Sorry for the delay, guys! A lot of the combos for initiation were too good to not try out, but I think I'm happy with the final result! I'll be doing maybe one more initiation chapter, two at best, and then the Beacon teams will be announced! Hopefully the next update won't take as long, and as a heads up, Haven submissions are now closed!
III.
Beacon: Initiation
She shook Maddyx's sleeping bag softly, doing her best to rouse her from her sleep without shocking her. Everyone else had already gotten up, some even dressed and on their way to get their weapons, but the duo had yet to even get dressed compared to the others. Normally Maddyx just took naps, several at a time with moments of quiet to herself in between, but it seemed like this latest nap had been the one to send her into a deeper sleep than usual.
From under the sleeping bag, Maddyx groaned and dragged her hands down her face. It reminded her of a cat, almost, and she couldn't help hovering even as Maddyx slowly began to rise. Her hood was still over her head, having fallen asleep with her mask still on. It only made the cat comparison stronger, the cat ears on the hood flopping adorably; out of habit, Lexa reached out and petted Maddyx softly on the head.
"Wha' time is it?" Maddyx slurred. She pulled the mask down over her chin and let out a loud yawn, leaning into Lexa's pets.
"There was someone over the speaker," Lexa said. "She said we have to get ready."
Maddyx scrunched up her face. She was clearly unhappy about being told to move. Lexa merely helped her up to her feet, urging her on as she did so, and guided Maddyx in the direction of the nearest bathroom. It took a lot of maneuvering, so much avoiding people as Maddyx got ready, but eventually both of them were ready and heading for the airship with their weapons in tow. Mornings were not a good time for either of them, since Lexa was a heavy sleeper and Maddyx plain never slept, but hopefully this one morning would prove to be fine for both of them. It was the initiation, as far as she knew, and this was the most they'd have to do for a while until teams were settled.
Throughout the ride to the Emerald Forest, Lexa watched the sunrise and the colours painted along the treetops; it was hard to find a view like this anywhere in Vale, especially after Lexa started living with Maddyx. It was… different. Brighter. Lexa leaned her head on the window of the airship, sighing to herself, and barely even noticed the fact that someone was talking to her. It wasn't like she was deliberately ignoring them, but Maddyx seemed to have it handled while keeping her face hidden from view. All anyone would see was bushy red hair and a mask on the lower half of her face, much like Lexa had, and no one would assume her identity at a glance.
"Whaddya want?" Maddyx grunted. Lexa tried not to flinch as she tore her gaze from the Emerald Forest, catching sight of black hair just as an arm shot out and the young man in front of them leaned down towards Maddyx with a sultry smile.
"What's a pretty little thing like you doing, hiding her face?"
Lexa's alarm bells began to ring. Wasn't this the guy who got vomited on last night? For flirting? Maddyx's constant hammering home of safety lessons, of stranger danger, kicked in instantly as she saw the way Maddyx's brows furrowed in annoyance.
"Aren't you the idiot who—"
Lexa's arm flew between the two of them, a small makeup remover spray in her hand; she wasted no time giving it a long, hard spray to his face, and then he was screeching like a bird as he slammed his hands over his eyes and backed away.
"What the fuck—"
"Stranger danger," Lexa said simply. Maddyx moved behind her, trying her best not to laugh too loud, and gave Lexa an approving pat on the back.
"Did you pepper spray me?"
"No?" Lexa hurriedly turned the spray bottle over in her hands. She scanned the ingredients, but all she saw was an absence of pepper. "It's makeup remover. It'll wash out."
"Wash out!? We're in an airship—"
Lexa sprayed him again. It was a merciful spray compared to the last.
"Raven! Raven!"
She sprayed him a third time. This time she was far less merciful. At one point his mouth opened again, and Lexa just sprayed him right inside.
It didn't take him long to leave, probably clinging to the Raven he was calling for earlier. By the time he was well and truly gone, Lexa finally put away the makeup remover and sighed. From behind her, Maddyx was doing her best not to guffaw as she crouched down into a squat and wheezed loudly. Lexa furrowed her brows, concerned, and crouched down with her as she caught her breath.
"Did I do bad?" Lexa asked, genuinely concerned involving stranger danger was a bad decision.
Maddyx shook her head, and one hand wiped at her eyes as she petted Lexa's head with the other. "You did great," she told her.
The rest of the trip to the cliffs above the Emerald Forest was quiet, everyone else sticking to their own planning and established alliances. Lexa clung close to Maddyx, wary, but after the dark-haired boy's ordeal it seemed no one was willing to approach either girl. As much as Maddyx encouraged Lexa to make friends, Lexa liked it when people didn't approach Maddyx the way that boy had.
They disembarked at Beacon Cliff, Professor Ozpin waiting patiently by the launch pads at the foot of the cliff, and Lexa clung to Maddyx's hand tightly. Each pad would fit only one person, which meant they'd have to be separated now. Her nerves were on fire, but Maddyx squeezed her hand back and whispered, "Hey, I'll find you down there. I won't let anyone nasty make you their partner, and we can make friends with our team afterwards. Sound okay?"
Lexa nodded. She liked that. If she was definitely on a team with Maddyx, then making friends with the others would come easier. Maddyx was a big help when it came to people, even if she denied it.
They took the launch pads beside each other, and to Lexa's right she noticed the girl with marshmallow swirl hair who'd thrown up all over the boy from earlier. She looked less disgusted today, focused on her weapons and even ignoring Ozpin as he spoke about partners and the retrieval of relics. The shells of dust she'd scattered last night were now lined along her belt in coloured order, and she counted three different types before catching the girl's gaze. It wasn't a glare she was met with, but it wasn't a welcome look either; Lexa looked away eventually, holding the stare for a few seconds, and to her left Maddyx mumbled something about helping Lexa be friends with anyone who wasn't, in a word, a bitch. Whether the marshmallow swirl heard or not was irrelevant, especially when a click sounded out from the launch pad farthest from Ozpin and the first of the students sailed into the air.
That wasn't good. Lexa missed almost everything that was said. She hoped Maddyx had been listening, at least.
The closer to Maddyx the launches came, Maddyx finally adjusted her guitar and handled it properly, no longer slinging it over her shoulder by its strap casually. She didn't activate one of Häxa's weaponised forms, instead thumbing at one of the strings with an almost excited glint in her eyes. Lexa reached for Morning Star, slowly unraveling it as she held its length in both hands, and she got her grip comfortable on the handle as another click sounded out. A very, very tall girl next to Maddyx, at the very least almost eight feet tall to Lexa's surprise, was launched with ease and she flew through the air, down into the green treetops with an excited yell.
With a final glance at Lexa, Maddyx winked at her and was promptly flung into the air.
Lexa followed soon after. The rush of air to her face, the force with which the wind battered her, it was almost enough to stagger her for a moment. Lexa sailed through the air, limbs stiff and by her sides, and as she saw the treetops grow closer and closer she snapped to attention at last. Distantly she could hear the clicks and shouts of more students being launched; which way did Maddyx fall, again? She couldn't remember. Shit. Shit.
A sturdy, exposed branch caught her eye. Morning Star switched into grapple mode, and just as Lexa passed it beyond the point of grabbing the branch with her hands, she spun in the air and threw Morning Star's hook at the branch with a silent prayer. She braced herself for the chance she'd missed, focusing her aura to her legs and around her prosthetics, but when she felt the length of Morning Star snap and tighten, knocking her back towards the tree she'd passed, Lexa hurriedly turned her attention back to her weapon. She was still too high up to jump down without damaging her prosthetics, even with aura reinforcing them, and Morning Star wasn't long enough for her to simply shimmy down like a rock climber would a wall. So when she crashed into the base of the tree, a branch a short distance beneath her, Lexa let herself fall to the branch and scan the area.
Which way did Maddyx go?
As she pondered this, two screams filled the air. A pair of bodies crashed through the treetops, and in the split second they were in front of her, Lexa recognised one of them: The boy who'd approached them, still in distress but for a whole new reason now as a huge blur of white seemed to crash into him. Lexa watched, dumbfounded, as both he and the blur of white disappeared with a flurry of rose petals in their wake—and then, with that same explosion of petals, reappeared on the tree adjacent to Lexa. Both of them looked ready to bring up their breakfast again, practically hanging from the branch together, and the girl in white whimpered apologies nonstop as the boy groaned and clung to the tree for dear life.
Maddyx definitely didn't go that way, Lexa decided, and promptly threw Morning Star in the direction of the tree opposite the duo.
She wasn't sure how far she got, how many pairs she passed, but by the time Lexa reached the ground she was well and truly on her own again. She dropped to the forest floor safely, feet landing firmly on the ground, and for a moment she thought that was that; but it seemed the forest had more surprises in store for her, and when Lexa heard the faintest of shrieks from under her shoe she jumped a few feet into the air. Trust her luck, she thought as she saw the poor frog laying on the ground in agony, that she would crush the legs of some innocent animal when she landed.
The frog's legs were the extent of the damage, but it was letting out little screams of distress as its front legs tried to drag its body away. Lexa's chest caved in on itself, her eyes watering as she dropped to her knees behind the frog. No, no, she'd just ruined this poor creature's life by landing too close—if she wasn't so hellbent on finding Maddyx, she might've seen the frog and avoided it!
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Froggy," she whined, setting aside Morning Star and immediately grabbing the frog. It shrieked more, but its rear legs were floppy and almost boneless as she held the amphibian in her hands. No way to escape her, though she hoped soon it would know she was trying to fix her mistake. "I'll fix you right up, I swear, please don't cry."
She was always wary of using her Semblance on living things. She herself knew the pain that could come from it, having used it on herself once before, and it always filled her with immeasurable guilt when someone else was subjected to it. But her Semblance was the only solution she could think of to this mishap. She'd crushed the frog's legs beyond normal repair, and frogs didn't normally have their aura unlocked to help them heal like people did. Maybe after she fixed its legs, but right now unlocking it would just make it harder to break through the aura to fix what she'd broken.
With tears in her eyes, Lexa carefully held the frog's body with one hand and gathered up its legs in the other, making sure to be delicate with the poor thing as it continued to shriek. And with each shriek, she was closer to full blown sobbing. The hand holding its legs began to glow a dull, dark green, and the frog shrieked and thrashed about even more. It clearly was in agony, and Lexa was hiccuping and sobbing out loud as it did. Her mask was starting to get damp, and she just kept picturing how legs were supposed to function—she had to make this right, she wasn't putting Mr. Froggy through more pain than it deserved. Not that it deserved pain to begin with—
"I'm sorry, Mr. Froggy!" she screamed. She really was not a fan of this situation.
The glow around her hand subsided, and slowly the frog stopped shrieking. Soon enough it was simply letting out confused squawks, its legs twitching in her hand, before it started slapping her hands with its front legs. Lexa sniffed, let its rear legs go, but she didn't put the frog down.
"Please forgive me," she sobbed. "I didn't mean it, I swear. I love frogs. I love all animals. I'll—Do you have insurance? Maddyx says it's good to ask that when I'm in the wrong—can I pay it? Please?"
The frog shrieked at her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume!" Lexa lifted the frog closer to her face. "I won't hurt you again, I promise! Please stop screaming!"
The frog would not stop screaming.
It would soon dawn on Lexa why this was so. From behind her, a shadow quickly drew over her form and set her on high alert. A person would normally announce themselves, and the shadow was way too big to belong even to the muscular girl at the launch pads. Lexa hugged the frog close to her chest, dove for Morning Star a short distance away—why had she thrown it so far—
And with a whimper, the Grimm was slammed into a nearby tree. Lexa froze, eyes wide as she watched the Beowolf twitch and leak dark mist from its wounds. It didn't take long for the Beowolf to pass from its injuries, but Lexa found herself more focused on what had struck it more than the Grimm itself. She knew that axe, knew who owned it, and the anxiety in her chest eased away as everything righted itself again. Mr. Froggy's legs were fixed, and Maddyx had found her. Everything was fine now.
"Sheesh, I could hear you from halfway across the forest."
Maddyx jumped down from a nearby tree, rolled to her feet with a grunt. She casually walked over to Häxa as she pulled her hood down, letting her red hair flow freely now that they were alone. Less people around meant less people to recognise her, and Lexa let out a relieved breath.
"Seriously—" Maddyx propped one leg up on the tree and yanked at her axe, needing to take a few tries at it before it came loose. She fell backwards, landing on her behind as the Beowolf tumbled to the ground, and barely paid her kill any mind as it vanished slowly into wisps of smoke. "You sounded like you murdered someone by accident."
Lexa stared at her, sniffed, and held out the frog. "I broke his legs…"
After a quick once-over of the shrieking frog, Maddyx said, "Legs look like they work to me."
It was true. All four legs were thrashing about wildly in the hopes of escaping this stressful scene. Lexa cast her gaze to the ground and began petting its head in an attempt to soothe.
"Well, I fixed 'em." And then, quieter: "I hope."
"Since when do you know how frog legs work?" Maddyx inched closer to her, pulling her own mask down to her chin. She was grinning as she did so, eyes sparkling with an idea. "Don't tell me you fixed them like you'd fix a person's legs."
"Was I not supposed to?" Lexa asked innocently. "All legs work the same, right?"
Maddyx was silent. When she spoke after what felt like an eternity, she simply requested, "Put the frog down for a sec."
She was reluctant to do so, honestly. But the frog's legs were moving about a lot, so there was obviously no issue of them working. Lexa pursed her lips, but eventually she lowered the frog to the forest floor. She expected it to flop onto all fours and wriggle about, get used to its new legs and run off as soon as it was ready. She was half-right, at least; as soon as its rear legs touched the ground, the knees bent forwards instead of outwards, and when she let go of its body entirely, the frog didn't flop onto all fours and wriggle about. The frog simply braced itself, stretched its rear legs, and rose into a bipedal position.
"Oh," was all Lexa could manage.
Immediately Maddyx lunged for the frog. It shrieked again, legs writhing about like someone trying to run away, but before anything else could be said or done her hands began to glow pale purple. Her aura enveloped the frog, almost like it was shielding it, and then Lexa's jaw dropped completely when she saw the frog begin to emit its own emerald green glow.
"I want this freak of nature to live," Maddyx cackled, "and no one's exterminating it while it has its aura up."
As soon as she opened her hands, releasing the frog, the frog dropped to the ground into a full sprint. It was… a sight to behold. A frog with its front legs out on either side, back legs waddling so hard that it was almost tripping over itself. And all the while it teetered back and forth, trying to keep its balance, in its desperate need to escape.
Maddyx sat back up normally, and she put a hand on Lexa's shoulder with a proud look on her face.
"Fucking beautiful."
She spotted the Boarbatusk before picking where to land. The black chain connecting Ask and Answer rattled loudly, giving away her position to the lone applicant fighting on solid ground. Gunshots rang out, the applicant running as the Boarbatusk kept spinning in his direction, until finally he was able to bounce off of a tree and actually lock eyes with Liath. Liath clicked her tongue as she hung from a branch, the chain silent as she swayed; well, there was her partner for the next four years. She may as well start praying for death if he couldn't kill a little Boarbatusk.
He was jogging as the Boarbatusk recovered, waving her down, and Liath rolled her eyes. "What?" she called down to him.
"Its tusks!" he called to her. The Boarbatusk was back on its feet and digging its hooves into the ground, ready to charge him again. "Hook the chain around its tusks like you're trying to round it up!"
Hook the chain… Liath looked over at the Boarbatusk with pursed lips. Did he expect her to start playing rodeo with it?
Liath sighed heavily. Without another word, she dropped from the tree entirely and held Ask and Answer in both hands, chain rustling behind her as she descended. The Boarbatusk was ready to charge again, just as the boy shot at it with his weapon, but before it could move Liath landed on it with an unceremonious grunt. She snagged the chain around one tusk, startling it and causing it to run off-balance once it took off. Liath sprinted to keep up with it, teeth gritted almost painfully; this jerk better have a plan, she thought with a growl.
The Boarbatusk tried to slam her into a tree, and if Liath had been less prepared she would've most certainly been crushed. But she expected it to shake her off however it could, and she used the tree much like the boy had to throw herself up above the Boarbatusk. She landed on it again, this time mounting it properly, and hooked the rest of the chain around the other tusk. Now all she had to do was figure out what was next.
"Steer it to me!" the boy called to her. "When it gets close, pull it back with all your weight so its underside is exposed!"
She didn't pause to snark at him how he wouldn't be able to pull it off without a knife. She watched as the chamber of his revolver spun, its form shifting subtly from a distance as he readjusted his hold on the grip. Liath frowned, steered the panicking Boarbatusk towards him; it was awkward, holding it back from spinning out while she was on it, but the second part of this plan was made easier by it thrashing its head about to try shake her chains off of it. This thing was tough, and while Liath wasn't much of a physical fighter by any stretch, even she could tell someone with more strength could struggle with this plan. Just great, she thought as the Boarbatusk sped towards the dark-haired boy. Five minutes after having a partner and he was going to be cleft in twain by a Grimm she was stuck riding until someone else killed it for her.
Or so Liath thought. The Boarbatusk was far too distracted to notice the boy shift his position, crouching low as his revolver finished its shift; Liath watched, eyes wide, as the barrel turned upwards and a blue light began to emit from it, the unmistakable glow of hard light dust protruding from the weapon. The hard light blade was similar in shape and length to a falchion, and for the briefest of seconds Liath wondered if it would be as strong—or stronger than one. The boy twirled the sword in one hand, lunged forward, and Liath reacted with a shout as she dug her heels into the Boarbatusk's spine to leverage herself.
Ask and Answer were taut in her hands as she snapped the chains back. Normally a Boarbatusk would rear itself back to headbutt something, prepare for impact with its tusks and armoured head, but this Boarbatusk was clearly caught by surprise by Liath. It reared back, squealing so loud that Liath almost felt her ears pop; and as it trotted awkwardly about, its rear legs barely able to support its own weight let alone Liath as well, the boy surged forward. The hard light blade flew through the air, cutting through the underside of the Boarbatusk like a hot knife through butter. Liath barely had time to jump out of the way, using the chain of Ask and Answer to swing around the Boarbatusk's body, and she could feel the heat of the hard light blade graze her aura by the time she began to descend once more.
This time, as Liath's feet touched the ground and the chains came loose, the front half of the Boarbatusk came with her. It whined, the light fading from its red eyes as its front legs wiggled pitifully under its head, and then the chain fell from the tusk entirely as it faded to a dark mist. Liath blew some hair out of her face, frowning to herself as she did so; behind her, where she once stood, the freshly sliced lower half of the Grimm waddled about for a few steps before joining the fate of its upper half. And beyond the fading corpse, the boy with the hard light blade let out a relieved breath as he fiddled with his weapon. The blade retracted back into the hilt—the grip of the original revolver, it seemed—and the guard snapped together in the middle, where the blade used to be, as the chamber finally clicked back into place. The revolver was plain in this form, but it seemed to have a lot of surprises hidden inside.
As soon as he turned around, Liath took notice of how close he was to six feet tall. He could've handled the Boarbatusk himself, or at the very least do a better job than Liath had with restraining it. Though he didn't really look bulky either, more on the skinny side—in fact, he seemed to only have enough muscle on him to be able to handle the hard light blade, if that.
"Alright," she sighed at the boy. Orange eyes flickered over towards her as he fiddled with the revolver more. Definitely a few more tricks hidden in that thing. "Was skewering me part of your plan?"
He seemed to consider it for a moment. And then, his answer was a very genuine, "No. Was kinda expecting you to have enough common sense to jump away from a blade."
Wow. Scratch having a dead partner on day one, or even someone who couldn't handle a simple Boarbatusk on his own. She really hit the bottom of the barrel with a smartass like this one.
"Charming," Liath scoffed. "Says a lot about you if I hadn't moved."
"Says a lot more about you," he said innocently, "if you hadn't moved."
She gave him a disgruntled look. As he began to walk without so much as looking back at her again, Liath stomped after him and gave the Boarbatusk corpse a kick for good measure. If she was going to pass this initiation, she may as well stick with the asshole who almost got her killed. It was better than nothing, loathe as she was to admit.
They were silent for a while, walking through the trees as time passed at a snail's pace. The more Liath watched him, the more she picked up the subtleties in his gait, his appearance, the flavour candies he pulled from the small bag he carried even. He was definitely a laid back sort, someone like Liath who wasn't all too fussed about being all prim and proper when it came to anything. A sweet tooth, obviously, and he was going through the sweeter flavours rather than sour ones; she knew there were sour ones when she saw him accidentally eat one, his face scrunching up for a fraction of a second in surprise before he resumed eating the candy. Above all else, though, he definitely had no problems saying what was on his mind.
He stopped, suddenly, when they didn't show any signs of leaving this neck of the woods. He popped a candy into his mouth, rolled it around a bit, and turned back to Liath to ask, "What were the artifacts we were meant to find, again?"
"You assume I know?" she scoffed. With a wry smile, Liath told him, "I'm good at noticing things, but I'm neither a mind reader nor skilled enough to read Ozpin's poker face."
He raised his brows at her. "Could've fooled me. You were watching everyone last night and purposely avoided a few of them today with your landing."
Liath blinked at him. He noticed her watching everyone last night? Where the hell was he hiding, for Liath to not notice him?
"Oh, but I wouldn't have noticed if Gretchen hadn't taken a call from her brother," he went on, eyes cast to the sky as though recalling the night with difficulty. "So I guess I got lucky. I saw the tailend of that guy in pink organising a welcoming party."
Ah, so when Liath was distracted at least. But if he saw her sizing up everyone in that conversation, then he was certainly decent enough to rival her own observational skills. So Liath pressed him further.
"How'd you know I could take the Boarbatusk like that? I could've been flung off easily."
Now he turned around, pointing to Ask and Answer with a bored look on his face. "Chained weapons are easy to trip over," he pointed out. "I've tried. Not my style. People who can use them without alerting people around them are also harder to come by. If I hadn't seen all that grey you're wearing pop out of the trees, you would've been able to skip over me entirely."
Liath huffed a laugh. So her attempt at not standing out by being flashy like everyone else had the opposite effect with this guy. At least he'd be a decent partner to work with on more covert things. And she wouldn't have to worry about him losing track of her any time soon.
"Plus, the sickle blades are long enough to have dug into the hide," he went on. "So even if it threw you around, the chain and the blades would've given you a better grip than whatever I had. You're nimble—people like us have to compensate for a lack of raw strength in the best ways we can think of."
He held out the bag to her, the contents visible—and true to her expectations, mostly sour candy was closer to the top of the packet than sweeter ones. Liath huffed another laugh. Sweets weren't her thing, but she'd take the sour ones over the sweeter ones any day. She reached in and popped a yellow candy into her mouth, and the boy's eyes lit up like he just found his perfect partner in crime. Oh yeah, he was seeing her as useful as she saw him.
"Almer," he said, almost as though he just remembered it was his name. "Look forward to working with you."
"Liath," she told him, already starting to walk past him with a bit more confidence in his capabilities. "Try not to die before we even get put into a team. It'll be awkward showing up on my own to the ceremony."
"I'm not the one who followed a complete stranger's plan on good faith," Almer retorted. "I oughta be more worried about you than me."
