"I was neither alive nor dead."

Chapter 3: Sunrise (Hyacinth's Point of View)

Weightless.

That's how I felt when I came to.

I opened my eyes, blinking several times before looking around where I was. It looked like I was in space, floating in a never-ending sea of stars. I looked ahead of me and saw the shape of a person. I couldn't see them very well, but it appeared like their back was turned to me. I tried to move forward, but I felt some sort of pressure keeping me in place. I tried calling out to the them, but my throat closed in on me, making it hard to even breathe, if I could even breathe in outer space.

The person ahead of me tensed, their shoulders rising up a bit. Their head, turned to look over their shoulder. The pressure increased, beginning to hurt. My throat closed up even more.

"You shouldn't be here…"

My eyes shot open and I gasped, sucking in the deliciously cool air. I closed my eyes again, trying to steady my breathing and my heart. After a few minutes, I opened my eyes and looked around, trying to figure out where I was.

Oh, right. I was at Beacon in the ballroom. Most of the new students were up and about, chattering with their old and new friends as they stretched and put away their belongings. I eased myself up, rubbing my eyes and wincing. Geez, could these people get any louder?

I got up, waved at a few people I had talked to the previous night, packed my stuff back into my carry-on and pulled out my fresh set of clothes and other morning things. I headed to one of the bathrooms outside of the ballroom and walked in. There were three human girls in there, already dressed, and they immediately hushed, staring at me as I walked in. I rolled my eyes and headed into one of the stalls to change. I came out wearing my combat clothes: my purple turtleneck with the shoulders cut out and going down two third's of my upper arm; electric blue leggings with my purple battle skirt and electric blue, high-low overskirt on top; and finally my knee-high electric blue and purple wedge boots. I figured I would put my shooting gloves on later.

"Where did you get that outfit, a garage sale?"

I glanced over at the girl who spoke. She was on the shorter side, maybe 5'3", with shoulder length, straight blonde hair and icy blue eyes. Her outfit, was entirely pink- and no, not just any pink- neon pink, with light neon blue accents. It hurt my eyes just to look at her. Even the air around her was a bright, but somehow threatening, pink. Her cronies were dressed similarly.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. So these were going to be the "popular" mean girls of the school, huh?

"Actually, I made this outfit myself, using highly expensive, durable, yet stretchy and flowy, fabric that has threads of metal sewn in, to make it harder to injure me. Also, the boots were a bit pricy, but well worth the cost due to the retractable spikes on the bottom of them." Honestly, I was completely lying about the last part, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them right? Actually it might….. oh well.

The two girls in the back looked slightly intimidated and awed by the answer, but the leader scoffed. "Really, now? How is a faunus supposed to be able to afford stuff like that?"

I shrugged. "It helps when your parents own a successful company and you learn how to sew at the age of six."

The blonde now looked pissed.

"Just stay out of my way, bitch, got it?"

"Yeesh, yeah, no can-do. See the fox ears? Yeah, not a bitch. Clearly you need your eyesight checked, 'kay? See you hopefully never." I walked out of the restroom, leaving behind a fuming blonde and a couple of scared girls.

I strolled back into the ballroom to grab my stuff. As I picked up my bag, I noticed that the girl from the airship, what was her name again? Oh right, Pyrope!, was still zonked out on the farthest side of the ballroom. It was about 8 in the morning, and breakfast was going to end at around 8:30, so I figured I might as well give Pyrope a wake-up call. I walked over to her and nudged her side lightly with my foot. She didn't even stir. I frowned. Crouching down next to her, I shook her shoulder and said quietly, "Hey, Py, you gotta get up. Breakfast will be over soon."

She groaned and swatted at my hands. I shook her shoulder a little harder. "Pyrope, get your butt out of bed, it's like eight in the morning."

"Nooooo…" Pyrope groaned and rolled over, her back facing me. I sat back on my heels, trying to think of a way to get her up. Then my ears perked up and I sniffed the air. Hmmmmmmm…

"Hey Pyyyyyroooppeeee… There's bacon and pancakessssss."

"Pancakes?!" Pyrope shot up out of bed, but before she could fully sit up our heads collided and we both fell back, clutching our heads and groaning.

"Ah shit, that hurts!" Pyrope sat up first, me following soon afterwards. She rubbed her head one last time before blinking her sleep-ridden eyes at me. "Oh, it's you. What the heck are you doing here, waking me up?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, it's nice to see you again, too. C'mon, let's go get some pancakes before they are all gone!"

Pyrope groaned yet again before rolling out of her sleeping bag and sluggishly standing up. I stood as well and bounced on my heels as she began to sluggishly gather her things and trudged to the bathroom. I waited by one of the sinks and applied a quick swipe of mascara to my eyelashes as she got dressed. I slipped the bottle into one of my many secret pockets as Pyrope stepped out of the stall.

She was garbed in an outfit similar to yesterday's: a crimson shirt that had rips on the sleeves and hem; a black leather vest; red, ripped leather skirt with a black and charcoal grey battle skirt under it; the same knee-high, black combat boots that had spikes on the bottom of them.

Pyrope finished clipping on her slanted belt as she stepped out of the stall. She glanced up slightly, furrowing her eyebrows as I slipped my hand into my pocket. The blonde raised an eyebrow at me before unclipping a pocket from her vest and pulling out her finger-less black leather half-gloves, slipping them on as she stepped up to one of the sinks.

I pulled my mascara out again. "One of my many secret and invisible pockets. Very handy, I hardly ever have to use a purse." I said, figuring she wanted an explanation for my hand's disappearing trick.

Pyrope simply nodded her head, reaching into her bag and fishing out a small makeup bag. She took out some black eyeliner and mascara and began applying them. The girl applied a decent amount of mascara before starting on the eyeliner.

"Why are you using so much eyeliner?"

Pyrope rolls her eyes, "Do you want the whole list or are you just asking a rhetorical question?"

"The whole list, my friend." I smiled.

Pyrope sighed, as if hoping it had been a rhetorical question, but answered nonetheless. "One, it helps protect my eyes from the sun. Two, it makes me look badass. Three, it makes people ask questions and I enjoy messing with people. Four, why not? Lastly and most importantly, it helps to disguise my eyes and identity."

I nodded. Those were viable reasons, and I was pretty sure she wasn't messing with me. At least, I hope she wasn't…

Pyrope finished putting on her makeup and put her stuff away. I perked up and asked, "So you ready for the heavenly goodness called pancakes and bacon? I'm not sure how good they are here but they can't be too bad, right? I mean, the school is obviously receiving a lot of money due to taxes, tuition, donations, fundraisers…" and I was off, chattering on about what the food might be like here, filling in the silence so the walk to the cafeteria wouldn't be awkward. Pyrope walked next to me silently.

We entered the large cafeteria, most of the tables deserted. Pyrope hurried over to the short line and began serving up our breakfasts. I grabbed a fuji apple, a stack of 3 pancakes, 4 pieces of bacon, 2 sausages, a bowl of strawberries, some scrambled eggs, and a tall glass of milk. Pyrope, on the other hand, only took 2 pancakes and a granny smith apple. I gave her a look and gestured with my head to the large refrigerator-like things that contained some of the beverages. She rolled her eyes but walked over to them. She opened one of the doors and grabbed the first thing she saw- a water bottle- plunked it on her tray, and gave me a sassy smile. I rolled my eyes and followed her to one of the more solitary tables. She sat with her back to the wall, near the corner, and I took up residence across from her. I figured she wouldn't take kindly to me sitting next to her.

We began eating, me eating quickly but politely, her going at a slower pace. I finished my pancakes and was halfway through my eggs when I felt a prickly sensation on the back of my neck.

"Hey-!"

I threw my arm up to the left and caught the orange that was tossed to me. I looked at it before throwing it back over my shoulder. I smirked when I heard a satisfying thunk and a loud "OW" from across the room. I looked up at Pyrope to see her mouth still half open from her unfinished warning. She glanced between me and the dude who threw the orange. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Animal instincts, remember?" Pyrope nodded, regaining her composure. "How were you able to throw it back without looking?" I shrugged again. "Animal reflexes, training, a 19 out of 20 hit rate, and karma. Plus, his aim was off and his throw sloppy, completely amauter. I'm willing to bet that you could have caught it just as easily."

"HEY!"

Pyrope and I turned around. A dude with brown hair and grey armour was walking swiftly to us, two of his buddies following behind. I guessed that was the guy who tried to throw an orange at me.

"The hell do you think you're doing here, faunus? Shouldn't you be sniffing your butt or something?"

Pretty sure this is the dude who threw an orange at me.

I turned my head to face Pyrope and said, "Don't you know that foxes don't sniff their own butts, let alone other people's butts? Sheesh!" I turned to face guy again. "Are you the one that threw a fruity projectile at me?"

"Yes, though you obviously didn't get the message to leave, bitch." he sneered at me.

Hey, I was right!

I sighed, "When will people learn that I am not a female dog? Like seriously, the ears are obviously a big difference." I faced the blonde yet again and whispered, "So, what should we do about Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dum, and Tweedle-Dumber?" Pyrope thought for a few seconds before replying, "Well that depends on the goal you want to achieve by confronting them? I suggest giving them a scare because I hate them, but that could confirm their thoughts of you being just an animal. So maybe it's in your best interests not to confront them. But… I would enjoy it myself."

I grinned. "Well, if you wanna threaten the Three Crap-ateers, be my guest." Pyrope grinned a slightly sinister smile back at me. Hey, that's the first time I saw her smile, I think.

Pyrope turns towards the the three guys and seems to be observing them for a few moments. "Did you know that humans are animals too? So you are an animal, just like her. Humans are mammals and all mammals are animals. Like animals you breathe air, require nutrients from food, reproduce, and even rid yourself of waste from your body by defecating." The three boys stare at her with a slightly confused look on their faces and share a look with each other. Pyrope grins sinisterly again and begins twirling one of her red and black, flame like, knives in her hand. Her voice took on a cold tone. "You describe animals as nothing but monsters, beasts, things that follow instincts and have no feelings. Well here's a news flash for you. You're no better than these so called "animals" that you have described. You care nothing for the feelings of the faunus in this world that are human too. They work just as hard as you but instead you treat them with the same harshness and cruelty that you said they were. Just now you acted on an instinct to throw that orange."

The three of them took on a nervous composure and shifted on their feet. They watched Pyrope's blade twirl faster as she took a step towards them with an angry glint in her eyes. "You want to know how an animal really behaves? I'd be happy to show you myself." Pyrope's hand that held the knife had sparks that flew between her finger-tips, controlled but threatening. The boys take a startled step back and glance between each other as if debating what the hell was happening. Pyrope takes one more step towards them so she was only inches from them. "If you ever call another faunus at this school, or anywhere else, anything like that again, or say they're just animals/beasts, or bully them, you will have to face a monster worse than what you make them out to be. You'll have to deal with me and I don't have much patience. If anything, I'm more of an animal than any faunus you've seen. So watch yourselves or the animal will hunt you in the night." With that, Pyrope makes a low growling noise and the boys share a terrified look before making a run for it. She replaces her knife before turning back to me with a blank expression, "They won't be bothering you again, and if they do I'll know about it, and they'll get taught another lesson."

I stared at Pyrope, my jaw wide open. "You are so badass." She shrugged and sat back down. "I'm not badass. I just have anger problems and don't get along with people." She then looked up at me and gave me a slight glare. "Don't expect me to do that again."

I grinned, "Nah, I don't think they will be back, so you don't have to if you don't want to. But, no seriously, you are really cool. Like, you can come up with that threat right off the bat, and you can do cool flippy-knife-trick-thingys and all that. Plus, the sparks looked pretty threatening. Ooooooooh, I bet you could just shock people if they get annoying and- OW!"

Pyrope pulled her hand back from where she shocked me on the arm, smirking slightly. I rubbed my arm. "Yeah, okay. I was getting annoying, huh?" Pyrope rolled her eyes. I grinned. I took my last two pieces of bacon from my plate and put them on her plate. She raised one perfectly arched eyebrow at me.

"You need more protein," I state, leaving no room for argument. "You didn't grab much. We are not leaving this table until you eat it." Pyrope gave me another look, which I returned. Yay sassy me! Pyrope sighed and shoveled them in, her face briefly forming a look of shock (like the good kind of shock, not like "ack someone just threw a thing at me") before quickly settling back into a neutral expression. I smiled in triumph- she glared. Pyrope quickly wiped her mouth and hands before standing and grabbing her tray.

"Let's get going, yeah?" I nodded, picking up my tray and things as well. We dumped our stuff off at the tray-trash-area-thingy. As we headed out, I told Pyrope, "You are now one of the few people who can now say that they got to eat my bacon." She turned to me, questioning. "I don't like to share my bacon, so this is most likely going to be a one time thing, okay?"

The blonde rolled her eyes, yet again. She needs to tone down the sass. "You need to turn down your sass." Pyrope gave me a sassy look. I made an even sassier one. We ended up walking down the corridors to the auditorium making sassy and ridiculous faces at each other, laughing and imitating each other and other people in exaggerated fashions. I laughed loudly at one face she made of some queen she read about in a book. Pyrope's eyes were half-lidded and droopy, while she made the rest of her sag, her mouth half-open and turned down. I snorted, and a few seconds later she chuckled as well. We stumbled down one hall and passed a group of older students. They looked at us strangely, whispering and pointing. We looked at each other, then them, then back to each other-

And we busted out in even louder guffaws, and we ran down the hall, our laughter echoing off the high arches. We turned a corner and stopped to take a breather. I leaned against one wall, sliding down it, gasping for breath and giggling quietly. Pyrope opted to lean over slightly, her hands on her knees, chuckling slightly under her breath. "Damn, I haven't laughed like that in years."

I puffed out a breath of air. "Ah, don't worry. I have a feeling we'll be laughing a lot here."

Pyrope snorted. "Yeah, I don't know about that." I gave her a questioning look. "Hyacinth, this school is serious. We are being trained to kill dangerous and lethal creatures, there isn't time for fun. We have to work nearly 24/7, and we are most likely going to die on the field."

I sighed, the mood of the conversation darkening. "I know," I started. "I know I'm probably going to die at an early age, and I know that there isn't much time for extra activities. Hunters and Huntresses don't have that luxury." I sighed deeply before continuing seriously. "But if we don't have fun and let the light in, then the Grimm will have already won. I'm not letting the good emotions leave. I won't let them be destroyed by fear and hate and darkness. That's one of the reasons I am here. To shine light in the darkness and drive away fear."

I looked up at Pyrope, my eyes steely. "If the Grimm and evildoers are going to try to take away happiness and love, they will have hell to pay for. I'm not going down without a battle, and I sure as hell will be the one standing on top."

Pyrope looked at me for a little while before giving me a half smile, filled with a strange sense of sadness. Abruptly she ruffles my hair slightly, "I'm sure you'll give it your all." She stared off into the distance as if lost in the past and spoke gently. "If only things were that easy. Sadly this world is more complicated than that. You'll soon see that light isn't enough. Sure it may help out but in the end it takes more. Of what? Well you'll just have to answer that for yourself when you figure it out. It's different for each person." She sighs and lowers her head, her eyes bearing the dark truths of the world, "Trust me on this. I've seen more than you have in my travels. I'd like to preserve that innocence in you but unfortunately I know that to be impossible. But I promise to do my best to help. It's not much of a reassurance, I know, but sometimes this is all we've got. You're my first friend so I'll die before letting this world corrupt you in the way it has me."

I smiled up at Pyrope. "I'm glad we're friends. I know that we all are on a difficult road, but I still think we can beat the evil," then I pouted slightly. "I'm not that innocent! I have a dark side…"

Pyrope looked at me amusingly, "Let me see your dark side face."

I furrowed my eyebrows slightly and attempted to sneer

"Awwwwww…" Pyrope cooed. I glared at her. "What? You're dark side face is adorable! You look like a bewildered bunny!"

I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Whelp, let's get going to the auditorium, yeah? I think the other students will be starting their initiation thingy soon."

We walked to the auditorium and were just in time to see the start of the initiation. We watched in awe as our fellow students were shot into the air, teamed up, and got their relic, all the while fending off the Grimm. It was wicked. An hour or so later, it finally ended. We (the students not in the first round of initiation) were told to get up and file out of the auditorium. We followed the teachers outside and to the opposite side of the school from where the first initiation took place.

Whoo-hoooo let's hope I don't die during this!

End of Chapter 3

Hi guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I will try to upload on a weekly basis, I was thinking Mondays and possibly Fridays as well if I had enough time that week. Anyways, tell me what you thought, thanks!