The only thing Rex could think about was that the airship was a bit unnecessary. He understood that first impressions made or broke the young hunters loyalty, but this was overkill in conjunction with Beacon itself. He had already seen the prestigious academy when Ozpin had recruited him. He, with the Headmaster's grace, had explored, mapped, and memorized every nook and cranny of the large fortress. He had even seen the pitiful state of the fall maiden. That brought him to his actual job here. He was to defend the school by any means necessary, while taking on the occasional extra task from the teachers. They all knew of his employment. In a way that made his job easier, as he could be frank with them. Within the school day he was to be and act as a student, when the school day ends he was expected to attend teacher meetings. For the simple man the daunting task of balancing school life and work with being a mercenary and teacher would be too much, but he was no simple man. Speaking of mercenary, that leads to his pay. While it was not what Rex had expected, Ozpin's words were true about it paying good. He would get free combat training and schooling(which was unnecessary) and tutoring with any new powers his strange semblance would turn up. When he asked Ozpin what he would get if he didn't need help with his semblance, as he had already unlocked its secrets, the headmaster merely shook his head and refused to discuss the subject further. Actually, this might've not been a worthwhile deal for Rex...Well, he did get an excellent excuse to beat people up for four years. Scratch that, it was a great idea. Rex looked down at himself. He had placed his cloak in the room he and his team would stay in, so he just had his undersuit and glasses. He wore a gray jumpsuit fitted with extra Kevlar and pockets, making him look more like a soldier then a student. Though, when he looked around, he wouldn't look that out of place with all the hunters. He may be colorless, but that in itself was unique. Uniqueness was what the hunters coveted after all. Although his lack of cloak made him feel a bit naked, it showed off his wrist blades and a new scabbard strapped to his side. He didn't know why he had felt the need to carry an empty sheath, but it was like something was screaming at him to do it. Perhaps his brain thought it would be useful when he found a sword, because they're such a common weapon used by the Grimm and criminals of Remnant. The more probable answer was that he was just losing his mind. Regardless, he had a sheath. Come to think about it, where did he get it? He was certain he didn't buy it. He also didn't remember getting it from a job, payment or looting. It was just kind of there this morning.

"Hey." Rex closed his eyes and turned inwards. He was hearing voices now? "Hey." There it was again. What is going on? First a magically appearing scabbard, now voices? "Hey!" His eyes shot open and his head snapped to the left and towards the voice. It was a girl. Long brown hair that fell to her shoulders, blue eyes, about as pale as him with a small amount of tan. She wore something similar to his own "uniform" as he called it, but much more colorful. Stripes of red and white ran through it with a gold base and purple accents. What should have been a mess of colors actually blended into something very nice. Her voice was reminded him of the blonde in junior's club a few weeks ago.

"Hello, May I help you?" Rex adjusted his glasses.

"Actually, I was going to see if I could help you. It looked like you were losing your mind over here."

"Oh. I thank you, but I'm fine." She didn't look convinced.

"You sure? Cause I just saw that same look on a kid who threw up."

"The yellow haired one? He ran through here a minute ago." She leaned on the wall next to him.

"Yeah, I came to make sure he got to the trash." She stared at him.

"If you came here to find him, aren't you going to go find him?" She crossed her arms and grinned.

"Nope, I just found something way more interesting then a airsick guy."

"Whatever is that?" She found that funny.

"Guy, you came here to be a hunter, what's with the refined speech?" Rex took out a small piece of cloth from one of his pockets and took off his glasses to clean them. He stared into the lenses as he did.

"When the bullets start to fly, no one will talk like a civil man, I'd like to save the crass language for a firefight. It will be more meaningful if I do. As cliche as it sounds, it's my philosophy." The girl thought for a second, long enough for Rex to get his glasses on.

"That's what my friend used to say." Rex gave a small chuckle at the suddenly thoughtful girl.

"Is that so? He must've been smart." She smiled

"That's what he said, but I didn't believe him." She was silent for awhile. "Fae"

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"My name, I'm Fae. What's your name?" Rex gave it a thought, perhaps a old nickname would suffice.

"You can call me Hev." This caught Fae off guard.

"That was what my friend was called. Are you impersonating him or something?" Rex was surprised, just who was this guy. He would like to meet him. They sounded like carbon copies. Fae stared at him for a bit. He stared back. Eventually she shook her head. "Well never mind that. What's your plan for the school year?"

"Do well I'm all my subjects."

"Oh come on, you gotta have some other goal. Conquer the world, sleep with every huntress, rob banks, anything?" Rex shook his head and smiled.

"No, I'm not that ambitious. Though if you want to do any of the above, I'd gladly help." She seemed to look suspiciously at him. Were her cheeks a little red? "Wait, I didn't mean it like that." The airship seemed to come to a stop.

"Heh, you just got saved by the bell." She went to leave.

"Surely your not tired of my company already."

"Nope, I just gotta go find where we're going. Peace." With a peace sign she walked away. Another mystery to add to the day. A magically appearing scabbard and now a girl with a friend that sounded exactly like him. Rex crossed his hands behind his back and walked out of the airship. He took his time, looking over everyone there. There was a rainbow of colors and armor types. From black, to neon. From no armor, to juggernauts. He actually took quite the middle ground. The crowd was abuzz with talk of the beautiful building and so close together that he nearly missed a certain red girl fall into a pile of very familiar luggage. The Schnee heiress caught sight of the red one before he reached them. With what he could only believe to be a large gap in judgment she shuck the vial of volatile dust into reds face. Not a second later a explosion occurred, then another tirade from the Schnee. The girl in red seemed to have enough.

"I said I'm sorry princess!" This is when Rex would have stepped in, but chose to watch as a girl in black entered the scene.

"It's heiress, actually. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world." Weiss seemed to like this

"Finally some recognition." She was quick to rub that into reds face, but the girl in black wasn't done.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." While Rex flinched at this statement, Weiss did more than just flinch

"Wha-...how dare...the...nerve of..." Weiss snatched the vial black had picked up before she stormed off. Red seemed to regret her actions. What there was to regret Rex had no idea, but that didn't stop her from apologizing.

"I promise I'll make it up to you!" She said something else, but he couldn't make it out. She then turned to the girl in black to strike up a conversation, but she had already walked away. Defeated, Red fell to the ground. With the words, "Welcome to Beacon," she closed her eyes. Rex took this as his queue. He walked over and stood in the sun, covering her face with shade. She noticed this and looked up at him. He extended his hand towards her.

"Not like you imagined your first day?" Red got up and hung her head.

"No, but I guess that's how it goes. I'm Ruby." Ruby looked up at Rex. Once again he had to decide if he should use his real name or his nickname. He decided that have some call him Rex and others call him Hev might get annoying, so he would keep a uniform name.

"You can call me Hev."

"Hev? What does that stand for?"

"It's a nickname."

"Oh." He could tell she wanted to talk to him, but was at a loss for conversation topics.

"Well, we should go to the auditorium. You may follow me." Rex started to walk, was Ruby was far more interested in something else

"So, I have this." Rex heard a sound akin to metal slideing againts metal, then a loud crunch. He turned around to see a large scythe had implanted a bit of itself into the concrete of the pathway.

"Quite the tool you have there."

"Yep, it's a customizable, high impact sniper rifle." Rex looked at the rather large weapon, made even bigger next to the short girl. It shared the same color scheme as Ruby herself, and looked rather sharp.

"What caliber is it?"

Ruby smiled, ".50 BMG"

Rex smiled back, "Child's play." Ruby looked confused, until he pulled out the bullet. He moved his right gauntlet up to his face. "This is a true weapon," he popped the blade out. "On both arms I have a 11 inch sword, but the right gauntlet is special." He gave his arm a flick. A small barrel came out. "This bullet is a 14.5mm, this barrel is chambered for it. It also doubles as a tazer and what I like to call a a "Charge Thrower." It fires a bolt of pure electricity, which only needs to be cooled instead of reloaded. Charge is built by using my blades and other functions, giving me an almost infinite source of ammo during combat." Ruby was practically drooling over his arm.

"Ohmygoddidyoumakeitwhatisitmadeof?" She was so excited her words became merged. He could barely understand her.

"Calm down, there is no need to yell. You may see it." If she was ecstatic before, there was no words to describe her now.

"Reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally?" Rex found it endearing, the way she jumped up and down in excitement.

"Yes, as soon as we get our dorms." That put a slight damper on her spirit, but she was still extremely excited. Rex smiled, "You have quite the childish side. Don't you feel much better compared to earlier. Bask in this moment Ruby, welcome to Beacon." He walked by her and toward the auditorium.

"Hev?"

"Yes?"

"Can I follow you? I don't know the way." She wore a sheepish grin. He liked this girl, he could get used to her antics.

"Certainly Ruby."

X

They arrived after a few minutes of walking, which would have seemed like forever to a simple man with Ruby's constant questions about his gauntlets, but as he had said, he was no simple man. Though halfway through the walk he told her he had no name for his weapons, and so it turned into her grilling him about how naming a weapon was important. This got a tad bit annoying. Personally he saw no extra aid that came with bestowing your tools with names, but to each his own. Regardless of there conversation, or rather her conversation, she left him and took a place by someone Rex recognized but had forgotten her relevance. He, instead, made his way to the back of the room. Ozpin told him to meet him near the back door after the assembly. Rex positioned himself near the door and waited for Ozpin to start and finish his speech. He crossed his hands behind his back and stood at attention. Rex watched his employer with critical eyes, looking for any sign of weakness or hesitation. He couldn't find any sign throughout the brief talk, and so he withdrew his gaze as the headmaster walked towards him.

"You'll find no weakness in me Rex. There are some things we need to discuss, follow me." Although he expected Ozpin to see his scrutiny, it was still a surprise to be called out. Instead of speaking Rex just followed the Headmaster, slotting in behind him and infront of Glynda. They walked on through the school for awhile before Ozpin broke the silence. "There is one thing you've neglected to tell me Rex."

"What is that Headmaster?"

"Your last name." Oh, that. Rex hung his head in shame.

"I have no last name Headmaster." Ozpin looked over his shoulder at Rex, then hummed and looked forward. They soon found themselves in Ozpin's office. Rex looked at both Glynda and Ozpin with a slightly inquisitive look. "What can I do on my first day Headmaster?" Ozpin leaned back in his chair.

"You need a last name, I believe I have found a solution. From today on you will be Rex Goodwitch." Had he heard that right? Wasn't that Glynda's name? Rex glanced at his new mother(apparently) only to find her in a similar state of shock. She slowly turned her head towards Ozpin

"Could you repeat that Ozpin, I seemed to have hallucinated. Did you just say that he would share my name?"

"Indeed I did." Rex had seen floods, he'd witnessed the devastation left in the wake of artillery, he'd even seen the aftermath of of devastating earthquakes, but this was unlike anything he'd ever seen. She first removed her glasses, then let lose the floodgate of rage.

"Absolutely not! I will not associate with this monster, let alone pretend to be related to it!..." she continued to scream words for awhile, most foul and directed at Rex. Rex and Ozpin decided that the best course of action would be to sweat it out. By the time she finished, she was too winded to speak. Ozpin took this as a great time to give his reason. "I understand your reservations about this, but hear me out. Rex is a honorary teacher, but only the staff knows this. To see just any student entering and leaving staff rooms would be suspicious, but if he were your son no one would bat an eye. Also regarding his combat prowess, would it not be easier to expain it with your "homeschooling"? I ask that you aid us in this."

Glynda wasn't having it, "I don't see why it needs to be my son, why not yours?"

"I'll raise your pay by 11% if you help me."

"Oh your bribing me now?"

"And 20 days of extra vacation." Rex looked over at Glynda. He had expected her to scoff at this, but it was quite the opposite. She had her eyes squinted and was staring at the Headmaster.

"Make it 25."

"23."

"Done." Glynda looked over at Rex with slight disgust. She had some trouble, but eventually, "Hello...son." Rex looked over at Ozpin.

"Do I need to show her any girlfriend I get?" Ozpin smiled, Glynda regretted her life choices. "Oh, no offense, but you may want to work on the mother thing if we want this to work. Other than that it's a honor to work with you mother." Glynda sighed in defeat before speaking.

"We still have one more thing for you." She handed him a black cloth roll from Ozpin's desk. Rex unfolded it, revealing a fimilar piece of clothing.

"My cloak?" Ozpin took the liberty of explaining.

"Tomorrow it will rain, hard. You wouldn't of got the chance to fetch it from your room. I had Glynda grab it, think of it as your first gift from your mother." Rex and Ozpin shared a chuckle. Glynda wore a look that screamed 'I'm going to gut you both'.

"Well, you are dismissed. Go make some friends and get some sleep."

Rex nodded, "I will, thank you. And Glynda I'm sorry...". Rex turned and walked to the elevator.

"Don't."

"...Mother." With that he pushed the button and the elevator descended.

"I swear, I'm going to kill both of you by the end of this year."

"I don't know, you might enjoy being his mother. At least he won't be a boring son."

"That's what I'm worried about."

X

Everyone was setting up their little sleeping areas when Rex entered. Many of the boys were showing off their bodies, many of the girls were staring, so he slipped inside the room undetected. "Hey Hev!" Rex spied Fae, calling out to him from her bag on the ground. "You can set up here if you haven't already." With a smile Rex walked over a rolled out his bag. "Where've you been?"

"I was having a conversation with the Headmaster. We needed to sort out one thing."

"Huh. What's your name?" Rex gave a small smile

"I already told you. I am Hev."

"No, you said that I could call you Hev. You never told me your name." She looked serious, like this meant a lot to her.

"Patience, you will know tomorrow." While This seemed to partly sate her curiosity, she seemed to have another question.

"So you'll tell me tomorrow."

"No, tomorrow is when teams are formed. They'll say my name when I get on a team." With all of her questions answered, she rolled over in her sleeping bag. Rex took this time to set up and change his clothes. He then crawled into his sleeping bag and settled into the quiet.

"Hev?"

"Yes?"

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight Fae."

X

It was rainy the next day. The students taking the "exam" as Ozpin called it were standing over the forest. Now when Rex said it was rainy, he was under exaggerating it. He meant it was like a god damn typhoon. The wind was cold and the rain was freezing. Almost the entire forest had turned into a mud bowl. Rex had been through worse, but some the hunters looked like they were catching hypothermia. Especially the blonde boy. He had chosen to wear blue jeans, which were now soaked through. Another blonde girl kept looking over at Rex, well, mainly at his cloak. Perhaps she was envious of his warm clothing. She looked scared of him, maybe she was scared of the cold weather. Rex heard giggling to his left. When he looked over he almost couldn't hold in his laughter. Ozpin had come wearing a see through poncho. Even his coffe cup had a small covering. Glynda, seemingly in a moment of extreme intelligence, had chosen a rain coat instead of the Headmasters outfit. The odd pair stood infront of the entire group.

Ozpin started, "For years you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the emerald forest." With that, Glynda took the stage.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be getting your teammates...today." From where he was, Rex could hear Ruby slightly whimper. He's sure the yellow haired boy would've too. The only reason he hadn't was that the bad weather had already beaten him down.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Another whimper from Ruby. And now the yellow haired girl looked over at him with dread. Was she really that cold? "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ruby didn't like that.

"What?" Some grumbling and talking stared going up and down the line. The cold momentarily forgotten, the students discussed this new point of dread.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet oposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die." A nervous chuckle from the yellow haired boy was heard. "You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there Any questions?"

"Uh, yeah, Sir?" Ozpin looked like he didn't even see the poor boy.

"Good. Now, take your positions." Though Rex pitted the boy, but he couldn't think about it now. Looking down the line he saw people shivering with equal parts cold and excitement. Except for two people, the aforementioned yellow haired boy and Fae. Fae looked lost in thought. She stood rigidly and not at all ready for the sudden launch that awaited her. She was about three people away from the front, meaning that if she didn't get ready quick she would have a tough landing. He weighed his options. He could get her attention, or try to, find out she knew, and look like an idiot. Well, at least he might save her some pain.

"Fae!" This tore her out of whatever thought she had.

"What?" She seemed a bit annoyed.

"I'll see you down there, yeah?"

"...Yeah." She sounded unsure. He hoped she knew how to land. It wouldn't be fun for her if he had to drag her out of a mud puddle. Rex turned his attention back to the Yellow haired boy just as people started launching. He was still attempting to ask Ozpin question.

"Uh, Sir? I got, um... a question. So this landing...strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're like, dropping us off or something?"

"No, you will be falling."

"Oh, uh, I see... So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

"Uh-huh... Yeah. So what exactly is a landing strat..." He didn't have a chance to finish before he was launched high into the sky. There was a pang of guilt that ran through Rex, but it was quickly overridden by amusement.

"Man, ice cold Headmaster." He let out a small chuckle. Ozpin smiled at him. Rex gave a small salute and looked over at Glynda. "Oh, I love you mom." Glynda scowled at him and angrily tapped her tablet. Soon enough Rex joined the rest of the hunters in flight.

X

Rex always had a little luck on his side during his life, whether it be him fighting the enemy or doing labor. Rex, however, had two expectations to this: cards(which is why he wasn't a gambler) and landing in a favorable Position. Granted, his ability to distinguish favorable and unfavorable positions was hindered in the storm, but landing in a sea of mud is pretty unfavorable in his book. Sliding to a halt knee deep and in the middle of a puddle was only the start of his problems. He quickly sunk to his thighs. With quite a large amount of effort he pulled himself free. The storm must've sensed his victory however, as it suddenly worsened and limited visibility by a considerable margin. Soon he found himself drenched. He could see through the storm however. He always had the ability to see in dark or otherwise low light places. Old Man always said it had to do with his semblance. Rex shook the man away from his head. He shouldn't think about someone who essentially betrayed his trust. He thought back to the severity of the storm. Not many things could see through this typhoon, Grimm were unfortunately one of them. Grimm, however, can't distinguish colors well. Rex was already covered in mud. The forest was a mud bowl. Rex got closer to the ground and moved into the woods. He would act as a ghost.

X

Fae currently sat under a tree looking out into a open bit of the forest. She was dry, she had the underbrush to thank for that, but the open ground was a mess. That was one of the reasons she was sitting there, the second was a group of four beowolfs across in the other tree line. The were looking for something. The strangest part was that they were looking into the sea of mud. She saw nothing in it, but if they were distracted it would be easier for her to scoot past unseen. She got up to walk, but snapped a twig. Swearing she turned back to the group of beowolfs. They heard her, and started towards her position. The lead monster stopped, however, and looked down. It suddenly yelped and was pulled down into the mud. It struggled for a second before it went limp. The other Grimm had lost interest in her, now only looking at their dead compatriot. The body started to decompose into the dirt. The Grimm looked confused. They were clueless, and so was she. Another Grimm walked forward, only to get impaled by a blade. Some cloaked in black stood. The last Grimm howled in rage and attacked, but it was in vein. The cloaked thing surged forward. After a few seconds the monsters were both decapitated. She was about to call out to the person when it turned. It looked right into her eyes. She suddenly wanted to leave, to go hide away. It started to jog towards her. When it got to the tree line she had raised her weapon slightly. It stepped out of the rain and started at her eyes.

"We're partners." It took of its hood. Fae should've know who it was.

"Hev."

"Fae."

X

Well. Two down. I believe I'll have a much better time making this story. So far I've had fun with it. I'll try to maintain a regular schedule as best as possible. I have some other news as well. I've been making another story about warhammer 40k. If that's something you guys would like to see then tell me and I'll put extra effort into making it. I'll eventually put it out anyway, but if you want I can finish the first chapter and bring it to you faster. If you don't want that and just want Ghost Soldiers chapters I will put it off. As always any criticism is appreciated. Have a nice day. Don't die!