Solace arrives at the structure and the source of the scream and is shocked to see that the girls he saw earlier, Jaune plus three other students battling a Death Stalker and a Nevermore. One of the girls, wearing a red hood, was trapped by the Nevermore's feather and is about to be attacked by the Death Stalker when Solace quickly aims his pistol and fires at it's stinger. The Death Stalker shifts it's focus from the girl to Solace now, allowing one of the other girls to dash in and free her from the feather. Solace then leads the Grim away from the group to allow them to come up with a plan. The Nevermore, that has been flying above the battle ground, sees Solace by himself being chased by the Death Stalker and tries to dive in with it's talons ready to stab him. Solace was too preoccupied by the Death Stalker to notice the Nevermore earlier but when he finally does, he tries to come up with a plan to dodge the incoming Grim but in his mind he knew that he was too late and at this point anything he did wouldn't have made a difference in it's attack. Solace just closes his eyes, so this is on how my life ends huh? Not by the hands of a soldier but a monster? Seems fitting I guess. It does take a monster to kill one. Sounds of crackling followed by a loud boom then erupts and he opens his eyes. Solace was surprise to see that not only was he alive but a wall of ice has formed around him and trapped the Death Stalker by the stinger while the Nevermore had gotten hit out of the way by a girl wielding a giant hammer.
"Are you alright?" the girl in white asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine..."
"Good, now what were you thinking? Charging in without any back up like that! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"I uh-" Solace is interrupted by a blonde girl.
"Hey, how about we save the lecturing later after we beat these guys!"
Solace and the girl who saved him agrees then quickly gets back into the fight with the others. Jaune sees Solace and asks for his assistance battling the Death Stalker with his group while the girl in white runs back to the others and fights the Nevermore. The girl wielding the hammer takes the opportunity and pummels the Death Stalker to the ground. The Grim is hurt from the attack but the shock of her strike causes the ice that was trapping it's stinger to shatter and allows it to smack her out of the air. But as she falls her hammer transforms to a grenade launcher and she fires explosive shots at the Death Stalker. While the monster is being attacked a man wielding two automatic pistols then goes in, climbs up it's stinger and tries to remove it from the rest of it's body by shooting at it. He was close to dismembering it, as the stinger now just dangles from it's tail, but before he could seal the deal the man is quickly tossed off to the front of the Death Stalker and is about to be stabbed by it's giant pincers when Jaune and the girl with red hair gets to him quickly enough to brings up their shields and blocks the attacks.
"SOLACE SHOOT IT'S TAIL OFF!" Jaune yells at him.
Without a moments hesitation he fires three well aimed shots towards the dangling stinger. The first round was enough to dismember it from the body while the following two rounds were more for show as it causes it to fly a few meters away. The girl with the grenade launcher transforms it back to a hammer then sprints pass Solace and towards the girl with red hair. She then jumps on her shield and is launched about 10 meters into the air before slamming her hammer down on the Death Stalker. The sheer force from her strike now, not only causes the Grim to stagger but also causes it's shell to collapse inward. Solace walks up to it's face and unloads 6 rounds dealing the final blow. With the Death Stalker finally defeated it's body then begins to evaporate slowly until nothing was left of it.
"Wohoo, that was so awesome! I was like bam and you were like ratatatata! You were so cool Ren!" The girl with the hammer praising the man with the dual pistols.
"Hey Solace, nice shooting you did back there. You really have a knack in marksmanship." Jaune says to him.
"Thanks Jaune, it's all thanks to the training I received really."
"Well regardless of the fact, we're grateful of your hard work and your teammates are lucky to have you" the girl with red hair says.
"That would be true if I had teammates of my own."
"Wait didn't you run into anybody while out there?" The girl asks.
"No, I managed to stay out of sight and as of result I found no one."
"Is that even allowed?" Jaune asks.
"I don't know..." Solace then walks towards the structure and sees the artifacts he was supposed to retrieve. He grabs the closes one to him, a pawn? How fitting... "but all I do know is that I completed the objective and helped save fellow students."
"Fair enough, should we go and help Ruby's team now?" Jaune says.
"Ruby?" A loud squeal echoes to the forest and the group all looks up to only be surprised. The girl with the red hood was on the side of a mountain and was sprinting upwards with the Nevermore being dragged along from the neck by her scythe. She was stepping on weird looking symbols on the side of the mountain, which looked like it was boosting her speed, and by the time she reached the top her scythe goes through the Nevermore's neck, slicing it clean of it's body. The head lands next to her while the body falls downwards to the base of the mountain. Everyone doesn't say a word and just stand there in amazement. So her name is Ruby.
5 hours later at Beacon's Auditorium
Solace awaits nervously for his name to be called up as Professor Ozpin calls the teams together. He didn't really care at the time since he was in the moment but the more he thought about it the more he began to regret the fact that he didn't run into any other students while in the woods. Jaune's name is called up along with his teammates Nora, Pyrrha and Ren, making team JNPR and it makes Solace a bit jealous that he was able to get a team together but not him.
"And finally the man who collected the white pawn, Solace Krieg" Ozpin announces.
The crowd falls silent as no one else but he walks to the spot light. Nobody could recall a student being called by themselves so they were confused on what was going on.
"Now I remember saying earlier that anyone you link up with in the forest will be your partners for the rest of your time here, and yet here you are alone. But you were able to fight off Grim that came your way, assists your fellow hunters and retrieve your objective so to me I'd say you coming back without any teammates isn't that big of a deal. Thankfully though we do have a protocol that deals with people in your situation. You shall be given the title NOVA, No Vocational Associates. You shall be by yourself until we are able to find compatible students to work with you but till then you shall work as an asset to other teams assisting them in whatever way they need you too."
"I am humbled, professor."
The ceremony ends with Ozpin saying his closing speech and the students either left the auditorium or stayed to mingle around with the new teams, Jaune and his team decides to talk to Solace.
"Hey, Solace how you doing right now man?" Jaune asks.
"Honestly I'm feeling great. I was really worried that they would've dropped me or something but being labeled as NOVA instead isn't that bad."
"Who do you think they'll pair you up with?" Pyrrha asks.
"No idea, but I'll make sure to do my best with whoever I work with."
"Uncertain of your future but you still persist in going forward, you truly are a pawn." Solace turns around to see Ozpin behind him. "Now please do not take this as an insult but rather as a compliment. Just as a white pawn, regardless of the enemies you face you'll move only forward never looking back and since you're a white piece you'll always make the first move."
"Thank you professor, that really means a lot to hear that coming from you."
"I'm only hear to help all of my students attain their dreams in becoming a hunter. Now I wanted to discuss with you about your status as a NOVA. Alone." The rest of JNPR leaves the two which allows them to talk the two in private. "Listen to me very attentively Solace as I will only share this once. Your position as NOVA was no accident. I am fully aware of your past and what you've been involved with so when it was time for you to go through the Emerald Forests I predicted that your training would have kicked in and you would left the forest partner less but with your objective done. So just in case I was right I may have created a new position in the academy and may have given it a fake background. But let's keep that between us alright?" Solace nods. "Anyways I'll try to find compatible students with you as quickly as possible but until then your first team to work with shall be RWBY's. Now don't let your little fantasies kick in as you won't share a room with them. Since you are essentially a lone asset you will be given a room for yourself."
"Sounds like I'll end up a loner."
"A price to pay for being a NOVA. Don't let this bring you down Solace, being by yourself isn't always a sign of weakness. Being in the military alone should've taught you the importance of working as a team but if you were to see someone survive the battlefield alone, that would prove that they are just as if not stronger than their brothers."
"I guess so professor. Anyways thanks for everything I promise to not disappoint you sir!"
"I know you won't."
Solace feeling tired goes to his new room and sees the it's still meant for four people making it very spacious. But after lying down on one of the beds and seeing that there are three empty ones he couldn't help but feel very alone. It's not something he's not used to as there were missions he accomplished where he was isolated for long periods of time but to know that there are supposed to be more people here with him. The thought didn't really sit too well in his mind.