Chapter 13

Falling Towards the Sky

Winter clicked the top floor button on the elevator, slid her keycard on the reader, and clicked the close door button. Today was very exhausting for her, mainly for talking and yelling at the kids coming to Atlas. She found most of the kids half decent but that Schnitzel kid was really ticking her off. It's like he didn't know what the real world was like. What it means to be strong in a world of strong foes. Well, the only ray of light in that group was White, better known as Eirwen Roanfaust. Her service record indicated that she graduated from the Specialist Training Academy at the age of 14 and joined at the age of 12. She finished the 4-year course in 2. That was one of the feats that Eirwen had accomplished. She had racked up several hundreds of solo takedowns and completed dozens of squad missions flawlessly within 3 years of service. However, there was one downside. She was a very closed off person. Only speaking when necessary, never made friends except for Winter, and very interesting takedown methods that could be called illegal. In a sense, it looked like that Eirwen admired her but in honesty, Winter admired her. Her combat prowess, her politeness, her work ethic, everything screamed perfect. Winter wished she could be that good, however, there was a certain unease that she felt around Eirwen. She couldn't put her finger on it but it was something. The doors opened before she could give further thought.

As she stepped into the command room overlooking the ice plain where the initiation is taking place, she spotted two people standing by the window. One was in a general uniform, so it was natural to assume that it was General Ironwood. The other was wearing a dress that was a dark blue that faded to light blue. She also had white hair that was kept in a large ponytail. "General Ironwood, I have returned from instructing the students and deployed them as you requested," Winter announced in the attention stance. Ironwood was the first to turn around to greet his aide.

"Good job, Winter. That's the reason I keep you by my side." Ironwood praised. The name "Winter" seemed to peak the interest of the other person to turn around also. Winter couldn't believe her eyes.

"Hello, my dear sister," Weiss greeted.

"Weiss, is that you?" Winter couldn't believe that her sister matured so much in the 7 years they haven't seen each other.

"Why yes, it is."

"You look...good"

"Well, these big dresses are not really my thing, but right for the occasion."

"Right, you were more of a 'combat skirt' person."

"I still am!"

"Haha, I remember these conversations we had when you were younger."

"Me too."

"So, right to the point. Why are you here?"

"Oh, just here to make a personal delivery and watch my little child."

"Child?" Winter thought she heard those words wrong. "Child! Since when did Weiss have a child. Was it with that Arc?"

Weiss pointed at the leaderboard for grading the students that are in the initiation. "See, Eirwen is at the top."

"Huh?!"

"Well, if you didn't know, 5 years ago we found Eirwen on our doorstep when she was twelve. The only thing that she was wearing was her dress, that was ripped up in places, and a winter coat that had White Fang markings. She was also bleeding in various places and had no shoes so her feet were covered in injuries. At the time, we didn't know that she was the daughter of Richter Roanfaust, that disgraced general that got caught up in a White Fang attack. What we did know is that Eirwen was hellbent on revenge and would do anything to get it. However, it took a lot of persuading, but we got her to find a path to attaining it, by going through the system."

Winter could finally get why Eirwen pushed the hardest to get done with the academy and move into field work, "So, that is her reason to join, but how did she get so good?"

"Well, she had a good teacher."

"Wait, don't tell me it was Captain Arc."

"It was."

"No wonder she was amazing. The first time I saw Arc's skills was when he first joined the guard and I had to judge his skills. His attacks were flawless and his Aura control was spot on. Even with a sword and shield, he can take down a squad of gunman easily. If Eirwen got taught by him, then that proves her skill. This initiation is like child's play to her."

"Well, that's the point," Ironwood cut in.

"Sir?" Winter inquired.

"You see, this initiation is the start of a new team led by Eirwen Roanfaust to join the ranks of the special forces."

"Who might that consist of, sir?"

"You'll find out in the end, Head Specialist Winter. Now, the teams have probably already hit the ground since the blizzard is setting in so, I want you to get the pods ready with the equipment."

"Will do, sir." Winter marched out of the room with her instructions in mind.

"Now, Weiss, I hope you do enjoy your stay, but if I may ask, what is in that black case you brought in?"

Weiss lifted the case onto the table behind them, "It's a secret."

"Well, everyone has their secrets." The conversation ended there with silence and the howling of a winter storm of new beginnings.

Location: Ice Plain in front of Atlas Academy

Weather: Heavy Ice Dust Blizzard

Time after drop: Immediately

The thrill and exhilaration of the drop were astounding. The last time Eirwen felt this was when she dropped from a drop ship straight into 4 squads of White Fang. She massacred them all, but same difference. She pressed the buttons the loaders explained and since this was new tech, Eirwen didn't know how to use it fully, but she'll learn. All she did was use her ice to stop her fall but that wasn't an option due to the setting she was in. The pod responded to the presses and blew the front hatch. The sudden burst of cold air pressed itself against Eirwen's skin, but she wasn't affected by the freezing temperatures because after all, she is made out of ice. She stepped out of the pod to the 40 mph winds with mixed ice shards. To a soldier, these would be extremely dangerous conditions, but to a Huntsman, keeping a small field up would stop the ice shards but will slowly drain Aura. The key to survival is Aura management, but to Eirwen, things were in the middle. Since her Aura was stuck in her body, she couldn't make a protective field so the ice shards will affect her. However, there was one technique that she had never used but knew how to do. Eirwen put her hand on the snow-covered ice and began to concentrate. Slowly, her skin started to form a layer of ice that was crystal white, making her nigh undetectable to anyone in the snow without a semblance for eyesight. It also doubled as a type of protection against the ice shards because of the angles that the layer made. She checked her scroll before she left the area for where her teammates drop positions. Ebon and Ivory dropped close together by some mountains that were 2 miles away from the forest and Leena were alone by the forest entrance. "Hmm, maybe I should head to Leena first. Yeah, that's a good idea! Let see if the sisters can work together again." Eirwen started to head towards Leena position and sent her instructions to her teammates.

Location: Mountains by the Ice Plain

Weather: Ice blizzard with 20 mph winds

Time after drop: 20 minutes

Ebon reloaded her next two shots in her Hiraeth Warden to prepare for the next swing of the Ursa in front of her. It was her luck to be immediately attacked after she dropped. "Damn that girl! She got my sister and I stuck in this mess. Well, it can not be helped. Her enemy is the White Fang so, I can get back at them. Her weird behavior has me concerned, but her reaction tells me I shouldn't jump to conclusions." The Ursa began its second charge as Ebon held her ground. It swiped with its left front paw. Ebon rapidly increased the weight of her weapon to dodge the blow and pulled the shotgun to the elbow joint of the same paw. She pulled the trigger and one 12 gauge fire dust shell and released pellets that impacted the joint. The pellets going straight through the joint and out the other end. The Ursa roared in pain as its limb fell on the ice ground. Given that the Ursa was stunned because of the sudden limb lost, Ebon rushed forward and fired the second shot in the chest cavity of the Ursa. It was caught completely by surprise by the pellets and that is what Ebon was looking for. She climbed the Ursa from its hind legs and jumped in the air. She then transformed her weapon into ax mode and released the gravity that she used to lighten the weapon. The weapon dropped straight down, right on top of Ursa's head. A clean slice was formed from Ursa's head to the cracked icy ground of the impact.

As the corpse began to fade, Ebon wiped the very little sweat from her forehead. "Now, where to go?" She observed the area around her and, not to her own surprise, she couldn't see anything. The blizzard was covering most of the area so visibility was non-existent, however, the wind was dying down so, her hearing would be better. Ebon decided to listen in to see where people are. Suddenly, her hearing was disrupted by a ring of a scroll notification. Annoyed, she took it out to see a message from Eirwen. "What could it be this time?" The message read, Your sister is nearby, find her and head to the forest. "My sister is nearby? Well, at least tell me where!" As soon as she thought that, Ebon heard explosions close by. "Ah, that is what you meant by 'close by'." Ebon jumped off the cliff and slid down to the base of the cliff. She quickly lightens herself just enough so she didn't float away and ran to the sounds.

The explosions were, by no mistake her sisters, as she observed her fight against two Ursai. From her position, she could barely see her sister's outline but the explosions and laughter were very much evident. Ebon always knew that her sister enjoyed fights. From middle school to combat school, she would make sure to fight everyone she could before she was told to stop. However, in combat school was when she was serious about getting stronger because of their mother's hospitalization. Ivory's efforts went all to naught because of the lie Ebon told her that their mother had passed away rather than telling her that she killed her. That led Ivory to the White Fang which led them all to here. Ebon was shaken out of deep thought at the sound of two Ursai falling to the ground. Ebon performed the same maneuver to when she was at the cliff edge continued to move towards. It was when she was about 2 meters away when Ivory suddenly turned around and pointed her weapon towards Ebon's forehead, her face filled with no hesitation to kill. "I-Ivory?" questioned Ebon. Once Ivory heard Ebon's voice, her face was instead filled with relief.

"E-Ebon?"

"Yes, it is me." Ivory reacted and immediately rushed to embrace Ebon. Ebon felt the radiating warm heat that came off of Ivory and took it all in. She had not felt this feeling in a long time. She was hugging her sister that she thought she lost to the darkness of this world in her arms. "I really missed you," Ebon responded to the hug.

"Me too," Ivory replied. They both slowly backed away from each other and silence followed the two after. Other than the wind, things were quiet.

Ivory was the first to break the silence. "Hey, Ebon?"

"Yes, Ivory?"

"So, what do we do now?"

"Oh, right. So, we do what Eirwen messaged us."

"Yeah, about that-," Ivory scratched her head.

"You broke your scroll, didn't you."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!"

"Well, it is your fault for not taking care of yours."

"Ok, fine, just what did she tell you."

"She told me to find you and head to some coordinates."

"What are we waiting for then, let's go!" Ivory started sprinting in the wrong direction.

"That's the wrong way!" Ebon called after her but Ivory probably couldn't hear her. Normally, Ebon would be mad at her sister for taking off before she told her anything but she was fine with it just for today. She shook her head, reloaded her Hiraeth Warden, and ran right after.

Two hours later

Location: Near Forest entrance

Weather: Near freezing, low winds

Eirwen tediously made it to the forest entrance. The winds were kicking up in the plains so it was hard to walk all the way there. She checked her surroundings, seeing if anyone came through here, and as she thought, multiple teams came through the entrance. "Well, that is just amazing. I have to find one person in a crowd of many and I can't kill the people in my way. " She decided to stop thinking about how to find Leena and actually doing it. She walked into the forest for several minutes before coming across a high-pitched scream. Interested, Eirwen decided to check it out. On arrival, she deactivated her ice field and hid in the trees. She looks onwards towards a group of four gathered around a girl that looked to be very exhausted. "Is that all you got, freak?" one of the group members shouted. The girl weakly held herself up with just her weapon. The design was a broadsword using dust to power the blade and it has seemed that she ran out of ammo. The girl, herself, was that same fox faunus that was in the lobby. "Fuchs, was it? Why did she go to Atlas? She should have expected this from the people. Oh wait, she thought she was brave enough, that's why. What a fool." Eirwen could have taken action now like any righteous person but that wasn't her nature. So, sit and wait she did. "Man, you were a fun fight but to go down so easily isn't," one of the groupmates stated. "Now, why don't you join us? It's not like anyone else wants you. You're just a freaky little girl in a world much bigger than you. I'm sure we can get much use out of you than anyone else," The group member finished with a laugh. As he finished his words a sudden force tugged at the man's neck and dragged him into the abyss of the forest. "Elmar," one of them shouted but their voices never reached him for he was already out cold, "Scheiße, Schnitzel someone took down Elmar."

"Then, find them," Schnitzel ordered to the other two. "One down, three to go," Eirwen mused. As they spread into the forest, Eirwen took the time to observe their weapons. One was a slightly lean guy had a type of metallic bow and the other had a brawnier look had a two-handed ax that could turn into a different weapon but Eirwen couldn't tell. "Well, I guess I should make myself known." The two men were surprised by the figure appearing before them, dragging "Elmar" by the head. "So, you're the bastard who took out Elmar," one of the men barked.

"Wow, did I leave that much of an impression on you."

"You sure did."

Eirwen sighed, "Could I at least have your names?"

"Hmph, I guess. He's Michael and I'm Brandon."

"Good, now I will remember those names." Eirwen leaped forward. The two, half-expecting it, also jumped into action. Brandon fired some arrows in the girl's general direction but none of them connected. "How is this girl doing that ?" As he was caught up in his thoughts he forgot the distance between him and the girl. She was right in his face, grinning in anticipation but that faded away quickly because she noticed the ambushing ax wielder on her side. She dodged the berserker's blade with a backflip backward. The archer readied his bow once again but this time the arrows glowed yellow. "Hmm, I wonder what that is," Eirwen sarcastically thought. As the arrows released, Eirwen playfully dodged them as well as observe the arrows carefully. The projectiles impacted a tree then proceeded to detonate into a ball of electricity. The projectiles themselves felt special."Hmm...Interesting. Is he using his semblance to modify different types of arrows at will " Eirwen remarked. The next few attacks continued the same way, with her dodging the same arrows accompanied by the explosion of lightning. "Man, your attacks are so simple," Eirwen taunted.

"Oh, really? Try this!" The archer pulled out an arrow that had a drill-type tip. He loaded then let it fly towards Eirwen. "Come on, I can just dodge that why did he-," Eirwen remembered what that certain type of arrow was and shielded her face as the arrow came near. Within range, the arrow exploded into a bright flash, but Eirwen covered her face in time to not be blinded. As Eirwen recovered, she barely detected the volley of arrows that was directed at her. While dodging the seemingly undodgeable attack, a couple of arrows nicked at her sleeves and her skirt. "This man is no pushover, that is for a fact," Eirwen reflected. After regaining her footing, there was a lot of snow kicked up so she had lost sight of the two. "Oh, where could he be?" On cue, a figure emerged from the fog which looked to have some huge object in hand. As Eirwen readied herself, the figure disappeared. "Now, where did he go?" Eirwen's question was answered with a battle cry of a very angry man coming from the sky. Given the little time to react, she put up her hands to defend. The ax blade connected with her arm and a shockwave erupted between them, making a crater under Eirwen and rocked some of the trees around them.

Both instantly recognized the stalemate and pushed off of each other. "How can that girl block my ax attacks without a weapon," Michael conceived. As soon as he landed, Michael spent no time getting back into the offensive. He rushed forward, with ax ready towards the girl. The first swing was aimed at the abdomen of her body. She then ducked under the blade and kicked his blade up. The girl then pressed her attack. With a right hook, she punched square in his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs. She then jabbed a kick to his side, which was more powerful than he expected. The kick launched him back, but Micheal recovered by stabbing the ground with his ax to stabilize himself. "How does she do that?!" He was again baffled by the immense strength this short girl had. Judging by that, Michael concluded that it would take a lot longer to bring her down "I guess I have to use that ability." Given how long "that ability" takes to charge, he should make a tactical retreat.

"Well, he was persistent, I'll give him that." Eirwen was quite impressed by the level of skill these two possessed. They can at least backup anything they said or did. However, that didn't matter to her. They both couldn't breach her icy armor, so to her, they aren't that amazing. Since the ax guy left, Eirwen took the the time to do some stretching. She let down her armor and proceeded to do some light stretches. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the slight glint of metal of an ax. "Hmm, I wonder what they are planning." When she finished, she recast her armor and looked around for that glint. As she got closer, she saw that it wasn't an ax but a metal arrow. "Huh, I wonder what an arrow is doing here all by itself." She picked it up but realized too late that it was a flash arrow. The arrow triggered and blinded Eirwen. Michael, on cue, jumped on top of Brandon's bow that has converted to a shield. Brandon then poured his aura into his arms and boosted Michael up into the air. Michael, with his semblance of charging up aura, put it all into his ax. He then came down with everything he had to bear down on the blind girl. Eirwen, regaining her vision, heard the whistling of something above her. As Eirwen looked up, she was centimeters away from the ax blade. "Ah." There was a resounding cracking sound with a metal dinging that went throughout the forest. As the snow dust cleared, Michael was taken aback to what he saw. His ax blade was embedded into the girl's shoulder, which looked to be a deep gash, however, the strange part about that was the residue of ice shards around the wound. "What is—," the ice started to seal over the wound in a red crystal structure. "The hell is this, girl?" questioned Michael.

"Well, that is an interesting question." Michael jumped away from the girl and readied his weapon. The girl suddenly rose from the ground and was standing up like nothing ever happened.

" W-W-What are you?" Michael, for the first time of his life he trembled. This girl survived one of his strongest moves and she was smiling. Smiling with the grin of a devil.

"I'm just a perfectly ordinary girl", Eirwen replied, with the most false looking innocent face.

"Bullshit! That right there, is what monsters do!"

"My, my, why won't you believe me."

"Because you looked like you were enjoying yourself."

"But I am! The marvelous feeling of near death is thrilling!"

"So, you were toying with us!"

"Precisely. You were too weak for me," Eirwen started laughing maniacally. Michael couldn't believe that someone so evil can exist.

"Don't screw with me!" Michael let out a battle cry and rushed the girl with everything he had. "Too weak." As Eirwen prepared herself for the attack, a slight glint caught her attention which followed with a yellow arrow heading straight towards her. "Typical." Eirwen caught the arrow and stabbed it into the ax wielder. Given Eirwen's previous deduction of the archer's semblance, she judged that the color of the arrows meant what dust or element it is. Since yellow is most likely lightning, she took the gamble and hoped it worked and it did. The ax wielder was electrocuted and was made unconscious.

"Why?" That was the only thought that went through Brandon's head, beholding the power of the "person" they engaged someone who was leagues above their own and got annihilated because of that. It felt like God was punishing him for his sins. However, as he was wallowing in his defeat, a voice appeared beside him.

"Sucks doesn't it."

"Gah," Brandon yelped back in surprise.

"Ha, scared you," the girl teased.

"How did you-."

"Get over here?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Training."

"HUH." Brandon was bewildered that the person they attacked is talking to him like nothing happened. "Don't you want to take me down?"

She looked up at the treetops," Hmm… I mean you don't seem to hate faunus."

"Huh?"

"Like when I saw you in that group, you were not trying to hurt her but you weren't stopping them either."

"Well… I don't hate them, but..." He stopped himself. Brandon really didn't know if he hated them or not but his team was his only friends so anything they did, he did because he didn't what to be left out. "My team was my only friends and we've been together through middle school."

Eirwen decided to sit on a rock near them, "Well they aren't the best friends to have but you at least have friends." Brandon was generally surprised and not because of the display he saw.

"You didn't have friends?"

"Yeah, more or less. To answer that truly, I have to ask you a question?"

"Uh… Sure?"

"Did you ever feel like anything you do, doesn't matter in the end?"

Brandon was not expecting a dark question like that, "N-no."

"Well, my life was full of that. Mainly in school," The girl paused and looked towards the white sky, "I just wanted to be praised for my work for once but not one compliment. Not from teachers. Not from classmates. Not from my parents, well at least not from my father. My mother, on the other hand, was a very good parent."

Brandon noted that she said was, "Was?"

"She died when I was 7."

"Oh."

"With that in mind, making friends is… difficult but that has changed."

"That's good."

Eirwen, noting the end of that conversation, she got up from her rock and dusted off her clothes. "Now, I need to get going."

"Right, we have an initiation to complete."

"So, see you later?"

"Yeah." As the conversation ended, she immediately jumped into the trees, leaving Brandon and his friend to themselves. "I wonder what her semblance might be?" he mused as he tried to wake his friend up.

Eirwen really couldn't care less about those two or the entire team as long as they are useful. She stopped on a tree branch to check her position and lucky for her, she was near Leena. Adding to the luck, the Faunus sisters were together but still a bit away. However, she looked at her aura reserves and it was beginning to turn to yellow. "Wow, that ax guy did a number on me." Given the amount and what she knew of Schinzel, she couldn't fight him without taking damage or revealing her semblance. Eirwen gave it some thought then came up with an idea that formed a sadistic smile on her face. "Let's watch these two fight it out. Ooooh, I wish I had popcorn for this." Eirwen loved the idea of eating popcorn while two people fight to the death. "Well, can't miss the show!" Teeming with excitement, Eirwen put away her scroll and resume her heading towards her teammate duel for what lies ahead could prove interesting.