Author's Notes
Another idea I had sitting in the back of my mind for awhile. I don't know how often this will be updated, as I've got a lot of older stories (and some upcoming ones) that I want to work on, but I had my arm twisted until I posted this, even if I really wanted to save it until I knew I was going to work on it more. That doesn't mean I don't like this chapter, of course, I do. I hope you do as well!
The city of Mantle, a city of workers and the downtrodden. Its streets bustled with the activity of various people attempting to make the most of their lives.
CLANG!
Yet, their business was not just a means of survival, but a distraction. A distraction from the darkness that loomed just outside their crumbling walls.
CLANG!
Some, however, are not content with merely ignoring the problem. The sound of a hammer hitting metal ringing throughout the street nearest to one of the walls proved that.
CLANG!
The source of the sound was an exceptionally tall young woman who stood at 6'4''. Her skin was pale and she had curly ginger hair that fell to her upper back and framed her freckled face. She had dull maroon eyes, but the most notable part of her appearance had to be the large wings on her back. They were made of bright red and orange feathers that, when the light hit them right, one could swear were on fire. They went down to her knees and, in their folded state, were 4.5 feet long.
Her figure was curvy and filled out, and she wore a burnt orange crop top with long sleeves that concealed her DD sized chest. Her midriff was exposed, and she was clearly toned, a sign of hard work. Finally, she wore a pair of shorts that stopped at her mid-thigh and a pair of black boots with red lacing forming a cross pattern that stopped just below her knees.
She was driving rivets into steel plating that was slowly covering up a hole in the wall with a large hammer, which she had named Matchstick. It was a two-handed warhammer that was painted wood across the shaft, with the hammer at the top looking like a sledgehammer, colored black. However, the back end of the hammerhead had a steel-colored booster planted inside of it.
She was not alone in her efforts, as various volunteer workers attempted to match her pace in hammering the patch for the wall. They were aided by members of the Happy Huntresses, who stood guard and, in the case of one Joanna Greenleaf, actively assisted in driving the rivets. As the younger woman finished driving a final rivet into the wall, Joanna looked at her and smiled. "Good work, Allumette. Take a break, you've done half this wall by yourself."
Allumette smiled as she lowered her hammer and rested its head on the ground. She was covered in a sheen of sweat, and she wiped some off her brow as she looked at Joanna and said, "Are you sure? I can keep going." She took pride in her work, and she felt she had to. After all, it was her family's home.
Joanna chuckled and jerked her thumb back. "Yeah, I'm sure. You might be able to drive steel all day, but that doesn't mean you should. Besides, you need to save your strength. Aren't you going to Beacon tomorrow?"
Allumette huffed, because she knew her mentor was right. "Yeah, alright." She hefted her hammer and rested it on her shoulder as she walked over to a crate and sat down on it. As she did, she looked out to the street nearby, and her mind turned to her past.
A young Allumette stood in the frigid weather of an Atlesian winter, and she held out matchbooks, selling them for small amounts of Lien. Paltry, really, but anything would increase her chances of being able to buy firewood for her parents and her siblings…
Those were dark days. Some nights, she could still feel the chill in her bones.
Only successful in grabbing a few pieces of scrap wood after failing to sell matchbooks, she found herself trudging through the snow. She ducked into an alleyway, a shortcut to her home, but in her haste and thanks to the layers of snow concealing it, the already weak girl tripped over a piece of piping and fell flat on her face. She was so weak that though she struggled, she couldn't get up…
Allumette looked at her hand for a moment before clenching her fist. She was so certain that she would die that day, and yet…
Her wings flexed as her whole body caught fire. Yet, in spite of this, she felt no pain, and her clothes remained untouched. Her wings glimmered, and the snow melted. Her body was now coated in a flame-like aura, her aura. She stood and began to run home with new energy.
As she opened her hand, a small flame appeared in her palm. It turned into a ball, before vanishing into nothing. Just in time, as Joanna was approaching her. "Allu, Robyn wanted to talk to you before we wrap it up for today and let another shift take over. Brace yourself," she smiled wryly, "you know Robyn loves to give rousing speeches."
Allumette smiled before getting off the box she had been sitting on, deciding she'd done enough reminiscing for one day. "I might as well get one more pep talk from her before I leave," she smiled wryly, "after all, it'll be awhile before I can come back."
Joanna looked like she knew something, based on the coy look in her gaze, but if she did, she wasn't telling. Instead, she turned and left while waving. The woman could be of few words when she wanted to be, and she was never a fan of goodbyes or "see you later", so Allumette wasn't that surprised.
So, she made her way over to Robyn, who was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed and a smile on her face. She greeted Allumette warmly. "Hey, Firebird. I wanted to give you a bit of advice—Beacon might not be my alma mater, but I've heard enough about it to give you some better idea of what to expect." Allumette nodded for her to continue, and so Robyn said, "So, Ozpin is a pretty mysterious guy, but I was able to get some clue on him. He's someone who values spontaneous action, and so he's probably gonna drop you into some situation, and if I've heard right, odds are you won't get to choose your partner." She smiled knowingly. "Luckily, I don't think that'll be much of a problem for you, you know how to get people to like you. So, don't worry too much. Just take it one day at a time, and fight for what you think is right."
Allumette nodded along to Robyn's words, before smirking at her words regarding people liking her. "I learn from the best." She checked her Scroll to see the time and sighed. As much as she wanted to stay, she knew she couldn't. So, she pocketed it and stowed her hammer on her back. "I'll call you after initiation and let you know how it went. See you, Robyn." She smiled warmly at the woman she'd come to consider a role model, then turned and started to leave.
The clouds above were parting, promising a new horizon.
Allumette knew that, soon, it would be her time to finally shine as bright as a bonfire.
/-/
Weiss wasn't quite sure what to expect on the ship that would take her and her cases full of Dust to Beacon, but she certainly didn't expect it to be so… loud.
Not that she couldn't deal with it, but there was a certain decorum in Atlas. A decorum that wasn't present here, and so she stood in the corner with her arms crossed for the entire duration of the flight. Luckily, she wasn't forced to interact with anyone.
However, that didn't last very long. After she got off the ship, some clumsy girl with black and red hair crashed into the cart her butler was walking forward and caused it to scatter across the ground. Weiss frowned and sharply exclaimed, "You dolt!"
The confused girl scrambled to get up, though she only managed to get on her hands and knees in the confusion as she shook her head, trying to reorient herself. "S-Sorry!" Her words were apologetic, but all Weiss could see was a careless and bumbling moron.
She grabbed a vial of Fire Dust off the ground while glaring daggers at the girl. "Sorry?! Do you have any idea the amount of damage you could have caused?" She stowed the Dust vial at her side while the girl stammered, trying to get out a response. Of course, Weiss didn't let her, snatching another vial of Fire Dust out of her hand while exclaiming, "Give me that!" She then held the vial up. "This is Dust - mined and purified from one of the Schnee quarries!"
The girl only stammered again, and so Weiss growled slightly. "Are you brain-dead?" She held out the vial of Fire Dust more. "Dust! Fire, water, lightning, gravity, energy!"
The girl began to stand up more, some of the Dust got into her face and caused her to cough while saying, "I-I know!"
Weiss:, meanwhile, wasn't even really listening to the girl, her fury blinding her to the fact that more Fire Dust was ending up in the girl's nose. "Are you even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What do you have to say for yourself?!"
Finally, the girl sneezed, causing an explosion that caused a large blast. It could have been worse—the butler had taken most of the Dust away already—but it still caused Weiss to get covered in soot and made her almost lose her footing, while the girl ended up in a crater. Weiss could only dust herself off while trying her best to glare the girl to death. "Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about! You're just lucky initiation isn't today, or else we'd both be going in with some of our aura depleted!"
The girl tried her best to stammer out an apology, holding out her hands in a placating gesture. "I-I'm really, really sorry!"
It was then that Weiss noticed just how young the girl seemed, maybe not that much younger, but still noticeably. "Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" The girl tried to respond, but Weiss was far from finished. "This isn't your ordinary combat school! It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters, so watch where you're going!"
Finally, the girl seemed to lose her cool, clenching her fists as she exclaimed, "I said I was sorry, Princess!"
Before Weiss could respond, however, a new voice spoke from behind her. It was a girl's, husky and, at the moment, carrying a certain edge of distaste to it. "Princess sounds about right for the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. The biggest and most ruthless Dust company, known for fun things like human rights violations!"
Weiss sputtered as she turned around and began to say, "How dare you—" Then, she caught sight of the ginger haired girl with incredibly large wings. However, there was something else that caught Weiss' attention, causing her train of thoughts to stop like a car meeting a pylon headfirst.
'W-Wow, she's… tall.'
Then, Weiss remembered that the girl just insulted her family name and tried to gather herself. "Wh- h-how dare you!" She sneered, although the way the girl looked down at her with such naked disappointment and disgust was disarming.
So, instead of responding,Weiss just turned around and stomped off towards the auditorium. "Ugh!"
As Weiss stomped off, the other two watched her, and Allumette had to admit that it felt good to rile up the heiress so much. She looked at the other, smaller girl, still looking very much disappointed in herself, and asked, "Hey, are you alright?"
That was when another voice joined them, a boy this time, an unsteady concern clear as he approached and asked, "Yeah, you okay?" He was blonde, and only a few inches shorter than Allumette. "That looked… rough."
Ruby smiled awkwardly at the question, looking between the two of them. "Yeah, I'm fine." She sighed as she looked away. "My sister left to go hang out with her friends, and told me to make friends. Guess all I did was make an enemy." She looked back at the two, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Unless…?"
Allumette hadn't been sure entirely where the boy standing next to her had come from, but based on the awkward smile on his lips and the unsteady way he stood, she could tell he was harmless. So, she smiled at Ruby in a way not dissimilar to how a mother might smile at a child, or an older sister to a younger one. "Sure thing, Rosie. How about you, Prince Charming?"
The boy seemed taken aback by the nickname, his smile growing shyer. Yet, he still grinned awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, yeah. We can all be friends, that sounds good!"
The girl sighed in relief. "Great! I'm Ruby Rose." She then took a moment to look at Jaune. "...Weren't you the guy who vomited on the ship?" All the while, Allumette gestured for them to get moving, leading to the three walking together towards the auditorium.
The boy sputtered. "L-look, motion sickness is a serious problem! The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it! Well… they will, I hope." He chuckled awkwardly, especially as the two ladies looked at him with an amused expression. "A-Anyway, what if I called you Crater Face, huh?"
It was Ruby's turn to sputter as she tried to put together a retort, "Th-That wasn't my fault! It was hers!" She huffed and crossed her arms, pouting slightly. "A-Anyway!" Just as quickly as she crossed her arms, she uncrossed them and grabbed her weapon off the small of her back, from behind her cloak. She brought it forward and unfolded it, revealing it to be a scythe easily twice her size. "I have this!"
Jaune looked a bit startled at the weapon's size, while Allumette looked at it with a hint of admiration in her eyes. "A scythe? That's really cool, I only know of two people who use scythes, based on what Robyn's told me about it."
Ruby smirked. "You're familiar? Cool! She was probably talking about my Uncle Qrow and the Grimm Reaper, she was who inspired him, and I was inspired by him! How does she know about it?"
"Oh, she knows about a lot of things." Allumette shrugged. "She's in charge of a group called the Happy Huntresses, I'm one of the people in it, she's sort of been my teacher for a long time. My weapon's my own though." She grabbed her hammer off her back and held it in both hands. "I call it Matchstick."
"Ooh!" Ruby's silver eyes seemed to glean with excitement. "Mine's a high-impact sniper scythe, firing .50 BMG at whatever I point it at! What's yours?"
"A rocket hammer, primarily." She smirked. "But it's also got another function. I can use the rocket to unscrew the hammer and turn it into a rocket flail."
Ruby gasped and excitedly bounced on her heels. "Wow, that's so cool! I hope I can see it at initiation."
Meanwhile, Jaune had been watching all of this with a bit of a nervous expression. When both girls looked at him, he nervously drew his sword. "Mine's not that cool… It's just a sword, a family heirloom." He reached down and grabbed the sheath, which turned into a shield, "I can turn the sheath into a shield, but it weighs a lot."
Ruby shook her head, her grin softening into a smile. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with the classics. I think it's cool! Fighting with a family heirloom like that, it keeps the tradition alive!"
Allumette nodded in agreement, putting her weapon on her back again. "Hey, mine can't turn into a gun, it might be more advanced, but not every weapon needs to have several different forms and a six-speed blender attachment." She giggled softly. "No offense, Ruby."
Ruby shook her head, her smile not fading. "None taken."
They reached the auditorium shortly after that, and found themselves following Ruby as she hurried forward while calling out. "Yang! You just left me out there!"
Yang, who Allumette noted as having a similar fashion taste to her, though managing to be a bit less restrained than her, turned to face her while grinning awkwardly as they approached. "Hey, sis!" She saw Allumette and Jaune and smirked. "Didn't it work, though? You've got two friends right here!"
Ruby looked back at them before sighing as she looked back at Yang. "Yeah, but I made an enemy, so the math says I only made one friend!"
Allumette rubbed her chin. "I don't think that's how that works, Rosie. Besides, I doubt that little Snowflake is anyone's friend."
"I'll have you know that I have friends!" The voice of the aforementioned Snowflake cut in on the discussion, and all eyes turned to her. She looked like she was pouting while trying to put on a serious and intimidating posture, and while Ruby was startled enough to jump into her sister's arms, Allumette wasn't so impressed. "That reckless girl could have injured us both, or worse!"
Ruby was quick to retort after getting over her initial scare, scowling as she glared from the safety of her sister's arms. "You were the one who waved a vial of Dust in my face!"
Allumette wasn't entirely sure whether she should be smirking or scowling at that bit of news. Her wings fluttered slightly as she crossed her arms and settled for a look that mixed annoyance and disappointment. "Aren't you supposed to be the 'Dust Expert' here, Snowflake? You should have learned in basic Dustology when you were younger that you shouldn't be waving Dust around like a toy, how else would it have gotten in the air like that?"
Weiss scowled, "That's not fair! The cork must have been loosened when she bumped into me! Normally it's completely safe to move around a vial of Dust, and you know that!" She shook her head. "Just-" she shoved a pamphlet into Ruby's hands, "take this and stay away from me!" She then turned on her heels and stomped off.
Ruby got out of her sister's arms and huffed. "Seriously, what's her deal?" She called out to the girl. "I just wanted friends!" Then, she turned her attention to Allumette, smiling. "Thank you for looking out for me."
Allumette waved a hand dismissively. "It's no bother. People like her annoy the crap out of me."
Before they could keep talking, Professor Ozpin stepped onto the stage following Glynda announcing that he wanted to say a brief few words. He gave his speech, one talking about how they lacked direction but could find it in the school, if they took the first step. It was brief, as he said it would be, and then they were told they had free reign to explore the campus and would be sleeping in the ballroom that night.
Allumette did wander around campus, though on her own so she could really take it in. Beacon was beautiful, and large enough that its campus could be considered a segment of the city in and of itself, big enough to fit both Huntsmen students and civilians looking to earn degrees that were either unrelated to Huntsmen, or something like Grimmology, which was at the highest levels was a scientific degree dedicated to the study of Grimm biology and behavior.
After she was finished exploring, she made her way to the ballroom and disappeared into the ladies' locker room, taking one of the changing stalls they had to do just that. She swapped out her usual outfit for her usual sleepwear, although it was decidedly too… revealing to be something she wore out in public. So, she donned a burnt orange nightgown that went down to her knees, though it still hugged her form somewhat. She also donned a light blue night cap with a little pompom at the end of it, just because her younger sister had given it to her and asked that she wear it the first night.
Afterward, she stepped out, grabbed her sleeping bag from the pack she'd brought, and set out to find a place to set up.
She found it against a wall, intent on getting to sleep as early as she could.
However, ideas of getting to sleep right away were swiftly dashed when, while she was sitting down browsing her Scroll, she heard Weiss' annoyed voice. "This is where I was going to sleep! Are you just out to make my day worse in every single way?"
Allumette looked up at the girl—probably the only scenario where she would have to do that—and frowned. Weiss was wearing an ice blue nightgown, not dissimilar to what Allu was wearing. It looked cute, but she wasn't exactly paying attention to the girl's looks, rather she was focused on her words. "Finders keepers, Snowflake. Don't throw a tantrum over a sleeping spot."
Weiss' frown deepened. "Why are you being so… brash? Is it just because of my family name?" She shakes her head. "People like you are all the same, you look at me and you see the SDC, you don't see a person!"
"No, I see a person." Allu retorted, squinting at her. "I see a pompous rich girl who's gotten everything she wanted in life!" The bite in her voice almost made Weiss recoil, she could see it, but Weiss held her ground. "I grew up in Mantle, my parents were almost killed in an accident caused by SDC recklessness, I have a right to be angry at the SDC, just as I have a right to hate you right off the bat because of how you treated some girl you didn't even know because she made a mistake."
For the briefest, barest moment, it looked like Weiss' eyes glistened. However, just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, and the ice returned to replace what could have been the beginnings of tears. "You don't know me! You don't know anything about my life. Don't try and say that I've gotten everything I wanted, because I haven't!"
"Then prove it!" Allumette hissed. "Pass initiation. That'll show you belong here." That was the only way to really show she should be there. Pass initiation and put her money where her mouth is. 'Although she's got so much money she'd probably choke on it, so maybe 'Money where her head is? Nah… that doesn't sound right.'
Weiss straightened herself out more than she already was before retorting, "I will, though not to prove anything to you. I don't owe you anything." She then turned on her heels and walked off, intent on finding another spot to sleep.
Allumette sighed once Weiss was gone. She knew she was being mean, but she hadn't exactly given her much reason to not be mean. If there was one thing she hated more than anything, it was people who thought they were better than everyone, and nothing said 'Schnee' like arrogance.
She closed her Scroll and started to get into her sleeping bag, intent on pushing the thoughts of 'Snowflake' from her mind. The girl agitated her to no end without even trying, but maybe that was to be expected.
She had initiation to focus on, and that was going to be one of the most important events of her life.
/-/
The next day, both Allumette and Weiss were up early, even by the standards of initiation (which, for their 'initiate group' was around 8). Both shared the same wish: To get a good meal in before they were expected to step into a forest full of deadly Grimm.
They both found that Beacon's Dining Hall was the stuff of dreams. It reminded Weiss of home, albeit with food more oriented towards Huntsmen and with options for 'junk food' via various vending machines. Meanwhile, Allumette had honestly only ever heard legends about just how good Huntsmen Academies were at providing their students with more than enough sustenance. She hadn't seen this much food in one place in a long, long time!
They got very different meals. Weiss opted for what was sometimes called a 'Full Atlesian Breakfast', sausage, eggs, bacon, baked beans, toast, cooked tomato, and blood pudding. She normally would restrain herself from eating that much, but she knew she'd need the energy. Meanwhile, Allumette got what was called the 'Mantelian Classic', which consisted of bacon, eggs, a stack of pancakes drenched in syrup, and, while not traditionally what a civilian would have for breakfast, a cut of Mantelian strip steak.
Once they had their fill, they both made their way to the locker room, having already changed into their outfits before, in order to grab their weapons.
While Allumette was checking over hers, she saw Jaune and Ruby talking. It seemed they'd hit it off pretty well, and Allu could tell there was already a budding friendship there. The two clearly held a lot of similarities, and similar interests, based on the animated way they were talking about some comic book or another.
She saw Weiss talking to a red haired girl—Pyrrha Nikos, if she recalled correctly—and clearly trying to poach her for some team. Allumette, feeling an obligation to inconvenience Weiss, began to walk off towards the exit, but as she passed them, she said, "I wouldn't count your chickens before they hatch, Snowflake, clearly she doesn't want to commit." Was she being a bit of a jerk? Yes, but she was a Schnee, and to her they were the root of a lot of problems in Mantle. 'Like all of the accidents that happen in their unregulated factories…'
Weiss huffed as Allumette left, but otherwise didn't pay much attention to it. She continued to try and poach Pyrrha for a short time, but much to her chagrin, it was clear that Allumette had been correct, and Pyrrha wasn't looking to commit to anything. So, with much annoyance, Weiss grabbed Myrtenaster and headed for the exit.
Both of them ended up at their destination fairly quickly, the platforms overlooking the Emerald Forest. Both girls already had an idea of what was to come, and both formulated their own plans of action. Although they wouldn't be entirely sure of what was going to happen until it actually did.
Once everyone had arrived, Ozpin began to explain. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest. Many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams, some of you might have guessed this, but you'll be assigned your teams today." He took a sip from his mug before continuing. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone whom you can work well with."
There were already murmurs about this between different students, Allumette could see Ruby fidgeting nervously, while Jaune looked about as pale as a ghost. Ozpin only added fuel to the fire when he said, "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years." That got people murmuring even more.
Allumette couldn't blame them, now it was a very real possibility she could get paired with someone she didn't like, but she'd live with it. Ozpin continued. "As for initiation itself, we're doing things a little differently compared to how we usually do them. Each of you is standing on a platform that will open to a tube, you will slide down the tube and end up in a cavern deep beneath the school. Once you've landed, you are to proceed to the center of the cave system, where you will find relics. You and your partner must take one and find a way out of the cave and back to the surface."
'Not my ideal space, but…' Allumette thought, her mind already going through different strategies for how to handle fights with cave-dwelling Grimm. Meanwhile, Ozpin said, "You will be monitored and graded throughout the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. Once you've reached the surface, we will regard it and your standing before grading you appropriately. Are there any questions?"
Everyone shifted in place, but it seemed like nobody had any questions. Instead, Allumette braced herself, grabbing her hammer from off her back while her wings fluttered before moving forward and wrapping around her. Just in time as well, as suddenly she felt the ground get snatched from underneath her.
She was keenly aware of the cold metal she was sliding on, it kind of reminded her of some of the larger pipes that workers in Mantle used for various reasons, but at least there were no rivets to cause any harm. That would have not only made her back hurt, but it'd have likely torn her clothes while it was at it.
It took time, and she knew she was sliding fast. 'Just how deep does this go?' She pondered, but luckily she didn't have to wait much longer before she got her answer, soon leaving the tube behind before landing on the ground while crouching. Her wings moved back, fluttering as she stood up, hammer in hand, and looked around.
The cave was, mercifully, larger than she had anticipated. Not by too much, but it was wide enough and tall enough that she could swing her hammer and do combat without being impeded. 'Likely by design. I doubt the headmaster wants any students suffering unfairly from the design of initiation…' To that end, there were also dim lights strung along the sides of the cave walls, clearly meant to aid non-Faunus students (or Faunus that couldn't see in the dark. Luckily, Allumette could.)
She began to walk forward, carefully watching her step to avoid tripping or making undue noise. There were three branching paths ahead of her. One to the right, one to the left, and one straight ahead. 'If nothing else, then forward…' She mused as she started walking straight ahead.
For the first couple minutes, she trekked forward through the tunnel, following it as it twisted and turned in an almost disorienting fashion. She grimaced and thought, 'Come on Allu, this isn't any different to clearing out those mines with Joanna…'
She had been on a few missions with the Happy Huntresses, as something of an 'apprentice'. Though she still attended combat school, they taught her things she'd have never learned there. Granted, most of it had no application here, but still! It meant she felt she was more than a little prepared for whatever was about to come.
And what was to come was the trembling of the ground beneath her that made her jump into the air, beating her wings and letting her hover above the ground just in time to avoid a Deathstalker emerging from where she had been standing. It was, thankfully, not fully grown, about the size of a small bear instead of a school bus. 'Doesn't mean it can't still kill if I'm sloppy.' A Huntress that underestimated her opponent was a dead Huntress, as Robyn always said.
She stopped beating her wings and fell to earth, raising her hammer above her head. The Deathstalker barely had enough time to move slightly before the hammer came down with a rocket-powered boost, it smashed into the beast's claw, causing it to screech in pain. Allumette swore under her breath, she had intended to crush the entire thing, but it had moved just enough to avoid immediate death.
She took a quick step back, just in time to avoid its stinger from jabbing into her. Her hammer's shaft shrank, the top sliding down over the bottom and turning it more into a warhammer. She used the smaller size to her advantage, swinging to the right and crashing Matchstick into the tail with such force that the stinger went flying off the Deathstalker's tail.
The beast was only capable of feebly trying to snip its remaining claw at her, but being deprived of its primary method of attack meant that it had basically already lost. She extended the shaft of Matchstick to its full size again and then brought it down, this time her hit landed on its center, breaking the exoskeleton with a CRACK as it let out one more screech before dying.
"Hm." Allumette lifted her hammer off the Deathstalker while muttering to herself. "Usually there's more than one when you're underground… this one must have been separated from its pack, but… then, where is its pack?"
In the distance, she heard several Deathstalker shrieks, combined with the sound of battle. Allumette muttered, "Mystery solved." before hurrying forward, towards the source of the noise. It might have been dangerous, but that was what she was here for, wasn't it? Dealing with danger as part of her job.
It was a ways away, but running at full speed meant she reached it a lot quicker. 'It' being what seemed to be a Deathstalker den, a small cavern that was full of tiny Deathstalkers, with a few larger ones as well. As for the source of their current agitation?
Weiss was clearly having trouble fighting all of the Deathstalkers, although her command of Dust and the small size of most of them (only about the size of a regular Scorpion) meant that their only real advantage was numbers.
Still, Weiss was strained, and Allumette knew that there really was only one thing to do. 'I might not like her, but leaving her to fight an army of Deathstalkers by herself? Nope.' Allumette raced to join her where she was positioned, just past the entrance of the cavern and overlooking a small pit where the Deathstalkers had made their nest.
Weiss was surprised to see a sudden flash of orange before a moderately sized Deathstalker got whacked and sent flying back into the pit it came from. She frowned slightly and gave a weak protest by saying, "I can look after myself, you know."
"I'm sure you can." Allumette responded assuringly, without a hint of sarcasm. "But that doesn't mean that I'm going to let someone fight a whole den of Deathstalkers by themself." She then turned her attention to the Deathstalkers that were climbing up the pit towards them. Her wings caught fire first, before embers and flame grew to surround her hammer. She then raised it before swinging forward, sending a large arc of fire crashing into several of the smaller ones.
Weiss, after getting over her surprise at Allumette's words, turned her attention to the Grimm once again. She swiped Myrtenaster in a horizontal motion, sending out her own wave of fire. "Ugh, if only we could use something more explosive here…" The cavern was big enough that a small explosion wouldn't damage it, but she didn't have anything to ignite a large enough explosion on her.
Allumette thought for a moment, looking at how deep the pit was, and nodded her head. "I have an idea." She drew from the satchel at her side a bright orange Dust vial. She looked at Weiss, who nodded. In turn, she nodded, before taking off into the air with her wings. The roof of the cavern was high enough that she could get over the pit without a problem. Still holding her hammer in one hand, she used her teeth to pull off the cork before spitting it out and sprinkling the Dust on her hammer, which began to glow orange.
She raised it up with both hands before throwing her full force downward, swinging with such strength that she ended up doing a somersault in the air. A wave of Orange Dust shot down towards the Deathstalkers, while at the same time Weiss prepared her own attack. She swiped Mrytenaster again, a flame flying towards the deepest part of the pit along with the Orange Dust.
They connected at the bottom, igniting a small but potent explosion that sent the remains of the Deathstalkers flying like popcorn flying out of a jostled container.
Allumette smirked as she flew down to Weiss' side while saying, "Nice work, Princess. At least you'll be decent enough to work with on a mission." As long as she could put aside any petty differences they had when it mattered, they would work together just fine. She could only imagine the grilling that Robyn and the others would give her over ending up being partnered with a Schnee of all people, but it was random! Not like she could help it. 'Besides, May was Winter Schnee's partner, so it's not exactly new territory for them.'
Weiss' face burned red, but she averted her gaze and turned away. Her voice sounded somewhat petulant as she said, "Hmph! Of course I can. I'm Weiss Schnee, I've been trained my whole life for this by some of the best teachers Atlas had to offer."
Allumette chuckled. "Funny," she patted Weiss on the shoulder and began to move past her, towards the exit, as she said, "I was trained by the best teachers in Mantle. People you couldn't buy with money." In her mind, the best training came from people who weren't just doing it to earn a paycheck, they had to have their hearts in it!
Weiss stammered as she tried to retort, "Why- y-you- look- Ugh!" She decided to move on from the topic, following behind Allumette. "And why are you leading the way? I could find the relics with no problem!" She felt she needed to reiterate to herself that she had been training her whole life to be a leader, and she wasn't about to let someone else just come along and take that position away from her.
Allumette glanced backward. "You mean like how you found the Deathstalker den? You might have places you know better than me, but I know a bit more about cave-crawling than you. Did it a few times with my mentors." Abandoned Dust mines were rife with Grimm, more often than not, and the Huntresses believed that they were a good training spot for someone who needed to kill Grimm in a somewhat controlled environment.
"Fine." Weiss responded tersely. "I'll follow you, but only because we're partners." She certainly wasn't doing it because she wanted to, but for all her pride, she knew that she wasn't a cave-explorer. She could end up going in circles for hours if left alone, and would probably fail as a result.
And that was simply unacceptable.
They continued pushing ahead with a thick layer of awkward silence weighing over them. Neither one particularly liked the other, and so neither one really had anything to say, preferring instead to try to focus on the task at hand, rather than potentially getting into another argument.
Although… Weiss did have a question that had been crawling around her brain like a bug since the day before. Now that they had to work together, she felt that she had nothing to lose by asking. "Pardon if this is a rude question, but… what kind of Faunus are you?" She could at least be polite about it. "I don't think I've ever seen someone like you before."
"Of course you haven't." Allumette smirked. "I'm one of a kind." She then shook her head and answered, "Honestly? I don't know. Neither do my parents. Nor the doctors. Apparently there exists no records of someone like me existing ever before."
"Really?" Weiss furrowed her brow. She couldn't help but look over the girl's large wings. They were unique, that was for certain, and, dare Weiss say, beautiful, red and orange like an evening sun. 'Now I'm waxing poetic about her wings? By the Gods, pull yourself together, Weiss!' She had never known herself to be so taken by something so easily. Not even two days away from Atlas and she was starting to falter. 'I'll just have to be stronger.'
Luckily, Allumette had no idea about Weiss' rapidly derailing train of thought. "Yeah, really. All I know is that they look good, gleam in the sunlight, and let me fly. I couldn't tell you how often I performed street shows by flying around and doing things like juggling fire or doing, like… tricks in the air, that sort of stuff."
"It must have been difficult," Weiss said with a bit of a more faraway tone, "being different like that, I mean. Being the only one of your kind of Faunus means that you don't exactly have a ready-made community of people to support you." And she knew a thing or two about lacking support.
Allumette wasn't sure this line of questioning had come from, but she supposed it was better than arguing over nonsense. She was already guilty of doing that at least once, falling to anger. "It… can be. Winged Faunus are already rare, so taking a rare type of Faunus and making me something rarer? Well, if it weren't for my family and my mentors, I'd have probably felt pretty alone growing up."
Weiss' lips tugged downward briefly, but she managed to school her expression to one of neutrality. "At least you had that." She wasn't going to talk about her family, now certainly wasn't the time. "How far do you think we have to go now?" It was a question she knew the other girl probably didn't have an answer to, but on the off-chance she did, she felt she had to ask.
Or maybe she was just filling the silence.
"Hmm." Allumette hummed, not answering the question just yet. However, they soon found that they came to a dead-end, with the only path forward being a tunnel to the right. "I wonder if Ozpin had this place built, or if this cave system always existed…" The man was mysterious and hard to get a read on, it could have been possible that he had it built, or maybe a previous Headmaster did, but it could have simply been repurposed as an initiation ground.
Weiss shook her head. "From what I've heard about him, it could be either." She began to walk towards the tunnel. "Either way, we shouldn't linger for too long. We should-" Before she could speak any further, the ground beneath them shook, almost throwing them off balance.
They barely had time to question what was going on before the ground beneath Weiss began to shift. She barely had time to stagger back, deeper into the tunnel, before a massive Grimm emerged. It looked like a giant worm, except unlike the Blind Worms common in Vacuo, it had rows of razor sharp teeth in its maw, descending further into it. It screeched, and Allumette backpedaled while shouting, "Weiss! Hit it with something—anything!"
Weiss reacted immediately, raising her rapier and swiping up at the beast's head with a gout of Fire Dust. It crashed not only into the creature, but onto the roof above it. The tunnels were already shaken by the monster's sudden and tremor-inducing arrival, and the Fire Dust just added to the problem. Both the entrance to the tunnel they had come from, and the interest to the tunnel where the Worm had made its presence known, collapsed, filling with wrongs.
Weiss, horrified by this, called out, "Allumette! Are you okay?!"
Allumette called back, "Yeah, I'm okay! Just trapped." She at least had enough room to move around. She looked around, before eventually spotting what looked to be a piece of wall that was thinner than the others. "I'm gonna try and get out the old fashioned way! Keep going and find a relic, we can still get through this!"
"U-Uhm, okay!" Weiss was admittedly a bit scared at the idea of having to face that giant worm alone, but she swallowed her fear and lifted her head up. "I'll go and find it! You'd better catch up once you're out!"
"Believe me, I want to!" Allumette responded, before turning her attention to the wall. She was about to move towards it when she felt the ground shake again.
Subsequently, she heard Weiss exclaim, "It's not dead?!" Before the sound of her running away and the screeching of a Grimm reached her.
Allumette only had one thing to say on the matter. "Fuck." She turned her attention to the wall, knowing there'd be no way to break through the rubble blocking the tunnel Weiss was in any reasonable amount of time.
She took out a vial of Gravity Dust and sprinkled it on Matchstick, This would allow her to increase the weight of the hammer at the time of impact, delivering stronger blows that could hopefully break through a wall.
The first swing chipped the rock, then she raised her hammer and brought it down again. All the while, under her breath, she sang, "Let us pause in life's pleasure, and count its many tears, while we all sup sorrow with the poor…" Another hit, another bit of rock removed. "There's a song that will linger forever in our ears; Oh! Hard times come again no more."
And so she continued. Her hammer would connect with the wall, resulting in the sound of metal meeting stone resounding throughout the room. She would sing the song, her voice carrying through the empty space, as one swing after another she made headway.
Eventually, after a couple minutes, she found herself hitting a wall.
Literally, a wall. It was made of plaster, it looked like. Allumette furrowed her brow and wondered just what this wall led to, but realized that she was going to have to find out one way or another.
She raised her hammer and brought it down. At first, she found it met with a strangely strong resistance, but after a moment, she pushed through it and connected with the wall. She raised her hammer once again, and…
When she brought it down, she found herself tumbling forward, spilling out and landing on her back. She felt… tiles? Underneath her. She blinked a few times before sitting up and looking around.
Her mouth fell open at the sight.
A massive, sprawling vault, dimly lit by wall-mounted torches that cast a pole green light. The corridors intersected, showing that there was far more to this place than she could see.
She got up and thought, 'Maybe it's part of the test? The relic could be here…' With nothing else to go off of, she simply had to press ahead. Though, as she did, she heard a strange sound behind her, the sound of something… mending. When she looked behind her, she noticed a pale green energy cover the hole she had made, and suddenly she felt like she wasn't going to get back that easily. Yet, still, she pushed forward.
Her footsteps were her only company within this strange place, there was otherwise not a sound. The sheer scale of the architecture made her feel… small. Like she was walking in a valley of giants, a place where she had no business being, and no real way to comprehend just what it was.
However, as she continued to walk, she noticed a dim light ahead of her, something was glowing. Something… mechanical, she felt, based on how it looked. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before starting towards it.
Somehow, her steps felt heavier the closer she got to the source. In the back of her mind, her instincts told her to turn back, but she persisted nonetheless. A Huntress never got anywhere by turning tail at the sight of something unknown. She knew the Happy Huntresses would keep going, and so she did so as well.
"Besides, Allu," she whispered to herself, "Just think about how much they'd roast you for missing out on exploring a place like this…" Robyn would make a joke about Allu losing her nerve after leaving the nest, Joanna would just smirk, while May would crack a joke, and Fiona would tell her it was okay. 'I know they all love me, anyway, so it's not like it matters.' They were like the older sisters she'd never had, and she was happy to have them.
The light grew, and soon she began to make out exactly what it was. A strange… pod? No, pods. Two of them, built like some sort of high-tech life support system that she'd seen on TV, rarely. Except, unlike the ones used in Atlas, this had some strange… tertiary machinery attached to it, Even stranger still, one of them was occupied.
There was a girl in it, with light brown skin, shoulder-length, straight brown hair, and a beauty mark under her brown eyes. Her face was scarred, and she wore a white tube top and a white skirt. She seemed to be unconscious, or at least, she didn't respond to Allumette approaching her.
She reached the girl and furrowed her brow as she looked at her. By now, she had thrown out any idea of this having been part of the test, it clearly was not.
But what was it?
She started as she heard a voice behind her, Professor Ozpin. "I see you've ended up in Beacon's Vault." She turned around and saw Ozpin standing a few feet away. "This was not part of the test, and I would be glad to send you back. After all, it was my lapse in judgment that left that wall unfortified."
"P-Professor." Allumette started, looking back at the girl. "What… who… is this?" She gestured to the machinery. "Why is Beacon keeping a girl in its vault?" It was the strangest thing she had ever seen, hands down.
Ozpin sipped his drink before stepping over to stand next to her, and to look at the girl in the pod. "She's a seasoned Huntress, and a dear confidant of mine. As for why she's here… I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I can't tell you." He turned his gaze to Allumette. "All you need to know is that she's an important person with some… special properties. If you pass initiation and prove yourself in the academy, I might tell you more at a later date. For now… I ask that you keep this between us."
To say that it was suspect was an understatement. Yet, Allumette could tell that Ozpin wasn't going to tell her any more, at least, not yet. Whatever, and whoever, was in this Vault, was going to remain a secret until Ozpin felt it necessary, or appropriate, to tell her. "Okay… but, I have a problem. I'm kind of…"
"Stuck?" Ozpin smiled. "Don't worry. We're not supposed to help initiates, but considering your… unique circumstance, I have asked Glynda to clear the paths for you. Now, I suggest you try and catch up to Miss Schnee, I have a feeling she's going to need your help.
Allumette's eyes widened, before she nodded. "A-Alright." Then, she turned and hurried off, even using her wings to fly her forward.
She knew that Worm was after Weiss. She just hoped she wasn't too late.
/-/
Weiss was seriously starting to question if she had bad luck or not.
First, the Worm appeared, then the tunnel collapsed, and now? She was running from that same Worm.
She knew she couldn't beat it on her own, so she had no choice but to run and hope Allumette could catch up to her.
Eventually, however, she spotted what she hoped to be safety—an entrance to a large cavern that was thankfully not full of Deathstalkers.
She burst into the chamber and turned around as she watched the worm draw closer. Then, miraculously, it remained stuck in the entrance! She wanted to laugh at it, but she knew this wouldn't last long.
Besides, as she turned around, she noticed a different problem.
What looked to be a full team and two more people fighting a large Grimm. It looked like a cross between a porcupine, badger, and mole, with four legs , one of which had razor sharp claws, and the other was simply a black mass. The hindlegs had claws on them, though they were smaller than the one at the front. It had spikes on its back like a porcupine, and it notably had no eyes, instead having several tendrils coming from its nose—not large enough to be used in a fight, but she could deduce that they were meant to help it sense things. She knew its name—A Spikeback.
It was being engaged by (and Weiss wasn't sure how she remembered some of their names), Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren, with aid from Ruby and Yang.
The latter two broke off from the fight as they spotted Weiss and the worm, seemingly believing that the others could handle the porcupine for now. Ruby didn't look too pleased to see Weiss, but she didn't voice any animosity, instead asking, "Weiss! Where's your partner?!"
"She's—it's a long story! She'll be here in a minute, I know she will." She hoped she knew, at least. 'I hope she's not-'
Before she could question it any further, the Worm broke through the cavern entrance. It screeched as it moved towards them, teeth bared. All three of them backed up, finding themselves close to the other team.
However, from a hole in the ceiling above, there came a burnt orange blur, one that Weiss had already learned to recognize.
Allumette, hammer raised, came down and smashed the Worm's head. Not killing it, but disorienting it as it screeched in pain. Weiss rolled her eyes and called out, "Are you always going to make such dramatic entrances?!"
To which, Allumette smiled and flew further into the air. "No idea! Grab a relic and let's beat these monsters!"
Yang grinned and hurried in, needing no other prompt to punch something. Once she closed in on it, she began to punch its side, detonating Dust rounds with each hit, though she had to back up once it began to thrash and attempt to crush her under its weight. She then ended up needing to duck under a claw swipe from the Spikeback.
Ruby activated her semblance and flew forward, before darting upward as the beast shot what appeared to be acid out of its mouth. Ruby turned off her semblance as she reached its top and spun Crescent Rose in the air, turning it into its War Scythe form with one swift motion before she attempted to pierce its back and cut into its flesh, although she found she met with resistance. She called out, "It's got really tough skin!"
Weiss, who had to sidestep the acid that was shot at her, responded by calling out, "Its underside is vulnerable!" She then had to duck under a quill that had been shot at her by the Spikeback. She frowned before creating several glyphs above her head, and she commanded them to fly forward, some of them entering into the Worm's mouth and causing it to screech, while the others merely bounced off its skin.
Allumette thought quickly, and thankfully the solution was rather obvious. "We need to turn it over! Yang, keep hitting it! Weiss, put down a Gravity Glyph! Ruby, when it starts to turn, use your semblance and go up so you don't get crushed!" The others moved quickly to do as she asked, with Weiss creating a Gravity Glyph under it, not directly, but just enough to influence it being turned onto its stomach from Yang's side.
Allumette saw that the other team had come up with their own strategy, but part of it clearly also relied on the beast being on its back. She saw Pyrrha stabbing its bill with her spear, Jaune was mostly hiding behind his shield, but giving out orders all the while, while Ren and Nora were doing what they could to damage it.
She couldn't help them now, however. Instead she tightened her grip on her hammer and pressed a button on the shaft. This caused the hammerhead to spin and come loose, with the aid of Gravity Dust. It fell, held by a metal chain, as she now had a hammer-headed flail.
She stayed in the air as she used Gravity Dust to guide the chain and hammer, commanding it to smash into the side of the beast that Yang was punching like a wrecking ball. The beast began to turn, and that was when Weiss activated her Glyph, combined with Yang's punches and Allumette's hammer, it was enough to cause the beast to begin to turn onto its back.
As it did, Ruby shot into the air, up to where Allumette was several feet off the ground. She then reappeared and smiled at Allumette, who was spinning her flail's hammerhead and chain. "Let's take it down!"
Ruby nodded in agreement, and so both girls descended at the same time, with Allumette's hammer spinning much faster now, powered by both Gravity Dust and the Combustion Dust of its rocket component. As she drew closer to the ground, she smashed the hammerhead into the beast's stomach while at the same time Ruby plunged her war scythe into it. Weiss created several more Glyphs that shot more ice, this time directed at its belly, while Yang jumped up onto the belly to punch it with everything she had.
The beast gave one last screech and attempted to curl inward before finally going limp, crashing its head onto the dirt.
At the same time, the other team executed its own plan. Jaune got under the Spikeback and crashed his shield into its stomach, using all the strength he had to aid in lifting it up while Pyrrha struck its torso with her spear, causing it to lift further in the air. Nora glanced at Allumette and grinned, happy to have discovered another hammer user, before declaring loudly, "Watch my hammerwork!" to Allumette. She then surged forward, connecting her hammer with the beast's underside, directly under its beak, and finally caused it to fully tip backward. Ren jumped into the air, shooting several Dust rounds into its underside, before quickly slotting his pistol away and raising a trained hand. Once he connected with the beast's stomach and punched it, a purple energy surged through it, as he used his aura to deliver a precise and devastating attack.
As that beast too went limp, a silence fell over them for a moment as they all took in just what had happened. Then, Ruby, Yang, and Nora cheered loudly, celebrating their victory. Meanwhile, Pyrrha was checking on Jaune, who seemed to have spent all his energy holding up the beast's weight, and Ren was merely catching his breath.
And Weiss?
Well, as Allumette descended to stand next to her, Weiss scoffed and crossed her arms while averting her gaze. "I suppose you're good at tactics." She would normally never admit such a thing, but she felt that she needed to give credit where it was due. She still believed that she would become the leader, anyway.
Allumette smiled at Weiss before she walked over to where the relics were, a small ziggurat-style structure that was far enough back to thankfully not interfere with their fight. She grabbed one of the chess pieces and said, "Right! We should all get out of here, there's bound to be another way out nearby."
Weiss felt like she needed to ask, "How did you even get here?"
"I was following the tunnel you took before I saw a hole in the ceiling." She pointed upward. "It ended up leading here. Convenient, huh?" Maybe she just had really good luck.
Weiss rolled her eyes and brushed it off as just that, good luck. Then, all eight of them made their way out, following a tunnel that none had taken before.
Luckily, it had a stairway that led them back to the surface, where Ozpin and Glynda were waiting. They regarded the relics and graded them before sending them off to have their teams formed.
They arrived and, after a few other teams were formed, the team that had fought alongside them was called up. They formed Team JNPR.
And them?
They were called up to the podium, and each stood side by side, Weiss had all of her focus on Ozpin, while Ruby seemed to be looking around and taking in the stage and the crowd, and Yang just grinned and waited for the end result.
Finally, their portraits appeared, and Ozpin said, "Allumette Flammens, Yang Xiao-Long, Weiss Schnee, and Ruby Rose. The four of you collected the Gold Queen pieces. You shall form…" Letters appeared just below their portraits, 'FLWR'.
"Team Flower!"
