Luna had thought her anxiety couldn't have spiked more than it had yesterday.
Standing on a pressure plate on the side of a cliff as she waited to be launched into the air into the Grimm-filled forest below, she realized she was wrong.
Today was definitely the most stressed she'd ever been.
"All right everyone." Coco clapped her hands together. "Most of you should know the drill already, but here's a run-down just in case."
Glynda stepped forward. "After you're launched, it'll be up to you to devise a landing strategy with the help of your Semblance, weapon or whatever other skill you might have. However, you have all been provided emergency parachutes in the event that you can't come up with anything."
"Because not doing that would be wildly irresponsible," Coco added with a knowing smirk.
Luna breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she didn't live in the day where parachutes weren't an option. Thank goodness for Jaune Arc.
Glynda shot Coco a sharp look before continuing. "The first person you make eye contact with once in the forest will be your partner for the rest of your time at this school, so try to choose wisely if you can."
Luna glanced at Cobalt, who stood loyally beside her and inwardly prayed.
"After you've found your partner, you'll need to find your way through the forest until you come across the remains of an abandoned temple. Here, you will select one of the relics we've placed"
"Not to be confused with the four world-saving God relics." Coco chipped in, bringing a few chuckles out of the students.
Glynda gave her another glare. "Mrs. Adel, please."
Coco grinned. "Ah, come on, they're stressed. You can at least let me lighten the mood a little bit."
Glynda sighed. "Very well." She turned her gaze back to the students. "After each pair has selected a relic, make your way back to the top of this cliff. Afterward, we will head back to the school and announce your standings and team. Now, take your positions."
Luna crouched on the plate and gripped her spear, Striking Shadow, tightly, staring straight ahead. With loud springs, other students were launched. Then her.
As the ground lurched from beneath her, sending her hurtling through the air, she angled Striking Shadow to point forward and tucked her body in as tightly as she could. The treeline quickly approached and she tensed, tempted to pull her parachute.
No, she had to do this right.
A tree loomed in front of her and she quickly stabbed Striking Shadow into the bark, slamming her feet into the trunk right after. The force of suddenly stopping knocked the breath out of her and she hung for a moment, gripping the weapon as tightly as she could as she caught her breath.
Now to get down.
She swung herself up to perch of the spear, hoping it would take her weight as she scanned the horizon as other students fell in the distance. Was one of them Coablt? Had he already landed? She had to find him, as soon as possible.
When she heard the bark where Striking Shadow was stabbed into the tree split, she only had a brief moment to panic before she plummeted.
Twisting in the air, she finally managed to get a hold of the spear again and shoved it back into the tree, bark flinging aside as it tore through the trunk and, slowing her fall until her feet hit grass.
"Ugh." She plucked Striking Shadow from the tree. If that hadn't caught the Grimms' attention, she didn't know what would.
A rustling in the trees caught her attention as something moved among the leaves. Luna whipped around and pointed Striking Shadow in the direction of the noise, tensing.
"Alright, Grimm…" She muttered. "Come out and let me do something cool for a change."
Before she could even react, the 'thing' burst from the shadows and bowled her over, knocking her into the grass with a thud.
"Oh my goodness, I can't believe this!"
It wasn't a Grimm.
Leaning over her was a very brightly-coloured girl with a freckled face, amazing green eyes and orange hair that almost sparkled- no, it was sparkling. Definitely sparkling. She was…stunning. There was really no other way to put it.
"Of all the people here, I get to partner with another cat-tailed faunus!?" The girl squealed. "This is amazing!"
Luna forced herself to stop staring at the girl's face. Yep, she had a cat tail too and it was as sparkly as her hair.
"Oh!" The girl leaped back suddenly, as if she'd only just noticed she'd knocked Luna over. "Did I hurt you? I really hope I didn't hurt you."
"Uh…no, no." Luna pulled herself up and brushed grass off her clothes. "I'm okay. You just startled me."
"Oh, thank goodness!" The girl gasped in relief. "I don't know what I would've done if I hurt someone on my first proper day here." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Astra, by the way."
Luna took a moment to react, still stunned by the encounter. Just in time before things got too awkward, she shook Astra's outstretched hand. "Luna."
Astra gasped again and her hands flew to her mouth.
"No fucking way." Her eyes were wider than ever, now seeming to shine as brightly as the rest of her. "Like, Luna Xiao Long? One of the daughters of two of the greatest heroes Remnant's ever seen!?"
"I…guess?" Luna couldn't deny that her mothers were amazing but it was always so weird to hear other people say it, as if they were nothing more than legends from a storybook instead of real, existing people.
Astra squealed and started hopping from foot-to-foot. "That's so cool! I've heard so many stories about the stuff they've done; all the battles they fought and how they helped save the world with the rest of her team. Ooh, I bet they taught you some stuff, huh? Are you as amazing a fighter as them? Did they teach you any of their special moves?"
Luna blushed madly. "Uh…"
She didn't know how tightly her tail was tucked around her leg until Astra's gaze darted to it. The girl leaped back again, her face- and tail- falling.
"Ahh, I've made you uncomfortable, haven't I?"
Luna winced. Of course someone else with a cat tail would recognize her body language. "It's fine." She managed.
Astra shook her head. "No, it's not. I know I can be…a lot sometimes." She shuffled her foot adorably in the dirt. "I can tone it down if you want. I really don't want to be a bother."
Luna wasn't sure how to respond. "I…thanks. But it's fine, really. You just surprised me, that's all." And I also don't know how to react to a pretty girl getting so close to me, she added privately.
Astra's tail shot back up into the air. "Okay, neat! So uh…" She looked around. "Do we wanna go find this abandoned temple then?"
"Oh, right." Honestly, Luna had almost forgotten about the objective completely. "Do you…have any idea where to go?"
"Not a clue." Astra replied cheerfully.
Well, at least she was more optimistic than Luna. Maybe that would be helpful in a partner.
"Okay, well…" Luna glanced around. She knew roughly which direction she'd fallen from, at least. The logical conclusion was to head in the opposite way. "Let's try this way." She suggested, gazing into the trees where Astra had come from.
"Great! Lead the way, Luna!"
There was something nice about hearing Astra say her name.
As Luna started walking, Astra leaped straight onto a low tree branch with impressive grace. Luna stared at her quizzically. "Uh…don't you want to walk?"
"Nah," Astra jumped to the next tree. "This is way more fun. Keeps me out of the way of any Grimm, too. You should try it!"
Luna couldn't resist a smile. "I think I'm good."
She kept walking and found herself watching Astra as the girl leaped from branch to branch. There was something enamouring to the way she bounded so gracefully as the sunlight lit up the outline of her body and making her hair and tail seem all the more sparkly. She was so swift, so delicate. Luna could only imagine what kind of fighter she was.
"So, what's it like?" Astra asked after a moment, breaking the silence.
"Hm?"
"Growing up with half of Team RWBY as your parents, I mean." Astra explained, pulling herself onto a higher branch. "Was it cool?"
Luna shrugged. "I mean, it was normal, I guess? We live on Patch and it's pretty quiet there, so it's not like we got a lot of…celebrity attention or anything."
"Makes sense. I guess it's better that way." Astra contemplated. "You seem like the kind of girl who likes her peace. Oh!" She stopped suddenly and looked down at Luna. "Are those your preferred pronouns? She/her?"
Luna stopped, blinking in surprise. Nobody had really cared enough to ask before. It was nice. "Yeah," She replied. "How about you?"
"Same," Astra responded. "They/them is okay too sometimes. Anything but he/him. Got enough of that from Atlas."
The last part was muttered and Luna wondered if she'd meant to hear it. She almost asked Astra if she was okay, but the girl was already grinning again and hopped into another branch. Luna rushed after her.
"You grew up in Atlas?" She prompted.
"Oh, yeah. Not for me though. Still a lot of faunus, discrimination, bigots…and no trees. Which sucks because trees are way more fun to jump from than buildings."
Luna remembered the few times she'd been to Atlas and found herself agreeing. Sure, things were better there now, especially since the government and school were separate like the other kingdoms, but it still had some serious issues.
"You know, it's kind of weird," Astra said suddenly, changing the subject. "I would've thought we'd have seen some Grimm by now."
Luna opened her mouth to agree, but Astra had clearly spoken too soon. The foliage burst open as two Beowolf leaped out, breaking the peace of the forest with ugly snarls.
In her shock, Luna's first instinct was to try and run. Immediately, she tripped, losing her grip on Striking Shadow and falling against a tree. One of the Beowolf headed towards her, blocking her from seeing if Astra was okay.
It was close enough now that all Luna could see was its burning red eyes and massive teeth.
She was weaponless, helpless.
It lunged.
