Chapter 1: The Shining Beacon
? POV
Five years have passed since my fight with Uncle Ozpin, Aunt Glynda, Qrow, and Raven. Uncle Ozpin and Aunt Glynda took me in and I stayed in Beacon Academy ever since. Qrow comes by every now and then after his missions to report to Uncle Ozpin. As for Raven, I never saw her again since our encounter.
There were two major problems at first concerning me. First of all was my identity, I never had a name, only titles. I was infamously known as the Grimm Knight all around Remnant, and my mother, Salem, affectionately called me Son of Grimm or just Son. My first name became Crimson thanks to Qrow. He got the idea from my eye that is crimson red and my Son of Grimm title. If I remember correctly, when I was resting in the infirmary he said, "Hmmmm… A crimson eye… Wait, Son of Grimm, Son of Grimm. Son… Ah! I got it now! How about Crimson?"
"That could work." Glynda agreed, "It fits with the color-naming rule after all."
"Very well, what about his last name?" Ozpin asked, the three of them were deep in thought,
"Why not give him the last name Pendragon?" Glynda asked,
"Then people will start mistaking him to be the last of the Pendragon Bloodline, giving Salem all the more reason to go after him as soon as possible." Qrow explained, "You didn't forget the fact that she killed everyone related to King Arthur?"
"Of course I didn't, but you can't deny that the boy is a spitting image of our late king. Brown unkempt hair and one of his eyes have the same shade of blue!"
"Well duh. He's the reincarnation of King Arthur." Qrow said nonchalantly, "You know what? I'm not responsible for the kid so name him however you want."
"Professor?" Both Glynda and Qrow were looking at Ozpin for his thoughts on the matter.
"It's final, his name from now on will be Crimson Pendragon. I'll start writing his records, you two may go back to your duties."
Then second of all was that Uncle Ozpin and Aunt Glynda had heated arguments with the General of Atlas Military, James Ironwood. Apparently he thinks I'm too dangerous to be around anyone especially the students of Beacon. Uncle Ozpin thinks otherwise because of my condition. When I was discharged from the infirmary a few weeks after Uncle Ozpin took me in, Aunt Glynda gave me a tour around Beacon. There weren't that many people in the halls but when we reached the cafeteria in the afternoon, it was crowded.
And that was the problem.
I have the ability to hear people's negative emotions and it scares me, hearing their fear, their anger, their hate, and their suffering makes me want to get away from them before I start going crazy.
That day…
When their negative emotions overwhelmed me, I ran from the cafeteria. While running through the halls, the vision on my left eye became red and the students were shaded black. I bumped into a group of four students. They apologized and helped me up. When they looked at me closely, my eyes surprised them. They've never seen a kid with heterochromia eyes, especially when one of the eyes resembles a Grimm eye. I crouched down with my head on my knees and my hands covering my ears as I started to cry. I unintentionally shocked the four students in front of me and I could hear the fear growing slowly in their hearts. They were afraid of me. Fortunately Aunt Glynda was there before anything could happen and took me to Uncle Ozpin's office where it was quiet. Aunt Glynda told Uncle Ozpin about what happened. He then ordered a customized thick headset with a visor attached. I wore it like a mask over my eyes, the visor fits my head and the headset was perfectly aligned with my ears with the handle hung back behind my neck.
The next day, the four students whom I bumped into, were worried about me. They asked Aunt Glynda how I was and she reassured them that I was fine. I told Aunt Glynda how they were so afraid of me because of my Grimm eye but she told me that I misunderstood their feelings. They were only afraid because they didn't know what to do, that they panicked. They didn't know how to help me when they have the opportunity to do so. When I understood what she meant, I went to find them in the cafeteria. My enhanced hearing didn't affect me as much as it did the last time I came here thanks to Uncle Ozpin's customized headset. I found the group of four students and apologized about how I reacted. They said it was no trouble and that they were glad that I was okay.
Since I am greatly affected by people's negative emotions, a small part of me is still Grimm, and I am the reincarnation of Vale's King Arthur gave Uncle Ozpin all the more reason why I should remain at his side. To be trained and supported by him, and the teachers and students of Beacon Academy. Not to be treated like a soldier or even worse, subjected to an experiment as suggested by General Ironwood to find out more about myself.
Five years have passed since then… I've trained and studied to get this far to be a worthy huntsman to attend Beacon Academy at the required age.
My name is Crimson Pendragon. I am seventeen years old and this is when my story begins.
Third POV
Today is the day Beacon Academy welcomes their returning students and their new first-years. As the new students come out of the airships and walk their first steps on Beacon Academy, their faces are filled with awe. Beacon Academy is truly an amazing sight to take in. The campus is very large with tall towers towering over them. Unbeknownst to the students is that there is a young boy who appears to be the same age as the first year students, sitting on the edge of the roof of the students' dorm that has a clear view of Beacon's Main Avenue. The boy looks curiously at the students walking around Beacon Academy. Most of them he has seen before while some are new. The boy has chocolate brown, unkempt hair and heterochromia eyes, one red and one blue and has fair skin. He wears a black, sleeveless turtle neck shirt with red and blue highlights, black short sleeved jacket with red highlights which the collar is raised in an attempt to cover more of his face, long fingerless gloves that reaches below his elbows, dark blue long shorts that reaches below his knees, and black combat boots. He also wears black metallic colored armor that consists of: a breastplate, a right shoulder pauldron, a left arm guard and a right shin guard. On the back of his black sleeveless jacket is the neon blue symbol that resembles two dragons on each side and a sword in between them, The Pendragon Insignia. On his hands he holds his customized headset with its handle hanging back and has a blue visor attached to it.
The boy is rather nervous. He places his right hand over his chest to feel his heart beating rapidly. Tearing his eyes away from the students, he looks up to the sky admiring the light blue shade, the fluffy, cotton white clouds that drift across, and the sun shining its warmth onto him. The boy's lips curl into a smile, remembering a fond memory he keeps in his heart from five years ago.
He soon felt a presence right beside him,
"I never thought you'd find me here Aunt Glynda." The boy announce as Glynda approaches him,
"It's not that hard to find you," Glynda replies, "This has always been your usual spot since we took you in."
"Ah, I didn't mean it like that. I thought you'd be too busy checking in with me because of the new school year and all." Glynda takes a seat next to boy taking in the view together with him,
"That being said, why aren't you down there with the new students Crimson? The welcoming ceremony will start in twenty minutes." Crimson chuckles lightly and using his index finger to scratch his temple at the question, "You're nervous aren't you?"
"Well yeah. This will be the first time I hang out with people at my age. Plus, you and Uncle Ozpin kept me within school grounds. Sure I get to go out to Vale once in a while, but that's only if I have one of the teachers accompanying me. So I never really got to play with kids at my age… Not that I want to anyways."
"But you understand why we had to do that yes?"
"Of course, if it were me I would've done the same thing to myself."
"AACCCHHHOOO!"
BOOM
The two people on the roof look down at the Main Avenue to see an explosion with hints of lightning and ice. When the smoke clears, they see two girls, one wearing a red hood and the other wearing white clothes arguing at each other. Crimson glances at Glynda and sees her dissatisfaction on the event and grins widely at her reaction,
"It's only the first day, and there's already explosions." He comments,
"Yes, this year's first years will be quite a handful. Especially with you with them." Glynda has a ghost of a smile saying that.
"Hey!"
"While I am worried about you, I'm here to remind you that from this day forth, you will address me and your Uncle Ozpin as your Professors. Is that understood?"
"I have no problems with that. We aren't even related anyways." Crimson stands up and puts on his headset and visor, and decides to move down to the Amphitheater, "I'll see you soon Professor Goodwitch." Glynda smiles at him, proud of how far he has come and looking forward to seeing him grow even further.
As Crimson walks across the Main Avenue, he hears two voices not far from him. He continues walking until he sees two new students who appear to be lost. One of them is the girl with a red hood who exploded earlier. The other is a boy with blonde hair that is slightly taller than him by two inches.
"Hey there," he calls out to them, "You guys lost?" the girl with a red hood smiles, happy that they found someone who can guide them around campus.
"Oh yes! Jaune and I are wondering where the welcoming ceremony will be." The girl has black short hair that becomes dark red on the tips and silver eyes. She wears a long sleeved thick black blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and a black skirt with red trim. She also wears a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and red soles.
"That would be in the Amphitheater," Crimson says while pointing the direction with his right thumb and his left hand behind his head, "You guys can follow me there if you like?"
"Sure thing!" The girl joyfully jumps up in the air. The three of them start to walk together going to the Amphitheater.
"Soooo… I'm Ruby, what's your name?" Ruby asks, initiating a conversation and not wanting things to be awkward between the three of them.
"Crimson."
"Nice to meet you Crimson!" Ruby then nudges Jaune using her elbow on his lower abdomen telling him, "C'mon Jaune! Introduce yourself too!" The boy named Jaune has dark-blue eyes and messy, layered, blonde hair. He wears a diamond-shaped chest plate cut off above his lower abdomen and white spaulders with rerebraces set under them. Underneath the armor, he wears a black short-sleeved hoodie with detached reddish-orange sleeves. He also wears blue pants with a white patch on his left knee as well as black sneakers. Jaune gives Crimson a confident smile and says,
"Hey, the name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it." Crimson turns to Ruby and asks her,
"Do you love it?"
"Well not really," Jaune looks down when he heard that, "but I'm sure there's someone who will!"
"I'll give you that."
"So, what kind of weapons do you have?"
"Oh, I don't have my weapons with me right now. I left them in my locker. Don't worry though, you'll see it during tomorrow's initiation."
"Well in that case," Ruby reaches for her collapsed weapon behind her and transformed it into a scythe, "meet Crescent Rose. My pride and joy." She says as she coos her weapon.
"Wow, a customizable scythe with a high impact velocity sniper rifle." Says Crimson while looking at it very carefully.
"Oh my Oum! Are you into weapons too?! Not a lot of people can identify Crescent Rose just by looking at her."
"Hahaha, no. I am not into weapons as much as you do. I knew what it is through my visor. It can help me identify stuff with the database I installed into it."
"Oooooh, it looks so cool."
"It kind of makes me wonder what you look like under it though." Jaune points out.
"Sorry, I can't remove it right now. While it does give me information about my surroundings, it can also help me see better. I'll be honest with you, I have terrible eyesight."
"Then why not glasses?" Jaune asks,
"A fair point. I'm colorblind. My environments become red and I can see like a lot of dark spots."
"I see." Jaune says, accepting the explanation.
"Do you wear it in your sleep?" Ruby is taken aback by how weird her question is. Crimson chuckles at that,
"No, I don't wear it when I sleep." Crimson looks back at the two to see them whispering to each other, "I hope you guys aren't planning to disturb me when I sleep." Ruby and Jaune are flustered when Crimson found out what they are planning to do later tonight.
"W-w-what are you talking about? We would never do that. I mean that's invasion of privacy." Ruby says, stuttering. They finally arrive in the Amphitheater. Inside, there's someone calling out Ruby's name in the middle of the crowd,
"Ruby!" a girl calls out, "Over here! I saved you a spot!"
"Oh! Hey, I gotta go. I'll see you after the ceremony!" Ruby goes to the girl with golden hair despite Jaune's protests in leaving him and Crimson behind.
"Hey wait!" Jaune calls out and sighs now that Ruby is gone, "Great. Where are we going to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?"
Crimson looks at him questioningly, "We?"
"Yeah. Me and you," Jaune says pointing to himself then to Crimson, "I mean we're here to not only become heroes but also to get some girls. Right?"
Crimson snorts at what Jaune just said, "I think that's just you big guy." Jaune then walks ahead of Crimson and expects him to follow but he didn't,
"Aren't you coming?" Crimson shakes his head and replies,
"Sorry, I'm not a big fan of crowds. I'll be right here if you need me."
"Ok, I'll see you later Crimson." Crimson waves to Jaune. After he's left behind, Professor Ozpin begins his welcoming speech.
"I'll… keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge—to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
Crimson listens intently to the speech and is filled with determination, if he didn't have the resolve to be a huntsman; he certainly has one right now, the memories of his time as the Grimm Knight pours into his mind. Images of people murdered by his hand and the houses he burned. Now that he has overcome his darkness, he swears to himself to protect these people, just as his king promised to him.
Once Professor Ozpin steps away from the microphone, Professor Goodwitch proceeds to her announcements.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
Night has fallen in Beacon. Crimson changed to his pajamas, which is a white sleeveless shirt and black shorts. Crimson leans back onto the wall while sitting down on his sleeping bag. He's listening to "Gold" from his customized headset so he won't be overwhelmed by the negative emotions he hears from the students around him. The song of his choice reassures his special insecurities. Crimson looks up to see Jaune dragging his sleeping bag and placing it beside his. He also notes Jaune's interesting choice of sleepwear, blue full body pajamas with blue bunny slippers and a white bunny face on its chest. Once Jaune finally settles down, Crimson decides to voice his opinion,
"Nice pajamas," he says, smirking at Jaune,
"Hardy har har, very funny Crimson." Jaune replies back catching on his comment.
"No really. They're unique."
"That's putting it lightly." Jaune lies back on his sleeping bag with hands behind his head, "Hey Crimson?"
"Hmm?" Crimson pauses his music to give Jaune his undivided attention
"You nervous about tomorrow's initiation? What do you think we're going to do?"
"We're going to fight, that's for sure. We are huntsman-in-training to protect people from the Creatures of Grimm. And yeah, I am nervous. Not about fighting, it's more about who my team mates will be."
"Oh yeah, there's that too…" Jaune raises his hand in front of Crimson, gesturing for a handshake, "Why don't we be in the same team then?"
Crimson is happy at the idea. Even though Jaune doesn't look like he can hold out in a fight, Crimson's sure that will change during his four years here in Beacon and he'll help him if he asks. But Crimson knew better than that.
"I'll be happy to be in the same team as you," Crimson grasp Jaune's hand and shakes it firmly, "but I don't think that's how forming teams here work."
"Really? How are teams formed here then?"
"I don't know," Crimson smirks to himself and making sure Jaune doesn't see, "I just have a feeling that the professors shouldn't make it this easy for students to form teams."
"I see. You might be wrong though."
"Yeah I might be." Jaune then turns his back on Crimson, making himself comfortable and ready for bed, "Well, g'night Crimson."
"Good night."
Crimson stays up for a little longer, waiting until Jaune is sound asleep. Before he removes his visor and goes to sleep, he heard arguing nearby. Looking to his right, he found Ruby, the blonde-hair girl and the white-hair girl she was with earlier in the day, and a black-hair girl with a bow. He looks at them for a while until the girl with a bow blows the candlelight, dispelling the final light in the ballroom.
