Schnee Manor (Day)

Connor woke up with a splitting headache. Groaning, he rose from his bed and walked to his closet. Taking off his shirt, he looked down at his wound. When Cinder shot him with that arrow, he should have died. The only reason he was still breathing was because of Dark Matter. The eldritch substance was flowing through his soul as if it were blood, resulting in Cinder's attack being mostly ineffective. Mostly. There was still a scar where the arrow tore through his heart. A fitting reminder of how he failed.

Every doctor he was brought to had no idea how his recovery was possible. According to all known laws of biology, he shouldn't be alive right now. But he is. And in the week he'd been at home, he learned about what happened to Dominic. His partner died because he was looking for him, Jaune, and Pyrrha. If he had been just a hair faster, maybe his friend would still be alive.

Sighing, the boy got a dark green shirt from his closet and put it on. Hearing a knock on his door, he was alerted to the presence of one of the only people to give him support during his childhood. "Come in, Klein." he said.

The butler entered the room, looking tired. "I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Schnee, but your father has requested that you and your sister meet him in his office."

"Thanks." Connor said, dismissing the man. Klein left the room, leaving his charge alone. 'I'm guessing he wants Weiss and I to enroll in Atlas now that Beacon's gone.' he thought to himself, his eyes glowing a faint green. He and Weiss never had a good relationship with their father. Not that it was needed, anyway.

The young nyctomancer left his room, walking through the mansion until he was just outside his father's office. As he approached, he could see Weiss and his brother Whitley talking about something. Whitley looked like he was... smiling.

That wasn't a good sign.

"Whitley, what are you doing?" he asked, getting the attention of his siblings.

"Connor, you're awake." Weiss said, happy. Her brother had been sleeping in a lot after the Fall. (Not like she blamed him for it, though.) Seeing him up this early again brought a smile to her face.

"Just warning our sister that Father wants to see her." Whitely answered. "Come to think of it, didn't he want to speak with you as well?"

Connor silently clenched his fist. His family was... difficult at best. His father was the best example of this. But sometimes it felt like Whitely existed solely to piss him off. "Yes, he did. Weiss, come with me." he said, his eyes flashing a dim green.

Forest (Day)

"We're lost." Ruby said, holding a map of the area.

"We're not lost! The next town is Shion. My family used to visit it all the time." Jaune said.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Gregory asked, his eyes glowing in anger.

"Uh, I forgot..." the blonde answered meekly.

"Don't you have, like, four sisters?" Ivy asked.

"It's actually, uh, seven." Jaune said.

"That actually explains a lot." Nora said.

"How have you not gone insane?" Gregory asked, knowing how much of a handful Yang and Ruby were at home. If he had to deal with five more sisters...

"What did you do at Shion?" Pyrrha asked.

Jaune walked ahead to Ruby, then pointed to an area on the map. "Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time! I got my own tent because I was special. (Also so my sisters would stop braiding my hair...)"

Gregory and Nora snickered at that. "Sure, that's why." the cryomancer said, stifling a laugh.

"Didn't like the look?" Ruby asked in response to the hair comment.

"Yeah, they kept doing pigtails, but I'm more of a "Warrior's Wolf Tail" kind of guy." Jaune said, trying to act cool.

"You just described a ponytail." Ivy pointed out.

"I stand by what I said." Jaune said, unfazed by the comment.

After a while, the scent of something cooking hit everyone's nostrils. "Does anyone else smell something delicious?" Nora asked.

"I know that smell!" Jaune said, excited. He ran ahead of the group, and soon, their destination was in sight. Shion Village.

"Wow. I know you said this place was bustling... but I never expected this." Pyrrha said as they drew closer to town. There were dozens of people outside, celebrating something. There was food of all kinds present, and the group could see children hitting Grimm statues with bats.

Wait, what?

Despite the happy aura the village was radiating, there were Grimm statues everywhere. And for almost every statue, there was a group of two or more kids beating them with sticks and toy knives. It was odd. Cute, but odd.

"Um, can you tell me what this festival is for?" Gregory asked a villager.

"Newcomers, eh?" the villager said, closely analyzing each member of the group. "Well, it all started a few days ago. We were under attack by bandits, which made everyone panic. The chaos attracted a horde of Grimm, and we were totally defenseless against them."

"So, how is this place not a pile of rubble?" Ivy asked.

"I was getting to that!" the villager shouted. "Anyways, just as it seemed like all hope was lost, a giant winged creature appeared and turned all of the Grimm into stone. None of us got a good look, but I think it was shaped like the letter Y..."

That description immediately brought to mind Yveltal, the being that Dominic awakened during the Fall. Ruby and Gregory looked at eachother, both understanding what happened here.

"This creature didn't happen to have black and red feathers, did it?" Ruby asked.

"Why, yes. It did." the villager said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because we think the same creature saved us at Beacon." Gregory said. "Did you see where it flew off to?"

"Hmm... I think I saw it flying north. You kids thinking of following it?" the villager asked.

"Well, we are headed in the same direction." Pyrrha said.

"I still want to thank it." Ruby said.

The sound of stomachs growling reverberated through the village. Everyone turned to Nora, a deadpan look on their faces.

"What?" she asked.

Klein

Age: 65

Gender: Male

Species: Human

Semblance: Emotion

Element: Magic

Battle Class: N/A

Whitley Schnee

Age: 14

Gender: Male

Species: Cactus

Semblance: Schnee Glyphs

Element: Water

Battle Class: N/A