Sahra woke up the next morning feeling like shit. It was honestly no big surprise, though. With all the people around he hadn't exactly expected to sleep particularly well. His expectations were proven correct when he woke at dawn as if he had never slept at all. Used as he was to sleeping in the desert with fuck all around for miles, this was a little different. Here, there were people everywhere, spread all over the floor. He could almost feel them, feel their presence, and he didn't like it. Small towns he could deal with, as they never really had altogether too many people in one place, but this was just too much for him now.
Sahra got up, readjusting his hat and idly petting Deek with his left hand. Carefully picking his way through the minefield of prospective students laid out the hall, Sahra made to exit. He had no idea where he was going, but he knew that it was probably gonna be better than there. The gardens had looked nice yesterday, so he figured that was as good a place as any to while away the time.
Sahra was simultaneously grateful and regretful over his grand adventure while trying to find the student center. Sure, he now knew where most of the important stuff at Beacon was, but godsdamn did it take forever to get where he was going originally. That was time he could have spent listening to all sorts of music he missed out on in Vacuo, or catching up on the kumiho's rampages, or the movements of the leviathan. Last he had heard, the kumiho was in Mistral, thank the gods. He'd already seen it up close and personal once, and that was one time too many.
Sahra shuddered at the memories and pushed them away. He was at Beacon, now, there was no use dwelling on the past and what could have been, or what should have been. It had happened and there was no changing that: all that was left was to focus on what was happening.
He had successfully wandered his way to the gardens(he was a pro at that), and finding a nice-looking out-of-the-way bench, sat his tired ass down. Sahra was under no illusions as to his ability to sleep now, but he could at least relax a little.
There weren't a great many flowers in the sand wastes of Vacuo. You had the cactus,the cactus, and that was it. Those were pretty much the only things that had the gall to survive out there besides him and Deek. There was a lot of beauty in that, though: Sahra admired the sheer tenacity of the plant, the will to survive when it's very home was against it. The flowers before him couldn't claim the same, but they were pretty nonetheless. The way they grew just fascinated Sahra. The petals, the leaves, even the thorns; each part elegant in that natural way man just couldn't capture.
The creations of humanity were merely pale imitations to Sahra: they couldn't hold a candle to the original, the progenitor of all things. Even his own semblance was really just a thin shadow, no matter how close he tried to get. It was all in the details, the small things that you couldn't spot even with a hundred years of watching. That was what gave nature it's life, it's spark; that was what Sahra strove to capture in his experimentation.
Caught up in a whim for a moment, Sahra leaned forward, and placing his hands on the ground, breathed deeply and relaxed. He stilled, his breathing slowing and mind clearing. Focus.
Imagine.
Refine.
Create.
A flower sprung into life before him. He stared critically at it for a moment before dismissing it. It looked like his focus had broken for a moment, because while it was a rose, it was like no rose before him. Oh, sure, it had the thorns and the hardy stem, the proper petals, but the petals were all different colors, splotchy with reds and whites and yellows.
Sahra settled back onto his haunches. He may not have liked it, but it was there, and as such it deserved life just the same as all the other flowers. He could never take back his little creations, no matter how much he may have hated most of them. He wasn't really sure whether it was some sort of misplaced sense of responsibility or something else, but he could never bring himself to destroy what he had made. Not now.
Sahra checked his scroll, curious as to how much time he had spent on that little piece. The sun's position had shifted, now, so he figured it was probably a little before nine-and yep, there it was. 8:50. Breakfast was probably being served back at the cafeteria.
Whatever test Beacon was going to use to pare down it's hopefuls was probably going to be soon, so he should get some food. Wouldn't do to go in on an empty stomach, no matter what it was going to be.
Sahra stood from his still-crouched position and turned towards the cafeteria. Knowing where it was made the trip that much easier.
Turning a corner Sahra was too late to react as he bumped into someone. They held, though.
"'Scuse me," he said to the armored redhead and continued on his way.
He didn't really understand the thought behind armor as a huntsman, but hey, to each their own. Speed was essential in combat, and with aura, you could tank a good few hits before you really needed to be careful. The way she held after being hit made him think she could make it work, though, so whatever.
There were more kids out and about now and Sahra took that as a sign that his estimates had been right. Some looked half asleep and Sahra mentally pegged them as homeward bound. He knew that the academies did things in teams of four, and he definitely didn't want to get stuck on a team with some layabout. Others might get stuck on a team with him, but that was gonna be their problem, not his. Most things tended to be other people's problems, unless one of two things happened: they paid him, or they decided to make it his problem, too. Course, if the latter happened, they would really only have one big problem after that: him. If they decided to push the envelope, he would push back harder and faster than they could react. People usually dropped whatever grievances they had after watching their buddy get disemboweled with an 18 inch kukri.
Deek pecked his head.
"Fuck! I get it, we're here!" Sahra exclaimed, flinching away from his partner.
Breakfast was usually pretty simple for him: whatever he could carry into the wastes was what he would eat. Here, though, there were so many options he really didn't know what to choose. Deciding to just keep it simple, he went for some eggs and toast. Protein and carbohydrates. Should be enough for whatever test the school was going to throw their way.
Making eye contact with blacky bow-girl, he waved and was promptly ignored. Rude. Sahra ate, tossing Deek some jerky. Usually his partner would hunt at night while he slept, but that wasn't exactly an option when they were locked into a hall. Not much hunting to be had there.
Then a bell rang and that same woman from the airship told all the prospective students to meet at the cliffs to the north. Sahra was done anyway, so he bussed his plate and left. The cliffs...he hadn't been there on his quest for the student center, but given a direction it was pretty much impossible to screw up.
Idly dropping his hands to Comedy and Tragedy just to reassure himself they were still there, Sahra was in a sort of detached, anticipatory state. He didn't know what was at the cliffs other than a big ol' drop, and that didn't bode well for any sort of test. He had the aura to sustain a drop like that, sure, but the impact would still rattle his bones just as surely as the sun would set.
A voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Hey, uh, do you know which way is north?"
"No idea," he replied promptly. In Sahra's opinion, anyone who couldn't tell which way was north didn't even deserve to be grimm bait.
"Oh... well, thanks anyways," was the idiot's response.
Sahra continued north, leaving the moron in the dust with long strides. Soon enough he was at the cliffs, staring into the deep forest below. He'd never seen so much green in his life. There was a sea of rippling emerald below him, stretching out as far as he could see in every direction that wasn't where he came from. There, at the edges, he could just barely spot hints of red creeping in.
All the students seemed to be standing in little circles, so he decided he would too. Claiming a spot next to the armored redhead from earlier(wow, her hair was really red) Sahra checked the chamber on his rifle. Slinging it back over his shoulder he tightened the straps on his bag in preparation for a drop that was looking increasingly likely.
"Think you can slow me on this one, buddy?" he muttered to Deek, who lifted his wings just a bit and shook himself down. "Good. Aura'll take the rest."
There were a whole lot more people, now, and it looked like whatever was going on was gonna start soon. The guy from the stage and the airship-lady were both there, meaning Sahra was definitely gonna get talked at some more. He just wished they'd let him take off already and go do whatever it was they wanted him to do instead of stand there and wait. Since coming to Vale, Sahra could comfortably say that he had done more waiting there than he ever had in Vacuo.
Grey stage guy was talking now and Sahra automatically filtered for important bits. Don't hesitate...collect relic...north...landing strategy...yeah, it was pretty much in line with his expectations. Go here, get this, don't die. Pretty simple. With the amount of people here, though, he figured the collect relic part was where most of the paring down came from. There would likely be a limited number of items, so speed was essential. Thankfully that was something Sahra specialized in.
The real problem came in when he considered where the relic could be. It was a large forest, and grey stage guy hadn't exactly specified where or even what the relics would be besides 'north'.
Then there was a grinding beneath his feet. Landing strategy… "Oh, motherfu-"
Wind tore the word from his mouth as he was launched out above the forest next to the redhead. Looking out as he angled his body and held onto his hat, Sahra noted what appeared to be a manmade structure deep within the forest to the north. The trees were getting a whole lot closer now, and Deek had latched onto the straps of his pack and was doing his level best to slow Sahra down. It was working, too, the flaps of Deek's wings powered by his aura-enhanced strength.
By the time Sahra passed the tops of the trees he had slowed a good deal from his initial velocity, although not enough to prevent him from feeling the impact as he rolled into the forest floor. Springing into a ready position with both Comedy and Tragedy drawn and Deek circling overhead, Sahra scanned his surroundings immediately. Nothing but forest. This is boutta be real boring.
Sahra holstered his paired revolvers and drew his rifle instead, trusting it not to jam this time. Holding it in a lowered ready position, he glanced at his partner. "Alright Deek, you know the drill. Standard scout, check back every two minutes."
Settling into an easy lope as his partner flew ahead, Sahra began making his way through the forest in the direction of the structure he had seen earlier. His eyes and ears were open, monitoring for any sign of grimm or other such unsavories, ready to put a bullet between the eyes of whatever happened to attack. Deek may have been clearing the path ahead but that was no reason to get complacent.
Hence his surprise when the redhead from the cliff popped out of the brush off to his right and called out to him.
"Hey! Looks like we're partners," she said with a smile.
"Partners?" Sahra asked, confused. "What?"
Now she wasn't smiling so much, although she hadn't lost any of her polite demeanor. "Like the headmaster said?"
"Aaahh. I see. Partners," Sahra nodded, realizing that he most definitely missed some crucial information there. "Odd way of determining it."
"Yeah. It did seem a little strange."
"Anyway, speed is of the essence here, so we should probably get going, armor girl. I'm Sahra," he said, already walking ahead.
"Pyrrha," the redhead replied. A questioning tone entered her voice. "Armor girl?"
Sahra shrugged. "Nicknames, armor girl, works for people I don't know."
That last bit caused her to brighten, although he wasn't really sure why. People usually weren't exactly pleased with the nicknames he gave them.
Seeing Pyrrha was keeping pace with him even as he sped up to his usual pace, he looked over to her. "Know any combat meditation or aura suppression?"
The question must have struck her as odd, since she looked a bit confused for a moment. Her reply was satisfying, though. "A bit...though I'm not sure why you ask."
"Good. We'll attract less grimm that way. Get to that structure up north faster."
"Ah."
He'd only known his new partner for all of a minute and she was already far more than he had ever expected to be. Not only could she keep pace with his frankly demanding pace in spite of the height difference, she could speak somewhat comfortably while doing so, and she knew at least some of an incredibly useful skill. Furthermore, she hadn't questioned the direction they were running, and Sahra didn't believe this girl could be that much of a follower. He had been half expecting to be saddled with some incompetent idiot who didn't even know what aura was, or some arrogant ass who thought they knew it all. So far she had proved herself to be neither.
Deek touched back just then, catching his new partner's attention. "What's your bird's name?"
"Deek. My oldest friend," he replied. "Real pal."
"What kind of bird is he?"
"Steppe eagle."
"Do they typically get that big?" Pyrrha asked with a hint of wonder.
"Usually they fall between 24 to 35 inches long."
"Does he have his aura unlocked?" she followed up.
"Yep."
Silence fell again and the duo kept running. Deek would check back every two minutes and Sahra kept his rifle at the ready, finger on the trigger. Pyrrha was the same, her javelin ready to be thrown at any time.
Five minutes passed.
Fifteen.
Twenty minutes.
A half hour had gone by of steady running at somewhere near a six minute mile pace and neither Sahra nor Pyrrha showed any signs of flagging. Sahra was more than used to this kind of movement, and the fact that Pyrrha had kept up with him for this long was heartening. The pace was getting to her, as it was to him, but her movements were still easy and textbook. Forefoot first, heels coming up, arms moving but never over her center line, relaxed shoulders, it was all there.
Then Deek gave a cry up ahead and Sahra immediately slowed, telling Pyrrha to do the same. "Deek's got something. Likely grimm."
Pyrrha just responded by shifting her shield to the front of her body and readying her javelin. Both made their way slowly towards where Deek had called even as the eagle came back from above. The newly made partners were splitting off from each other, circling around the spot Deek indicated. Parting brush, Sahra laid eyes on a pack of beowolves. Spotting Pyrrha on the other side of the pack, he indicated the alpha as his target. She nodded and held up three fingers.
Three.
Two.
One.
Sahra pulled the trigger on his rifle-which did not jam this time-and sent a 12.7x55 round straight at the alpha's head. It impacted on the frontal bone plate, cracking it. Working the lever in the instant after firing, Sahra pulled the trigger again, adjusting for the alpha's movements. The second round impacted slightly to the left of the first, sending another crack splintering through the bone mask. Pyrrha had not been idle on the other side of the pack, and was already finishing off a second beowolf with her rifle(mechashifting weaponry...eugh).
The alpha had a lock on Sahra now, and the other beowolves were headed his direction. Ignoring the looming danger that wouldn't arrive for another couple seconds, Sahra fired off three more shots in quick succession directly into the alpha's face. The cracks became holes as the first round impacted, and the second two passed straight into the alpha's skull.
The charging beowolves lost most of their cohesion in that moment, but they were still charging beowolves, so Sahra tossed his rifle to the ground and drew Comedy and Tragedy. Dodging under the swipe of the closest one he fired a round from Comedy up through it's chin and into it's head. Pyrrha was still firing, drawing attention from the rear of the charging pack, and she now had four kills to her name.
Without the alpha the threat was mostly lost. Sahra bent backwards to avoid another swing to his torso, retaliating with a shot from Tragedy that left a hole in the center of the grimm. Swinging his aim to the right and hopping backwards to create some distance he fired Comedy into the last beowolf's head. A neat hole appeared.
Sweeping the area with his revolvers Sahra ensured there wasn't any grimm sneaking up on him. He still had no idea how a deathstalker managed to move that quietly, and he sure wasn't going to forget any time soon.
"Those are some large caliber rounds," Pyrrha remarked.
"12.7x55mm on the rifle and .450 Marlin on these," Sahra replied, holding Comedy and Tragedy out for her to see. "Bigger really is better."
She snickered and Sahra reclaimed his rifle, working the lever one last time to eject the spent cartridge before reloading all 5+1 rounds. He gathered the spent cartridges and tossed them into his pack before repeating the process with his revolvers.
"You reload?" his new partner asked curiously.
"Waste not, want not," Sahra quoted in response. It was just one of those things he picked up in Vacuo: supplies weren't always a guarantee, and neither was his having enough money to buy what he needed, so he took to saving where he could. "Time to get stompin' again."
They returned to running, Deek heading out before them. So far those were the only grimm they had encountered, and that was just the way Sahra liked it. In a perfect world they would just be able to continue straight to the structures he had seen, but this was far from a perfect world. Sahra expected one or two more encounters at the least, judging by the fact that it would likely take them another forty five minutes to reach the structure.
More running. Joy.
Roughly thirty minutes later they had not reached the structure, but they were oh-so-tantalizingly close. Sahra could feel it.
Unfortunately, Deek had stumbled upon something he knew was inevitable in an environment like this. There, outside the entrance of a cave, were two bodies. Sahra sighed as he spotted them and adopted his best 'talking to scared civilians' voice. "Hey, Pyrrha, no matter what, I need you to stay calm, okay?"
"...okay?"
Sahra entered the small clearing before the cave cautiously, rifle directed at the opening. Momentarily looking over his shoulder, he spotted Pyrrha with an expression of shock on her rapidly paling face as she caught sight of the bodies. "Head in the game, partner, whatever did this could still be around," he warned.
Her reaction was justified, though there was no time to deal with that. The bodies were properly savaged: one was split neatly in two along the waist, and the other had multiple stab wounds in her clothing. Not seeing an easy way to inspect the wounds without cutting through the clothes blocking them,, Sahra looked back to Pyrrha once more. "Watch the cave for me. I need to check these wounds."
Pyrrha nodded jerkily, still in shock at the admittedly gruesome scene. Sahra'd seen worse, though, and in some cases he'd done worse. Still unpleasant, but he was thankful in this instance that he had the experience he did and was the one to run across the bodies. That was what kept him from freezing up just like Pyrrha, and that was what would keep them prepared for when whatever did this came knocking. Sahra could tell there were all sorts of negative emotions running through Pyrrha right now, and combined with the fact that her aura discipline had likely dropped, it was a surety that the grimm would come round soon enough. He had to give her a little credit, though, she hadn't hurled yet, and she was responding to his calls.
Sahra would hazard a guess that there weren't very many students that would recover so quickly.
Slinging his rifle back over his shoulder and facing the cave Sahra drew his knife and steeled himself for an unpleasant task. He flipped the body with the stab wounds over, crouching and gathering cloth adjacent to a large bloodstain on her stomach. He cut the cloth, peeling it back. Now given a clear view onto the area surrounding the stab wound, Sahra could confidently say that this was a deathstalker. The stab wounds, the black, necrotic tissue surrounding them, and the poor bastard that was severed in two all pointed to the big scorpion grimm. Deathstalkers were known for their poison, but their pincers were just as formidable in close range.
Looking back up from the body to Pyrrha, he informed her of such with a single word. "Deathstalker."
Pyrrha just tightened her grip on her rifle in response.
Sahra sheathed his knife and drew his rifle once more. "We've got two options here, partner. We can leave, head for the structure, or we can head into the cave and kill this thing. I'm not going to lie to you, we'll be playing into it's hand and with what you're no doubt feeling right now it'll know we're coming from a mile away," he paused, letting her consider what he had said. "So. What's it gonna be?"
Pyrrha didn't respond immediately, but when she did, it was not one of the two options he had given. "How-how are you so...calm about this?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.
"'M from the sand wastes out in Vacuo, partner. This kind of shit ain't even half as bad as what happens out there," he replied, mind recalling unwanted images of a massive nine tailed grimm, burning, the roar of the fires and the screams and the smell-
Pyrrha seemed to regain herself, then, and he could see some confidence seep back into her. Sahra didn't delude himself into thinking it was because of his words, but at least she was slowly coming back.
"Leave, or stay and fight," he repeated. Sahra was honestly fine with just leaving and making for his original goal. It wasn't his job to avenge the dead, and nor did he care overmuch for any idiot that couldn't read the signs should they stumble across the scene. Given the nature of the test there were very likely limited relics to collect, and Sahra would be somewhat disappointed to have come all this way for nothing.
Unfortunately, it seemed as though his partner was of the opposite opinion on the deathstalker. "We-. We need to kill this thing," she decided. "This can't happen again."
Sahra was less than fine with that, but he'd handled deathstalkers before back in Vacuo. They were pretty common there, hiding under the sand and waiting for you to walk by. Admittedly, most of those times he'd just slaughtered them with his semblance, but he figured enough 12.7x55mm rounds would do the same. Ideally he'd get to use his semblance on the thing, but he rather preferred it stay as secret as possible. If it came down to it, though, he'd rather do a little explaining than fail to collect a relic. Should the fight go wrong, or look to take too much time given conventional means, Sahra would just spear the damn thing and be done.
"Then unto the breach we go," he replied. Grabbing a few sticks from the edge of the forest and wrapping the cloth he cut from the dead girl's shirt around one, he rummaged around for his firestarter in his pack. Firestarter found and one torch lit later, he looked up to where Deek was circling and shouted, "Stay out here!"
Deek chirped in response and Sahra motioned to Pyrrha to start moving. They took the cave slowly, rifles raised and eyes peeled for red dots in the darkness. The cave was long, it seemed, and eventually the pathway became wider and wider. They could no longer see the walls, now, the torch incapable of providing a powerful enough light to penetrate the darkness. They stuck close together, breaths and shuffling footsteps all that were audible to each other. The initial torch was getting uncomfortably low and Sahra momentarily holstered his rifle to light another with the remaining flame.
It was just as he was putting the two together that a small wind blew through the cave, extinguishing what remained of his initial torch's fire. Immediately dropping the two sticks and drawing his rifle again, he whispered to Pyrrha, "Get behind me. Hand on my shoulder, cover the right."
She did as he said and they were soon stacked up and listening intently into the complete darkness. There was nothing as the seconds ticked by. A minute passed with still silence.
Then a soft scrape off to his left and Sahra swiveled, peering in that direction, hoping beyond hope to catch a glimpse of red through the black. There was yet nothing, though, and Sahra was beginning to wonder what kind of games the grimm thought it was playing. Sudden gusts in caves didn't exist, even an idiot would-
Then Sahra was jumping back and Pyrrha was right with him as out of the gloom a glowing golden light hurtled at them. The tail struck, pulverizing the cave floor, and Sahra fired off two shots at random as he leapt backwards. No dice, though, so it was time to run. No way was he gonna stay in such a disadvantageous position. On the same wavelength, both him and his partner launched themselves into a dead sprint towards the cave exit, spurred onwards by the scuttling sounding out behind them.
There was light at the end of the tunnel(heh) and Sahra reloaded the two shots he had fired. The cave tunnel was narrowing back down and the deathstalker was bumping up against outcroppings of rock from the walls, slowing it. It sounded angry, if the screeches it was giving off were any indicator.
Sahra and his partner exploded from the cave, whirling with rifles at the ready. Both held when the grimm didn't immediately follow them, or even come a few seconds later, and were rewarded when the deathstalker came out a full ten seconds after them with pincers at the ready. Now fully in the light, Sahra pegged it as an elder grimm, easily B class, and in that instant, what had been a somewhat annoying fight without his semblance became something that was going to take far too long without it. Sahra quickly weighed his options: maybe something they had could do enough damage to take it down, but that was a big maybe. Even if they did it was likely it would take them hours to do so, and there might not be any relics left if they took the time to attack conventionally. So that left his semblance.
Shit. Wish there was a better way to do this.
"Pyrrha, I'm going to need you to trust me here," Sahra shouted over the sound of her rifle firing.
Ignoring her confused and startled query at his holstering his rifle in the face of a charging elder grimm, Sahra slapped his hands to the ground and watched as thick wooden pillars sprouted from the ground and ensnared the deathstalker, wrapping around it and pinning it's tail to its body. Sahra breathed out and the pillars began to constrict, limiting the frenzied motions of the grimm. Sahra breathed in and the deathstalker's armor cracked, the frenzied motions reaching a fever pitch as screeching cries joined in. Then with a final, massive crunch, the deathstalker was mangled under the constricting force. Sahra breathed out, heavily this time, and stood.
Pyrrha was looking at him with shock plainly written over her face. "You...you…"
"Yeah. That was me," he replied, voice flat. "What I need to know is, can you keep that a secret?"
"...why?"
Voice still flat, he said, "Because if anyone finds out about that, I'm gonna have a dozen different groups gunning for me. Hell, they're already doing it, it's just that they don't know it's me they're looking for. Atlas would have a field day if they knew my name, the Fang would be all over me like white on rice, and the Tongues would be howling for my blood even more than they already are. Part of why I'm here is that Beacon gives me a modicum of control over what happens after. So you understand if I'd like to keep my semblance a secret."
Clearly considering it for a moment, Pyrrha reached a conclusion and drew a deep breath. "...okay."
"Good. Now let's get going. Still on a time limit here."
Pyrrha still clearly had a million questions to ask, but she was also clearly reluctant to ask them. It could have been that she was reconciling the two images she had of him in her head, or it could have been that she had understood his desire to finish the test. In the end, the result was no different in the moment, and so Sahra didn't particularly care which it was. All he cared about at that point was getting a relic and getting back to Beacon.
They had made the final stretch to the structures in silence. Pyrrha still looked a little shocked, but Sahra wasn't sure if that was over the use of his semblance or the bodies she'd seen. Judging by her reaction that had probably been her first time seeing something so gruesome, so Sahra resolved to check in with her later on how she was doing. He knew better than most that the shit you saw stayed with you no matter what you did.
They were at the structure, though, so those were thoughts for after they had passed this little test. It appeared that they were the first to make it, as atop a pillar was a complete chess set Sahra assumed to be the relics the headmaster had mentioned.
Walking over to it, he glanced at Pyrrha. "Grab one, yeah?"
She nodded and picked one of the white rooks.
"Back to Beacon, then," Sahra said. Figuring he should address her no doubt countless questions, he added, "We'll talk then."
That seemed to placate her, as he could see her relax just a little bit. He wasn't exactly looking forward to the conversation, but he knew it had to be done. From what he knew these partnerships lasted the whole four years huntsmen were at these schools, and he would much rather answer crucial questions now rather than have them come up at inopportune times.
He also wasn't looking forward to the one hour run back to the cliff. It had been a slog getting out here, and it would be a slog getting back. Sahra had to look on the bright side, though: at least he wasn't walking through the sand wastes of Vacuo, where the sun was filled with hatred for all that dared to pass under it's malevolent gaze.
Time was a-wastin', though, so he jerked his head back in the direction they came and got a move on. With the grace of the gods the duo would run into as few grimm as possible. Sahra was at least a little surprised they hadn't run into anyone else out there. The cliffs had been full of prospective students, numbering somewhere in the hundreds. Given the chess set, there was only room for 16 total teams in the incoming class. That wasn't a lot, and the small number was worrying to Sahra. They were supposed to be training to be the protectors of the world in a world that was actively hostile to their very presence. Such limited numbers meant nothing against grimm like the leviathan and the kumiho.
Beacon was supposed to be the best of the best, and perhaps that was the reason behind the worryingly low number, but even so that was disconcerting. They were supposed to be humanity's best and brightest, or at least were supposed to become so, but there were hardly enough of them to drive off the city-killers more than a handful of times before the casualties got to be too much. Sahra supposed that was probably why the focus in those fights was mainly on civilian evacuation.
Momentarily observing his partner, Sahra centered his thoughts on her. So far she had shown remarkable mental resilience in working past the deathstalker's messy kills, and that was a good trait to have. Her shooting had seemed sharp, too, and her running was pretty much perfect. He hadn't seen her martial skills yet, but he was willing to say that those were probably just as good as every other aspect of her.
He didn't quite have a measure of her character yet, but that was to be expected when they'd only known each other for approximately three hours. Considering everything that had occurred in that timespan, it came as no surprise that Sahra couldn't pin her personality or beliefs down.
He did have a whole four years with her ahead of him, though, so he wasn't too concerned. There was ample time to get to know Pyrrha as a person.
Before that, though, they had to return to Beacon, and so far it was just as boring as the journey pre-deathstalker had been. Endless forest to run through and no words shared. The only difference from his journeying around Vacuo was the fact that there was another person with him, but since the last words they'd shared had been roughly five miles and 35 minutes ago, even that wasn't that big of a change. Even with the boredom Sahra wasn't one to foster conversation, though. The only person he could talk to while between towns in Vacuo was Deek, so his interpersonal skills beyond basic communication were somewhat lacking.
So all there was to it was the steady left-right left-right cadence they had going. Eyes forward and weapons hot was the way they ran, ready for trouble. Deek hadn't spotted anything yet and his regular checks had continued, so as the minutes dragged on, Sahra refocused on maintaining his aura suppression. He wasn't feeling much of anything so calming his emotions wasn't necessary.
Blessedly they had finally made it back to the cliff, only having encountered a couple ursai and one more pack of beowolves along the way. The grimm had been pushovers, though, and they were taken care of efficiently. All that was left was to cross the bridge and make their way back up the cliff face on the conveniently placed path.
It was a short journey back up the cliff with a couple near misses due to falling rocks later that Pyrrha handed their relic to the headmaster.
Sahra stepped up to the man. "Ran into a couple of bodies out there. Elder deathstalker got to them, maybe B class. Took care of it. Site was about an hour straight north from here."
"Thank you, Mr. Naid. We will recover the remains," the headmaster replied succinctly, just as Sahra liked it.
The test was complete, the duo were the first to arrive, and Sahra was hungry, tired, and honestly not thrilled about the conversation he was about to have with his partner. Deek landed on his shoulder and they made their way to the auditorium to wait for all the other students.
Finding seats in an empty auditorium wasn't hard. The difficult part was waiting for Pyrrha to ask her first question.
"So you really stopped the kumiho?" was her first question.
Sahra sighed. Of course she'd go for the big ticket question straight out of the gate. It was the important one, after all. That was part of why he had chosen the life he lived: no one asked questions, so long as the job got done. Most people didn't much care how the job was completed so long as it had minimal immediate consequences, which Sahra very much appreciated. Furthermore, most everything took place in a secluded area, and Sahra always did what he was hired to. Before Pyrrha, the only people that had witnessed his semblance in action were dead or had no idea it was him.
"Yes, I really stopped the fox," Sahra replied, stressing the same word as she had. Unsaid was the fact that it had damn near completely depleted his aura to just restrain the thing at the time.
"You may well have the most powerful semblance in decades, if not centuries," Pyrrha said slowly with a thoughtful look. "And yet here you are, among the rest of us. Did you know there's been all sorts of speculation on who you are and what you look like?"
"I can imagine, partner. People are curious by nature and my stunt in Buhriz may well have been the biggest flare in the world."
"Reading those was always intriguing: the stories that people came up with at the time were fantastical, but for all anyone knew they could have been true."
"Are you going somewhere with this, or…?"
"Shush. Anyways, imagine my surprise when you turned out to be my partner. Initially I was simply excited because you had no idea who I was, but then you proved to be competent as well," Pyrrha said. She bit her lip. "The fact that you haven't grown up with my name and reputation are incredibly important to me, Sahra. Trust me when I say that I can keep your secret. I understand what it's like to be in the limelight, and with a semblance like that you would endure far more than I have."
"...alright, Pyrrha. I'm not real sure how this turned from you asking questions to you explaining why you can keep my secret, but I appreciate the support there. It would be a real pain to deal with all the interested parties. So, thanks, I suppose. Also, beyond the fact that you're clearly well known, I have no idea who you are or what you've done. So, uh, mind explainin' why exactly you're so famous?"
Pyrrha sighed. "I won a tournament four times in a row. People took to calling me the 'Invincible Girl' on account of the fact that I seemed untouchable, my reputation grew, and now I can hardly walk around without being asked for a photo or autograph."
Sahra considered that for a moment. Sounded like his partner was a real BAMF. "Huh. You must be somethin' to win a tournament four times in a row."
"You could say that."
"Y'know, I wouldn't mind seeing how I stack up against you sometime. See how trainin' in the wilds matches up to the city and all that."
"I think I'd like that as well, Sahra," Pyrrha replied with a smile. "You shot faster than some automatics I've seen, and with such a large round no less."
"Just a few thousand hours of practice, partner. Maybe a couple of life or death situations too."
"Still, that was fairly impressive."
"Probably on account of my eyes and all that. Eagle faunus, you know."
Pyrrha's response was lost amidst the headmaster speaking up from on stage. Sahra once more listened for maybe half a minute before filtering for the important bits. Teams...ceremony...yeah, that was it. Team naming ceremony, and given the amount of students in the hall, he imagined it might take a bit of time to get through everyone. Resolving to ignore everything until he heard his name, Sahra glanced around the auditorium. Little red had paired with lily white, bar-blondie had paired with bow girl, and the rest Sahra had no particular interest in. It wasn't even that he cared much about those partnerships specifically, either. It was just that they had previously caught his eye with reasons that varied from explosions to hunger.
He didn't see the idiot blond from earlier, which was probably a good thing. Idiot was liable to get someone else killed wandering around like he was. Sahra was surprised Beacon had even let him in. Either standards had fallen or there was something seriously fucky with the administrative system.
Everyone else seemed to be fine, though. A few low auras, some bruises and scrapes here and there, but for the most part the test looked like it had passed pretty uneventfully. Uneventfully for everyone else, maybe. Not for them, though. They'd even made it in first. Wonder if we're gonna get some special recognition for that. He hoped not. The less attention the better, and that wasn't just his paranoia speaking. It was his minimal desire to interact with other people, too. Having a team was already going to be pretty tough to deal with. Sahra wasn't entirely certain how he would deal with all the other students.
"Pyrrha Nikos, Sahra Naid, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren." Ah. There was his name. The other two he didn't recognize, but that wasn't exactly anything new. Time to make his way to the stage.
"You four retrieved the white rook, and as such form Team NNNL-" Team Null, though? Really?
"-Led by Pyrrha Nikos." That was a real relief to hear. Sahra wanted absolutely no part in dealing with the fiasco of leadership and all that it entailed.
The four made their way off the stage. Sahra was still tired and hungry and now that they were finally allowed to leave food was looking likely.
"So, partner. I don't know about you, but I worked up a bit of an appetite in that forest. I figure we should maybe get somethin' to eat before anythin' else."
"I could use something to eat as well, Sahra. To the cafeteria?" Pyrrha asked of the other two team members. They both affirmed the plan, though Sahra didn't much like the rabid enthusiasm the Valkyrie girl had when mentioning pancakes. The Ren guy seemed to have it mostly under control, though, so that wasn't Sahra's problem to worry about.
Dinner was quick, but still packed with odd happenings. As it turned out, Sahra's initial assessment was correct: Nora wasn't Sahra's problem to deal with. Ren absolutely had it under control, dealing with the overexcitable Valkyrie with what looked to be years of practice. He was a dab hand at reining her in and preventing immeasurable property damage through odd schemes Sahra still wasn't sure how the girl had come up with. The boy had clearly known her for a rather extensive period of time to be able to predict and thwart her plots in such a manner.
Another thing he wasn't sure about was how he was going to survive Valkyrie. He saluted Ren's efforts in controlling her, was grateful that someone was doing it, but even then the girl was still simply too much for Sahra to handle. Going from little interaction to Valkyrie was quite the leap. So far it seemed she was going to be the biggest problem among the team and he didn't envy her partner or Pyrrha.
Still, though, he was going to have to get used to living with her. As it turned out each team was expected to live in the same room with each other for the next four years. That was just another thing Sahra would have to get used to. When wandering the desert he had usually just erected a little shelter with his semblance. He had occasionally stayed in towns, but never for long. An aura signature like his, staying put? That was just begging for trouble that he had no desire to bring down on any town out there, especially since there were so few.
His partner's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "We should head to the lockers to store our weapons."
Sahra made a face. "You're tellin' me I've gotta stow my gear?"
Pyrrha shrugged. "It's the rules. We're not supposed to have them out except in combat class or when sparring or training. Likely to cut back on the amount of fights."
Sahra rolled his eyes. Cut back on the amount of fights? This is an academy for fighting.
"Fine. How do I even know which one's mine, anyways?"
Pyrrha quirked a brow. "There should be a message on your scroll."
Sahra pulled his out. "And where exactly would that be?"
"You've never used a scroll before?" Pyrrha asked, shocked.
"Nope. Never had a need out in Vacuo."
"Well, here. Tap on this icon and it should be there, addressed from Beacon Academy Messaging System."
Sahra tapped and it was indeed there. Locker number 636 was his, code 32-08-10. "Thanks, partner."
It was, just like most things at this ridiculous school, difficult to find. Locker numbers seemed to bounce back and forth between rows, confusing the hell out of Sahra. He had no clue why they couldn't have just made them progress normally. When he did find it, though, it was easy enough to open and store his gear in the provided space. A rack for his lever-action, some pegs for Comedy and Tragedy, and shelves for assorted ammo, utilities, and his holsters.
Now bereft of almost everything he owned except his knife(no way was he going completely defenseless), Sahra walked back out of the locker room. It wasn't a long wait before the team was together again and headed for their dorm. This time, though, there were directions provided, and it was only five minutes before they had arrived at their home for the next four years.
Sahra surveyed the room. It was larger than anything he'd stayed in before, that was for sure. Beds up against the far wall underneath the window, a larger common space just as you entered, and a bathroom off to the right.
"Before we go to bed, why don't we do some introductions? I know the headmaster already said our names, but I think it would be good if we introduced ourselves how we wish to be called." Pyrrha addressed the team. "I'm Pyrrha Nikos, as you know. Please, call me Pyrrha."
"I'm Nora, and this is Renny-"
"-Lie Ren. Thank you, Nora. I prefer to be called Ren."
"Sahra, and this here's Deek," Sahra finished, glancing up at his friend.
"Can Deek lift people? I've always wanted to fly," Nora asked with inquisitive eyes.
"Dependin' on the weight, yeah. Flyin' with someone like me is more like graceful fallin', but with someone like you he oughta be able to do a bit more. It's really up to him if he wants to take ya, though."
Nora pumped her fist and looked to Ren.
"Only if Deek allows it, Nora," he replied. "And don't go too high."
"He might take a bit to warm up to new folks, though, so don't expect anythin' anytime soon," Sahra warned.
"Well, now that we're at least a little familiar with each other, why don't we get to choosing beds? Any preferences?" Pyrrha interjected.
"Renny and I will take those two," Nora declared while pointing at the pair on the left of the window.
"Sahra?" his partner inquired.
"Shoot, I guess I'll take that one, then," picking the one on the far right at random.
"And what about Deek?"
"I'll just open the window and let him out at night. He'll do fine on his own."
"Okay. Now that arrangements are done, classes start at nine tomorrow. I'll set my alarm for, say, 7:30? Will that be enough time for everyone to get ready?" Pyrrha asked, receiving a chorus of yeahs in response. "Then I think it's time we get to bed."