Umbra Hart

After getting called down for an assembly, Umbra was forced to listen to a boring speech. It was something about the importance of individualism and the war. Once it was done, Umbra was on the verge of falling back asleep. Following Team RWBY, Umbra assumed they were going to start the day like usual. Since he didn't pay any attention to the speech, he didn't realize that they were going to pick out missions to take part in. Excited about their upcoming mission, Ruby ran up to Umbra which woke him back up.

"Umbra are you excited!? We're going to be able to take part in a mission together!" Crossing his arms, Umbra looked away.

"I suppose it would be a good chance to field test the weapon you made me." Continuing along with Team RWBY, they finally made their way to the list of available missions. Apparently there was a Grimm extermination mission available in the Mt. Glenn area, but when Ruby tried to accept it, she was denied. As the members of Team RWBY tried to brainstorm ideas on how to get there, Umbra thought it was weird that they were so adamant on going to Mt. Glenn. Before they could truly get anywhere, Ozpin showed up.

"Ah Umbra, I see you're getting along with Team Ruby." Umbra could only wonder what Ozpin's definition of getting along was. Not trying to kill them? He was only following them like he was instructed to do doing school hours. "I'm sure you were expecting to accompany Team Ruby on their mission, but I'm afraid that I've already had one picked out for you." While Ruby gave Umbra a sad look, Umbra himself was actually feeling grateful for once.

"So long as it isn't anything boring. It better not just be a delivery or something where I'm just sitting around. Or…" Almost too embarrassed to say it, Umbra looked away from Ozpin. "…have anything to do with the Forever Falls." Putting on a slight smile, Ozpin shook his head.

"Nothing like that. You will be accompanying a third year team in an extermination mission. I have no doubt that you'll be able to keep up with them. They're waiting for you right over there." Ozpin pointed at a team of students waiting to be picked up. Looking back at Ozpin, Umbra shrugged.

"Very well, I guess I'll go get my sword then." As Umbra was leaving, Ruby waved at him.

"Have fun Umbra! You'll have to tell us all about your mission when you get back!" Having no plans on doing so, Umbra figured she would forget all about that train of thought when she returned from her mission anyway.

Happy that he was finally getting a break from Team RWBY, Umbra was glad to get a nice surprise for once. Even if he ended up not being able to keep up with the team he was assigned, Umbra could just make them do all the work. With a deal so nice, what could possibly go wrong?

Leaning over the railing of the boat, Umbra vomited. When he was done, he wiped his mouth and looked towards the direction the boat was traveling. Doing his best to find any sort of object in the distance to focus on, Umbra remembered that working for him the last time he was on a boat.

"Damn you Ozpin…" Even though he didn't have any evidence, Umbra thought that Ozpin had purposefully chose this mission to punish Umbra for his outburst. For antagonizing Ozpin's friend, Umbra was thrown out in the middle of the sea. Not able to find anything off in the distance, Umbra chose to stumble back closer to the center of the ship. As he was doing so, the leader of the team he was stuck with, Barry, called out to Umbra.

"Yo Umbra. You doin' any better today?" Giving Barry a look, Umbra made it clear as day that he was not any better. "Ah. Well, in that case, I wish you better man. If you need to sit this one out, don't worry. If you don't say anything, I won't say anything." While the offer was tempting, Umbra at least wanted to make an attempt to participate in the mission.

"I've been through worse. A little motion sickness won't stop me from fighting." Shrugging, Barry started to make his way to the front deck.

"Whatever you say man, just make sure you don't push yourself too hard." Deciding to follow Barry to the front of the ship, Umbra pulled himself together the best he could. When the two of them had reached the front deck, they were met with the sight of Nix and Desmond, two more members of Team Burgundy, sparring. Instead of using their weapons, they were just using their fists. "Careful you two. If one of you go in, I'm the one that's gotta get you out!" With a smile on his face, Desmond gave a lazy salute.

"Aye aye boss!" Returning the salute with a smile of his own, Barry let them go back to their sparring session.

So far Umbra had spent an entire day and a half with Team BGND. While some members were more annoying than others, Umbra still found them to be somewhat tolerable. Other than checking in on his motion sickness from time to time, they left Umbra alone for the most part. Whether it was because they were on a mission or not, Umbra didn't care either way. Looking around the front of the ship, Barry squinted his eyes.

"Desmond, Nix, have either of you seen Graz?" Before either had a chance to respond, a nearby door practically exploded open. The one responsible was none other than Graz himself. Upon reaching Barry, Graz gave a much better salute than Desmond did.

"Sorry Barry, I slept in." Out of all the members of Team BGND, Umbra liked Graz the most. Not only did he look tall and strong enough to serve as emergency cover, but he only spoke when absolutely necessary. If more Hunters were like Graz, Umbra's time at Beacon would be slightly more bearable. Reaching up to pat Graz on the shoulder, Barry laughed.

"It's all good man. We did stay up pretty late playin' cards last night, so I understand." With that, the whole group was together. Every member of Team BGND and Umbra were gathered at the front of the ship.

Moving off to be by himself, Umbra sat in a more shaded area. With nothing to do but wait, Umbra closed his eyes. Letting his thoughts wander back to the situation at Beacon, Umbra tried to think of the best course of action.

Since he couldn't find Eliza, Umbra's only option was to start with the members of Team AZID. They were going to put their plan into motion during the tournament. With it being just around the corner, it meant Umbra didn't have any other choice than to start with Team AZID. He would have to fight them during the night, and away from any prying eyes. Once they started fighting Umbra would be seen as the villain, so it would be important that nobody was around to witness their fight. While it was true him and Ruby had shared that conversation during the dance, not even she'd could be around to witness it. Even after what she said, Umbra couldn't trust her to side with him in a situation like that. There was always the chance that he was wrong, but Umbra wasn't willing to take that bet.

Breaking him from his thoughts, Umbra felt the boat begin shake. Opening his eyes and shooting to his feet, Umbra immediately saw the cause of the commotion. Rallying his team, Barry shouted.

"Alright boys we finally found it! Let's get to work!" As the members of Team BGND ran towards danger, Umbra followed suit. The Grimm that they had been hunting was a Sea Feilong. It had been living in the area and disrupting trade by attacking any ships that tried to pass through it's territory. While he was still feeling nauseous, Umbra was going to fight through the urge to vomit.

While Graz and Desmond ran towards the harpoons, Umbra and Barry hopped on the artillery. For now, all Nix did was switch his sword into it's bow form and fell back to a relatively safer location.

Firing their weapons, both Graz and Desmond managed to hit their mark. With the Sea Feilong tethered to the ship, it wouldn't be able to run from them. With a smile on his face, Barry raised a fist into the air.

"Stage one was flawless! Graz, Desmond! Hop on the guns on the other side! If it moves towards you, light it up!" Now that all the prep work was done, Umbra focused his attention onto their target and got ready for stage two of the operation.

Opening fire on the Sea Feilong, Umbra found it hard to track. Even though it was weighed down by the ship, the thing was still able to evade their fire. It probably didn't help that the boat got jerked around every time the Sea Feilong took a sharp turn or tried to take to the sky.

After taking some damage from their gunfire, mainly to it's wings, the Sea Feilong got sick of running. Turning to face Umbra and Team BGND, it let out a loud roar. Getting off his gun, Barry readied his weapon.

"Third and final stage! Just a little more and we can call it a day!" Swinging his hammer around, Barry prepared for battle. Getting off his gun as well, Umbra unsheathed his blade. While he wasn't quite sure what he'd be able to do from the boat, Umbra would just have to trust in the rest of Barry's plan.

Holding the button like Ruby said to do, Umbra turned his sword into it's gun form. The blade split open and allowed Umbra to use the shotgun hidden inside. It wasn't something he was used to, as his previous blade Ignition was left in an incomplete state and couldn't transform.

Now that the plan was in it's final stage, Nix started firing explosive tipped arrows at the Sea Feilong. Not falling back as far as Nix did, but far enough to let Barry, Graz, and Desmond take the lead, Umbra also began firing at the Sea Feilong. Him and Nix weren't meant to cause any real damage, but instead they were meant to distract the Sea Feilong. Moving as he shot, Umbra had to dodge bolts of lightning that the Sea Feilong spewed from it's mouth.

Swinging it's tail across the deck of the ship, the Sea Feilong tried to hit the three members of Team BGND closest to it. At first Umbra thought he was safely out of it's reach. However, as it got closer to him, he realized that he was wrong. Due to it's surprising speed, Umbra wasn't able to dodge the swing in time.

Losing the grip on his weapon, the sword clattered onto the deck of the ship. Meanwhile, Umbra himself was thrown into the water. Since the hit he had taken knocked the wind out of him, he was instantly struggling for air when he went under. Panicked, Umbra desperately tried to swim his way to the surface.

Just as Umbra was about to make it to the surface, he felt something grab onto him. Thinking that it was another Grimm lurking below the water's surface, he thought that he was as good as dead. When he was brought to the surface and eventually flung back onto the boat, Umbra's dread turned to confusion. Once he heard Desmond yell over the edge of the ship, Umbra's confusion left just as quickly as it came.

"He's safe Barry! Stay hidden while we make an opening for you and Graz!" While the thought of being saved by a Huntsman didn't quite sit right with Umbra, he wasn't going to waste time complaining.

Running back to his weapon, Umbra went back to shooting at the Sea Feilong. As he fired, Umbra made sure to keep an eye out for any other swings the Grimm might try to take. Working their way to the left side of the deck, Umbra and the remaining members of Team BGND shifted the Sea Feilong's attention away from the direction Barry would launch his surprise attack from. Once they were in place, Desmond called out to Barry and Graz.

"Barry! Graz! Now!" Hearing this, Umbra stopped firing. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally hit someone and ruin the plan.

Rushing forward, Graz used the railing of the ship to leap towards the Sea Feilong with his own giant Hammer. It prepared a lightning blast, but was shut down when Nix fired an explosive arrow into it's eye. Leaping out of the water from behind the Sea Feilong, Barry also swung his Hammer. Together Barry and Graz crushed the head of the Sea Feilong, killing it. As it began to fade away, the harpoons that kept it trapped to the boat fell into the water along with Graz. Collapsing backwards onto the deck, Umbra closed his eyes. While Team BGND celebrated their victory, all Umbra could think about was how much he had to vomit again.

Some time had past since Team BGND and Umbra had taken out the Sea Feilong. After changing out of his wet clothes, Umbra chose to spend his time laying in bed looking up at the ceiling. All he had been doing the past few hours was thinking.

Peaking out the window, Umbra noticed that night had fallen. Since they were so far away from Vale, Umbra realized that he'd be able to get a good look at all the stars now that there wasn't any pollution to get in his way. Getting out of bed, Umbra made his way outside. The first star he looked for was one underneath the cracked moon. When Umbra found it, he smiled. However, when he heard someone begin to speak behind him the smile on his face disappeared.

"Came out to look at the stars eh?" Turning around, Umbra saw that the person talking to him was Barry. "I don't blame you. Can't really see 'em all that well back in Vale. If I'm bein' honest, it's one of the bigger things I miss from home." Walking up next to Umbra, Barry also looked up at the night sky. "The water makes the sight even better. Though maybe that's just me being biased since I used to live next to the water." Not sure why Barry was trying to talk to him, Umbra figured he'd keep things simple.

"Yeah, it's nice being able to actually see them." For awhile, the two stood in silence. Umbra was about to head back in when a question popped into his head. "You and your team… You have to know who I am and what I did. So why did you save me? If you just let me drown, nobody would care enough to ask what happened." Smiling, Barry looked over at Umbra.

"Simple. I'm a Huntsman. Our whole job is to save people. It's like how cops and doctors don't get to decide if they wanna save someone or not. That, and…" Losing the smile, Barry shook his head. "Never mind. Now's not the time for that. The next time we meet, maybe I'll tell you then." While Umbra was interested in the other thing Barry was going to say, he wasn't going to ask about it. In the end, it'd probably just be something stupid. Getting the answer to his question, which admittedly he should have seen coming, Umbra decided it was time to call it a night. Turning back to the entrance of the ship, he waved goodbye to Barry.

"I'd prefer that we never cross paths again, but seeing as how I owe you now, that isn't possible. Until then, Barry." As he left, Umbra gained a strange feeling. In fact, now that Umbra noticed it, he realized that the feeling had been with him the entire time he had been on this mission. Maybe it was due to the fact that Umbra wasn't able to keep tabs on Team AZID. Maybe it was from being on the water. Whatever it was from, Umbra didn't like it. All he could do was wait and see if it went away when they returned to Beacon. That is… if Team AZID hadn't decided to move up the date on their plan and destroyed Vale already. If only I could hijack one Ironwood's stupid ships and crash it into them and Eliza. That way I could finally get some damn rest.