1 month later, the start of a new term at Beacon.
There. A ship was flying towards the emerald academy. On it were the future hunters and huntresses of the age. The hope of humanity, or its downfall. But on it also was a man. A month before he had made a deal, a deal that would end with his death.
He hoped it would come soon. He'd been waiting for it for too long.
But that was aside the matter, for the matter at hand was his observations. There were nearly a hundred people milling about the ship, and every one of them he would train at some point.
Enough people to raise an army of killers.
His observations led him to believe that there would be some who were better than others; better suited, more willing. He discarded some of them as too soft, to weak, to kind. Too dangerous. At once he discarded a boy who vomited. He wasn't soft exactly, but he was too… Understanding what the man was thinking would be too hard, too impossible of the task. He kept his thoughts hidden well, away from preying eyes, preying minds. He was understandably distraught at the thought of having to teach so many people with telling them what they're learning. But no, his tension was not because of that. It might have been that he had too little people to teach his ways to. But the more likely is that there were too many.
Far, far too many. Too many people who had the potential to kill.
But he just sighed, face blank, not revealing anything. He was sitting with his back to a wall, hiding in a corner. No one noticed him, for he was unnoticeable.
It took Leyla all of three minutes before she declared this a stupid idea.
"Join the largest hunter academy in the world after being known as nothing but petty criminals to the headmaster. That's just a stupid plan all around. We're liable to be thrown out after the first five minutes!" She prattled out. I tuned out her incessant chattering about how stupid an idea this was, pointing out time and time again how I had come up with it, and how many flaws it had.
"No less than 19 possible ways this could go wrong!" Or some such nonsense. I refused to point out how she had gone along with it. What sort of gentleman thief would I be if I corrected a lady at every opportunity? Not that I got a lot, considering my only female interaction was with a genius.
But hey, my luck was changing. Sneaking onto the ship had been ridiculously easy. Stealing the passes needed had been even more so. Pickpocketing was something else we had done in the past. Hopefully we wouldn't need that where we were going though. We're actually going to Beacon Academy! The place where Hunters and Huntresses are made. It's going to be epic. Thoughts like those kept running through my mind, but I ignored them, focusing instead on my fellow students-to-be. I had to keep myself from laughing out loud as one of the students ran for the trashcan and barfed in it. Other than him there were several people of note.
There was a girl dressed in a red cloak carrying a large rectangular object on her back. She was talking to a yellow-haired girl with heavy circlets around her wrists, probably unfolding into some weapon around her hand. A little ways away the red-haired Mistral champion lounged as several dozen boys groveled at her feet, asking her endless questions, trying to hit on her. I snorted in disgust. That's no way to treat a lady. I thought at them.
Several others caught my attention but none so much as the man hiding in a corner. He was not hiding perse, but he had mastered the art of hiding in plain sight. I found myself staring at him in interest, for he did appear not to draw any attention other than mine. He must have felt my staring because his gaze steadily travelled over the crowd and met mine. He held it for a moment and then nodded to me and looked away.
In that moment I experienced true terror.
The barest glimpse into his eyes had left me feeling shaken; my palms were sweaty and my heart was pounding in my chest. He had scared me to my core and had not even blinked at it.
Who the fuck is this guy? I shook my head. Everyone who went to this academy was supposed to be extremely powerful, like, take-on-a-pack-of-grimm-alone powerful. I shouldn't be surprised that someone powerful enough to strike fear into someone's heart with a single glance was here.
But still.
"...And finally how the hell are we supposed to know if they'll even expect us, or let us in? All we have is the invitation of someone who may or may not be the headmaster." I finished triumphantly. I glanced around, and found Roan gazing intently at the crowd. I sighed. Probably a smart idea, not that I'd ever say that to him. We needed to size up our potential allies and enemies. I sighed in annoyance again. We had no clue what was even taught at the academy, and here we are trying to sneak in. I shook my head, and decided to gaze out at the crowd like Roan was doing. There was a girl dressed in black with a matching bow on her head. There was another girl dressed in white with a rapier at her side. A girl with a hammer, a boy dressed in muted greens.
And then the man hiding in the corner. My gaze passed over him, and I barely even saw him. But my mind registered him quietly, like a bare whisper of a thought. I didn't even spare him a second glance, instead looking around for anyone else of worth. But my mind jerked my eyes back towards him.
He was sitting on the ground, dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt with no designs. He carried no visible weapons which wasn't uncommon, but he wasn't tense either. He appeared...ready, as if he would be ready to face anything that could possibly happen, be it Nevermore or the White Fang. He must have sensed me looking at him, for he glanced around and met my eyes.
Anger. Hatred. A felt these emotions flash up inside of me. Who is this man, daring to look at me like that? I thought angrily. He frowned thoughtfully, around the same time I forced the emotions down. What was that about? How did he instill those in me? I thought incredulously. This might be more dangerous than I originally thought.
The rest of the ride was uneventful; boring even. Nothing of note happened, and the man in the corner waited. And watched. And eventually he got up and the people parted around him, barely even noticing him. He was back to being invisible, the invisibility of normality. No one he passed gave him a second glance, for he didn't want to be noticed. There would be time enough for him to be the center of some grand illusion; But later, another time. But for now, he will observe.
And think.
Two hours passed from the ship landing to when everything happened. The time in between was of no importance; the students gathered together, they talked, they planned. They thought about tomorrow, at least the smart ones did. The rest planned for today, but some could argue that is the most important time of all.
Some watched of course, but then, everyone is watched too, in their own turn. But the time spent in between was tense; stiflingly so. And yet everyone ignored it in their own way. Some were lucky and didn't feel its presence at all. Some basked in it, the way a person basks in a warm shower. They relished the feeling of excitement; the adrenaline.
The unfortunate few who felt it's effects cowered in fear. They filled the silence with their incessant chattering, prattling on about this and that. The man who built fear around him like armor was not present for this. He was no where to be found.
Everyone stood on a cliff, standing on a platform that they had been assigned. Professor Goodwitch had already said her speech, telling the participants of this...contest the rules. Find the chess piece. The first person you lay eyes on is your partner for the rest of your time at Beacon.
They only had not to die to pass.
Great fucking deal. We live, we pass. We get the chess piece to pass even more. Simple as that. I thought venomously. Leyla stood directly to my left, and to my right was a girl dressed in a red hood. She seemed bubbling with anxiousness, positively glowing with the upcoming challenge. And suddenly I was flying.
The ground lurched dangerously and fell away beneath me. I flipped through the air and hurtled down from the cliffs. A strange noise permeated through the air. The screams and shouts of terror from the other surprised students. I glanced around and spotted several other forms flying through the air. We were all hurtling towards the ground at bone shattering speed.
I'm not even sure our Aura could protect us then I mused to myself. Idly I flipped out a gun, then two. Calmly, perfectly calmly, I loaded a grappling hook into both. There were trees rising up from the ground and I planned to use my grapples to stop my fall. Hopefully. Suddenly I was just a few feet above them. I blinked again and I was among them. I took careful aim and fired the grapple at a branch as I flashed by. I felt the grapple...well grapple, really. But regardless my fall was slowed as the line was jerked taut, then slowly released as I depressed the trigger, tiny motors working in the mechanism letting out the line.
I ran out of rope about 10 feet above the ground. I sighed. It was probably too much to hope for there. I thought to myself. A few manipulations later I was falling. Again. I tucked into a roll as I hit the ground, instincts taking over as I fell. I rolled upright and dusted myself off. I put away my guns and the accompanying parts and took a light breather.
"Nice landing. I was wondering how you would do that. Nice idea fitting a grapple onto your gun. Very ingenious." A voice said to me. I jerked around, looking for the source of the sound. Instead I was confronted with a high, tinkling laugh. It was actually very pleasant on the ear, like the soft strains of music.
And suddenly a woman was standing in front of me. She was dressed in a light brown combat skirt with a matching blouse. Her hair was black and reached down to her lower back. She carried no visible weapon. And I was completely startled enough to not even respond with a proper greeting. She had literally just appeared in front of me. Not like stepping out from behind a tree, but appeared out of thin air.
"Sorry about that. My Semblance makes me invisible. A useful thing but dastardly annoying at times." She reached her hand out to mine. I shook it numbly. But...wha? When was she...how? I'd never heard of a semblance like that. I shook my head free and tried my best to regain my wits.
"So I guess that makes us partners for the next few years of my life." She nodded brightly.
"My name's Liszbeth. Lizbeth Tyreal. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Roan Lyle at yours, m'lady" I replied, giving her a half bow. She giggled again. It was a pleasant sound to hear.
I walked along in silence. The task was simple really. Find the chess pieces, and survive. You get a partner out of the deal too, as long as neither of you die. It was a pretty good system, actually. They prove their skills either fighting Grimm or finding the temple and getting back safely.
Now all I needed was a partner. I had been walking around for the better part of the hour, trying to find someone to pair up with. I had been hoping to find Roan but I couldn't see where he landed. I couldn't even hear anyone, or anything larger than a bird I had startled into flight.
A noise shook me out of my daze. A girl wearing a sea-green dress stepped out between two trees. She had silvery hair and piercing blue eyes. They were the eyes of a dead man staring at the moon; cold and unwavering, but with a beauty in them. The dark, haunted beauty that only the dead can have.
The beauty of regret, and hope.
But that aside she was pretty, in a slim, petite way. She nodded to me once, and said in the voice of an angel: "Hello. My name is Olivia Voldaren. We're partners now, I guess." It was soft, and unyielding. It was musical, but with a strange harshness; a tension. It was one of the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard.
"Leyla. Name's Leyla Millena. Pleasure to meet you."
Teams were formed. The man was sitting watching the video feed on his scroll. Off to the side two teachers and a headmaster stood. They talked. They gestured. They thought.
Off in the forest the teams engaged in the activities any person in a Grimm infested forest would do. They tracked. They moved. And they fought.
But the man was a part of neither of these groups. He waited. He watched. And his armor built around him, and the teachers noticed it. They hid it well, not shifting their weight from foot to foot. Not wringing their hands. Not edging their voices higher and higher. But they felt its weight upon them, like a tidal wave.
Like a feather compared to his.
But he reigned it in, controlling it. Like a tiger is controlled by a string.
But no, it was gone. Like the wind, it breezed away. Like a breath, it faded into mist.
Like blood, it dribbled onto the ground. It soaked into the earth and into the trees. And then it was no more.
And it was just a man sitting on the ground. Nothing to see, nothing to notice.
For now.
A/N: Hey people. It's me again with the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy. Drop a review if you liked it and if not please don't be rude and caustic. Like tar. It's caustic right? Anyways night ya'll. It's getting late and I should probs write that essay due tomorrow.
Brownie points to the first person to pm me with the reference i made here.