All for One, One for All
Part 1: What We've Become
Chapter 3: All is Lost Again
By the time he was 16, Solis was already more powerful than most Grimlock his age; he'd managed to overpower Flumen's student Vulcan and overpower Alpine, Lunaes's best student. His own grandfather had three or four other students under his wing outside of Solis. Solis had started feeling something for one of the blondes training under Ryce, the blue-eyed Aurora, which Ryce and Lunaes always toyed with him about.
At this time, Solis was a towering 6-foot-2, with strands of red striping his yellow hair. He was able to lift almost 10 times as much as an Ursa could, nearly 10 metric tons of pure titanium-steel alloy. His hair was longer too, about a foot long and combed into spikes at the back. He managed to forge two barbed steel knuckles for close combat, which he stitched into a pair of gray gloves; as well as the two-pronged knuckles, he always had a shotgun fit for slugs in case he needed some longer range. He usually wore a silver necklace to remember those he lost over the years, whose beads were larger at the center and shrunk towards the outside, fitting snugly against his collarbone. He wore an armored red jacket with yellow highlights, a pair of black cargo pants, and red boots with a white buckle strapped over. His hazel eyes were starting to turn a bright shade of red nowadays, and he was starting to grow stubble more often.
He never thought that the Dark Huntsmen that took his parents would ever attack the mountainside abode he now lived in, but that's exactly what happened. The sixteen-year-old had just finished a training session when the whole residence heard a deep rumbling sound and went dead silent. Everyone thought it was a nearby avalanche, but Solis had a feeling it was something else, something unnatural. He inched closer to his fellow students just in case. That was when disaster struck.
A cesium rocket burst in through a window and struck the floor, exploding upon contact with the cold oxygen. Red-hot shrapnel flew everywhere, sending everyone either to the floor, to the wall, or to heaven. Among those killed was Flumen and Lunaes, who took the blunt of the shrapnel for their students and minimizing their wounds. Alpine and Vulcan were peppered with shrapnel, but came out relatively unscathed. Solis tore himself off of the wall and prayed that it was over. Boy, was he proven wrong.
Two cesium rockets exploded, tearing apart the outer wall and destroying the support structure. Not only did the mountain-house start sliding, but an avalanche started falling above them. Ryce shouted for everyone to grab hold of something and get to cover, but his command was cut short when a cesium ballistic tore through the roof of the falling building and exploded upon hitting the floor. A majority of the Grimlocks were killed in the explosion, whether it be from the explosion itself, landing at the base of the mountain a little too hard, or the avalanche following close behind.
After picking himself up off of the rocky ground, Solis looked for other survivors. Among the bodies found were a few fellow students, the young girl Alpine's sister Tabitha, and Ryce himself. A tear rolled down Solis's face as he continued searching among the scorched and torn remains when he heard a light cough from a familiar voice. Panic set in as Solis searched frantically for Aurora, digging through the rubble so he could get to her.
One last large stone flew into the forest when Solis found a gruesome sight. Aurora was bleeding from a head wound, pierced in multiple places by still-hot shrapnel, and battered badly from getting caught in the avalanche. She was breathing, but barely; tears rolled down her ashen face as she felt the full effect of the broken bones, burning shrapnel, and numerous cuts and scrapes. Perhaps most painful of all to see was the stone piercing her through the stomach; the bloody spike had torn through her spine, broken several ribs, and skewered a number of internal organs. She was losing blood and fast from multiple wounds, which pained Solis much to see his friend in such a condition.
Aurora died five minutes after Solis found her, her head in his lap, holding his right hand as he stroked her singed hair with his left. Her last words were telling Solis that she loved him, through a painful, shaky breath. Solis cried after her death for nearly three hours straight before something snapped in him. He carved several symbols and letters into his necklace, then inscribed on his shotgun's barrel the following: "Sacrifice will not go unremembered. Remember the fallen: Aurora, Ryce, Flumen, Tabitha. Never forget, April 24, 3201."
After inscribing on the rifle, Solis let go of his light side and activated his Instinct. His hair permanently changed to red, and his eye color turned a violent dark red. The numerous cuts and scrapes lining his body turned into scars, never to go away. His personality went from passively aggressive to permanently violent as he sniffed the air for the scent of Dark Huntsmen. He found his target and, without even looking, pointed his rifle and fired. A puff of blood replaced a head, and a body tumbled down the mountain. Several gunshots rang out, bullets flew at Solis, and all bounced off like he was a concrete wall.
The shotgun glowed a violent red, shining brightest from within the barrel and along the inscriptions. Solis pulled the trigger once more, and a red bolt of light flew from out of the barrel; he missed the Dark Huntsmen, but the explosion certainly got the message across. The light inside of Solis was practically gone, and he was hungry for vengeance.
By now, Ventus was 14 and still going strong. By now, Ventus could create a hurricane strong enough to uproot an entire forest, fly on a small tornado, and had even built his own weapons: twin Dust-filled whips capable of shrinking/hardening into twin katanas, named Vortex and Cyclone. Ben had finally healed up and was now on his third year at Beacon. He was part of Team EBNY (Ebony), and had actually gotten over the Fang attacking him. Ventus, on the other hand, was still having issues with that. Like just now.
A team of Faunus extremists broke into his family's home and slaughtered everyone inside. Well, almost everyone; upon seeing his Liaison and single Silver Eye, they decided to brand him instead of killing him.
Funny how heat works: it doesn't mix well with the cold. The Fang member trying to brand him learned this the hard way as the red-hot iron cooled off violently and shattered upon Ventus blowing on it. The poor Bulldog Faunus was in total shock at this while Ventus just cackled like a villain.
The Fang finally decided to tattoo him instead. The artist had just finished the Fang insignia when he accidentally spilled ink all over his artwork. He tried wiping it off with a cloth, but only succeeded in making a tornado-shaped smudge. He tried using a knife to scrape off excess ink, managing to cut Ventus in multiple spots around the tattoo and making the tornado design even worse. Now the Fang insignia looked more like a blue tornado breaking out of a red bubble.
After the numerous incidents and a violent beating, the criminals left his home. Ventus snuck out through the locked door, breaking it off its hinges, and caused such a violent F5 tornado that the terrorists' guns broke open and released their Dust cartridges. The winds activated the Dust, causing the tornado to start hurling flaming stone and ice shards. Lightning sparked within the vortex, further terrifying the villains. The Fang ran like the raging winds and scattered, realizing that any attempt at battle would only result in instantaneous defeat. Afterwards, Ventus gave his parents a proper burial; in the meantime, he thought about what happened with the Dust and came up with a way to use that to his advantage.
End
A/N: That took a bit of doing. Keep in mind that these characters aren't OP in any way (well, they are but they aren't). I gave both introduced OC's some sad backstories, but one of them was able to get past it without unleashing his darker side. Poor Solis, I kinda feel sorry for him; I'm just torturing the poor guy.
So, I have the demon and the tornado out of the way. Now comes the two others, the tricky ones: the modern Viking and the walking tank. Get ready to be amazed with the new team to Beacon. Currently, we are two years before the beginning of Vol. 1. Leave a review or PM me if you have any questions, requests, or otherwise. I'll see you all next chapter. Texas out.