The not so long awaited chapter five! Don't have much to say this time around really, I've never been much good at small talk anyway. Hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

"Speech"

Thoughts

Chapter Five: Abduction

(Six Years Ago)

Ozpin sat quietly in his office, staring at his scroll impatiently "C'mon Elise... you were supposed to check in days ago" he placed the device down onto the desk as the elevator opened revealing Glynda and Slade "Please come in" he waved them in with a small smile "It's good to see you again, how've your lessons with Qrow been going?"

"Professor Branwen has been a fantastic teacher when he finds time away from his nieces" Slade answered crossing his arms over his chest.

Qrow wasn't kidding when he said he's become detached since his parents passing

"That's good to hear"

"Is there a reason you called me here, Professor?" Slade asked raising his eyebrow curiously.

"Yes I called you here to present you an opportunity" Ozpin answered promptly "I would like to extend to you an invitation to attend this very school at the start of the next year"

"Truly?" Slade asked surprised.

"Of course. You've been proving yourself, time and time again with your accomplishments and merits seen personally by Qrow and Glynda"

"We never would've survived our mission to Foxworth without your aid" Glynda agreed.

"Despite our losses" Slade said never shifting his gaze from Ozpin.

"Indeed, Viridian and Sinn's sacrifice will never be forgotten"

"If I were to accept your offer, I would have only two months to prepare, correct?"

"Correct, you will have-" Ozpin stopped upon hearing his scroll notify him of a message from Elise "Apologies I have to take this" he picked up his scroll and quickly read the message "Raven bandits captured" he sighed in disappointment.

"What is it Professor?" Glynda asked concerned.

"It's our friend"

"Elise" Slade deduced.

"How'd you-" Ozpin began to ask.

"She was supposed to be back from her mission days ago, she told me she would be back by yesterday at the latest. Obviously something went wrong if she hasn't, and your aversion to using her name only tells me you don't want me to know about it"

"Always so observant" Glynda smiled impressed "That'll do you good in your career as a Huntsman"

"How long will it take Qrow to prepare for a rescue mission?" Ozpin asked.

"Two hours from now, we'll have to notify him and he'll have to get somewhere to secure transport to even initiate the rescue-"

"Tell me where she is and I'll get her out of there long before that time frame" Slade proposed.

"I'd love to be able to make that decision so easily" Ozpin sighed "Unfortunately I cannot risk you being harmed-"

"Allow me to rephrase, Professor. I'm going after my sister whether or not you send me yourself, and my chances of success would be a lot higher if you gave me any information you know" Slade clarified.

"Now you listen here, Mr. Stroud. You may have proven invaluable during our mission to Foxworth, but you don't have enough experience to take on a clan of bandits on your own. You haven't even unlocked your Semblance yet and you've barely scratched the surface of what you can do with your aura" Glynda chastised.

"With all due respect, you don't know what I am capable of Professor Goodwitch" Slade countered in annoyance.

"Mr. Stroud, while I empathize with your current position, I cannot give you leave to go on your own to fight an entire clan of bandits. Qrow will handle it and you will remain here until he returns with your sister intact... am I understood?" Ozpin asked sternly.

"Whatever" Slade waved him off dismissively and walked toward the elevator opening it to leave "If you need me, I will be at home... alone... again" Slade added just before leaving.

Ozpin sighed in disappointment "Glynda, please inform Qrow of the situation and prepare to accompany him on the rescue" he ordered.

"I'm going as well?" she asked in surprise.

"Elise is the Summer Maiden, we cannot allow her power to be taken by Raven nor any harm come to her"

"I understand"

"If anything happens to Elise out there, Slade may very well finally be pushed past his breaking point. Salem won't have a very hard time convincing him to her side at that point"

"We cannot allow that to happen"

"Slade will blame me more than anyone, but you and Qrow won't be far down his list if she fails to return safely. I fear we may lose him forever if you fail"

"We'll make sure nothing happens to her, Professor. You can count on us"

Slade silently rode down the elevator toward the ground floor Elise told me she was on a mission in the kingdom of Mistral... and Glynda just said she was captured by bandits... There's only one bandit clan in that area of Remnant he concluded with a smirk on his face "Thanks for the intel, Goodwitch" he laughed Time to save my sister... hold on Elise, I'm coming

"What's the deal?" Qrow asked as Glynda approached him very urgently.

"Elise has been captured"

Qrow spit out his drink "Who?" he asked concerned.

"Your sister" she sighed "She's managed to capture the Maiden's of Winter, Summer, Spring, and Fall. We don't know for what purpose but we sent her to investigate rumors of Huntsmen disappearing again only to find the rumors to be false. Maiden's were being captured not just Huntresses. Ozpin instructed her to report back to him once she had safely returned to Vale... we received a message earlier today that read "Raven... Bandits... Captured"

"Shit" Qrow sighed "Where?"

"Raven's been sighted somewhere in the eastern forests of Anima, if we move fast we can reach her before she moves camp again"

"Why would Raven capture the four Maidens? She knows they're the only ones capable of standing up to Salem-"

Glynda's scroll began ringing suddenly interrupting Qrow, she looked at the device and read a message from Ozpin "Put in your earpieces and use emergency frequency" she read aloud. They quickly did as instructed "Professor?" she asked.

"I know how Raven captured the Maidens"

"How?"

"She hijacked our frequencies and tracked them down capturing them on her own somehow. According to what my scouts have reported, she met with an unknown group a few weeks ago then suddenly became interested in the Maidens. I need you to get there immediately" he explained.

"Understood" Glynda replied.

"How do we know Raven's not listening in on us right now?" Qrow asked curiously.

"We don't" he replied.

"Guess we better move fast then"

"One more thing before you go... Slade's missing"

"Missing?" Qrow asked.

"Don't tell me he went after her" Glynda gasped.

"Unfortunately it seems that's exactly what he did, we don't know how long he's been gone but it's been at about an hour since he left my office. If he left straight from there and never went home it's possible he's still not too far by now, but he stole one of our Bullheads"

"Let's get a move on then" Qrow said rushing out the door.

"Professor, how do you know Slade is gone?" Glynda asked curiously.

"I sent Taiyang to check and make sure he made it home. Apparently he wasn't there" Ozpin explained "If Slade finds Raven's camp before you do and something happens to Elise... I don't know what he'll do"

"We're on it, Oz" Qrow assured.

"Thank you. Be careful... both of you"

Slade piloted the Bullhead as fast as he could over the forest of Mistral, he watched for the location rumored to have a bandit camp nearby, finding a smokestack overhead he decided to land and find out if his guess was correct. Stepping outside he quickly made his way to the outer wall of the camp, climbing a nearby tree and looking over the wall to find a camp full of bandits laughing and talking amongst themselves. Slade spotted the cage holding Elise and three other Huntresses inside.

Probably the team she went on mission with... but why capture Huntresses? It'd be much easier for them to have killed them he wondered to himself.

Slade spotted Elise out of the crowd right away but didn't recognize the others. One had a long white combat skirt with blue snowflakes adorning the sides and bright white hair with matching white eyes and a pale complexion. Another had bright blond hair and blue eyes along with wearing a long brown trench coat and gloves that covered up to her slightly knuckles, he complexion only fairly darker than the previous Huntress. The last one had a dark tan complexion with matching Brown hair and eyes while wearing a long, green hooded cloak on top of an off-white blouse with a brown vest, corset and pants. She also had a gold bracer on her left arm, two gold bracelets on her right wrist and a pair of golden armored boots. She had a golden pauldron on her right shoulder as well as a shoulder strap with some pouches slung diagonally across her body.

That last one looks much more suited to combat than the first two Slade concluded.

"Men!" a woman yelled authoritatively "Ozpin has sent my brother and his lovely assistant to come find us and knows we have all four of our prisoners somehow. According to him we also have a member of one of our visitors family coming to rescue them, keep an eye out for anything unusual and start packing up camp. I've contacted our employers and have alerted them to the problem. They've sent me coordinates for a secondary meet location. Hop to it!" she yelled. The men quickly scattered attempting to take down their camp as quickly as possible for fear of angering their leader.

"There goes the element of surprise" he sighed in annoyance, looking up he suddenly noticed the cage was empty "What the hell?"

"The prisoners have escaped!" a bandit yelled ringing a bell loudly "They're moving through the west forest!"

"West huh?" Slade asked watching as the bandits scurried after the weaponless Huntresses "Guess I'll just have to join the action"

Winter ran through the forest looking behind her to see the men following behind her. Looking forward she was grabbed by the throat by a large bandit angrily slamming her against the tree. Winter opened her mouth allowing a white mist to emerge from it freezing the mans arm and causing him to scream in anguish before slamming her hands down onto his arm, shattering it apart in the process and freeing herself to escape once more.

"Go! Go! Move faster!" yelled a bandit from one of the trucks driving on a dirt road toward the group of Huntresses escaping them "We need to reach them before they cross the town line!"

Amber tripped on a root in her path causing her to fall onto her back just as two bandits approached her. Amber quickly used her powers to pull the pine needles and twigs from the trees and dirt around her, violently launching them into her pursuers killing them instantly just before a third bandit tackled her into the ground placing a gun to her head "Don't move!" the man screamed just before being tackled off her by Elise stabbing a knife violently into his chest repeatedly.

"Are you alright, Amber?" Elise asked.

"Yeah, thank you, Elise" she answered. An angry roar tore through the forest clearly coming from a human "What the hell was that?" Amber asked.

"I have no idea, but I don't think we should stick around to find out" she helped Amber to her feet as the bandits closed in on them.

Slade weaved between the trees following the group of bandits pursuing Elise, snarling with each step as his anger boiled over.

"Right there right there!" a bandit yelled just as the one in the back noticed Slade's presence. He turned around firing at Slade "Right flank!" he yelled alerting the other bandits.

Slade used his gauntlets to deflect the rounds fired at him before slicing the man's throat with his wrist blades and quickly moving onto the second pushing his rifle back with his right hand and stabbing him through the chest with his left, moving toward the third and fourth target he sliced through the third's face before turning to kick the fourth's rifle away from him then stabbing his left blade into his chest violently throwing him backward from the force. Rushing toward another three bandit's, Slade pulled the rifle of the first's toward him and flipped the man over as his opposite hand sliced through his abdomen then slammed his fist into the second's chest knocking him onto his back as the first's rifle fired a round into his head, then leapt through the air embedding his blades into the final bandit's chest and pinning him to the tree trunk behind him. Pulling his blades out violently he let out an roar of pure rage before continuing to give chase after the bandits.

"Run! Elise, Amber, Run!" yelled Spring just before a bullet pierced her shoulder, dropping her onto her chest as a bandit pinned her down with her foot before placing a handgun to her head.

"I want you to breathe, it's just a flesh wound, baby girl" she laughed as she picked her up off the ground and tossed her to two nearby bandits "Take her back to camp" she ordered.

Slade continued to chase after the group following Elise as she split off from the other Huntresses. The truck from before with a mounted turret on the back fired at him, forcing Slade to dive to the ground to avoid being shot.

"We've got her now!" yelled one of the bandits as they surrounded Elise and she prepared to fight "Back that truck up!" he yelled as the truck came into place "You've got no where to go, give up now before we have to hurt you"

Elise saw Slade sprinting toward the group from behind with a look of pure rage adorning his features "Slade?" she asked confused.

"Slade?" asked one of the bandits "Who the hell is Slade-" he was interrupted by Slade's wrist blade going through his back. Slade grabbed his revolver from his holster and fired it into the bandit manning the mounted gun hitting him in the head using the previous bandit as a human shield to protect himself from incoming fire "Elise!" he yelled tossing her his gun, Slade then slit the bandit's throat before stabbing his left blade into the throat of the one next to him and kicked the other in the chest stumbling him backward as Elise fired the revolver into his chest. Leaping forward at a bandit aiming at Elise as she took down three more bandits, Slade wrenched his arm around his throat and flipped the man over his shoulder in midair slamming him into the ground painfully before stabbing him in the back.

"What're you doing here?" Elise asked confused.

Slade removed his blade from the bandit's back "Saving you from the looks of it"

"I can handle this myself" she shot back.

"Yeah you look like you're doing a great job of that-" a bullet tore through his shoulder as several more bandits came from behind them "Get behind me!" Slade yelled crouching down and placing his gauntlets over his face like armor. Slade stabbed his blades into two separate bandits as Elise stepped on his shoulder and launched herself with her knife in hand onto another bandit stabbing him in the chest before firing two rounds from the revolver to take down two bandits. Slade tiredly sliced another's throat as Elise bludgeoned another with the handle of the revolver, stumbling tiredly over to the final bandit he stabbed his blade into the man's abdomen and kicked him off the blade just as Elise finished up with her target.

"Slade, you need to get out of here. There's too many of them to take on our own and they wont stop chasing us now. We've given the others a fighting chance but we need to-"

"I know" Slade interrupted "Qrow and Glynda are on their way, if we head south we should run into them before they catch us"

"Do they know we're coming?" Elise asked following after Slade.

"I just messaged them before I attacked" Slade answered "Quickly they're gaining on us!" he yelled referring to the rather large group of bandits behind them.

"Slade, you can't allow me to be captured. If they catch us, promise me you'll kill me"

"What?! Hell no! That's not an option, we're not getting caught and even if we do we'll fight our way out of it"

"You don't understand, if they capture me-"

"Look out!" Slade yelled tackling her out of the way of an incoming bullet from the group of bandits behind them, suddenly they were trapped and surrounded in an open clearing.

"This isn't looking good" Elise sighed "We're in no condition to fight right now, Slade. You have to kill me-"

"I'm not gonna kill you"

"Slade-"

"No! Dammit! I can't lose you too!" he yelled as the bandits closed in, he roared angrily as he charged them with his blades drawn "Nobody is going to take you away from me" he added

Elise looked down at the revolver in her hands and found it to be empty "You're no help... I'm sorry, Slade" she sighed, taking a determined step forward "I have to do this" she rushed forward as Slade easily tore through the bandits with his blades, coming toward another bandit with his blade he pierced his chest as he was pushed out of the way. Slade was confused by the movement of the bandit considering the placement of his blade. Looking up he found his blade through Elise in a fatal position.

"Elise" he gasped in shock.

"Slade... I-" she spat a large amount of blood from her mouth to the ground between them. "I'm... I'm so..." she couldn't finish her statement, placing her right hand onto Slade's face, she caressed him lovingly, streaking blood onto his face. Slade grabbed her shoulder as she fell lifeless on his blade "No" he removed his blade from her chest and allowed her body to slump in his arms as he dropped to his knees "No, no, no, no... this can't be happening. Don't do this to me, Elise, please" he begged with tears streaming down his face struggling to keep pressure on her wound but it was too late. There was nothing more he could do, she was now dead. Slade wailed helplessly as tears streamed down his face.

"Dammit he killed her!" yelled one of the bandits angrily "To think of all the work we went though to get her alive" he sighed in annoyance.

"Reinforcements" another pointed out as Qrow and Glynda stared in shock at what had just happened.

"Elise" Glynda gasped.

"The poor kid" Qrow sighed looking to her corpse.

"We're too late" she covered her mouth with her hand in horror.

"We might have bigger problems" Qrow said gesturing to a slowly rising Slade as he roared in rage, a roar that sent chills down his spine.

"Take him down already!" yelled one of the bandits as he fired his rifle into Slade's chest only to find the bullets embedding into a rock behind him instead "What the hell?" he asked in confusion.

"How did he do that?" asked another in shock.

"He dodged them without even moving, that's insane!" another yelled taking a step back.

"You..." Slade growled "You... You're all... YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Slade roared as he charged toward them as the very ground itself shifted away from him with every step, shattering the earth beneath his boots.

"Don't underestimate the Branwen Clan!" the nearest bandit to him yelled striking for him with his sword. Slade impaled him on his wrist blade, seemingly at the same time the two bandits next to him were impaled as well without having made contact with him, blood showering out from their wounds, covering Slade's mask and face.

"How is he doing that?" Glynda asked in shock and confusion.

"It can't be..." Qrow gasped.

"What? What is it, Qrow?" she asked not understanding.

Slade stood over a bandit as he attempted to crawl away with his wrist blade ready to strike. Three bandits leapt toward him with their blades ready to strike as they came down on him only to pass right through him and into the man below him.

"We can't hit him!" one of the bandits pointed out in shock. Slade twisted around with his wrist blades out severing the heads from the shoulders of the three men.

"Who is that guy?" asked one of the men fearfully.

"He wields strange powers!" another yelled frantically "Hurry we need to get the body for Raven!" he yelled as the men had moved to separate Slade and Elise's corpse as he attacked them, several of them rushed toward the body hoping the others could keep him at bay long enough for them to escape. Slade sprinted toward the group and completely passed through them without making contact with any of them as he ran.

"There's no mistake, this guys passes right through you! We can't hit him!" the bandit yelled.

Two bandits were about to reach Elise only for one of them to suddenly be slammed into the ground by an unknown force as Slade crashed his shoulder into the other and brutally beat him into the ground, slamming his fists into his face for the next several minutes as the rest of the bandits looked on in horror. Slade stood up from the body beneath him and began approaching the remaining bandits, they stepped back in fear of him.

"Slade's found his Semblance" Qrow answered Glynda's question.

The remaining Bandits suddenly were gripped by an unknown force and violently torn apart limb by limb to make the process as painful as possible for them before allowing them to be killed outright, a large pool of blood formed around Slade and Elise as the screaming became muffled groans and finally transitioned into silence.

"This... is his Semblance?" Glynda asked trying to mask her terror "I've never seen anything like it before... it's so... versatile and unpredictable... How can anyone control power like that?"

"I don't know... I'm not even quite sure what his Semblance is yet, but clearly it reacts to his emotions"

"How horrible... to be burdened with such a horrific power..."

Slade approached Elise's body and picked up his weapon. Kneeling down, he placed his arm underneath her head removing his hood and mask with his opposite hand. Pressing his face into her head he let the tears flow from his eyes, he was covered in blood from head to toe, his armor was torn in several places and his blades were so red they looked like they could never be washed again. Slade picked up Elise's body in his arms as he turned toward them, his eyes cold and completely devoid of emotion.

"Slade... I'm sorry we weren't fast enough-" Qrow attempted.

Slade never said anything, passing right by them toward the bullhead they had arrived in.

"Mr. Stroud?" Glynda asked turning toward him concerned, but again, he never spoke. Not once did he look at them, silently entering the tree line.

Qrow and Glynda looked to each other with concern "Don't worry, Glynda. Oz will know what to do" Qrow offered hopefully.

"The Spring Maiden was captured and moved to an unknown location, Elise was killed thus keeping the power from Raven's employers and The Winter Maiden and Amber escaped from them and have reported back to us. I'd say overall it wasn't a total failure" Ozpin listed off to Glynda.

"You forgot to mention Slade" Glynda pointed out.

"Mr. Stroud has lost the last member of his family because of me... I don't deserve his forgiveness and would never ask for it" Ozpin sighed "I suppose he won't be attending my school after what happened"

"Probably not" Glynda agreed "If Salem were to approach him now and offer him a place at her side to take you down, I doubt he'd turn it down"

"With a Semblance as powerful as his, I doubt we'd be able to stop him" he shook his head in disappointment "If James were here, I'm sure he would advise me to destroy him before he gets the chance to be a threat"

"We can't kill him just because he lost family members, Professor. The boy deserves better than that, his parents would want better than that"

"I know, Glynda. I don't plan on killing him unless there is no other option" he replied "I hope Slade takes my offer to attend Beacon. It will give him a chance to make friends who can help fill the void left behind by the loss of his family members"

"So it's decided then? We're going to ask him what he feels about attending Beacon in two months time?" she asked.

"That sounds like the most logical move to make" he replied. The two of them remained silent for the moment "How's-"

The elevator opened to reveal Qrow entering with a concerned expression on his face "Oz, Glynda" he nodded toward each of them.

"How is he, Qrow?" Glynda asked concerned.

"He's..." Qrow thought back to a few minutes prior.

Qrow had gone to the bathroom Slade was cleaning himself up in to see how he was holding up, he noticed the door was open but Slade's bloody clothes remained on the floor next to it "Slade? You alright, kid-" he stopped midsentence upon entering to see him sitting silently in the bathtub with the shower running hot, shaking. There was no recognition in his eyes to him having even entered the room. He just kept staring forward, he couldn't even stop his body from shaking if he had wanted.

Qrow sighed rolling up his sleeves as he entered, kneeling down beside him "It's alright, kid. I'm here" he said trying to soothe the boy, he picked up the sponge that had been left discarded by the door, placing it into the water. Squeezing the water out of it onto his shoulders, he began to wash Slade of the blood on his body. Slade stopped shaking at the contact but never moved or said anything. He silently waited for Qrow to finish, tears began to fall from his eyes. Slade silently sobbed as Qrow gently washed the blood from his hands.

"He's..." Qrow continued "He's not doing good, Oz. The kid didn't even notice I was in the room with him. I washed him and he never said or did anything... I put a towel around him and let him get some sleep inside one of the empty dorms" Qrow shook his head in disappointment "I'm worried about him"

"As are we all, Qrow" Ozpin assured him "I'll give him some time to sleep, then go speak to him myself"

"There's no need" Slade's voice spoke from behind Ozpin, startling him.

"Slade!" Qrow gasped in shock "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough" Slade answered "I accept your offer to attend Beacon" Slade was still wearing his bloodied clothes.

"You do?" Ozpin asked surprised "I honestly thought you would've said no-"

"It'll provide me an opportunity to sharpen my skills and master my Semblance. I can't be a Huntsman without that now can I?" Slade asked.

"You seem surprisingly more cooperative than I'd have thought you'd be right now" Qrow pointed out suspiciously "What changed?"

"I need to move past what's happened and continue on with my life. My family wouldn't want me wallowing in self pity, so I wont. I plan on practicing until I attend Beacon and become stronger for it" Slade explained.

"That seems... reasonable" Ozpin agreed.

"Excellent" Slade moved to look Ozpin in the eye "But, I need some answers first"

"I imagine you do"

"Who was the woman we saw once we destroyed the crystal back in Foxworth? It seemed almost like she could control the darkness around us, and the one in the hood. Do you know who she is?" Why would bandits capture Huntresses instead of killing them? Why work so hard to keep them alive? Why was Elise so fixated on me killing her if we were caught?"

"It's going to take me a long time to explain all of that" Ozpin sighed "Most of what you've just asked, I cannot tell you. Knowing would only put you in more danger" he explained.

"Then tell me what you do know" Slade leaned onto the front of the desk.

"The woman you saw in the hood is unknown to us as of right now. The one who appeared after the ritual was disrupted is an old enemy the majority of the world doesn't know about, and cannot know about. If the world knew about her, everyone would be terrified, drawing in the Grimm" he explained "She was able to control the darkness for the same reason she can control the Grimm... because she merged with the darkness long ago... the ritual being performed in the facility was intended to create a powerful Grimm to assist her in destroying our world. Stopping it bought us a great deal more time before she can gather the power to do so again, which is why she had your sister and the other Huntresses captured" he continued.

"Professor, do you think it's wise to tell him such things? He's far too young-" Glynda began, earning a glare from Slade.

"Slade may be young, but he's also helped stop her plans on three different occasions at a great cost to himself" Ozpin explained "He's earned an explanation for what his family fought and died for"

"I... Yes, Professor" she relented.

"As much as I appreciate you telling me the truth about all of this, that still doesn't answer why Elise was so desperate to die over being captured"

"The ritual being performed was only going to be successful due to the use of the souls of Huntsmen they captured as sacrifices. Their souls lingered, fueling the ritual, that's the voices you heard there" Ozpin sighed in disappointment "The more powerful a Huntsman becomes, the more powerful their soul is. Sacrificing a few powerful Huntsmen would've furthered her goals much more than a hundred civilians would... Elise knew if she were to be sacrificed for such a ritual she wouldn't need much more to finish summoning the Grimm. Of course there's also the fact of being a sacrifice to such a ritual leaves your body under the control of our enemy, that's why those bodies attacked your parents just before the explosion" Ozpin stopped collecting his thoughts "Elise chose death by your hands over such a fate. Perhaps she knew she could one day be used against you, something she never wanted to do"

"How does me killing her stop her from being controlled by this... enemy?" Slade asked.

"Because her soul wouldn't be trapped inside the Grimm summoned by her death" he answered "Do you understand now why people cannot know about her existence? Only a few people in the entire world know about her... and only about half of them are on our side"

"I understand" Slade sighed "If people knew about her and feared her or panicked, the Grimm would attack much more easily. More than likely giving her exactly what she wants"

"Precisely" Ozpin smiled lightly "One day, I will tell you everything about her and why she has yet to be defeated permanently. One day I believe you will accomplish great things. Of course, that cannot happen without the proper training" he chuckled.

"Then I should get started immediately" Slade replied "I'll see you all in two months... and don't worry, I won't say anything to anyone about what happened" Slade looked to Qrow with an uncertain expression "Qrow... I... thanks" he added before passing through the nearby wall, disappearing from sight.

"I'm never gonna get used to that" Qrow sighed taking a swig from his flask but he smiled knowing Slade was strong enough to make it through this I'll always have your back, kid

(Two Months Later)

Slade stared out the window of the student transport as it soared over the city of Vale. Sighing in annoyance at the students all conversing around him he started fidgeting with his newly constructed gauntlets shining pristinely in the lighting of the ship.

"Look, there's Beacon!" called a boy excitedly running to the glass and watching as they approached the school "It looks so cool" he mused to his two friends coming up behind him. The boy had short brown hair and a dark complexion, with blue eyes and a large physique clearly showing himself to be overweight. Two massive red and silver gauntlets covered his hands matching his armor covering him from the shoulder down with only a small amount of red cloth on his chest to separate the silver plates and a blue lightning symbol on his chest.

"You let such weird things get you excited" sighed the girl on his left. She had light green hair pulled back in a ponytail cascading down her shoulder with her left eye being a dark brown and her right eye being a light gray. She had a light complexion with a dark purple cape coming down from her hood hanging over her back and a lighter shade jacket covering her shoulders with three knives on each shoulder, she had a double edged spear on her back and a light orange flame symbol on her shoulder "You really should be more serious if you're gonna make it here, Dusk" she chastised.

"Ignore Willow, she's just jealous of your eating habits" a second girl laughed at her own joke earning a glare from Willow and a smile from Dusk. The girl had gray hair pulled back in a spiked ponytail and bright orange eyes with a thin dark green combat-skirt with yellow lacing around the edges. She had a sword sheathed on her back with a small purple whirlpool symbol on her waist.

"I'd be pissed at you right now if it wasn't true, Hazel" Willow laughed causing them both to laugh.

Idiots Slade thought to himself with a roll of his eyes.

"Attention: We're docking now, prepare to disembark shortly" Glynda's voice recording played over the PA system.

"Finally" Slade sighed "The sooner I can get out of this deathtrap the better" he walked toward the exit only to knock over another student causing them to cry out in surprise.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Willow yelled as she picked herself up into a sitting position.

Slade remained silent looking down at her with annoyance, he shook his head before continuing toward the exit "What a jerk" Dusk said helping Willow to her feet.

"Imagine being on his team" Hazel agreed "He's not going to get very far acting like that, definitely not a team player.

"Yeah..." Willow stared after him "Did you guys notice?" she asked.

"Notice what?" Dusk asked confused.

"His eyes" Hazel answered "They were so cold, I've never seen someone with such a dark gaze... lifeless... cold and calculating... almost like a predator stalking it's pray" she explained.

"I didn't see it" Dusk said confused.

"It was for the briefest of moments, no more than a few seconds at most before his eyes returned to normal... I don't ever want to see that look again" Willow shivered.

"I really don't want to end up fighting him in a tournament then" Dusk said nervously laughing.

"Definitely not" Hazel agreed.

Here it is, yeah I know, the chapter is over already. Sorry if you were hoping for more but you'll just have to wait a little longer. I should be able to manage at least one chapter a week as I already have sixteen chapters worth written down, I just need to type it up and figure out what order some scenes need to go in and such. Thanks for reading! See you guys next week!