The Rainart twins been living in Vale for all of four months when Gretchen came home with an odd packet of paperwork. Two copies of the packet, actually. The envelope that the packet came in was mostly blank, save for a single shining embossed emblem that was on the front.
Hazel had decided to stay home and try to clean while his sister enjoyed a day on the town. What she'd been intending to get up to, he hadn't known. But they were in the city, and the city was safe enough so he hadn't been completely worried about her going out alone.
Besides, if she was out doing whatever she did, then it gave him the freedom to try and clean up around the apartment without her getting in the way. It also gave him a chance to make a proper dinner for the two of them to share that night.
But as usual, when Gretchen wanted her presence known she made it known.
She bounced up to him in the kitchen where he was chopping some of the vegetables he'd managed to get at the market in exchange for helping to unload crates of produce off of a truck. It wasn't much, but he could appreciate it in lieu of money which would have only gone into buying food anyways.
At that point, it was just cutting the middleman out of the process.
"Hey." She greeted him, all but forcing herself into his space just over top of the partially chopped bell peppers, despite the fact that he had a knife in his hand.
Hazel smiled weakly at her. "Hi." He said before setting the knife down and gently pushing his sister away from him so that he could have some space again.
Gretchen took the stool on the other side of the counter, fidgeting with the edges of the packets.
"So I was out and…" She squirmed excitedly. "You know we're old enough that we could apply to the Huntsmen's academies if we wanted to?"
Hazel furrowed his brow. "Neither of us have been to a training school." It seemed like an obvious enough thing to point out. Neither of them were exactly the types that would be able to just get in on account of old test scores. They'd been homeschooled, and combat hadn't exactly been a part of it.
Well, not officially, at least.
"I mean, yeah." Gretchen grumbled. "But I mean, I could probably get in, right?"
Hazel hesitated. "Do you want to?" In his heart, he already knew the answer.
Gretchen shrugged. "I dunno. I've killed grimm before and I'm good at it. I think it said there was an alternate entrance exam for people that haven't gone to any of the training schools?" She flipped one of the packets over in her hands. "I think I could pass." She looked up at him. "Maybe if we trained you up you could too?"
Hazel wasn't a fighter. He never had been, the most he could do was take advantage of his size and throw a few punches. To think that he might be capable of keeping up with people that were trained was laughable.
Gretchen could do it because she was raw talent, or maybe something else on top of that.
"I don't know." Hazel answered his sister as truthfully as it could. "I… don't think it's a good idea."
His sister rolled her eyes, not making any real effort to hide how annoyed she was with his apprehension over the topic. He knew that he'd always been the more nervous of the two of them, the more reserved, the more quiet. Gretchen had always been more than willing and able to make up for it.
Deep down Hazel knew that his sister understood. He didn't like danger. He didn't like surprises. He liked knowing what to expect, and being able to plan for it. He liked safety and having a proper sense of security in his life.
Not a constant, unknown element of danger.
Everything that he knew about Huntsmen, about grimm, about everything surrounding that life was that it wasn't safe. Just because Gretchen could kill a grimm when they were kids didn't mean that she could do the same and not lose her life for it.
She was strong, but was strength enough? Could it ever be enough?
"Okay, look—" Gretchen grumbled. "Just… promise me that you'll think about it? Because I think that I want to try and do it no matter what." She let out a little breath. "And I know that…" Her voice trailed off. "I know that you're probably worried about what it'll cost. I get it."
The cost wasn't something that Hazel hadn't even considered. He hadn't gotten a chance for it.
Going to Beacon couldn't be cheap, could it? Even one of them going to Beacon would probably be more than they could actually support. Most of the money that had come from selling their father's cabin had gone right back into making sure that they had food and a place to live. He was able to make money by working under the table but that was barely enough.
How could either of them hope to see even one tuition paid for, let alone two?
"Look—" He said, glancing over at the two brightly colored packets. There were images of huntsmen and huntresses in training printed on the cover, all of them bright and smiling as they sparred with each other. The image was probably taken while the students were preparing for the Vytal Festival tournament. "I'll think about it."
"That's really the best that I'm getting out of you, isn't it?" Gretchen asked, sitting up straight. "That you'll think about it."
"Yes." Hazel grumbled. "For now."
She sighed. "Okay, Hazel." She answered, stretching. "I'm going to go up to the campus and see what else I can find out. Maybe there are scholarships available… I mean, if I can even pass the test."
She would. Hazel had no doubts about that much.
That was the part that scared him.
They'd never been apart. Not really.
If she went to Beacon, he'd end up alone. The most he could hope for was the occasional visit.
When he looked up again, his sister was already out the door and he was left alone to finish making a dinner that he strongly suspected he would have no choice but to eat alone.