The Creed of a Huntsman

Marcus, Emerald Forest

After minutes of walking through the thick forest, the trio had reached a small clearing which housed an abandoned temple. It looked like a destroyed rotunda, with some of the columns broken into pieces and lying around the area. The 'relics' were on some pillars.

"Think this is it?" Yang asked. Blake gave her a 'really?' look while Marcus shrugged his shoulders. They headed down the hill towards the temple. This gave them time to get a better view of the relics.

"Chess pieces?" Blake asked, astounded. Marcus looked at the pillars holding the relics, all chess pieces.

"Some of them are missing" Marcus pointed out.

"Looks like we weren't the first ones here" Yang finished.

"Well… I guess we should pick one" Blake stated. They began observing the other chess pieces. It had your standard pieces, Rooks, Bishops, Knights. But one particular piece caught Marcus's eye. Right in the middle of the temple stood a golden piece, with a shrieking eagle, it's talons holding the head of the king piece, the cross. Ironic, yes, but it represented what Marcus's purpose was.

'Take down the Templars' he smiled. He quickly grabbed the piece, inspecting every detail, at the bottom it shined bright, like a diamond. The bottom reflected Marcus's face. Yup, he would get this one.

"What did you get Marcus?" Yang peered over his shoulder, to look at his relic.

"Oooooooo. That's cool!" she exclaimed. They met with Blake in the center.

"That was easy" Marcus expressed. He thought that he and the others would fight off an army of Grimm, not suffer a small cut.

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find" Blake added.

"Given you have the skillset to find this place this quick" he concluded, when they heard the loudest shriek ever from a living person. Was this person's semblance the ability to scream like a Banshee?

"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang exclaimed, turning to find the source of the cry for help.

"Or guy" Marcus coolly responded. After seeing his good friend, Eric get kicked really hard in the nuts, he really wondered which gender could obliterate many eardrums. "What do you think, Blake?" No response. "Blake?" he turned to her. She was staring in awe at the sky. "What are you looking at… holy crap"

"What is i-" Yang started before she was interrupted. She looked to the sky to find Ruby falling, arms flailing around, screaming "Heads uuuuuuup!" Time seemed to slow down as she got closer and closer to the ground, when something going at what Marcus assumed was mach 1 speed pushed her on a nearby tree.

"Was that Jaune?" Marcus asked no one in particular. That was confirmed by Jaune hanging by his feet from a tree branch.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake inquired.

"I-" Yang began, before hearing several explosions, Grimm growls, and the sounds of trees falling. They turned to find an Ursa struggling to get something off its back, before a pink explosion cloud finished it off.

"Yeehaw!" the orange haired girl exclaimed as she rolled off its back, before standing up and sadly saying "Aww. It's broken". What on god's green earth? She began to inspect the dead Grimm, when her guy friend clad in a green Chinese tailcoat emerged from behind the creature.

"Nora?" That's what her name was. "Please… don't ever do that again." When he looked up he couldn't find his friend anywhere near him. Because she had already reached the temple.

"Ooooo…" she grabbed the golden rook " I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle! "

"NORA!" her friend called out. She giggled.

"Hehehe, coming Ren!" she saluted and tilted her head so the piece could fall of her head and caught it.

"Did she… ride in on an Ursa?" Marcus asked, hiding behind the girls.

"I-"

Once more Yang was cut off by more Grimm growls and trees collapsing. What could it be this time?

Pyrrha came running through the forest, being chased by a Deathstalker. She almost had her feet taken off as she jumped to avoid the pincers ready to immobilize her, and rolling to avoid the other pincer about to remove all of her torso.

"Jaune!" she called.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune exclaimed, looking for a way to free himself.

"Whoa!" Ruby stood up, snapping out of whatever trance she was in.

"Ruby!" Jaune tried grabbing Ruby, but was too far as she jumped off the branch and rolled next to her sister.

"Ruby?"

"Yang! Marcus!" They were about to hug, when suddenly-

"Nora!" she interrupted as Marcus focused on how Pyrrha was doing with the Deathstalker.

"Did she run ALL this way with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake nonchalantly inquired. That was the breaking point for Yang as she growled before exploding, eyes changing to red.

"I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" Marcus was hiding behind Ruby, barely peeking over her shoulder to see if Yang had calmed down. That's when he and Ruby had looked up.

"Jumping Jesus on a pogostick…" he muttered. How'd Weiss get there out of all places?! Yang had sighed in exhaustion, hoping to ignore the girl.

"How could you leave me?!" Weiss demanded, barely hanging from the talon of a Nevermore.

"I said jump…" Ruby muttered.

"She's gonna fall"

"She'll be fine"

"She's falling"

Looking at the sky, Marcus saw she was indeed plummeting to the ground, similar to a cartoon. He spotted Jaune get up of his ass and smirk.

"Go get 'er done, lover boy!" Marcus encouraged. Jaune gave him a thumbs up before leaping for Weiss in a 'Superman' pose and whispered something to her.

"Just dropping in?"

'Do they realize they are stuck mid-'

"Oh god!" Oh yeah they did. He watched them fall, Scooby Doo style, with Jaune landing first, and Weiss landing hard on him with a nasty cracking sound.

"My hero" she sarcastically replied, checking her nails.

"My back…"

THUD!

'Ouch! That had to hurt!' Marcus thought.

"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" That's the Yang he knew.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby cockily smiled. She rushed at the Deathstalker, letting out a war cry of sorts and unfolding Crescent Rose.

"Ruby wait!" both Marcus and Yang yelled at her. Ruby fired off Crescent Rose, intent on destroying the Grimm, when it swiped its pincer at her, knocking her back. She turned back to the temple trying to assure them.

"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" she fearfully turned back at the Grimm, firing once at it, the bullet bouncing off its armor, and turning back to head for the group.

"RUBY!" Marcus began to run towards her, with Yang following shortly. He wouldn't let Ruby die. Not like THIS!

Both of them unsheathed their weapons, Yang with her Ember Celica, Marcus with his rifle. Marcus heard a loud screech. The Nevermore from earlier was back. Marcus let out a string of curses so vile, he would have to rinse his mouth with soap in front of his parents when he died. The beast halted, before it fired a flurry of it's feathers at them, catching Ruby's cape and making her land flat on her butt. It continued to fire, stopping Yang from reaching Ruby, but Marcus had experience with this kind of stuff, kicking himself off each feather before reaching Ruby.

"What are you doing?!" she asked him, worried about what would happen to him.

"Saving your skin, Rosebud!" he began to tug on Ruby's cape, hoping that the fabric would at least tear so he could get them away from the area.

"Guys , get out of there!" Yang begged them.

"I'M TRYING!" Marcus screamed, maybe if he just yelled hard enough, he could get them out of there and safely towards Yang? He looked up to find the oversized scorpion lift it's stinger.

"Son of a bitch… I'm sorry Ruby" he grabbed Ruby and pulled her to his chest, hoping that his body would make a good enough shield. He closed his eyes, hoping he wouldn't leave them both with his cold, dead eyes once it pierced him.

*SHWING*

'Nothing? What the hell?' Marcus was wondering. Shouldn't he be dead already? Unless something managed to shield them.

"You too are complete dolts." Aw damn it. It was HER. He released Ruby and turned behind him. He was mere inches 'till death. MERE. INCHES.

"Weiss?" Ruby managed to croak.

"And dimwitted, and hyperactive. And don't even get me started on your fighting style" she turned to him.

"As for you… you shouldn't throw your life away like that, and you should seriously upgrade your arsenal"

"I care more about Ruby and Yang then I EVER will for myself" he blurted out, Weiss's eyes softening up at the sorrowful tone of his voice. She sighed.

"I suppose , that I can be a bit… difficult. But I we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together" she lectured them, leaning towards them. "So if you both quit trying to show off-,"

"Hey!" Marcus interrupted, then Weiss pointed her rapier at him. "Continue."

"I'll be… nicer"

"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this" Ruby retorted. Weiss huffed.

"You both are fine" she walked away casually, leaving both of them at the breaking ice shield. Ruby muttered something about normal knees, Marcus wasn't paying attention, as he was inspecting the barricade, gasping in awe as it struggled to break free.

Yang came running up to them, bearing hugging the two, hearing a small groan escape both of their lips.

"So happy you guys are okay!" Yang exclaimed out of relief. Marcus was glad, in a sense. He still had time to be friends with Ruby and Yang before the Templars got him. Ruby began to walk towards the temple, Marcus about the follow, when Yang pulled him back.

"Hey... I appreciate you trying to save Ruby there, but… don't do crazy shit like that" she whispered, smiling sadly. Marcus grabbed her hand.

"Yang, you still have Ruby, something worth fighting for. I have you two. I value your lives over mine" he responded. "Besides, I'd rather not let her die over an overgrown scorpion" he chuckled, walking away with Yang in pursuit. Everyone had already regrouped at the temple, with Jaune glancing at the Nevermore, still majestically gliding above them.

"Guys, that thing's circling back. What are we going to do" Jaune pointed at the bird. Weiss spoke up confidently.

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying, our objective is right in front of us"

"She's right" Ruby chimed in. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs" Weiss smiled. "There's no point in fighting these things"

"Run and live. That is an idea I can get behind" Jaune pointed his thumb at himself, smiling. Both Ruby and Jaune grabbed a piece, Ruby grabbed the golden knight, Jaune grabbed the golden rook. They smiled at each other, before they were interrupted by a loud growl, and the sound of ice cracking.

"Time we left" Ren said. Ruby nodded.

"Right. Let's go!" she commanded. Waving the group over. As they began to sprint, Marcus noticed that Yang wasn't moving, only smiling at her baby sister. He stopped moving, Blake standing beside her.

"What is it?" Blake asked. Yang proudly watched on as Ruby leapt onto a boulder, looking back and waving her allies on in a typical super hero fashion.

"Nothing"

Line Break

The group had broken through the tree lines, watching as the Nevermore flew overhead and circled around a tower, before perching itself on top of it. Marcus took cover in between Jaune and Pyrrha. The Grimm screeched. Yang sighed.

"Well that's great!" she sarcastically replied. Marcus had looked to the forest, the Deathstalker breaking through.

"Fuck! Run!" Marcus ordered, everyone breaking from their cover to escape the Deathstalker. He heard Ren tell Nora to distract the Nevermore, how she did it, Marcus didn't care, as long as it gave them some time to make it to the tower. Pink explosions dotted the sky as they sprinted for the hills, Blake and Ren distracting the Deathstalker. The beast was gaining on them when Pyrrha turned her weapon into firearm form, shooting at the beast. Ren soon followed suit.

"Go, I'll cover you!" Marcus told the group, getting on his knee, peppering the Grimm with bullets. He eventually remembered his grenade launcher, stuffing a frag round into the barrel, about to fire, when the platform shook. And Marcus felt himself flying.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" he screamed as he felt himself plummeting downwards towards the ground. Time for his last resort. He aimed his wrist at one of the platforms, slowing time down, he fired his rope launcher, it managed to pull him forward a bit before the wire dangled him to the bottom. The mechanism pulled him forward, before he pulled himself up, regrouping with the girls. They began to fire relentlessly at the Nevermore, Marcus joining in with his M4A1. It was hardly damaging it, and it swooped though the tower, causing it to crumble. Marcus managed to free run up the smashed pieces, using his rope launcher every once in a while, before landing on the platform with a roll. Standing near Ruby and Weiss, Weiss spoke up.

"None of this is working!"

Ruby watched as Blake swung herself up the temple and rolled. She turned to see Yang unloading Ember Celica into the Nevermore.

"I have a plan! Cover me!" Ruby ran off, to get the required components for said plan, Marcus assumed. He began to climb one of the few standing pillars, crouching on one knee and firing his grenade launcher. It seemed to do some damage, but nothing serious. When he ran out of frags, he threw his rifle on his back, pulling his M1911s from their holster and firing it.

'Where is Ruby and her plan?!' Marcus internally groaned. He saw Yang firing her gauntlets into its eye, causing it to direct its attention to her. It opened its beak, ready to devour Yang , and she jumped inside. Marcus was about to scream, when he spotted her holding it beak open.

"I! Hope! You're! Hung-ry!" she fired shells into its mouth, weakening it. She backflipped out of its mouth, landing on the platform, while the bird crashed into the mountain. Yang swapped for Weiss who leaped into the air, twirling, before encasing the tail of the Nevermore in ice. She used her glyph to escape back to the platform. Marcus turned to Blake who threw Gambol Shroud in its kusarigama form to Yang, who attached it to her side of the pillar. Ruby used her weapon to launch herself to the makeshift sling shot, Weiss conjuring a glyph to hold Ruby in place.

"Of course you would come up with this idea" Weiss stated.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked. Weiss huffed.

"Hmph. Can I?" she obnoxiously mimicked. Although Ruby didn't get it.

"…Can y-"

"Of course I can!"

Ruby focused on the creature and cocked the bolt on her weapon back. Weiss dissipated her glyph, which released the pressure Ruby's sniper was holding back, shooting her forward and leaving a dent in the towers remains. She kept firing off her rifle, until she managed to trap the Grimm with the scythe blade. Weiss conjured more glyphs, which caused Ruby to follow the path, shooting her gun and running up the cliff. The assassin could just stare in awe as she reached the top and decapitated the Grimm. Its lifeless body fell to the canyon below as Ruby walked towards the edge of the cliff, Rose petals flying everywhere. Yang walked up towards Marcus and Weiss while Blake jumped down from her position.

"Well. That was a thing"

Line Break

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as… Team CRDL. Lead by, Cardin Winchester" Ozpin announced, the crowd clapping on the team as they walked of the stage.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work as… Team JNPR" Ozpin announced, the crowd clapping as Nora hugged Ren. "Lead by… Jaune Arc!"

Jaune seemed confused, while Pyrrha smiled at him. Marcus had to admit, she did have a pretty smile.

"L-Lead by?"

"Congratulations, young man" Ozpin told him as Pyrrha playfully punched his shoulder, Jaune tumbled over, the crowd laughed a bit and Team JNPR stepped off the stage.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as… Team RWBY" Marcus smiled. "Lead by… Ruby Rose." Marcus whooped and clapped with the audience. Two years younger and the leader of a team? Marcus had never been prouder in his life. Yang hugged Ruby and told her she was proud of her. And they-

'Wait, where am I?' Marcus finally realized he hadn't been called upon yet.

"And finally, Marcus Garcia…" he stepped up to the stage, hood and bandana down, but his beanie on. "You have retrieved a rather… interesting piece" Ozpin concluded, leaving everyone to murmur what he meant. "When there is an odd number of students at Beacon, we randomize how the odd person out is placed into a team" he brought up a wheel with the names of all teams on it. "Just spin the wheel, and you will be placed on the team the pointer lands on"

Marcus hesitantly grabbed the wheel, before he spun it, the wheel spinning numerous times before it began to slow and landed on… Team RWBY.

"Congratulations Team RWBY. You will be receiving another teammate" Ozpin declared, Yang throwing her shoulder around Marcus. "Things are shaping up to be an..., interesting year"

'Damn straight' Marcus thought. What did this place have in store for him?

Line Break

The room was pretty simple; Four beds, a desk with a rolling chair, a bookshelf a closet, and a bathroom.

"So! Who's not getting a-" Marcus began, but saw everyone already laying on a matress. "-bed?"

"Sorry Marcus" Ruby sheepishly apologized.

"Its okay, I'll sleep in the chair" Marcus said, throwing his hood up and sitting in the chair, putting his feet on the desk. "Goodnight guys"

"Goodnight" they responded.

He switched off the lights and closed his eyes. He felt drowsy after twenty minutes, and was about to sleep, when he felt a hand smack his thigh. It was Yang.

"Marcus, sleep in my bed" she insisted.

"I can't just take your bed like that Yang" Marcus whispered.

"I know. Sleep IN the bed with me" she smirked at his reaction.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

Marcus sighed and got out of the chair. He followed Yang into the bed and got under the covers. She wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on his chest.

"Goodnight, Marcus"

"Goodnight, Yang"

5:00. AM. That's how long I stayed up finishing this chapter. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter guys!