Hello, everyone! How ya been?

Anyways, today's chapter is slightly longer than usual. Consider it a gift from your lord and savior!


Aquila stepped into Ozpin's office, immediately noticing the presence of Glynda. He greeted her with a small nod, a gesture which she returned. He turned to look at Ozpin, who was regarding him with a small smile. "Headmaster, you said you wanted to talk?"

"Indeed I did, but first; how has your first week of work been?" he asked, leaning on his desk with a smile.

He thought about that for a moment, closing his eyes and humming as he thinked about how the students adapted to his way of teaching which mostly consisted of defensive techniques and how to use the environment to their advantage. He can almost see their faces as he explained how to turn an opponent's offense against them. His lips formed into a smile. "Harder than expected but not in a bad way, these kids learn quickly so I don't think I need to worry too much about whether or not what I teach sticks." he shrugged and lightly twisted his neck, cracking it. "So far the toughest thing has been paperwork."

"Welcome to the modern workplace, Aquila," Glynda said while fixing her glasses, the tiniest of smiles on her lips.

Ozpin chuckled, reaching for his mug and taking a sip. "I'm glad to hear that you're adapting quickly. Now, onto the reason why I called you here." he straightened a bit. "How many of your people have unlocked their aura?"

He cupped his chin, humming. "Besides me? Can't say for sure, but a handful of us should have it by now. Why do you ask?"

"Excellent," he said before drinking from his mug once again. "The reason I'm asking is due to our annual forever fall trip." he stopped upon seeing Aquila's raised eyebrow, chuckling. "It's a team exercise meant to judge how well they perform on seemingly menial tasks, it helps us get an idea on what to add to our lesson schedule. Regardless, this is something we do every year for our freshman students."

"You want us to come along?" he asked.

Ozpin nodded. "Indeed. We've gotten reports of greatly increased Grimm activity in the forest, and of other strange occurrences." he sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Glynda plus another huntsman would be enough to guarantee the safety of our students under normal circumstances but given the rather unusual reports I thought it would be wise to take extra precautions."

"Without sacrificing part of the school's budget," Glynda added.

He chuckled and took a sip from his mug. "Yes, that too."

"So, we act as bodyguards and that's it? Shouldn't be hard to convince a few warriors to come along. Most are adjusting well to Remnant but a few are getting restless, a trip to the woods might help." Aquila said while moving in place, stretching his arms and legs until the joints gave a satisfying crack. "Anything else?"

Ozpin hummed and closed his eyes, then drank his coffee for a few seconds, simply savoring the taste and finally putting down the empty mug on his desk with a satisfied sigh and a small smile. "Ah, good coffee. And yes, I would like to ask a small question, if you don't mind." he waited for Aquila to nod. "How do our students compare to the warriors of Heathmoor?"

Glynda turned to look at him with great interest as soon as the words left the headmaster's lips, seemingly curious as well.

The old black prior was about to answer until a thought came to mind, an idea which he had to actually stop and think about. The abilities that aura could give these kids were astonishing: the ability to feel the emotions of others, to create sparks of lightning from their fingertips, warriors wreathed in fiery fury, to leave shadows of themselves behind and so many more. Those were the kind of feats that the people of Heathmoor had only ever heard of in the most heroic of legends, yet in this world was as common as breathing. However, he had noted that some of his students tended to overly rely on their semblances to fight, like Ruby Rose. At melee range, the little red reaper was all about quick strikes followed by semblance powered retreats, while her strategy at a range was to fire at the enemy and use her semblance to either reposition or counter attack if they got too close. She could move faster than he could track and attack in the time it took him to blink, rushing in to strike, then using her semblance to retreat to hit from a different angle. With that power she could have cut through entire hordes of their finest soldiers, and perhaps even cut down the mightiest of heroes, however, it was that same power which made her very vulnerable. Her strategy depended almost entirely on her ability to quickly move without getting caught, which meant that the moment her aura became too drained, her entire fighting style fell apart. With her semblance, Ruby rose was a great fighter, certainly better than most other warriors. Without her semblance, however? There was only one thing she could be.

Aura could be broken, weapons disarmed and attacks dodged. Their over reliance on their aura and semblances made them predictable, readable like an open book, and in Heathmoor, that meant death. After seeing how something works so many times, even a monkey could figure it out. With that last thought in his head it was that he spoke, and as usual, he said it exactly how he saw it. "They would all be dead."

/-/

"Forever fall?" Tranquility asked the lawbringer beside her. They were currently in the courtyard, a small distance away from the main building towards the cliff and under the shade of a lonely tree. She was sitting down with her legs crossed while he, in his full armor minus the helmet (which was on the ground next to him), leaned into the oak tree with his arms crossed.

"Yes, forever fall. Aquila came to me yesterday, apparently Ozpin wants the few of us with aura to make sure the creatures of grimm don't turn into a problem for the students during an upcoming trip, which means you, Torbjorn, Frea, the recruit and myself."

She tilted her head. "Weren't there more of us with aura?" she asked.

"Yes, but we can only fit so many people inside a bullhead, and I'd rather have the best at my side," he answered, while waving at the scene in front of him. "Thus, I picked them."

Tranquility hummed and looked over at the people in question, who were currently in the middle of training, though in reality it was more like a humiliating beatdown.

The two vikings were toying with her like a housecat toyed with its prey. The two taunted Virgil, daring her to hit them, only to make her lose her balance by using their weapon's shafts to trip her when she inevitably charged in, laughing as they watched her regain her footing only to taunt her again. To her credit, Virgil was trying to be smart about it, sometimes going low, with her shield covering her body or by simply trying to predict their attacks. Either way, the result was the same every time.

"Stop doing that and actually hit me!" Virgil yelled out in frustration as she ran towards Torbjorn with her mace high up in the air.

He merely laughed as he held his arms open. "HA! We said blow for blow, remember? How do you expect me to hit you when you haven't even scratched me?!" he said with a grin.

"AAAGH!" she shouted a frustrated warcry, running faster, only to be tripped up by Frea's spear, falling face first into the dirt. She made an attempt to stand up, only to feel the speartip on her spine.

"Didn't forget about me, did you?" the valkyrie asked rhetorically, smirking.

Virgil sighed and fell back into the dirt, letting go of her shield and mace. "I give up…" she muttered after a second of silence.

Tranquility looked at Alistair, head slightly tilted. "Then why her?"

The lawbringer closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, his expression softened ever so slightly. "Just a month ago she was nothing but bones and disappointment, now she looks healthy, and has turned into a decent enough fighter, certainly on par with a few of our soldiers, in just one month." he bent down to grab his helmet, lightly dusting it. "Of course, my training is better than what the common soldier gets, but regardless, I've seen my fair share of newbloods, both talented and stupid, and so far, she is doing better than most." he took a deep breath, then placed his helmet upon his head. "Her progress impresses me, and so, I thought a reward was warranted. If we have to fight the grimm, we will, and if not, she can take the opportunity to relax." After he said that, he walked up to the downed Virgil, scolding her for letting herself be lured into obvious traps, using a stern and commanding voice worthy of his title as lawbringer.

She watched it all in silence, reminiscing of her own training, a thing she found herself thinking a lot about lately, despite the ugly feeling they brought, though she was getting better at ignoring herself, to simply not react at the way these emotions rolled and bubbled on the inside. She felt that It was better than breaking into tears at the mere thought of something painful, but there were times she wondered if it was actually really helping.

A small drop of rain fell on her inner thigh, she looked up to the cloudy sky, then simply stood up and walked away. She felt lost on what to do, confused about herself, so she did the same thing she did on those dark and cold nights as a child; she closed her eyes and layed down in bed and turned into the reason her name was given to her.

Ignorant to everything and everyone around her, uncaring about anything but what was asked of her, unfeeling of the dagger piercing her heart, she became Tranquility, clinging to the identity given to her for as long as she could.

/-/

The trip to forever fall came sooner than later for Virgil, the two days leading up to it a mere blur thanks to just how utterly busy she was with her training. By what she knew, this was going to either be an absolute nightmare or a walk in the park, and she really, really hoped it would be the latter.

She picked up her shield and mace once she was done putting on her armor, which was really just a mess of spare plates and leather gathered from other warriors thrown together alongside a hastily painted green and yellow surcoat over the plainest set of clothing she'd ever worn. Alistair had explained that the armor pieces were simply gathered from the ruined armors of the ones who were wounded during their fight versus the Grimm, while the new clothes came from the headmaster at his request. When she asked Alistair why he'd bothered asking for new clothes for her, he simply said that they'd help her fight better.

She couldn't say that he was wrong, because he wasn't, changing to something that actually fit her had actually helped her movements when training, she guessed this was the reason huntsmen dressed how they did; they just felt more comfortable that way.

She felt someone tap her shoulder, and when she turned around, she realized that it was Alistair, who was holding out her new helmet at her, a sallet. Well, it wasn't actually hers, but rather was a hand-me-down from captain Blackwall, who apparently decided he wouldn't need his anymore. Virgil took the helmet without complaint and put it on, the arming cap she was wearing underneath making sure that it was a tight fit as well as giving that extra bit of padding between her skull and whatever may try to kill her within the next five hours.

She sighed just thinking about it, catching Alistair's attention. "Problem, recruit?"

She immediately straightened up. "None, sir!"

Judging by the look he was giving her, he knew that she was spewing a load of bullshit. Though instead of calling it out, he remained quiet as he stepped closer and reached towards her neck. She almost expected him to try and strangle her, instead, what he did was take the chin strap of her helmet and fasten it in a single quick movement. "The strap is important, specially for this kind of helmet, keep it tight." he stepped back, looking at her and nodding with what seemed like satisfaction. "Do that, and you will be fine. Have faith, recruit." he took his own helmet and weapon and began to walk towards the door of their shared dorm. "Now follow, bullhead leaves in twenty."

She quietly nodded and did what she was told, following Alistair all the way to the bullhead docks in complete silence. When they arrived, they found that Glynda Goodwitch was already there and had been waiting for a while. The three acknowledged each other but otherwise remained silent. They waited for a bit before students began to arrive, a few of them giving Alistair and her odd looks. The magnificent golden statue of a man beside her didn't seem to be bothered by it at all, for her, though, it was a different story. Virgil felt like a painting in an art gallery, constantly judged by everyone who walked past her, worst of all is that she couldn't really blame them! Sure, she'd been growing ever since she began eating properly, but by all accounts, she still looked like a stick, especially when compared to the other warriors with maybe the exception of the shaolin Bai. Needless to say, those twenty minutes of waiting were the longest, most awkward in her life.

Finally, one of the last groups to arrive could be seen a small distance away, with the three distinctive figures of I refuse to believe that's her actual name Tranquility, I'm too cool for a t-shirt Torbjorn, makes me question my sexuality Frea and old man pancake flip Aquila.

"Is this the last team?" Alistair asked, to which Aquila simply nodded.

"Sorry for taking so long! I couldn't find my spare mags…" The leader of the team said with a nervous chuckle, which only earned a glare from Goodwitch. "But team RWBY is ready!"

The girl in white next to her sighed and lightly pushed her leader forward. "Just get inside the bullhead, you dolt! Everyone's waiting."

"We should do the same, come on," Alistair said, waving at his fellow warriors to follow him into the aircraft, which they did without any fuss. After that, the ride was relatively short.

/-/

Tranquility stepped out of the bullhead and immediately began looking around. The sight of so many red trees was enough to take her breath away, there was no denying that the forest was beautiful, the most beautiful one she'd ever seen, however, she hadn't come here to watch the trees. She turned around to see Alistair, Torbjorn, Frea, Aquila, the recruit and Glynda. Professor Goodwich was handing out small guns that looked like revolvers, keeping one for herself and giving one to Frea, another one to Alistair and one to Torbjorn, which he tossed towards her. She easily caught it and moved closer to them to properly hear what they were talking about.

"So, anything bad happens and we just… aim for the sky and pull the thing?" Frea asked, to which Glynda nodded.

"Just make sure to put one of these in first." Aquila said as he took out a handful of what Tranquility identified as a shotgun shell, like the ones Yang used for her gauntlets. "It'll send a light towards the sky, the rest of us will come running as soon as we see it," he explained

Alistair took one of the flares, inspecting it. "Sounds easy enough, how do we load them?"

After he asked, Glynda gave a brief explanation on how to properly use the flare guns as well as what the plan was, which Tranquility made sure to pay extra attention to. Basically, they would be divided into pairs to look after groups of students, and, if they happened to encounter any particularly dangerous grimm in or numbers larger than ten, they would fire a flare to signal for help. With that, Tranquility was assigned alongside Aquila to look over teams RWBY and JNPR which wouldn't have been a problem if not for one thing.

"Where's Jaune?" she asked.

"Mr. Arc? He hasn't been around his team, as I'm sure you know, he's been spending an awful lot of time with team CRDL, I'm sure he's with them right now." Aquila explained from his spot next to her, arms crossed and leaning against one of the trees as he observed his students work.

Tranquility shook her head. "A leader who does not lead the charge is no leader at all, or so the vikings say."

"Indeed, if he won't bother to try and lead, then his team won't bother to try and get him to." He gestured towards Nora, Pyrrha and Ren. "Though it is a shame he has all but abandoned his team, they have continued to move forwards without him. If he comes back, good, if he doesn't? They will adapt." he gestured to a smiling Nora, who was drinking the tree sap the moment Ren handed her a filled jar, much to his dismay, though in the end, he was still smiling. "Just like they already are."

"I suppose so, but still, it doesn't feel right, I don't know why but it simply feels… wrong," she said as she observed Pyrrha, quietly gathering sap by herself. She couldn't help but notice the sad look on her face as she filled jar after jar.

"Maybe, but change is up to Mr. Arc, to lead or not is his decision, and his alone," Aquila said, twisting his neck side to side to crack it and sighing when it finally popped.

She took a moment to look at his expression: eyes closed with the faintest of smiles on his lips, his usually rigid posture relaxing, he looked happy, at peace. She didn't know her own age, nor her birthday, but she knew she was young, younger than most warriors, and so, she couldn't even imagine how it must have been to fight for as long as he had, to countlessly march to the battlefield. No other warrior she'd ever met looked even remotely close to his age, not a single one, she had to wonder how he could be so serene, even after what must have been a lifetime of pain.

"Ursa, Ursa!" suddenly came the voice of a panicked student as he, alongside two others came running from deeper within the forest.

Aquila immediately went into action, grabbing his shield and stopping the student. "Explain, now!" He spoke with urgency and command.

"Biggest ursa I've ever seen came outta nowhere, it's got Cardin!"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed with panic as she took her spear and shield, then ran in the direction the fleeing students had come from. Aquila called out for her to stop. When she didn't, he unsheathed his sword and began to run after her, Tranquility followed one hand on her dagger and the other on the flare gun. They came to a stop right next to a clearing, crouching behind a bush as they saw Jaune, standing tall against an Ursa major, body positioned protectively in front of Cardin, who was on the floor, clutching his chest plate. He looked unharmed, but his aura was probably close to being broken, if it wasn't already judging by how scared he looked.

Just then, two others joined them: Ruby and Weiss. Both had weapons at the ready, and for a moment, the heiress looked like she was about to jump in, however, Pyrrha stopped her by putting her arm in front of her. "Wait."

The white haired teen looked reluctant but eventually agreed with a nod. TRanquility looked at Aquila, he had the same expression as Pyrrha did, and looked as equally interested in the fight and so, she relaxed her grip on the flare gun.

Jaune was the first one to charge, roaring defiantly and with his sword raised high to strike, he swung down, his inexperience, however proved to be his mistake, as the poor edge alignment caused the blade to merely bite into the Ursa's fur. The grimm looked insulted at the attempt and retaliated with a savage backhanded swing which tossed Jaune aside like a ragdoll. The grimm began to charge at cardin, showing its fangs and salivating as it prepared to swing one of its claws. Cardin curled into a ball and closed his eyes, waiting for pain that never came, instead, Jaune had blocked the strike with his shield and was attempting to push back the beast's paw. The ursa raised its other paw to strike, but before it could do anything, Crocea Mors stabbed into its side, causing it to roar in pain.

"HA! Take that you stupid monster! You're nothing, you stupid, oversized teddy! " He began to shout at the Ursa, voice trembling in fear, but resolute. He began to push forward, trying to bury his sword deeper into the beast, however, none of them moved. "Your mother was a hamster and- AGHH!" he was suddenly interrupted as the grimm bit down on his head, then began to shake around violently, causing the sword to be removed from its side during the struggle, still, even though he was being treated like a doll, Jaune's grip on his sword and shield didn't lessen, not even a bit.

The ursa major let go, tossing Arc towards a tree, the bark of which visibly cracked by the sheer force of the throw. Jaune attempted to stand up, but his leg was bitten by the grimm, which began to do the same thing as before, tossing him back towards Cardin. The beast stood up on its hind legs and roared at the downed Jaune Arc, who barely managed to stand up due to the pain. He tried to shift into his regular stance, but then winced as his aura visibly crackled in a white, yellowish light. Aquila's eyes narrowed and a small smirk formed. He'd seen something, Tranquility did as well.

"I can't watch anymore, we have to help!" Ruby said as she loaded a round into Crescent Rose. Weiss nodded as she spun her rapier's drum and Pyrrha began to extend a hand. They would have jumped in, were it not for Aquila's commanding voice.

"No!" Aquila said. "Moments like these are what break or make a warrior, let him finish this."

"But… he can barely stand up, his aura's almost broken and-" Ruby's rambling was stopped when the old black prior held up a hand.

"Line up your shots, if you must, and join if his aura is broken, but for now, have faith in your friend. If you truly believe he can be a warrior, then let him do this." When he said that, the three girls relaxed a bit, with Pyrrha lowering her hand and reaching for Miló, transforming it into a rifle and taking aim, just in case.

The grimm roared once more, drawing their attention back to the fight as the massive Ursa once again charged Jaune. This time, however, Jaune remained in place, lowering his stance and using his shield to cover as much of his body as possible. One foot was forward, slightly more extended than the other, and in his eyes, was a look of pure concentration. For the girls, this was something they'd only seen once, but for Aquila and Tranquility It was a stance they were more than familiar with, despite the novice execution of it.

Bulwark.

When the Ursa crashed against Jaune's shield, it suddenly lost its footing as it was flipped over the blonde teen's head with a scream of pure fury. His flip was far from perfect, but it was enough. In one singular motion, he had managed to imitate a move he'd only seen once. The ursa landed on its back and Jaune, in his poor technique, had lost his footing, however, he recovered first, and by the time the Grimm had managed to break enough of its buried back spines to move freely, it was already too late. Jaune leaped and stabbed Crocea Mors right through the grimm's heart, killing it almost instantly.

"H-holy crap, Jaune?" Cardin muttered in absolute shock from his spot on the ground.

Jaune finally let go of his weapons, then, amongst the black smoke of the disappearing grimm, turned towards him. "Don't ever mess with my friends, my team, again." he extended a hand towards him. "Got it?"

Cardin stared at Jaune's hand for a moment before taking it, hoisting himself up. He looked at the arc boy up and down then, while looking at him in the eyes, nodded. "I won't, I promise."

The girls also took a minute to take in what just happened, with Ruby excitedly smiling and rushing him. "Jaune!" She tackled him to the ground with a hug.

"Hey Ruby…" he groaned, in pain, from underneath her.

Just then, Professor Goodwich, alongside the rest of the students and warriors, came running. She asked what happened, to which Aquila began to explain the situation in detail. Tranquility backed away after that, too much noise for her. She was glad she did, because otherwise she wouldn't have heard the rustling of leaves behind her.

The peacekeeper turned around, only seeing bushes and trees, however, her instincts told her to look deeper, and when she did, she found a trail of footsteps leading deeper into the forest. Her training dictated to do one thing; follow.

And follow she did, not finding much after 5 minutes of walking. She was beginning to think about reporting the trail before going any further as it seemed to go on for much longer, she soon found out she was mistaken as she could hear the faint sounds of voices nearby. She unsheathed her sword and dagger and crouched, keeping close to the trees and bushes to remain hidden. The closer she got, the clearer the conversation became.

"I'm telling ya, it's Beacon, man! Load up the mech and move, they could find us at any moment!"

"They certainly will if you keep shouting like that, relax. Paladin is good to go, just missing a few crates of dust. And besides, my cousin went to Beacon, so trust me when I say they don't take their students this deep into Forever Fall."

"To hell with the dust! Torchwhick can get as prissy as he wants, and it don't matter they don't take them this deep, but there ain't enough of us to deal with fucking huntsmen!"

She peeked over her hiding spot, her eyes widening underneath her mask at what she could see.

Men and women wearing grimm masks, white vests with a snarling wolf face and holding rifles stood nearby a derailed train, loading up crates into a large container, inside of which Tranquility could see an arm, a massive, metallic arm.

"Hsssss." it was like a whisper, a hissing all too similar to that of a snake, but distinctly human. Tranquility whipped around in time to see a boot flying towards her face. The kick was strong enough to make her lose her footing, so she fell onto her back and lost her grip on her weapons. The man immediately jumped on top of her and began to choke her with both hands. In between her attempts to gasp for air, she began to claw at him with her hands but no matter how hard she dug her nails into his arms he wouldn't let go, her legs tried to kick him, she tried to knee him but in the end, he was bigger and on top of her, the advantage was completely his. She was beginning to feel her consciousness slip away, and so, in a last ditch attempt, she took out the flare gun, pointed it at the air and pulled the trigger.

Due to her still clawing at his face with her other hand, the man missed how she took out the gun, and was startled by the sudden noise right next to his ear, letting go of her neck. It was only for a second, but it was all she needed.

With her free hand, Tranquility punched the masked man in the throat as hard as she could. He stumbled backwards, holding his neck as he began coughing. She coughed as well, gasping for air as she rolled to the side and attempted to stand up. The man pulled her leg, making her fall again, this time face first. She used her other leg to kick wildly, eventually getting him in what she assumed was his head.

She gave up on standing up and crawled away towards her discarded weapons before she heard the man crawling towards her at a fast pace, so she twisted her body around just in time to see the man leap at her, mouth open and hands outstretched. She put her forearm in front of her to keep him away, he responded by biting hard on it while still trying to reach her neck. Tranquility reached out a hand to grasp anything, eventually finding the familiar hilt of her dagger. She gripped it tightly and in one swift move, plunged it into his throat.

He sputtered, both hands immediately going towards the wound in an effort to try to stop the severe bleeding. She pushed him off of her and pulled out her dagger, letting him slowly bleed to death. Tranquility stumbled onto her feet and looked around, just in time to see and hear the sound of a bullhead taking off, the airship flying off with the cargo container dangling on it.

Suddenly, her forearm began to hurt, it hurt so much that it felt like it was on fire. She quickly removed her armor to see two small puncture wounds right where the man had bitten her. She looked at his now lifeless body, mouth agape showing the two large fangs.

Her legs suddenly felt weak and she collapsed onto her knees. "A snake faunus…" was the last thing she said before her entire world turned to black.


And there it is, my friends, the story as a whole is now progressing! Hope ya liked it, see ya next time.

P.S: I changed the timeline, pray I do not change it again.

P.P.S: Here, this is for you.


Omake: The thoughts of a warrior.

Jaune didn't have the slightest idea of what he was doing. Why was he fighting this Ursa? Why had he bothered to protect the one person who had so far only made his life miserable?

Bottom line was, he REALLY didn't know what, or why he was doing it. But perhaps it didn't even matter. All it mattered was the here and now! Self pity? Honor? What did it matter anymore?

As he was tossed around by the Ursa, as he kept getting up, and as he did his shoddy imitation of Professor Argentite's flip, his mind only had room for one thought: he would be a leader, the leader team JNPR deserved, and even if he couldn't be the best huntsman of his family, he'd make the best damn effort to be the best one HE could be, no more self pity, no more bullshit excuses.

As the Ursa disintegrated next to him, and as he offer Cardin his hand, he had a feeling that to become a huntsman went beyond honor and glory, it was a duty to all who needed him, for life.

To be a huntsman was his dream, his childhood dream, even, and if this was what it took to be one? He'd gladly accept the challenge.