Chapter 1: Beginnings

Prologue: Cyrus Platin

"Alright Platin, you're relieved for the day. Not much is going on right now and we're a bit overstaffed, so feel free to take it easy."

"Thank you sir."

"You know the drill. Clock out and show up again tomorrow."

"Of course, sir."

Bold of you to assume I'll be coming back here anytime soon. As Cyrus walked out of the main halls of Atlas Academy, he didn't even bother to look back as he headed to the docking bay. He had somewhere else to be. As he entered, he looked around the various bullheads until he finally spotted a familiar face.

"Smithy, my man. Good to see you."

Fabro, better known by Cyrus as Smithy, smiled as he looked up and saw his friend approach.

"Right back at you. Ready to go?"

"Hell yeah. Let's blow this shithole." Cyrus said as he and Smithy boarded the bullhead, ready to depart. But before entering, Cyrus stopped for a second and looked off somewhere in the hangar, giving a smug, knowing look to seemingly nothing before continuing into the ship. Meanwhile in one of Atlas's security offices, that look didn't go unnoticed.

After witnessing these events on the security camera, Almus–Cyrus's father–growled in frustration.

"What the hell is he doing? Who the hell does he think he is to just leave like that?!" Clearly unhappy with his son's sudden departure, he took out his scroll and dialed up Cherny's Smithing, a small business in Mantle.

"Hey Ferro, it's Almus. Would you mind explaining what our sons are doing leaving Atlas on a bullhead?"

Ferro, Smithy's father, was confused.

"I'm not too sure about what your kid's up to, but I know Fabro is out on a quick delivery for me."

Almus wasn't buying it.

"Bullshit!" he exclaimed. "I just saw his smug ass looking right at my cameras before leaving."

"You sure you're not just seeing things, Almus? Look, I'd love to help you, but I gotta get back to work. I'm sure ol' Cyrus just stopped somewhere else before heading home."

"Wait, don't you hang up on-" *click* "Son of a bitch." Almus sighed in defeat. "Well, wherever he's going, I'll make sure he regrets it next time I see him."

Back with Cyrus and Smithy, they were already well on their way out. During the flight, Smithy turns to Cyrus. "Hey, since this is probably gonna be the last time I see you for a while, I figured I'd give you something." Smithy turned on the autopilot before getting up and heading towards the back.

"Wait, really? That's really nice of you, although you didn't have to. Getting me the hell out of Atlas is good enou-" Cyrus cut himself off as he saw Smithy holding what appeared to be an ordinary sawed-off shotgun.

Smithy chuckled. "Think of it as a going-away gift of sorts."

Cyrus was stunned.

"Dear Gods..."

"There's more."

"No..."

Smithy hit a button near the trigger, causing the gun to straighten out and the barrel to expand, revealing an iron ball covered in spikes. "Not only can you use it to beat the shit out of Grimm as you normally would, but you can also extend the chain further to use it as a grapple. Plus you can modify the spikes using dust."

Cyrus finally spoke again. "Smithy you magnificent bastard, I'm going to use this immediately."

"Now hold on, I'd rather you not wreck my ship. Just wait until you have something you can actually fight." Suddenly, the ship rumbled as something seemed to have hit it from outside, and an alarm on the control deck subsequently went off.

Cyrus slowly forms a smug look. "You mean like that?"

Smithy sighs as he sits back down and turns off the autopilot. "Just go take care of it for me. Don't forget there's important stuff on this thing aside from us."

"No problem, comrade. Open up the back and just keep us steady while I take this baby for a test drive."

Smithy nodded as he hit a button on the control deck, causing the back of the ship to open up. Cyrus held onto the side of the ship, his new weapon at the ready. As he got a good view of the night sky, he noticed a small swarm of Lancers fastly approaching the ship. Without hesitation, he immediately shot out the spike ball at one of them, fast enough to crush it instantly.

Cyrus chuckled. "Only shot this thing once and I'm already in love."

"Quit gushing over your new toy and stay focused!" shouted Smithy from the cockpit. "There's still more Lancers to deal with, plus I think I see a few Nevermores incoming."

"Wait a minute. This thing's a shotgun, right? That means I don't really have the range to deal with these quickly, aside from the ball n' chain."

Smithy was silent for a moment, thinking about their current situation. "I got a plan. Make sure you hold on tight, though."

Before Cyrus could say more, the ship suddenly slowed down, allowing the Lancers to get much closer to Cyrus. Now realizing the situation, Cyrus let loose another shot of the chain to hit another Lancer, then immediately swung it around to knock out a few more in the swarm. Some got close enough that he was able to get a few regular shots as well, finishing off the remaining Lancers. He couldn't rest just yet though, as the Nevermores Smithy noticed earlier had caught up with them in the meantime. Two of them to be exact, both appearing much larger than usual for the species.

In the little time he had, Cyrus already managed to come up with a plan, albeit a bit crazy. "Smithy, I'm gonna need you to trust me and follow my lead." That was all he said to his friend before suddenly jumping off the ship.

"Cyrus, what are you doing?!" As if to answer his friend, he appeared to have stopped his fall, turning around and giving Smithy a quick smirk. Upon closer inspection, Cyrus was standing on a small glowing platform that seemed to have appeared out of thin air. This platform was a part of Cyrus's semblance, which allowed him to generate small barriers that, as in this particular situation, could also be used as platforms. Turning his attention back to the fight, he ran towards the Nevermores using his platforms and began shooting at them. This caught their attention as they began firing their feathers at him in response. Thinking quickly, Cyrus leapt off of his platform and fired the spike ball at one of the Nevermores, latching onto it, and proceeded to climb into its back. Using his free hand, he held on tightly and tried to bring himself closer to the other Nevermore. He quickly opened fire as he grew closer, dealing a good amount of damage to the avian Grimm. As for the one he was riding, it began to shake violently in order to free itself from Cyrus.

"Smithy, circle back now and get ready to catch me!" Just barely hearing his friend, he steered the ship around to where Cyrus and the Grimm were, flying close enough to be ready for Cyrus's next action. Cyrus then leapt from the Nevermore back to the ship, just barely keeping his footing. He quickly grabbed a hold of the ship once again, shot at the Nevermore he wasn't on with his spike ball again, then yanked hard in order to cause the pair of birds to crash into each other, the brute force and additional damage from before killing them both.

Cyrus let out a sigh of relief after taking down the Nevermores. "Welp, that takes care of that. Surprised everything on board stayed inside."

"Good thing too." Smithy added as he closed the ship's hatch. "We're getting close to Vale." Surely enough, Cyrus looked out and saw they were quickly approaching the docks. "I'll open the door and you can drop down from there so we don't gather any unnecessary attention. Don't forget to grab the goods since I technically still need to make a delivery to this place."

Cyrus nodded as he grabbed the stuff from the back of the ship, hooked the chain on his weapon on the edge of the ship, and began to lower himself down.

"Thanks again for the help, Smithy. I'll make sure to let you know when I'm there."

"Don't worry about it. Oh, and before you go, what are you gonna call that thing?"

Cyrus stopped and thought about it for a bit. This was gonna be his personal weapon for the rest of his time as a huntsman after all.

"Hmm… I think I've got it; 'Sweet Liberation.' Y'know, since I'm finally done dealing with everything at Atlas."

Smithy smiled. "Not bad. Well, I'll see you around." Cyrus smiled back and continued to lower himself down to the docks before watching Smithy turn around and head back to Atlas. As for himself, he began to make his way into Vale in hopes of finding the weapons shop that would help him out for the time being.

Prologue: Sebastian Skobeloff

Footsteps running through the woods. Echoes of yells crying out in anger. The ringing of gunshots and tree bark exploding. A boy running away from his past.

"You can't keep running away forever, Sebastian!" A girl's voice rang out, booming and full of hate. "We'll catch you, and when we do I can assure you that you'll get the punishment you deserve after what you've done!" The boy swung behind a tree, catching his breath and taking a moment to think about what he should do. Giving himself up would clearly be the wrong move, but did he really have to fight them? Was there no other way? He wouldn't be able to outrun his attackers much longer. "Are you afraid to come out and fight? Is that your major malfunction? I thought the dangerous and highly aggressive Sebastian would love to come out and play!" More shots whizzed past Sebastian, the footsteps drawing closer.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Sebastian yelled from behind his cover. "Unfortunately for you, I'm not quite in the mood to tussle."

"That's a shame." Suddenly, the ground by Sebastian erupted, cracks in the earth splitting the base of the tree he was behind. The tree began to lean towards him. Sebastian jumped out of the way, directly into the sights of almost a dozen White Fang members. Face to face with his chasers, Sebastian found himself with no other options. It always ended up like this, no matter how hard Sebastian tried. Fighting and running were all he'd known. "Are we really going to do this? You know how many times I've flattened your asses, yet you still persist in bringing me in?"

"Until the day I get my revenge for what you've done, I will never stop hunting you down." The female faunus wearing a striped shirt and a white jacket with the insignia of the White Fang stepped forward to oppose him. The other members aimed their guns on Sebastian, awaiting the order to fire. "But I'll give you a choice, Sebastian. Either turn yourself in nicely, or this gets ugly. But we already know what happens when things get ugly."

"It isn't like that anymore!" Sebastian protested the faunus's remark.

"Oh, really? Last time I caught wind of you, that town we passed through, what exactly happened? That's right, I remember now. You had…"

"SHUT UP!" Sebastian shouted at her, stopping her before she could remind him of the horrible imagery he could so vividly recall. "You want to fight, then? I'll give you something to fight!"

"That's the Sebastian I know," The faunus smiled, looking quite ready to battle. But the battle wouldn't come as she expected. Rather, Sebastian had already assessed the situation and had planned his next move. Concentrating all of his semblance into lifting the large tree that had fallen beside him, Sebastian hurled it at the gathering of the White Fang before the female leader could react. "Bloody hell!" The tree smashed into the ground right in front of them, shooting up dust and dirt all around. As it all settled, Sebastian had vanished, anger replacing the rush of excitement that built within her. "Damn it all!" She kicked the broken tree in frustration.

"What now?" One of the grunts asked her.

"We regroup with the rest of the Vale team. I'm going to find him if it's the last thing I do."

"Aren't they already busy with those gang people?" Another soldier called out.

"All that matters is using what we have to find him. When I get him, he'll experience pain far worse than his first time."

Sebastian rushed out from the forest and into the nighttime streets of Vale. It was peaceful around, no signs of anyone. Resting himself alongside one of the empty shop buildings, Sebastian slunk down to the ground. Reaching into the back pocket of his khakis, he pulled out a letter. It was an acceptance letter from none other than Beacon Academy. Sebastian was lucky to find someone who had known of the place when he was getting out of Vacuo. If it wasn't for that guy who reeked of bad decision making, Sebastian didn't know where he'd be going right now. Stuffing the letter back into the same pocket, Sebastian picked himself up and brushed off his duster coat, shoving his hands into the coat pockets. He looked up to the crescent moon and let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm almost there," he said to himself out loud. "I'm this close to starting over, to getting a new life. When I get there, I can forget about everything that's happened to me over these past two years. I can put it all behind me."

The half-faunus believed in the bright future he looked forward to, but for him, the ghosts of his past would not yet let him go so easily.

Prologue: Axel Royal

Just another day in the shop, Axel thought to himself as he threw the trash bags out into the alleyway outside his father's weapon shop. Three people tried to steal from us, and another tried to pay for a battleaxe/shotgun hybrid with a half a banana and a block of moldy cheese. He cringed, thinking about the smell. Can't a guy catch a break?

"Axel? What's taking you?" Axel's father, Ash, yelled from inside. "Did you lock yourself out again?"

Axel chuckled.

"No. One of the bags just leaked all over my hands." he yelled back, wiping his hands on his jeans. "And that was ONE TIME. And it wasn't even my fault. The key literally broke in the lock!"

"Haha, ok fine. Just remember to close the door when you come back in, or you're paying the bills this month." Axel's smile faded slightly as he considered that statement. I know that was a joke, he thought, but he's kind of got a point. We're not poor, but we definitely aren't wealthy. We absolutely do not want to pay any more than we have to. He walked in, swinging the door behind him.

"Close up while you're down there, will you?" Ash yelled from the apartment upstairs.

"Sure thing, Dad," Axel said, walking to the front door and locking the deadbolt.

As he made his way upstairs, he found his father standing in the doorway, a long, rectangular package in his hands. He smiled and held it out to Axel.

"What's this, dad?"

"Well, what's it look like?" Ash chuckled. "It's a gift. Well, kinda. You kinda already know about it, but I don't want to give too muc- You know what? Just open it."

Axel laughed.

"Alright. If you say so." He opened the box to find a long metal bar with a lightning bolt engraved in the side, with the letters AR engraved underneath. He gasped.

"It's… My staff. Y-you finished it?" He stuttered, his voice breaking slightly.

"Yeah. I figured you'd be needing it."

"W-what do you mean? Why?" Axel asked, confused.

"Pick it up." Axel took out the staff, revealing an envelope. It was sealed with a Beacon Academy insignia.

"Is this…?" Axel asked. Ash nodded giddily, as Axel tore open the letter. His eyes widened. "I did it! I've been accepted!" The two hugged and jumped around, ecstatic. They celebrated late into the night and into the early morning.

The next morning Axel was awoken by a crash coming from the store downstairs. He grabbed his staff and rushed down the stairs to see a faunus in a white mask making his way out the door to the alleyway. Axel sprinted after him.

"HEY! HEY! Come back!" Axel yelled as he chased the man into the alleyway. However, as the two reached the dead end of the alleyway, the man jumped up onto the adjacent building and vanished. Axel leant over for a moment to catch his breath before turning back around and running back to the shop.

When he got back he paced the store, examining the scene. The place had been picked clean. All the lockboxes were broken open, all the cases smashed in, and scorch marks all over the store.

He heard someone step on a piece of glass, and turned to see his father, hand on his head, mouth open in awe. He looked at Axel.

"I thought you locked up last night…"

"I did, I swear. Look, the deadbolt is still locked in place."

Ash nodded, then turned to the alleyway door, which was propped open the slightest bit, a small stone wedged in the doorframe. He turned back around and the two stood in silence.

Axel paced nervously, rubbing the back of his head and madly pulling at his hair. He had no idea what to do. All their hard work had been ripped from their hands for absolutely no reason, and it was all his fault.

"Dad, I am so sorry-"

"It's alright, son. It's not your fault," Ash said, clearing his throat to try to keep his composure.

"But it is, Dad. I messed up. I could've sworn I closed all the doors, but I obviously didn't. And now look." He gestured to the pillaged remains of the store. "We're ruined." His voice began to quiver, and he drooped his head in shame.

Ash walked over and put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"It's ok, Axel. From the looks of things, that is more responsible for this than you are," he said, pointing at the pebble in the door. "You closed the door like you were supposed to. But it just didn't close all the way." He walked over to the door and picked up the stone, inspecting it. It was barely the size of the nail on his thumb, and it was round, like clay before it's molded. It was almost funny, that this little thing was all it took. He chuckled at that thought. "We will recover from this. We've got plenty of materials in the back, I'll just have to call in some favors and pull some extra hours in the workshop." Ash gave a wry smile. "It's kind of funny, actually. We're Royals, but not actually royals. We serve the common man and wealthy alike, and that's what keeps us humble, what keeps us respectable. People will help."

"You're right. I'll help out more, wherever you need me t-"

"No."

"W-what?"

"You are going to school, kid."

"But Dad, what about you?"

"I'll make do. Maybe I'll ask Ferro for some help."

"But-"

"No 'but's. This is your dream, and you've worked your whole life for this."

Axel looked up at his father and gave him a nod through clouded eyes.

"I'll fix this, dad. I'll make you proud."

"You already have, kid. Now what say we clean up this shithouse?" They laughed and began the arduous task of picking up the broken glass.

As the two were cleaning up, the scenes from that morning kept replaying in Axel's mind. Something about this whole thing felt off. Why rob their store? They'd never made any shady deals, worked with anyone who they didn't personally know and trust. They were a respected business, with no political opinion or affiliations of any kind. Then there was the matter of the robbery itself. It didn't seem like a crime of opportunity. All of this because of a tiny little rock? Sure, it could have gotten kicked in there any manner of ways. But that man he was chasing… There was something about that mask, he thought, but I can't quite place it. Whoever they are, though, I'm gonna find them, and they're gonna give me some answers.

Prologue: Damien Pyros

"Vale. A wonderful city by day. A city of trash by night. Can't go a single night in this town without someone getting robbed, mugged, or something just blowing up. All thanks to Roman Torchwick. The leader of a merry band of thieves and pickpockets and an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski mask, nothing more than the king of the trash pile."

A lone boy by the name of Damien Pyros overlooked a group of mobsters robbing a store. "Not in any hurry. That's interesting. Just gives me more time to trounce 'em!" He said as he leaped into the street, rolling up with Burning Justice in his sword mode. Hitting the nearest mobster in the back of the head with the flat end of the sword.

"What the…" One of the others said, all the others snapping to Damien, drawing their pistols.

Thinking quickly, Damien pressed a button on the hilt, and the sword suddenly was engulfed in a burning red flame. The lone combatant took notice of his enemies' confusion and fear, and smiled. He swung his sword, releasing the flames at his opponents, sending them all flying back into the buildings behind them. Suddenly, he outstretched his left hand, almost as if calling out to the flames. The fire stopped in mid air, then suddenly returned to Damien. He put the sword over his back and took out two clips of ammunition for what seemed to be a pistol of some kind. He focused on the mid-air flames as they entered the clips, then put them back on his belt.

"Hey! Who is that kid?!" a voice called out.

Damien turned to face more of Roman's gang who had already entered the store. Before lunging in, he switched his sword into daggers and jumped, rolling into a vertical swing from one mobster's sword, which Damien promptly blocked before delivering a punch to the gut and lower jaw. Throwing him off balance. Damien followed up with a swift punch to the head knocking him out. He could see another one to his peripheral vision and flung the dagger in his right hand at him. The mobster was quick enough to move out of the way of the projectile flying directly for his head, and looked back at it to see it piercing the drywall behind.

"Nice try, kid. But-" the mobster taunted before turning back to see a flying elbow in his face, the last thing he saw before blacking out.

"Did Roman not teach these chumps anything?" Damien snickered.

"Come on out, or the old man gets it!" A voice called out.

Damien could see through the isles that he had missed a mobster, now holding the store clerk at gunpoint. He slowly came out into view. Hands raised while still holding onto his weapons.

"Put the weapons down." The mobster commanded.

Damien smirked. "You got it, pal." The thug saw the daggers release from Damien's hands, unaware that Damien activated a mechanism on them.

While he shifted his focus back to Damien, he was completely unaware that the daggers had transformed into pistols. When they hit the ground, two shots had rang out, catching the thug off guard. Raising his weapon away from the clerk.

Big mistake.

Surprising everyone, the clerk took the opportunity to ram his elbow in the gut of the robber.

"Gotcha!" Damien quickly dashed for one of his pistols and shot the pistol out of his opponents hand. He grasped his wrist after feeling the recoil and shock go through his hand. Damien however took no time to close the gap and konk the attacker out with the end of his firearm. Damien focused his attention to the clerk. "You okay, sir?" Damien offered his hand to help him up.

"Yes. I'm fine. Thank you!"

"Call the police." Damien said, retrieving his other weapon.

"Say, you've got some pretty good moves there, kid! You… erm… you lookin' to get into Beacon Academy?"

Damien, holstering his pistols chuckled at the remark. "Actually, I'm already enrolled." he replied. Thinking back to the moment when Damien earned his meal ticket to the future, or what he could remember of it.

Despite only being a few months ago, he could barely remember the moment in its entirety. Just flashes and a few pieces of dialogue. The adrenaline rush from the fight got to him, but he would still never forget how it ended.

"You took care of those crooks pretty quick! I didn't even notice that they were vanishing until there were about five of them left!" the Beacon professor who he would later learn is Professor Peach commented.

"Really?!" Damien exclaimed in surprise. "Wow. Getting better with that. There were about twice as many when they approached you."

"Even moreso, I'm very impressed with your skills, what school are you in?"

"Oh. I'm not really living anywhere right now, so I'm not in a school at the moment. I'm self taught."

"Self taught?!" Peach returned the surprise exclamation. "For how long?"

"Since I could pick up the sword. And no, I didn't make it, but once I found it, and was old enough to understand it all, I learned everything I needed to know about this weapon and how to take it apart and put it back together." Damien went on.

"All by yourself? Impressive." Peach said before sizing him up. "You look like you're the proper age. Sixteen, seventeen?"

"Seventeen." Damien replied.

"How would you like to get some actual education? Also a roof to sleep under and some actual food?" Peach inquired.

Damien's head perked. "What?" he asked in total disbelief.

"I'm a professor at Beacon Academy. I'd be happy to enroll you on my behalf."

"Are you serious?!" Damien said, clearly still trying to comprehend what he was hearing.

"I am. Well?" Peach asked.

"Well, I… yes." Damien finally calmed down and replied.

"Wonderful! You don't have an address, so leave those details to me. I just need your name."

"Damien Pyros."

"Alright then, Damien. I'll meet you back here in two days, and I'll give you a scroll where I can give you more details later."

"Sounds great!" Damien shcuted.

"Fantastic! Well, this has been a delight, but I must be going. I'll see you in two days."

"Alrighty then!" Damien said before jumping up to a rooftop. Contemplating what happened.

Damien flashed back to the present to hear the shopkeep getting his attention. "You in there, kid?"

"What? Sorry. Just lost in my thoughts."

"Go to Beacon, study hard and come back to tear these guys a new one!" The clerk encouraged the huntsman-to-be.

"You got it, boss!" Damien shook hands with the clerk before running off into an alley, wall jumping onto a rooftop to catch the sun starting to creep over the horizon.

"Dawn. Well, I don't expect much, but I leave in a day. So just relax and prepare for your future at Beacon!" Damien said to himself just before noticing something off in the distance.

It seemed to be a member of the White Fang, moving in a manner that would suggest that they were loosely following someone, and judging by how they seemed to be fixed on a nearby building, they were going to make a move soon.

Damien sighed. "You know, just once, I'd love to have a normal morning!"