Chapter 2: The First Step

Crimson's POV

I find myself inside a gigantic, spacious, and very bright room. The windows are many feet above me, because of the sun rising, the windows aligned on the left are shining multiple colors on the porcelain floor. The windows on the right are not shining like the ones on the left but they are vibrant because of the sunlight that traveled here in the room. Right beneath the windows from both sides are tall white pillars supporting the weight of the ceiling, preventing it from falling to the floor. There is a long red carpet, carefully laid out in front of me. I notice that I am no longer wearing my pajamas but royal garments with armor. The royal garments consist of a blue cotton cloak with soft, light golden fur, a silky, white, long sleeved shirt with gold highlights, and long brown stockings. On top of the silk shirt is a polished, well-made chainmail with pauldrons, cuisses, and a breastplate. I trace the red carpet, seeing that it'll lead me to what appears to be a throne. Next to it is a man. He is beneath the colorful rays of the sun with his sword pointed downwards. I slowly walk towards him as I try to get as much detail as I can of this room, trying to remember it, and at the same time being wary of the man, unsure of who he is. Each step I take, the man seems to get bigger and bigger, probably around six foot and three inches. He's also wearing the same outfit as I have but with a golden crown on his head. He turns to me and surprisingly he's like an older spitting image of me, except he doesn't have heterochromia eyes like I do. He smiles as if he waited ages to finally see me,

"We meet again, Crimson." He says but I do not recognize him, I honestly never met a man like him before, "Do you not recognize me?" He responds to my confused look and then he realizes, "Ah, that's right you never saw my face, only my armor." He gestures to something behind him with his arm outstretched and it is indeed an armor I'm most familiar with. That's when I realize who he is. I immediately bow before the man, one knee down, my right hand forming a fist and placing it above my chest, and my head parallel to the floor. The man chuckles before saying, "There's no need to be so courteous, if anything I should be thanking you for allowing me to take place in your heart."

"You saved my life by doing just that, thus I am forever indebted to you." I respond while still bowing,

"Rise," he says encouragingly, "You may think otherwise, but whether you like it or not, we are – in some ways – one and the same." I rise up just as he commanded, and I see that he has a troubled look on his face,

"Is something the matter?"

"The other knights disapproved of me choosing you as my host. The first time I reincarnated, I chose someone from my lineage because it amplifies the knights' abilities when their host has the knights' blood flowing through their veins, but over the years, we could not uphold that tradition."

"Your lineage… was killed by my mother…" I say guiltily.

"Yes… Ares' descendants however, were much worse than mine. His was corrupted. Overwhelmed by the ability to best your enemies and using them to massacre anybody who stands in their way. Ares' hosts were always a prodigy in military training and he takes pride over them. His host now is no exception, however, the host is not from his lineage."

"What about the other knights?" I ask,

"Robin Hood's descendants became afraid because of what happened to my family. They no longer wanted to be associated with Robin Hood because of their fear of the same thing happening to them. Robin complied with their wishes and began choosing hosts whom he thinks are worthy of his abilities. Susano-O on the other hand, remained devoted to his lineage and they to him."

"Do you agree with them? Did you regret choosing me?" I look down, sad by the news that the other knights think that I am not worthy of being King Arthur's host. The more I think about it, the more it starts to ring true. Maybe I really am not worthy to protect Remnant. After everything I've done to the people here? Who am I kidding? Training to be a Huntsman just to redeem myself. In the end when they know who I truly am, they'll always see the monster I was born to be. Why did I even ask that question? It's obvious he thinks the same thing.

"If there's one thing I'll regret my whole life… It's choosing not to save you that day five years ago." I looking at King Arthur once again; he still smiles warmly at me as if I am his own son, showing his sincerity as he answers. "I chose you because I wanted to save you, not because I wanted you to be my knight. I wanted to give you the life you've always deserved despite the sins you've committed. It didn't matter whether I wanted you to be my knight in the near future so I certainly didn't expect you to train to become a huntsman, to dedicate your life to protecting our people. Which is why I called you here to make things official."

King Arthur now stands squarely in front of me, facing me seriously. "You are not a Knight of Remnant yet. I have not given you my abilities as a knight because I thought that you'd choose a normal life, one that does not involve violence. But now that you're in Beacon, I need to know whether or not your intentions of becoming a huntsman are clear. Crimson," he calls my name with such high intensity making me really anxious. He nods his head down, telling me to take knee. I obey what his command as he raises his sword. "Will you be my representative as a Knight of Remnant? Sworn to protect its people from the darkness that is to come?"

I look up at him again, reading the expressionless look on his face but nonetheless expecting me to answer honestly and determinedly.

"I will." I finally say.

"Then, from this day forth," he lightly taps his sword on my right shoulder, "you are worthy of my title," then he lightly taps his sword on my left shoulder, "Crimson Pendragon, Knight of Remnant." I rise up once again as he sheathes his sword, "I should warn you, that the road will not be easy. You will face such trials and tribulations that may break you, but you will not be alone. Remember that always..."

Before I can ask him anything about what will happen, King Arthur and his throne room fades to white.

Third POV

Crimson wakes up with tired eyes, his vision blurred. He blinks once, and then he blinks twice to get his vision sorted out. It is still quite dark in Beacon but one can see the orange glow of the sun from the horizon. Crimson grudgingly gets himself up to get ready for his usual morning run around Beacon. He puts on his visor headset and quietly sneaks past the sleeping students. He reaches his locker number 014 and grabs his gym shirt and shorts. He checks his watch on his left wrist and read 6:00 am. Crimson didn't want to stress his body too much before initiation so he decides to take the short route around Beacon with a slow jog.

By the time he returns to the locker room, he reads his watch again, 6:30 am. He takes a shower and puts on his usual getup, and then he heads to the cafeteria. The cafeteria isn't as crowded and it usually is in the afternoon but there are a few early birds ready for their day. One of those early birds is a girl with orange hair and turquoise eyes. Crimson notices that she is extremely excited through her loud and talkative nature. Surprisingly for Crimson, there is a boy next to her who will listen to her talk on and on. They're both eating stacks of pancakes on their plates, which beg Crimson to wonder what he'll eat for breakfast.

"Right. What was I thinking?" the girl asks herself as Crimson walks past her, "But still, I hope we end up on the same team together." Before she starts talking again, she slurps her pancake, "Ooh! We should come up with some sort of plan! To make sure we are in the same team together! What if we bribe the headmaster? No, that won't work, he has the school."

Even if Crimson increases the distance between him and the pair, he can still hear the girl talking. Crimson deduces that they are first years as well, based on the girl's ongoing speech. Ignoring them, he decides to eat pancakes as well, along with slices of fruit and orange juice.

After finishing breakfast, Crimson heads back to the locker room to get his weapon, Caliburn. Caliburn is an average long sword with a gold guard and blue handle. The gold guard has a large hole on the middle of the left side so that Crimson can attach his sword on his right pauldron, which has a bump that is the perfect shape as the shape on the guard. It can split itself into two, and by combining the hilts of both swords it will transform into a double-sided lance. Above the golden guard is the Pendragon Insignia carved onto the blade, but with the dragons breathing fire that reaches a quarter length of the blade.

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal!" Crimson hears the same loud voice he heard earlier in the cafeteria. After attaching his sword to his pauldron and closing his locker, he turns to his left and sees the same pair he saw in the cafeteria, "A secret signal so we can find each other in the forest!" The girl points to the boy accompanying her and asks him, "Can you imitate a sloth?"

"Nora…" The boy speaks, all this time Crimson thought he was a mute but now he makes a mental note to himself that the boy doesn't talk as much as people usually do.

"Yes, Ren?"

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."

"…That's why it's perfect! No one will suspect we're working together." Ren smiles to the girl,

"Come on, Nora. Let's go." Ren and Nora left the locker room to Beacon Cliff. Just as the pair left, there is another pair, both of them are girls and one of them Crimson knew from yesterday.

"Wonder what those two were so worked up about." Ruby comments, she turns to her right and saw a familiar face.

"Crimson!" She smiles at him,

"Hey Ruby." Crimson greets back, he then looks to the older blonde girl Ruby is with. The girl looks at him with interest.

"Oh! Uh, Crimson this is my older sister Yang, and Yang this is Crimson the other new friend I made." Ruby introduces us. Yang has fair skin, lilac eyes, and amazingly bright golden hair. She wears a tan jacket that leaves her stomach bare with golden brown piping and short, puffy, sleeves with black cuffs. Underneath her tan jacket is a low cut, yellow crop top with her emblem that resembles a burning heart on top of her left breast. She also wears a brown belt; underneath it is a white transparent cloth, black mini-shorts, and brown, knee high boots. On her wrists are yellow bracelets, but Crimson thinks there's more to it than that.

"So, you're the one who showed my baby sister the way to the welcoming ceremony," Yang and Crimson shake hands to formally start their acquaintanceship, "Thanks for helping her out, Yang Xiao Long." Crimson gives her a puzzled look,

"Xiao Long? But I thought you girls said that you are sisters?"

"Half-sisters, same dad, different moms." Yang answers,

"Makes sense."

"How about you? What's your story? And what's with that mask?" Yang asks, hoping to learn more about Ruby's second boy friend,

"Oh, it's not a mask Yang, it's actually a visor that helps him see better. It also has a database, which he can access to learn more about his surroundings. It looks so cool." Ruby says while looking at Crimson's visor headset with stars in her eyes.

"Then why not glasses?" Yang asks the most common question for Crimson when it comes to his visor,

"He's colorblind, the only colors he can see are black and red." Crimson decides to stay quiet and let Ruby answer the questions for him. Unfortunately for Crimson, Ruby doesn't last long no matter how much he wishes she'll answer the questions long enough for him slip past them.

"Ruby, I'm pretty sure Crimson can answer my questions by himself." Yang smirks playfully at her sister then to Crimson, "Well?" Crimson pauses for a bit, thinking very carefully which bits and pieces of his life should he mention and not mention. Obviously he doesn't want the two girls to know about his time as the Grimm Knight, but his story afterwards will also sound pitiful based on Yang's other questions.

"To answer your – "

"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Jaune exclaims, "Oh! There you are Crimson. I've been looking everywhere for you!" Jaune says with relief when he saw Crimson, "You mind helping me find locker 636? I can't believe I put my gear there, if I did, I would've remembered having to count that high!"

"Sure!" Crimson says immediately, "Well I guess I'll see you girls during initiation! Bye!" Crimson dashes past Yang and Ruby leading Jaune to Locker 636 faster than Jaune has expected.

"Hey! Wait!" Yang calls out to Crimson but he did not hear her. "Geez, what was that about?"

"I don't know Yang, maybe your flirts were too much?"

"I wasn't even trying too hard!" Ruby shrugs her off. Meanwhile Crimson pants while Jaune is confused by what happened.

"What was that about Crimson?"

"Sorry about that. I was just nervous that's all." Crimson says as he catches his breath.

"Yeah I can see that," Jaune opens his locker to get his gear while talking to Crimson, "But why blow Yang off like that? She's nice, she looks really pretty, and she clearly was interested in you." Crimson blushes deeply at his statement.

"What?! That's ridiculous! We just met!" Crimson counters,

"Ever heard of the saying 'Love at First Sight'?"

"That saying is not even realistic!"

"You're hopeless Crimson, at this rate you'll never get a girlfriend." Jaune sighs hopelessly to his friend,

"What makes you think I want one in the first place?!"

"Oh my Oum… Why didn't you tell me before?" Jaune asks, his face full of realization,

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Crimson asks back, confused about what the conversation turned into,

"That you're into guys! Man if I knew, I would've stayed away from you." Jaune takes a huge step back,

"What the – NO! I'm not into guys! That's even more ridiculous!"

"Oh really? Be honest with me Crimson, if you are gay, I'll still be your friend. It's just that it would be really weird if you're into me you know?"

"I'M. NOT. GAY." Crimson says very clearly.

"Whatever," Jaune ignores him, "Anyways, let me show you how to get a girl." Jaune points towards two other girls who are talking about teams. One of them argued with Ruby and Yang last night, and the other he never met before but Crimson finds her familiar. Jaune then winks at him and approaches the girls with confidence.

"Well I was thinking maybe we could be on the same team together." The girl with white hair says,

"Well that sounds grand!" The other girl who has red hair replies,

"Great!" The girl with white hair responds happily. But looking closer, Crimson notices that the girl clasps her hands together and has a devilish grin on her face. Crimson makes another mental note to stay away from this girl because nothing good will ever come out of it. Jaune then uses this opportunity to step in,

"You know what else is great?" Jaune steps behind the white haired girl and leans on a locker using his right arm, trying to look cool, "Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." Crimson scoffs at his approach, he would've left but decides to stay for the incoming amusement.

"You again?" The girl with white hair wipes her evil smirk off and replaces it with disgust towards Jaune,

"Nice to meet you, Jaune!" The red haired girl on the other hand is ecstatic to meet a new face; sadly Jaune pays very little attention to her. He pushes her aside and continues talking to the white haired girl

"Yeah, yeah. So, Weiss! Couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day."

When Crimson heard her name that was when he remembered her. Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company in Atlas. She has pale skin with pale blue eyes; her left eye has a vertical, crooked scar. Her long white hair pulled into an off-center bun by using an icicle shaped tiara. She wears a thigh length, strapless, white dress, the hem was adorned with snowflakes with layers of tulle under the skirt. She also wears a bell-sleeved white bolero that is also red on the inside and has the Schnee Family Crest on the back, and white, wedged-heeled boots. Her notable accessories are a small apple pendant, rectangular silver earrings, and a thin white sash tied up around her waist.

Weiss face palms while Jaune continues to pursue her, "Oh you've got to be kidding me."

"Don't worry, no need to be embarrassed! So, have been hearin' rumors about teams! I was thinking you, me and my friend Crimson over there would make a good one." Jaune points towards Crimson, turning the girl's attention to him who nervously makes an awkward smile and waves his hand to them. The girl with red hair who is with Weiss waves back while Weiss herself ignores him. Crimson's a little hurt by her cold action but he's been expecting it. "What do you say?"

"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of 4 students each, so –"

"You don't say." Jaune interrupts her but turns his attention to her, "Well, hot-stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team." Weiss stops him before things get out of hand. Crimson steps closer to see how the conversation would go.

"Jaune, is it?" Weiss outstretches both of her hands across Jaune and the red haired girl, "Do you have any idea who you are talking to?" Weiss asks him.

"Not in the slightest, Snow Angel" Jaune answers back, while Crimson is fighting himself from laughing too hard at Jaune's nickname for Weiss. Snow Angel is not a nickname he would certainly use on her.

"This is Pyrrha." Weiss introduces her,

"Hello again!" Pyrrha greets Jaune and Crimson,

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum." Weiss continues while Crimson finally recognizes the girl he's so familiar with. Pyrrha Nikos, number one student in Sanctum from Mistral and three-time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament in a row until another huntsman beat her last year. Pyrrha's red hair was tied up using a ponytail and was curled slightly into a loose ringlet, and her eyes are a light shade green. Pyrrha is tall and muscular than most girls Crimson usually sees around Beacon but that only added points to her natural beauty. She wears a brown, overbust corset with a vertical strip of light brown in the center, a black, elastic mini-skirt, brown opera-length gloves, and an ankle length sash tied around her waist. Her accessories are a circular, bronze plate that has her "shield and spear" symbol on her hip, two pouches attached to her belt, a bronze gorget on her neck, bronze bracelet on her left arm, and a beautiful bronze headpiece. Crimson almost thought that Pyrrha was of royalty because of her headpiece but dismisses immediately. Most of her body is covered in armor: bronze greaves and cuisses.

"Never heard of it." Jaune replies with nonchalance and without shame. Crimson face palms at his ignorance and decides to step in the conversation before Weiss will pull her hair out and make things worse.

"Her name is Pyrrha Nikos. She won the Mistral Regional Tournament three years in a row until last year another contestant beat her, thus breaking her streak, but she's nonetheless one of the strongest huntresses at our age to the point people nicknamed her the 'Invincible Girl'" I explain to Jaune and raise my hand in front of Pyrrha, "It's an honor to meet you Ms. Nikos."

"Please," Pyrrhic says humbly, "call me Pyrrha, there's no need for formalities. We are all initiates in this academy." She takes Crimson's hand in an attempt to shake it but Crimson has other ideas and chooses to showoff in front of Jaune, showing him how much he underestimated him. Instead of shaking her hand, Crimson raises it gently to his lips and kisses it tenderly. Pyrrha blushes at contact while Weiss and Jaune are slacking their jaws. "Well, aren't you a gentleman." Pyrrha says while blushing the same shade of red as her hair.

"You can thank my Aunt for that." Crimson replies with a cheeky grin. Jaune shakes off his amazement and continues being ignorant,

"She won the what again?" Crimson sighs pitifully at his friend.

"You eat Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes?" Crimson asks,

"Yes, why?"

"She's on the front of every single one of those boxes Jaune." Jaune gasps, his moment of realization has arrived.

"That's you? They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly the cereal isn't very good for you." Pyrrha says admittingly,

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?" Weiss asks Jaune with a triumphant smile. Jaune looks down, realizing his mistake.

"I guess not… Sorry."

"Actually Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader." Pyrrha places a reassuring hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"D'oh, stop it!" Jaune brightens up in a second,

"Seriously, please stop it." Weiss disapprovingly says, "This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!" Jaune, with renewed enthusiasm restarts his confident approach to Weiss.

"Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for team Jaune. Spots are filling up quick. Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings. Find a place for you. What do you say?" Jaune leans closer to Weiss causing her to lean back away from him.

"Alright, that's a bit too close! Pyrrha, a little help please?!" In a split second, Crimson sees Pyrrha reaching for her javelin and about to throw it at Jaune. She releases the javeling from her hand, then it slowly making its way to Jaune. Crimson takes a step forward, stretching his hand across Jaune, and catches the javelin. Because of Pyrrha's strength, a wind blows past Jaune and Crimson. Pyrrha is surprised by the outcome. She never expected her javelin to be easily caught by someone. Crimson blinks for a moment but he composes himself and turns to Pyrrha, handing her weapon back.

"You should be careful about throwing around weapons when there are people around. You may never know when you'll poke someone's eye out."

"Sorry, it was a force of habit." Pyrrha apologizes,

"It's alright, I can tell."

"I'm impressed. No one has ever caught my spear without a problem."

"It's nothing really."

"I'll also be happy to be on the same team as you…" She pauses, forgetting Crimson's name.

"Crimson." Pyrrha is still looking at him, waiting for more details but Crimson stays quiet because no one asked specifically for first name or full name. Weiss is impatient so she asks one of the very questions Crimson is worried to be asked about.

"Just Crimson? What's your last name? Or is it that you don't have a last name?" Weiss is challenging Crimson. Crimson is unfazed by her provocation and sighs to himself before answering,

"Pendragon, Crimson Pendragon."

The moment he answers is the moment he realizes that two other people are eavesdropping on their conversation, Yang and Ruby. He mentally curses himself but calms down as he is convinced that this is bound to happen sooner or later. All of the people who heard his answer and didn't know Crimson before then are shocked with wide-open eyes. Of course they would recognize the name, it is the last name of Vale's famous king in history. Weiss snaps from her shock and puts on a look of disbelief.

"Why hide who you are?"

"Yeah, I never knew you are a Pendragon." Jaune agrees with Weiss, "I thought they all di – " Pyrrha stops Jaune from saying any further and stays quiet.

"No, don't stop him from saying it Pyrrha. It's the truth, all of the Pendragons died in an unfortunate accident years ago. If there was a survivor, all of Remnant should have known!" Weiss glares at Crimson. If looks could kill, Crimson would've died by now, "Which is why I'm having a hard time believing that you are who you say you are. I won't be surprised if you turned out to be one of those Pendragon wannabes. You aren't the first person I've met who claimed to be a Pendragon." Crimson tilts his head down slightly, the bangs of his messy hair shadowing his eyes. He also has a small, sad smile, which no one noticed.

"You're probably right. Maybe I am a wannabe. To tell you the truth, I didn't have a name. So the people who took care of me gave me one as a way to remember our great king." Weiss faces Crimson with disappointment,

"Hmph. I knew it. Naming someone who has no relation to the greatest king of Vale thus has no right to be named after him is the worst way I've ever heard to remember him and his dead lineage."

"Would all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately." Crimson hears Professor Goodwitch's voice from the overhead speakers, "Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately." Weiss starts to walk towards the exit of the locker room that leads to Beacon Cliff. As she passes by Crimson, she makes sure only he can hear every single word she has to say,

"You disgust me." Crimson looks back over his shoulder but still standing on the same spot as Pyrrha also passes by him but with an apologizing expression,

"It was nice meeting both of you." She says,

"Likewise." Jaune sighs; then he stands in front of Crimson making sure he is okay.

"Thanks for the save back there." Crimson nods and begins walking to Beacon Cliff with Jaune following closely behind him. Jaune feels a hand on his shoulder and sees that it's Yang getting his attention,

"Having trouble there, Lady-killer?"

"I don't understand… My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

"'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start. Take Crimson's example! He was able to get Pyrrha Nikos to blush!"

"Yeah… And here I thought that he was hopeless when it comes to girls."

"You're wrong about that Jaune." Ruby said to him. Speaking of Crimson, the three of them are walking behind him but he hasn't said a word. Yang is a little worried about him and she knew it was because of something Weiss said to him earlier that was only meant for his ears. Yang reaches Crimson and asks him,

"Are you okay?" Crimson doesn't turn to her immediately, keeping his head up for a while causing Yang to think he needs some space. She's about to stop and let Ruby and Jaune catch up to her until Crimson stops as well and gives her a small smile.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just wondering about initiation." Crimson opens the exit door in front of him and he meets a refreshing breeze. He can see the massive Emerald Forest below Beacon Cliff. Up ahead are some silhouettes standing at the edge of it.

'You will face such trials and tribulations that may break you,'

'But you will not be alone.'

'Remember that always.'

Crimson remembers King Arthur's words to heart and remains strong as he takes his first step to becoming a huntsman.