticking out from behind his back created a bit of comical contrast with the seriousness in his face. The stranger took a few steps forward and gestured toward the young men and women to gather around him before he began talking:

"Allow me to be the first to congratulate you for successfully completing the first phase of your entrance exam."

Abruptly, Jaune chimed in: "Um, I'm sorry, 'first phase'?"

The man extended an open hand toward him, "Apologies, but questions will have to wait until the end of the explanation."

Jaune was reduced once again to concerned silence. The stranger continued: "My name is Oscar, and if you all keep up the rhythm you've been showing up until now then in the future you'll be able to call me your friendly school janitor. I've been instructed to overlook the final phase of your entrance exam."

As if it were some sort of queue, as soon as he announced the existence of a final phase, Ren and Blake began checking their weapons and reloading ammo and dust. Everyone around them hesitated for a moment, then followed suit. After giving them a satisfied nod of approval, Oscar resumed his speech:

"We expect most of you to have figured that our goal was to create teams of four members. That assumption would be correct, at least, to an extent. Why don't you check the pieces you've got."

Doing as they were instructed, the candidates took out and showed their artifacts. Ren and Pyrrha had a black rook, while Blake and Weiss had a white rook. Realization hit them as Oscar continued: "What we actually have here are two different teams. And the reason we've decided to bring you together is quite simple; in fact, it was stated by the headmaster himself at the very beginning of this exam. We want to see if you are able to cooperate with others. However… you didn't really expect that teaming up with just one other person and fighting small-fry Grimm would be the full extent of the test, did you?"

Jaune swallowed his breath, along with a bit of saliva.

"We want to check if you're able to spontaneously develop teamwork against a threat that really merits the collaboration of several huntsmen and huntresses. Now, I've been able to confirm that some of you are well educated when it comes to Grimm species, so let's see if this rings any bells for you."

The young man then rummaged through the pockets of his stained jacket and pulled out a small, orb-shaped item. Ruby jumped up as soon as she laid eyes on it: "Ah! That's a nevermore egg! They are surprisingly small at first, like the one you are holding now, but they can grow incredibly quickly in a few months with the proper lighting and temperature."

Oscar deemed her answer worthy of a short round of applause: "Very well! So, do you know what would happen if I were to, say, throw it to the ground as hard as I could?"

Ruby responded almost automatically: "It would break and cause a horrible noise that would alert its mothe… oh."

Pyrrha, Blake and Ren got into battle stances and began looking around intently. Meanwhile, Jaune tapped Ruby in the shoulder repeatedly: "Uhh… Ruby, hi by the way, nice to see you again. So, what's a nevermore?"

Though she was trying to hide it, the hand Weiss was using to hold her rapier was trembling involuntarily. Jaune noticed this.

"Ruby, what's a nevermore?

With a malicious glint in his eyes, Oscar threw the orb at the ground, causing it to burst and produce a horrific, almost metallic screech that was near unbearable to listen to. Everyone but Ren was forced to cover their ears, and Blake seemed particularly affected by it. Jaune pressed on once again: "Ruby, a nevermore, what is it?"

Yang and Nora were jumping in place and practically irradiating excitement as they deployed their weapons. In the distance, the faint flapping of wings could be heard. Jaune lost control of his volume and pitch as he asked one final time: "RUBY, WHAT'S A NEVERMORE?"

Ruby finally turned around, letting Jaune see her thrilled smile and the determination in her eyes. As the creature approached, the girl finally answered: "It's bad news."