Yo, how's it going? Y'all keeping safe, washing yer hands and stuff? Good!


Thorne walked through the courtyard with his helmet held by his side and his longsword sheathed, enjoying the fresh air, feeling refreshed after what felt like an eternity of traveling.

He sighed with satisfaction. It wasn't that he wasn't used to traveling, he'd been a wanderer for years before the truce happened, looking for those in need of aid along the border of Valkenheim and serving as a protector just as any other warden would have, the difference was that he wasn't of the iron legion like most other knights, he was the last of the Guardian legion, and even though it fell a long time ago, he still wore it's colors proudly.

He sighed once more. Thinking about the past made him wander back into the present, into this new world he and the others had been brought into. What were they going to do once the wounded recovered? He didn't have the slightest idea, and dwelling on it wasn't going to change that, but it troubled him deeply. When they first arrived at the city of vale everything seemed so… bright, the people didn't look worried about when the next attack would come or have enough to eat by the time winter came, instead he saw bright faced families, food around every corner, people were just happier, it made him wonder what place warriors like him had, if they were even needed or wanted.

Thorne sighed for the third time and decided to make his way back into the main building, perhaps a training session in the arena would help him ease his mind, or so he hoped.

The warden in black and gold plate had only taken a few steps inside the main building when he bumped into something, he looked down only to find a small boy with long hair as dark as a moonless night, the warden took a step back to better see the short and slender teen, whose skin was as pale as the snow of Valkenheim, and with white lifeless eyes that were barely visible past his hair yet somehow stared at him.

Thorne shook his head to himself, staring was poor manners. "My apologies, I was distracted by my thoughts."

The kid smiled, his expression was soft and had a kind aura to it, but his eyes remained the same. "I know, you don't need to apologize for an honest mistake, I should have been the one more aware, I normally would have sensed you long before we crossed paths."

The kid's choice of words confused him. "Sensed?"

"I'm blind," he explained. "I have to rely on my other senses to get around, don't worry, you're not the first one to not notice immediately, most people don't."

Ah, so that was why, in retrospective he felt stupid for not noticing, and felt worse for having interrupted whatever he was doing. "Now I feel that my apology was inadequate..."

"I know, you don't need to apologize to me, but if helps ease your heart, why not follow me to my destination? Company is more than welcome." He said with a warm smile on his face as he extended one hand out into the hallway to point the way.

Thorne looked at the kid for a few seconds before nodding (mostly to himself) and moving to stand next to the kid, he opened his mouth to speak but before he could get a word out, the blind began to move, the warden immediately walking next to him.

It had only been a minute when the kid spoke up. "If I may be blunt, what is your name?" He asked with clear curiosity and… excitement?

Thorne raised an eyebrow but answered nonetheless. "Thorne Wingbreaker, why?"

The kid hummed, his thumb and index on his chin. "Thorne," he repeated. "Like the ones of a rose, sharp, painful, harmful to any who would dare touch it but never with malice, a protector."

The warden's eyebrows raised in surprise as he stared at the kid with his mouth open like a fish, he hadn't expected that at all, moreover he was utterly surprised at how close that sounded to his duty as a warden.

"Sorry," the blind chuckled. "I like to find meaning in names, even if there sometimes is none, it helps me have an idea of the kind of person I'm with, though I sometimes get it wrong, not this time though if your reaction is anything to go by."

That last bit had Thorne more confused than before. "How did you know my reaction if you can't see it?"

He smiled once again. "I don't need my eyes to see," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, all with that same undertone of calm and kindness.

Thorne stopped trying to make sense of the kid's words and answered with a simple hum, deciding to accompany the blind in silence. Throughout their walk he managed to understand what he meant, the kid deftly dodged out of the way of other students on their way to class, commented on things that Thorne hadn't even noticed were there until he pointed them out, there was also one time where he told him to stop just as they were about to round a corner, before Thorne could ask why they were stopping, a tomahawk sailed across the air before embedding itself into a wall. The owner of the weapon rushed to recover it, though decided to run away once he took notice of the warden and blind kid.

Thorne stared dumbfounded at the kid. "How did you know?"

"Like I said, I don't need my eyes to see, I have my hearing, my smell and touch, they are often good enough to guide myself," he said with a light chuckle.

"What happens if that's not enough?" Thorne asked.

"If it doesn't work then there's always my semblance."

Before Thorne could even ask what a semblance was, the kid stopped at a seemingly dead end, the warden turned his sight away from the blind only to see a very familiar metal box.

"Thank you for the company, your questions were rather entertaining Thorne Wingbreaker," he said as he stepped into the box. "We shall meet again." He bowed his head as the doors slid close.

Thorne stood there for a good five minutes before deciding to head to the library, he didn't think training would set his mind off this, not in a thousand years.

/-/

Ozpin sat on his office, patiently waiting for the student he'd called for to arrive.

Loud taps echoed in the room.

Or at least he would be were it not for the man besides him. He sighed and slowly turned to look at Qrow with a raised eyebrow, the man was sitting on a chair with his arms crossed and a rather neutral look on his face. Ozpin's eyes slowly drifted downwards, towards his feet.

The tapping somehow managed to get louder.

Ozpin sighed and took a sip of his ever present coffee mug. " Qrow, tap your foot any harder and you'll tear a hole through the floor, what is it that's troubling you so much?"

Stood up and looked out of the window before taking a swig of his flask. "I'm not really comfortable leaving that woman with my nieces, something about her just doesn't seem quite right."

"Qrow, if she wanted to harm them she would have done so by now, and even if she tried anything, she'd be up against two of the best freshmen teams, so try to relax a little, your nieces will be fine."

Qrow hummed and took another moved to take drink from his flask, grumbling when he found it empty. "Still can't help but have this feeling, maybe it's just me playing mother hen." He walked back to his seat and plopped down into it. "So, why'd you want me up here anyways?"

That Question was one Ozpin was more then happy to answer. "Remember the student file I showed you this morning?" Qrow nodded his answer. "I wanted you to meet him before he helps us with our new friends."

Qrow raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why?"

"He can be… off putting to say the least, I thought it'd be better if I showed you exactly why that is before questioning the warriors so we can avoid any hiccups." He got a ping on his computer, after which the elevator camera feed popped up on screen. "Ah, speaking of which."

As if on cue, the elevator doors slid open, and out of them stepped out the short and slender blind teen, who made his way up to them.

"Qrow, meet Widren Atlas, our helper for this occasion."

Widren hummed. "Qrow, like the bird, bringer of misfortune but not out of its own will, what is the lone bird doing so far away from the murder, I wonder?"

Qrow looked thoroughly dumbfounded. "Uhhh, what?"

Widren chuckled. "An expected reaction, your confusion is rather amusing, yes." The blind kid cupped his chin humming in thought. "You are worried about something, red and yellow, a rose and a flame, not something, but rather someone."

His words seemed to spook Qrow, who stood up with a frown on his face. Ozpin saw the need to interfere and stood up, placing a hand on Qrow's shoulder, who turned to look at him. Ozpin in turn sighed. "That's quite enough Mr. Atlas, please."

The blind smiled and bowed his head at Qrow. "Pardon my prodding, I like to draw reactions from others to get an understanding of who they are, you're a good man." He raised his head and turned towards Ozpin, a gesture made for their sakes. "Why did you call me?"

"Let's have a seat first, this may take a while."

The three did as he suggested, Qrow looking more then a little bit uncomfortable about being in the same room as the blind student, it is what it is, he thought before beginning to explain the situation with the unknown warriors and their story. Ozpin left no detail unspoken, and once he mentioned their claims about waking up in the forest, Widren spoke up.

"You want me to get the truth, to know if they are lying."

Ozpin nodded, as useless as the gesture was. "Yes, I can usually tell when someone lies to me, these warriors aren't like other people though, I'm afraid that if I tried speaking with them myself I'd miss something crucial, your semblance would clear things up easily."

At the mention of his semblance, Qrow perked up. "What's so useful about his semblance?"

The wizard raised an eyebrow. "Did you not read the full file?"

"Read the basic info, the rest was illegible with all the ink spilled over it." He said with a small shrug.

Ozpin sighed. "Ah, I must have given you the old file, his semblance is-"

"No," Widren interrupted him, then extended a hand towards Qrow, which began to shimmer a gray light as the blind pushed his aura into it. "Words alone cannot explain the intricacies of it, it would be better if I showed you, if you are willing."

Qrow looked at the hand, then at Ozpin. "It's your decision, but if you do, it'll be an experience you won't forget."

Qrow once again stared at Widren's shimmering hand, he extended his own hand, and then, with a nod to himself, he grasped it.

Qrow's senses exploded.

/-/

Virgil was NOT having a good time, she thought a she practically threw herself away from the incoming attack from Alistair's halberd, she stumbled and barely managed to recover her footing before a stab came her way, she blocked with her shield as best she could, but her already weak and tired arm couldn't stand against it, and so, the strike knocked her shield to the side. Virgil felt the way the very tip pierced the side of her abdomen ever so slightly, not even close to being fatal or even serious, but it was more than enough to make her panic. Virgil launched herself backwards and fell to the ground, her burning legs finally giving out, her arm let go of her sword and immediately flew towards the wound, her panic grew at the feeling of her own blood in her hand.

Alistair on the other hand, calmly made his way towards her, kneeling in front of her and taking off his helmet. "Remove your hand."

Her panicked hazel eyes met his. "W-what?"

His calm golden orbs returned the stare. "Remove your hand, the wound should be merely superficial but it never hurts to be certain, now do it," he said firmly.

Somehow, his strict demeanor managed to calm her down by a little and Virgil did what he asked. The lawbringer removed one of his gauntlets and lifted her hoodie to get a clear look at the stab wound, his unarmored hand poked around the wound, every touch around the stab sent needles up her spine. "It hurts…" she said with the most pathetic voice.

"I know," he answered, seemingly not caring much about her pain. After a moment of extra prodding, he removed his hand and let her hoodie (which now had a hole in it and was stained with blood) drop down. "Superficial, barely half a finger deep, you'll be fine." he nodded as he put his gauntlet and helmet back on before standing up and offering her a hand.

Virgil took it and hauled herself up, Alistair merely offering as support, he gestured towards her discarded weapon, Virgil hurriedly picked up the sword with her shaking hands and sheathed it, as well as strapping her shield onto her back. The lawbringer began to walk towards the exit, signaling for her to follow along, which she did as best she could given how much her legs were shaking.

"Where are we going now?" She asked as she began to take deeper breaths.

"To the infirmary, I've seen lesser wounds kill warriors through infection, best to go clean it," He said, leaving no room for any more conversation which Virgil was thankful for as it gave her time to recover from the brutal training, if you could even call it that.

"Your performance was more then I expected but still pathetic." Virgil whimpered at his harsh words. "Your offense is truly pitiful, you flail your sword with no thought or force and your edge alignment is all over the place, I'm surprised you even know from which end you're supposed to grip a sword by," he continued. "Your defense wasn't too bad, but it's still far from perfect, at least Blackwall's training was useful for something."

"I'm sorry…" she muttered under her breath.

Alistair stopped to look her in the eye. "Apologies are useless to me recruit, be better." Even though he said it as bluntly as he always did, his voice somehow seemed softer, kinder, maybe it was just her hearing things.

"We're here," he said, to which Virgil looked up to find out that they were indeed at the infirmary. "Get in there, I shall be waiting here." As usual, he left no room for buts or whys, and so, Virgil stepped inside.

/-/

For Tranquility, the day passed rather quickly, spending most of it in the company of teams RWBY and JNPR. The information she managed to gather from them was very interesting indeed.

Dust, Grimm, aura, semblances, scrolls, huntsmen, weapons, Vale, and so much more that she had trouble keeping track of it all, it was fascinating, the knowledge that there was so much more out there just waiting for her to look for it was something that made her feel… feel… what did it make her feel?

Tranquility opened room 1313 with the key she'd been given with a slight frown on her face. She briefly looked around the room, finding it empty despite already being nighttime, it appeared that she was the only one tired enough to seek rest.

Tranquility walked over to the large window and looked at the clear night sky. All of her nights in this new land had been cloudy, with only slivers of moonlight breaking through the clouds and so had never really seen the moon, today though, there was not a single cloud in sight, and the view made her quietly gasp to herself.

The shattered moon hanged lazily on the sky, surrounded by the tiny dots of light that were the stars. The peacekeeper took off her mask and tried looking for the constellations she knew were in the skies of Heathmoor, yet she found none, just as she knew she wouldn't.

The broken moon demanded Tranquility's attention, and she obliged, observing it with a curious gaze. She sighed quietly, it was… pretty.

She took a deep breath and released it with a sigh as she made her way to the bed on the left corner of the room, sitting down on it and getting rid of her boots, gloves and metal pieces of her armor, placing them neatly in front of the bed alongside her weapons. Tranquility laid down with her hood drawn up as usual, staring at the ceiling as she kept thinking about her time with the students. Yang would make a play on words every now and then, the others would groan with the exception of Nora, who would either laugh or send a disappointed look towards the blonde. Jaune would sometimes spark conversations about whatever came to mind, from books, music, weapons, news and some things that Tranquility couldn't quite understand but seemed to make the others happy. Both teams asked her questions which she diverted or threw back at them, though they didn't seem to mind or notice, and from there a whole new topic would come up, and the two groups would chat for what felt like hours.

They laughed together, smiled, teased each other and joked at the expense of one another, always acting so carefree and bright. It wasn't anything that Tranquility hadn't seen before on her own people, during the truce she saw even more of it.

Her hand moved to rest atop her chest, she closed her eyes and focused on her heartbeat, slowly drifting into sleep.

Why did this time make her heart feel so heavy? Was her last thought before sleep took over her.

In the darkness and silence of the cold and lonely room, as Tranquility laid asleep on the bed, a single tear formed on her left eye, and silently rolled down the side of her face, passing through the burnt side of her head, never to be acknowledged, never to be known.

/-/

Her eyes shot open and began to look at her surroundings, a home, she was laying down next to a fireplace, close enough to feel the warmth but not enough to burn, she looked around some more and found her initiate peacekeeper armor discarded on a chair, burnt beyond repair and with the straps cut, whoever brought her here had felt the need to get rid of them in order to take the armor off, she thought.

Tranquility tried standing up, but the sudden sharp pain across her left arm stopped her from it, she tried lifting her head to get a better look, but the movement sent pins and needles across the left side of her head and neck. Beginning to panic, she tried lifting her arm up to her face, the pain surged once more but she bit her lip and kept on going. Every inch made the pain worse and worse, making her bite her lip so hard it bled.

After what felt like an eternity, her arm was finally at eye level, and she found it to be bandaged, using her other hand, she began undoing it, after an eternity of pain, she undid enough that she could finally see what was underneath.

A mess of charred skin was what laid underneath the bandages, the young peacekeeper was suddenly aware of how hard, how painful it was to breathe, every inhale felt like her lungs were about to explode, every exhale made her throat feel dry and sore, the sounds of her labored breathing filled the room as she began trembling. Tentatively, she brought a hand to where her face and neck hurt and found the once smooth skin to be irregular and rough.

Her breathing became more panicked, the pain of keeping her left arm up was finally too much and she let the limb fall uselessly to the side, the impact hurt more than any beating her trainers had ever given her, making her cry out in pain with a coarse and rough voice.

That caused a man to burst through the room and kneel next to her.

"It's okay girl, you're going to be fine!" he said with a reassuring voice as he laid a hand on her non burnt shoulder.

Tranquility couldn't focus on his words, and her breathing became faster as she stared at the man who she was sent out to kill, to the man who swung a lantern to her face.

The old merchant kept reassuring her, the man marked for death who'd saved her and treated her stared at the woman who would have killed him with naked worry.


If I find out you're not washing your hands and keeping safe, I'm gonna be very disappointed. Anyways, here's a little surprise for y'all, omake!

P.S: 4k words in a single chapter, yay.

P.P.S: The values of lien are based of the values of the Mexican peso because thats what I'm used to, rough conversation is 1 dollar = 20 pesos. I'll leave the math to ya.


Omake: Vikings vs. Technology.

"What do you think it is?" asked Torbjorn as he stared at the… thing before him.

Frea looked just as stumped as he was. "I don't know, is it like a painting?"

A fellow Viking scoffed. "Paintings aren't supposed to move ya halfwit, it's more like a box!"

"It's a laptop…" whimpered the kid who was trapped among the mass of Vikings.

Torbjorn proceeded to pretend he didn't hear that and squinted as he put his face closer to the box, painting thing. "But then what? Is there a tiny man inside the box that's talking about the weather?"

"Yeah, and what about the text?" asked Frea.

"Ha! What makes you think I can read common?!" Torbjorn said between loud and boisterous laughter.

"Besides why's he talking about the future weather? Is the man an auger or something?!" added one of the pikemen, or well, pikewoman if you must.

"I give up! We don't have the brains to figure this out raider!" Exclaimed one of the officers as he gripped Torbjorn by the shoulders and began shaking him. "Me says it's sorcery! Blood magic, has to be!"

One way to find out, Torbjorn decided as he pushed past his comrade and hefted his axe, preparing for an almighty swing. "Stand back, this might get messy!"

"Brothers no! This thing cost me 10k lien!" the nameless student gripped his head with both hands in despair as he shouted in vain, out in the courtyard, no one would help him.

His Viking fellows began to bang their shields, and those who didn't have one chanted his name. Torbjorn made a light swing with a backwards step, the student who hugged his device protectively suddenly realized that he was going to swing regardless of his opinion and promptly choose the correct course of action by dropping his laptop and GTFO.

The Vikings took several steps back, cheering as Torbjorn spun and unleashed the raider's fury with a mighty war cry. "Ég ríf ykkur í bita!"

The laptop was no challenge against Torbjorn's axe and was promptly smashed to bits. The Vikings rounded around the remains to see what was inside the thing, only to find it full of things they couldn't even recognize.

Frea looked at the remains skeptically, disappointedly. "Well now what?"