Author's Notes

Been awhile, huh? I've been putting off working on this for awhile, for no real reason other than wanting to take a break from it. However, now I'm back. To address a common concern not just by JackRedHawk but by a few of my proofreaders: I know things may look bleak for the Neve/Cinder ship, but don't count it out yet. The story is only just beginning, after all. Anyway, I'm glad to be back on this story, and though I've got other stuff to work on, I'll try not to let several months pass before I update this again.


The next day began the first day of classes.

Shi got up, did her morning routine, and got dressed. Sanctuary's uniform was basically the same as Beacon's, except instead of brown it was a gunmetal gray. It gave the uniform a bit of a drearier feel, but Shi supposed that maybe that wasn't considered a bad thing in the Thirteenth.

Then again, Ash liked bright and cute clothing, so maybe it was more varied than some universal consensus.

Shi decided that she was getting too caught up on color theory and instead headed to class. Unlike classes on the First, where the students were the ones who got up and went to other classes, it seemed that Neve and Salem had established a more orderly approach. Instead of the students, it was the teachers that came in and out of the classroom, which Shi felt just made sense.

Her classroom was appropriately designated with the Argussian symbol for 'Alpha' on it. When she got inside, she found that some of the others were already there, relaxing and talking to each other, since class hadn't started yet.

The classroom was laid out fairly standardly, with gray carpeted floors and tables that could sit two students filling up the middle and back of the room. Although 'filling up' might have been the wrong term: there were exactly five tables, leaving plenty of space between each one, although not so much space as to make it impossible to hand back any papers that needed passing out.

There were no windows, understandably, but the classroom was well lit and air conditioned, so it didn't really matter. If anything, it was a bit chilly.

Emerald and Mercury were sitting together at one of the front tables, the one to the right side, talking to each other. Lilith was sitting with Verte, reading a book, while Verte seemed to be doing everything in her power to strike up a conversation with Lilith. Finally, Ash was sitting in the very back left, sequestered away from those who were already there.

So, naturally, Shi knew where she was going to sit. Ash was someone intriguing to her, and though she didn't know much about the girl, she knew that she wanted to. A lonely soul like her deserved a friend.

When Ash saw her coming, her eyes widened and her tail momentarily froze up, but she seemed to not want to, or was otherwise incapable of, saying anything against her sitting there. Shi sat next to her and smiled. "Hey, Ash. How'd you sleep?"

Ash played with some of her hair as she looked away and her tail resumed swishing behind her, her face dusting up red. "Fine, fine. Uhm… how about you?" She seemed uncertain on what to say, and a bit scared to speak at all, although whether or not that was due to her own paranoia about her semblance, Shi had no clue.

Shi smiled. "Good, the beds here are really comfortable. Not as comfortable as the one I had back home, but…" She shrugged, "I've slept on the ground in the woods before, I'm not exactly picky."

Ash looked at her curiously. "Did you go camping?"

"Sometimes," Shi responded as she leaned back in her chair. "Most of the time it was just a hunting trip, but sometimes I'd do other stuff. One time, to build strength, I took an axe with me and chopped a bunch of wood and trees. A lot more natural and less boring than going to a gym."

Ash seemed surprised, her eyes widening. It looked like she was imagining a visual of Shi chopping wood, and whatever it was, it was… intriguing to her. Although that intrigue manifested as shyly looking away again. "That's… very unique for a training regimen. I never worked on strength, just Dust control. I use a wand to use Dust, that's really it. I'm… maybe a bit too fragile for a Huntress."

Shi shook her head. "It takes all kinds; besides, you're here. That's its own kind of strength, and we're here to learn and improve, so you'll always have room to grow." She decided to move the topic away from what it was, for Ash's sake. "So… do you know who our professor is?"

"Our homeroom and first period professor? Of course," Ash began as she took a notebook out of her bag, one with cute little doodles on it, and flipped to the first page, where she had prettily written notes filled with highlights of various bright colors. "It's Professor Reinart. I hear he's a bit rough around the edges but really friendly once you get to know him. The one we need to look out for is Professor Callows; I've heard he's… a bit weird. Harmless, but weird."

Before Shi could ask any more about them, the front door opened. In came the rest of the class that hadn't been there earlier, followed by their professor. Shi recognized him, Hazel Reinart. An eight foot tall giant of a man, although this version seemed to be less angry, judging by the small smile on his face. The primary difference she spotted in his appearance was a set of dark brown bear ears on his head. He wore the same long-coat outfit he wore on the First, and Shi couldn't help but recall when she had fought him. She was young back then, young and inexperienced. She was only able to talk him out of his goals just barely, and she was glad that she did, because she had known that he was a good person.

Professor Reinart cleared his throat as he stood at his desk. "Right. Welcome to your first class of your first year at Sanctuary. I'll be your homeroom and first period professor, Hazel Reinart. Please, just call me Hazel. Never much liked titles and formalities."

He cleared his throat again. "I'm sure all of you have had enough time to at least get acquainted with one another, but for my sake, I'm going to go down the list. When I say your name, I want you to say a little about yourself. Just some likes, dislikes, and what your goal is in becoming a Huntsman. You don't gotta stand up, but if it'd help, you can. First up… number one on the list, Shi Cadere."

Shi could have sworn, if she didn't have the entire class looking at her. She hated being the center of attention, and it seemed like ever since she'd arrived on the Thirteenth she'd been having a spotlight shined on her. She put on the best smile she could, although it proved to be rather awkward and uncertain, and the way her ears briefly folded down before she was able to will them back up certainly didn't help matters. She stood up and began to speak. "Hi, I'm uh- Well, you already know, but I'm Shi Cadere." She took a deep breath. "I like fighting Gr- Uhh, Nephilim. I like fighting, really. Uhm… I like soccer? I used to play it back in the day. Uhm… I like Tiramisu! Ah… dislikes…"

She scratched her cheek and searched for something she actually disliked. Finally, she found it. "I dislike it when people give up." She clenched her fists as she felt passion stirring in her heart, finally, she seemed to find her voice. "It seems like everywhere I go, no matter where, there's always people ready to give up, or people ready to just let other people dictate their lives, but that's not right! Everyone has their own life to live, and they should never give that up, in any capacity! Ours isn't an easy life, but… we can't just give up, and we can't resign ourselves to some predetermined fate. We're more than that! My dream… well… I want to make the world a better place. I want to fight for a world where everyone can live happily and without worry, without fear!"

She was fully impassioned now as she continued her speech, "It might seem like a fairytale dream, but that's why we're here, right? To make life just a bit better every day, and to make sure that the people who come after us can have easier lives, happier lives." She thought back to the Saviors, her family, back home, and to her dad. "I had people who fought for that for me, too, back home. I'm paying it forward. A-And…" She started to lose her traction and laughed nervously. "Th-That's pretty much it for me. I'm really not that interesting."

She sat down, and in spite of her feeling very insecure, she did receive some applause from her classmates. Ash smiled warmly and whispered, "You did great. You're… really passionate."

Shi smiled warmly back at her, then turned her attention to Hazel, who wore a smile on his face that was a bit brighter than the one from before. "Very inspiring. I think I know more than a few people who could stand to learn a thing or two about what it takes to be a true Huntsman from you. Next up…" He looked at the list. "Ash Inazuma."

Ash swallowed a lump in her throat, seeming nervous, and her tail was tucked between her legs. Shi flashed her a reassuring smile, which she made an effort to return before her tail finally untucked itself and she took a deep breath and stood. "Hi, I'm, uhm… Ash Inazuma. I like… music, and… movies. Dislikes? Uhm… large crowds, and Nephilim, obviously. That's… really it from me."

"Don't feel too self conscious," Hazel began, looking up from his Scroll tablet. "Not everyone can belt out a speech for their introduction." He smirked. "If anything, I think you've made the others here feel a bit less intimidating to speak."

Ash took some solace in that, sitting down again. Shi patted her shoulder, a move that caused her to start slightly, though Ash didn't move to pull away, and her tail began to slowly swish behind her. Shi smiled and whispered, "You did great. He's right, I might have, ah… raised the bar too much." She realized that now, but she supposed there was nothing to do about it anymore.

Ash shook her head. "Y-You were just speaking your mind. There's nothing wrong with that… j-just made it a bit more difficult for me, heh…" She tried to chuckle at her own misfortune, but she clearly couldn't bring herself to.

Shi was going to say something else, but Hazel spoke first. "Right… Emerald Sustrai, you're up."

Emerald's fox ears twitched as she stood up, seeming a bit more at ease with this whole thing than Ash did, not that that was a hard hurdle to jump. "Sup, you heard my name, Emerald Sustrai. I like going out into town, fighting Nephilim, and annoying this guy next to me." She gestured at Mercury, who just scoffed and shook his head. "Dislikes? Uhh… I guess liars, manipulators. People that pretend to be people they aren't to try and get in your, uhh, what's the word… good graces? I guess?" She saw everyone nodding to what she said, and so she nodded back, content with her piece. She sat down while saying, "Yep, that's me."

Hazel nodded. "Thank you, Emerald. People who hide who they are can be… the worst." It seemed he spoke from experience, but he obviously didn't elaborate on it. Instead, he read the next name. "Mercury Black."

Mercury stood, his tail swishing behind him and occasionally knocking into Emerald as he did, clearing his throat as he did. "Yo." He raised a hand casually. "I'm Mercury Black. Yeah, my dad's that famous bounty hunter you've probably heard about when you were young. Yeah, he's a pretty cool guy, you might see him around here eventually." He shrugged. "As for me, I like playing video games and playing guitar—Emerald and I used to have a band, but it uh… broke up awhile ago. Never went anywhere." He realized he was getting ahead of himself and shook his head. "Anyway, dislikes? Cowards and bi- uh… bad people. Emerald, when she's being annoying."

That comment got a whack on his arm from the girl, causing him to chuckle and some of the others in the class to snicker before he moved on."Also Bepis, that soda's overrated." He shrugged and sat down. "That's it from me."

Hazel nodded along to what he said and once he was finished, said, "Interesting. It's good to dislike cowards. They're the people that get you killed on missions." He looked at his Scroll tablet again. "Right. Do you prefer Trivia, or Neopolitan?" He asked, looking at Neo. She held up two fingers, which seemed to be enough for him to understand. "Right, Neopolitan Vanille, you're up."

Neopolitan stood, her tail swishing behind her casually, and for a moment the class wondered how she was going to handle this, not being able to talk was a barrier and Hazel clearly didn't know about it. Yet, she merely summoned a sign and held it to where everyone could read. "I'm Neopolitan Vanille! I love ice cream, playing pranks, and being a menace to society. I also love Roman Torchwick! I hate liars and hot summer days." After everyone had read the sign, she sat down.

"Okay." Hazel cleared his throat. "Apologies, they didn't put on here that you're mute. I'll have to bring it up with the disability office, so they can make arrangements for you." Neo smiled gratefully at him, then he moved on. "Lilith Taurus."

Lilith stood up without much hesitation. "Hey." She raised her hand. "I'm Lilith Taurus, as you heard." She cleared her throat, seemingly trying to restrain some distaste for crowds. "I like fighting Nephilim, reading books, and… some other things. I dislike racists and assholes. So if you're neither of those, we'll get along fine." Then she sat down.

Hazel nodded to her. "Good. Now…" He looked at his Scroll tablet again. "Haimon Nikos."

The giant of a man stood up, his bullhorns gleamed in the light. "Hey." He started simply. "I'm Haimon Nikos, some people call me the Bull of Argus because of my tournament career, but you can really just call me Haimon." He rubbed the back of his neck as he finished. This Haimon seemed amicable and approachable compared to the one Shi had seen on the First. His desire to spar had made her wonder if he really was that different when she first met him, but maybe he was just tired. "I like fighting, playing sports—just about any kind—tournaments, and hanging out with my friends. I love Astra." People glanced at the girl sitting next to him, but she didn't seem embarrassed, instead she just giggled. Shi saw Mercury and a few others roll their eyes. "I dislike all the usual things. Cowards, liars, cheaters… More than anything, though, I hate people who betray your trust. It's worse than just lying. To go back on your word, or to misuse someone… that's the worst kind of evil."

Haimon sat back down after that, and Hazel nodded. "Right, makes sense. I just ask that you two keep your hands to yourselves while in class." That got some snickers, though neither Haimon or Astra seemed embarrassed by it. "Next up, Astra Kyanos."

Astra stood up, and Shi still wasn't quite used to her not having wings on her back. "It's wonderful to be here. I am Astra Kyanos. I adore writing and reading almost as much as I adore my love Haimon, but not quite." She giggled, either ignoring or simply not hearing some of the muted groans from her classmates. "Dislikes… it's quite the quandary to find things like that. I suppose I dislike the same things everyone else does. I try not to think about things I dislike, I'd rather face the day as it comes and not dwell on such matters!" She then sat down.

"Well, it works." Hazel shrugged. "Next…Verte Arc."

Verte practically jumped out of her chair, her boundless enthusiasm still as present as ever as her tail wagged behind her. "Howdy ya'll! I'm Verte Arc, and I like herdin' animals, shootin' Nephilim, and reading comics! Hate? Eh… Nephilim? That's it really."

She sat down, and so Hazel moved down the list to the final member of the class, and the one Shi had been wanting to hear from the most."Nora Valkyrie, you're up."

Nora, who had been polishing her horns with some kind of cloth, stood up and grinned. "Hey! I'm Nora Valkyrie! I love pancakes, playing video games, and wrecking Nephilim! I hate bullies, more than anything else."

With Nora's brief exposition over, she sat down, and finally introductions were over. Hazel set down his tablet after tapping it a couple times. "Okay, that's out of the way. Now, normally this would be the part where I step out and let your next teacher take over. However, since today's the first day, we're going to do things a little differently. I want all of you to go to the locker rooms, change into your preferred Huntsman apparel, then take your weapons and meet me outside at Training Ground Alpha."

This was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Shi was more than willing to do something practical instead of academic, even if she knew that wouldn't be the case every day. The others seemed to agree as well, with the exception of Ash—who looked incredibly nervous and anxious—and Lilith, who seemed more annoyed at having to stop reading her book than anything else.

Despite this, neither voiced any complaint, and so everyone headed out. The locker rooms had changing stalls, though some (like Verte) weren't shy at all changing in front of the others, especially given they were still in gendered locker rooms. As for Shi, she kind of envied the guys, because there were just less of them there, that meant they had to worry less about potentially running out of space and not having privacy.

However, she was luckily able to secure a changing stall and change into her usual outfit—not that that took very long. She already wore the wrappings under her clothes, and then all that was left were her pants, bolero, boots, and Theta.

While she was changing, she heard some of the others pondering what they'd be doing exactly, with some suggesting it was just a routine assessment, while others were hoping for something more exciting.

Shi, meanwhile, found it hard to hope for any one thing exciting when she was just glad to be there. For all the difficulties she'd had, and all the difficulties she knew she'd have in the future, she found simply the idea of being there and continuing to follow in Neve's footsteps more than enough to wade through whatever trials came next.

So she and the others left as soon as they were ready, heading down to the training ground, which appeared to be a grassy field with various things set up around it to test people. Tracks to test speed, weights to test strength, and what appeared to be a dueling arena in the middle, although Shi felt that they probably wouldn't be using that today, unfortunately so in her mind.

Once everyone was gathered, Hazel began to explain. "I have here a gauntlet of various tests. Each one will allow me to assess your skill level, and figure out where you need the most improvement. You're not being graded on this per se, but you should still perform your best. Otherwise I won't have an accurate idea of what you're capable of—and I might just kick you out for being lazy."

Shi saw Mercury and Emerald's faces scrunch up a bit at that. It seemed that the two of them had been ready to just phone it in, but with Hazel's warning, it became clear that that wouldn't be possible anymore. 'Not like they should be slacking off anyway,' Shi thought, 'this is a Huntsman Academy, we need to be serious.'

First was the strength tests, which included bench-pressing as much as one could, hauling rocks, and a grip strength test. Next was a 100 meter dash, a wall climbing test, a javelin throwing test, and finally, a semblance test.

The bench-press took place in one of the school's gyms, and Shi found that she had an easy enough time. She could lift 400 pounds, thanks to a mixture of her own strength and her aura augmenting her.

She was heavily focused on the task at hand, so she missed out on how people were doing around her. Most were doing fine, what you'd expect from Huntsman students, while others, well…

Ash had sort of forgotten about her weights (which 'only' clocked in at about 150 pounds with her aura helping her), and was instead finding herself staring wide-eyed as she watched her desk-mate pump iron, her face redder than Haimon's hair. She had to shake herself out of it, just barely managing to turn her focus away so she could focus on her own weights.

Meanwhile, in the distance, some other students were trying to pull their eyes away from watching Haimon. Most of them weren't doing it for the same reason Ash was for Shi, but rather, because of just how much he was pressing. 850 pounds! And it didn't look like he was having much of an issue with it, either. Astra, who was as always fairly close at hand, was outright cheering him on.

Hauling rocks sounded simple, but it seemed Hazel's definition of a 'rock' was a bit skewed. It was more like a small boulder, its weight was nothing that most of them couldn't haul, but the difficulty came from how bulky it was. Thus, it took most people a lot longer than they wanted to get their rocks across.

Shi did pretty well, although she almost dropped it more than once. Though, after she'd set it down at the end point, she looked around and huffed as she saw she was only second, once again beaten by Haimon, while further back Verte seemed to have come up with a fairly unique way of 'hauling' a rock, by way of wrapping her whip around it and dragging it to the finish line.

Although, it seemed a lot of people were having some measure of trouble getting it to the end point at first. That was, until they saw Verte, and realized that the only win-condition was getting the rock to the finish line. This resulted in Mercury kicking his boulder until it got to where it needed to be, Emerald, Neopolitan, and many others were just rolling it forward, Dead last ended up being Ash, who struggled to push it forward, clearly physically the weakest of the class.

Shi couldn't help but feel bad for her, but as much as she wanted to help, assisting was forbidden for that part of the exam, so she just had to hope that Hazel would call it and put Ash out of her metaphorical and literal misery.

Luckily, he did, and then came a much easier test for many there, a grip strength test. It just consisted of gripping a special device meant to tell one how much strength they were using. It didn't last very long, not that it needed to.

Next was a 100-meter dash, and by this point, most everyone had realized that, even though these weren't the specific semblance tests, nothing was stopping them from using theirs to get ahead. Shi used hers to simply create an icy path for her to slide down, while simultaneously melting it behind her. Not that she had much of a choice in the matter, given that her semblance was going to emit heat from one side regardless. She wished she could control it, but so far she'd not been able to only produce one kind of temperature shift.

Rockwall climbing was next, and while Shi had been expecting a rather simple gym-style rockwall, it was actually a lot higher than anticipated, going all the way up to the roof of the building. It did, however, have several 'step-off' points welded onto the side, where if one felt they had reached their limit, they could step onto one of the platforms and be lowered down (or simply jump off, aura preventing any real damage).

Shi managed to make it sixty feet off the ground before she looked down to see how everyone else was faring.

Most everyone was doing fairly well, climbing as high as they could. Huntsmen were meant to be able to climb up whole cliffsides, if necessary, so she was glad to see that most of them were doing fine.

Most of them, except for one.

Ash had made it impressively far for one who was clearly so much weaker physically than the rest, fifty feet. Not even that far behind, but it was clear it was taking everything she had to get there.

And, Shi noticed, Ash didn't have much left to give. Yet, she wasn't stopping.

Worried about this, Shi did what was in her mind the only logical thing to do. She pushed off the wall, falling past many of the others, some of whom shared looks of surprise while others' eyes merely widened, and landed on a platform just below Ash.

Just in time, because as she was falling, Ash lost her grip. She began to plummet, and would have continued had Shi not grabbed her hand. Shi exclaimed, "Gotcha!" with a smile on her face.

Ash, for her part, was going through several different emotions. Shame at having lost her grip, embarrassment at everyone having seen it… but above those was pure fluster. As Shi pulled her up onto the platform, Ash dusted off her dress and tried to look anywhere but her fellow trainee's eyes. "U-Uhm… I…" She took a deep breath before finally steadying herself somewhat and saying, "Thanks," with a bashful smile of her own.

Shi simply grinned at her. "No problem! Now we just need to get down, I think the test is wrapping up anyway."

Ash nodded, still trying to avoid Shi's gaze. "R-Right. I…" She looked down at the ground that awaited them, seemingly taking in the height they were at. "Wh-What do we do? I-I'm not sure…"

To Shi, however, it was rather obvious.

In one swift motion, Shi scooped up Ash bridal style, making the other girl squeak in surprise before Shi jumped off the edge. Ash squeezed her eyes shut while Shi just continued wearing a smile, landing easily on the ground in spite of the height thanks to her aura. She then set Ash down upright. "There!"

Ash only opened her eyes once she felt solid ground beneath her, and when she did, she looked down, and then back up at Shi. She took a deep breath and brushed some hair out of her face as she looked away and said, "N-Next time warn me, okay?"

To which, Shi simply said, "Sure!" She shot Ash one more smile before leaving to prepare for whatever came next.

And what came next was javelin throwing, which went fairly simply all things considered. There weren't many intricacies to throwing javelins, although again Ash struggled to keep up with the others.

Finally, there came what almost everyone had been looking forward to: The semblance test.

Shi was curious as to how this was going to be handled, but her questions were answered when they arrived at the same field they had started at, and found… a bunch of random objects on various tables. Hazel explained, "Every semblance is unique, and thus the way to train them is unique. I have here various objects, you'll choose one or more and use them to demonstrate your semblance. If your semblance can't be used on anything like that, or if you don't have one yet, now is the time to speak up."

There were a few people who spoke up. First was Mercury, who raised his hand and said, "Yeah, I haven't figured out what mine is yet. I'll have to sit this one out," to which Hazel typed something on his Scroll tablet before nodding, and so Mercury stepped away.

Next was Haimon, to Shi's surprise. He raised his hand and said, "Yeah, I can't really use my semblance without there being a target and me being… angry enough. So I'll have to sit this one out."

Shi raised an eyebrow at that. 'His semblance on the First was just steelskin. What's his on this world…?'

Yet, it seemed that she would have to wait to find that out, as Haimon was allowed to take his leave. Finally, Ash raised her hand silently, before walking over and whispering to Hazel. He nodded along to what she said and entered something into his Scroll tablet before Ash took her leave, smiling shyly at Shi as she did, though her tail drooped sadly behind her.

'Can't blame her…' Shi thought with a small frown that came after she returned Ash's smile and turned away.

There were no others who couldn't perform the test, although Lilith required assistance for hers, which manifested as Nora, who had found a way to use a car battery to provide electricity, throwing baseballs at her. Lilith would then slice through or evade each ball as they came, her eyes glimmered slightly more than usual, and Shi when she glanced in her direction that her features looked softer, and she was smiling, which was, admittedly, quite a surprise.

Emerald, meanwhile, used her semblance to make it appear as if she built a castle in the span of a few seconds. When she turned off her semblance, Shi saw that Hazel's eyes widened slightly, seemingly having fallen for the illusion.

Astra wrote something in her journal, only for a cow to appear in the field. At first, it didn't do anything, but then it started… dancing? It kicked its legs out and began to move in place as it did, spinning while a song played over it that Shi didn't recognize. She then summoned two warriors made of paper that wielded paper swords and shields, who did battle with each other while the cow continued to dance.

Just when Shi thought that that was the full extent of the weirdness, Neo smirked and created before her a rat that hovered in the air. It then began to spin slowly in place, while the text 'Horizontally spinning rat' appeared above it. Hazel marked down both her result and Astra's result with a small smirk on his face, though it disappeared as quickly as it appeared and he returned to his usual calm and collected look.

Verte picked out a pneumatic cannon that shot balls into the air several at the time. She then smirked and her eyes briefly turned… sepia? She then drew her pistol and shot each ball out of the air with ease that Shi didn't think was possible at the speed they were going at.

Finally, Shi herself grabbed a bucket and placed it on her ice-side, activating her semblance in as controlled a manner as she could muster. Fire sparked and burned on one side, while on the other ice began to form on her. In the bucket, suddenly, snow began to appear, the air itself having been turned cold enough to turn into snow.

Then, she took the bucket and threw it into the air, shooting a burst of fire at it which caused it to explode. She smiled as she saw it go, and Hazel nodded at her results before marking something down.

Finally, Hazel gathered everyone who had participated back together and began to explain their results to them. "Lilith, your semblance is very useful, but be careful not to focus too much on what's in front of you. If you hone in too much, you might miss out on a surprise attack. Nora, your semblance is incredibly strong, but be careful not to overcharge yourself. Lightning might not kill you normally, but it can still cause irreversible damage if you overload yourself.

"Emerald, while your semblance is useful, you should be careful not to depend on it too much. Someone with a keen eye, or worse, a detection semblance, can render it moot. Astra, while your semblance is useful in both its ability to generate illusions and its ability to create paper soldiers, the fact that you need to be writing leaves you vulnerable. Neopolitan, much the same as I said to Emerald. Try to be careful and don't overuse it. Verte, you should try and expand the number of things you can hit with yours, if you can extend it to five… ten… twenty things, it could be game changing."

Finally, he looked at Shi. "Shi, your semblance has the potential to be very powerful. It already is, to some extent, but the fact that you can't control only one side and have to have both limits its usefulness and creates awkward situations in combat. We will have to work on you learning to use one side at a time, if that's possible."

Shi wasn't sure if it was, she'd tried, but had no luck yet. 'Who knows, maybe with time…'

With all of that sorted, Hazel finally said, "Right… all of you are dismissed, I've got to deal with the other test for those who couldn't use their semblance. Think about what I said, and remember, this is only the beginning. We'll have plenty of time to hone your powers as the days go on."

With that, Shi took her leave. There was something else on her mind, something she'd been keeping quiet about for awhile now, but felt that she had to bring it up now.

So, after stopping by her dorm room and grabbing something, she made her way to Neve's office.

/-/

When she got there, she found him alone, writing something down. When he saw her, he smiled. "Shi, it's good to see you." He set his pen down. His smile dimmed slightly when he saw the serious look on her face, combined with the leather-bound book she was holding. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, technically, but…" Shi wasn't quite sure how to ask this question, so she just went ahead and asked it. "Why did you decide to marry Salem? What about Mom? I don't dislike Salem, but… Mom loved you, Dad, she still does! So why, after everything, did you end up… with… someone else? After all the blood, sweat, tears, and pain you've shared… why?"

Neve grimaced and lowered his gaze. "I knew this question was coming…" He looked up at Shi. "I can't stress how long it's been. I haven't seen Cinder in over a decade, Shi… I had to move on. I couldn't just… keep hoping for a way back to her. For all I know, that'll never happen."

Shi swallowed a lump in her throat. She understood his reasoning, she did, but… "Do you still love her?"

"I…" Neve sighed and closed his eyes. "Of course I do, Shi, even if it's… a distant flame at this point." He then opened his eyes again. "Not all stories have a happy ending. I just… I had to move on. Salem was there for me in some of my darkest moments… I don't know what I'd have done without her. It took years, but eventually… she got me." He chuckled ruefully and shook his head. "If I can never see-"

"But what if you can?!" Shi interjected. "I'll find a way to bring you two together again! I will!"

Neve smiled sadly. "Ah, Shi… your idealism is refreshing, but… I don't think that's going to happen. Even if this world's problems get fixed… there's no guarantee I'll ever get back. Life's… unfair, Shi. I wish it wasn't, but it is."

Shi held the book closer to her chest as she looked away and muttered, "It doesn't have to be…" before looking back at him and asking, "A-And… I was reading your book, and… as time went on, I couldn't stop thinking about some of the things you wrote… do you really believe that the world has no meaning? That it's all just… a fallacy?"

Neve sighed and stood up out of his chair, walking back to overlook Sanctuary, the place he had come to call his home, and a view that Ozpin had enjoyed in another world. He softly began to speak, "So… you've seen that, huh? Well… I have trouble believing in things like justice and righteousness these days. After everything that's happened, we're still here." He looked back at her without turning around fully. "You're still here, and you've got so many battles ahead of you, in spite of having been through hell so early in your life… It's just proof that the world is unjust. That happy endings are a fantasy."

Shi softly pleaded with a shaky voice, her eyes glistening with tears. "Dad…" She swallowed another lump in her throat and tried to steady herself as she walked around the desk, standing near his chair. "You can't just give up on those things. You know you're the reason I still held onto hope after all this time, right?" She looked down at the book in her arms. "And the reason I never gave up hope of seeing you again, because of those beliefs. Because I felt that, one day, I would earn our happy ending. And…" She finally pulled the book away from her chest, looking at its title, 'Shattered Assumptions', as she said, "And I will."

She stared at it as she softly said, "Y-You might not be able to hold justice in your hands. You might not be able to see love, but…" She began to find her footing again, her voice growing more confident as she set the book down on his desk. "We still have those feelings deep in our hearts! The feeling that we need to do what's right… the feeling of love, of wanting to feel the warmth of the ones you care for, the desire to feel you belong…"

She took a couple steps closer to him, gesturing widely to the world around her. "Show me a molecule of mercy, one atom of justice! You can't! But… we still strive for those things." She brought her hands closer to her and clenched them. "These things… they're what separates us from animals, from Grimm, from Nephilim! We're where beasts of black and bone meet creatures of golden light!" She stepped a few feet closer to him while saying, "I hate lying, I really do, but…. some lies are things we need. It starts with fairytales, with books, with holidays… then it grows. That's how we get justice, mercy, duty, love."

She began to pace, back and forth, all while looking at him. "So many people, you included, try to act as if there's some fated order, as if things will always be a certain way no matter what, even if things are bad, but that's not true! It wasn't fate that I came here, the Brother Gods don't dictate the wind that blows the trees, or the rain in the sky, but… we pretend that they set law and order, that they're the reason things are good or bad…" She stopped pacing. "And you believe that too, even if you won't admit it, because you're so certain that things are unjust, and yet…

Steadily, she walked to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's the act of believing that makes things become. Justice isn't innate to this world, or any world, but… we can make it ourselves, we can make our happily ever afters." Her eyes burned with determination as she declared, "And I will! No gods, no Nephilim, no Grimm, no person, will stop me!"

Shi stepped back, taking her hand off his shoulder and turning away. "I will get you and Mom back together. You will see your child. I promise." She then began to walk away, speaking not another word as she reached the elevator and began to leave.

She didn't notice the fact that Neve was smiling, ever so slightly.

/-/

Shi wished she could say she slept soundly that night.

Yet, she couldn't. Her mind was on her Mom, on her Dad, and on the words she'd said, the promise she made.

She didn't regret saying a single thing, she said it all with honesty and conviction, but that didn't mean the gravity of it didn't weigh on her.

The task at hand, indeed, the task that she'd been waiting for years to perform, was closer now than it ever was before. Yet, she knew that it was still so very, very far away, and as much as she wanted to believe she could do it, there was always a chance she'd fail.

What then?

If she fought as hard as she could and still lost… what could she do?

'Pick myself back up again. Every time.'

Dreams of the family she had on the First, and dreams of them being reunited with Neve, those were what plagued her as she slept. She should have loved them, but… for all the pleasant dreams she had ever had in her life, it was dreams like this that made her sad.

Made her feel as if she had ash in her mouth, and frostbite on her body.

Yet, she had to accept it. She had to be stronger than it. Because now it was her turn to fight, her turn to try, and her turn to win. She hoped, at least.

The power of the Relic of Progress would be a boon; its ability to increase the speed at which she increased her prowess at everything was certain to be critical to what was to come.

Yet for all of the dreams she had, for all of the hopes she held in her hands as if they'd be taken by a gust of wind, she could do nothing now but carry on.

And so, when the next day began, she did just that. She woke up, performed her morning routine, then headed out for breakfast.

Damian wasn't there with her this time. He was elsewhere, apparently being set upon by the twins he seemed so afraid of before.

Shi was fine with that; she had too much on her mind to be much for conversation now.

Breakfast was delicious, but her low mood made her enjoy it a lot less than she usually did.

Once she had eaten, she got up and made her way towards class.

As she walked, she found her journey interrupted by a familiar voice. "Yo, Shi." She turned and saw Mercury approaching her, hands in his pockets. "Heading to class?" At her nod, he returned it. "Cool, mind if I come with?" To which Shi shook her head silently, and so together they began to walk.

The silence didn't last for long, however, as Mercury cleared his throat. "So, uh… you kinda got a look about you today. You're usually pretty happy and cheerful, but right now… well, you kind of look like you've got the world on your shoulders. Something happen?"

"Ah…" Shi supposed that it must have been pretty obvious, the change in her demeanor looking like an overnight shift rather than the slipping of a mask. "It's… just some personal stuff." She stood up straighter and smiled at him. "I can't really go into it, but don't worry! I've been through worse things than just a little downpour on my mood."

"Hmm." Mercury didn't seem to fully believe it, side-eyeing her before shaking his head and shrugging. "Eh, whatever. If you say so," he said, but Shi wasn't entirely sure if he was going to drop it for good, or if it'd come up again later. "I hear we've got our first excursion today with Professor Callows. That should be fun, at least."

Shi had forgotten about that, and the idea of killing some Nephilim did bring a more genuine smile to her face. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it!" She just had to wonder how different Tyrian would be here compared to who he was on the First, which, as far as she'd been told, was a psychopathic murderer.

Salem wouldn't abide a murderer in her midst on this world, Shi knew that, but that just meant that there were bound to be other ways his strangeness manifested itself.

And manifest itself it did, as after their homeroom meeting with Hazel, and after several other classes that saw them covering many topics relating to being a Huntsman, they would finally meet Professor Callows.

He entered into the classroom wearing much the same outfit that he had worn on the First, a grin on his face that was clearly meant to come off as welcoming, but read more like 'benevolent axe murderer'. "Good afternoon, class!" He chuckled at nothing in particular as he produced his Scroll tablet and looked over it, matching faces to names. "I'm Professor Callows, but you probably already knew that." Again, he chuckled. "I'm your combat instructor, and today… oh, today, I have something fun planned for you!"

Ash whispered to Shi, saying, "This is what Class Beta was talking about… he's their homeroom teacher."

Shi nodded in understanding, while luckily Tyrian didn't seem to notice them talking. Instead, he went on to explain, "We're going to kill some Nephilim! We've tracked a group of them that have recently set up their camp in the Emerald Forest. Normally, Nephilim don't make camp so close to civilization, but it seems this group has gotten some nerve! Well, we're going to send them back to their maker!"

Several in the class cheered at the idea, while Ash looked uneasy, and some hid their excitement with smirks or smiles. Meanwhile, Shi herself was grinning widely as she threw her arm around Ash, causing the other girl to start in surprise as Shi said, "This is going to be so much fun! Right, Ash?"

It seemed to take all of Ash's willpower to respond in a quiet voice. "Y-Yeah, fun…" She looked away. "I-I'm… not that good at fighting yet."

To which Shi could only say, "Don't worry about that, I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides! I've been fighting almost my entire life; if I need to, I'll protect you." with a smile that showed nothing but a determination to do just that. The girl was more than a little oblivious to Ash's state of fluster.

Ash herself, meanwhile, was about as red as volcanic magma. "I-Uhm… okay." She continued looking away, not daring to look at Shi. When the other girl let her go, Ash looked conflicted, as if she couldn't tell if she wanted her to let go or wanted her to keep holding on.

Luckily for her, that was when Tyrian declared, "Now, go and change into your Huntsman outfits and get your gear together! We're meeting at the Bullhead port in ten minutes! Don't be late!" He grinned. "Or do, if you want to be left behind."

Of course, no one wanted that.

There was no time spared in leaving the class as quickly as possible, and as they scrambled out, Shi could hear Tyrian cackling to himself, seemingly finding their rush to be hilarious. Still, Shi was too focused on going to the locker room and changing to care. Luckily for her, she always wore her chest-wrappings underneath her clothes, so it was just a matter of taking off her uniform top, putting on her bolero, changing her pants, and finally her boots.

She then grabbed Theta and put it on the small of her back before starting to walk towards the Bullhead port.

She wasn't alone. All of her class was with her, the both girls and boys having left their locker-rooms at about the same time. While most people had outfits she was familiar with, she had to take note of some outfits, namely the two she hadn't seen before.

Ash wore a black knee-length skirt with a matching shirt tucked into it. She had arm bracers that Shi felt were probably concealing her weapon, dark nylon stockings, and finally a pair of combat boots.

Haimon, meanwhile, wore a large set of armor similar to his old one, except it was either made of or appeared to be made of bronze, and he wore no helmet. He had a red cape on his back, and the rest of his body was encased in the armor.

As they walked, Nora declared with unbound excitement in her voice, "I'm so excited! I haven't gotten to kill Nephilim in awhile now! This is gonna be fun."

Verte hooted in agreement. "Woo! This is gonna be a fine rodeo! Gods, I've been waitin' to shoot some Nephilim for too long!"

Lilith chimed in, saying, "We should be careful, though. We don't know why these Nephilim have tried to stake a claim so close to Sanctuary. They might have something under their sleeves."

Mercury chuckled and cracked his knuckles, a smug grin on his face. "Doesn't matter what they have up their sleeve. We'll kick their asses anyway. There's no way they can beat us and Professor Callows."

Everyone agreed with that, even if Lilith herself still seemed skeptical. The class arrived at the Bullhead port to Tyrian waiting for them. He was sitting, using his tail to lift himself upright while he had his legs crossed. Once they arrived though, he jumped up. "That's what I like to see! You might have been students before, but now it's official! As of today, on your first extermination mission, you are now all Huntsmen-in-Training!" He cackled. "All's the better! That means we can kill as many Nephilim as we want!"

With that, he led the class onto the transport that would take them to the Emerald Forest. It was a simple Bullhead, but those were large enough to carry more than the total of Class Alpha and Tyrian.

Shi watched as Beacon grew smaller behind them, and turned her thoughts forward. 'Killing Nephilim. Just the kind of stress-reliever I needed.'

Finally, they arrived at their drop off point. The Bullhead couldn't touch down where they were being dropped off, but they didn't need it to. They just jumped out, each student drawing their weapons as they reached the ground and using their auras to soften the landing.

Their immediate surroundings were clear, but there were clear glimmers of golden light in the distance, and thus the students started running in the direction of it, hoping to catch the Nephilim off guard. Shi wasn't sure what to expect of a Nephilim camp; she'd heard a lot of talk about them establishing bases, but what did one look like?

Her question was soon answered as they began to get closer to the base. It looked like a military encampment, except the walls were not made of wood, but of white stones that rose from the ground and ended in sharp points. Behind them were battlements, manned by archers that glowed a white-gold, seemingly made of light itself.

One of them blew a horn that was also concentrated light, it blared loudly and the sound of Nephilim moving to get into position was easy to hear, even from a distance. Emerging from the gates were dozens of Nephilim, some humanoids known as Soldiers that carried either swords, spears, or bows, and several Aslans with their Riders.

Shi spun her scythe in the air as she closed in on an Aslan. She then swung it at the Rider, catching them and cutting them in half with the force of the attack. The Aslan, now riderless, turned towards her and began bounding in her direction. Shi twisted in place, digging her foot into the ground as she activated her semblance, sending a burst of fire at the Aslan while ice spread in front of a few Soldiers nearby, causing them to slip and fall. The Aslan met the fire face first, growling in pain. Its vision obscured, it continued on its path, only to notice too late that its target wasn't there anymore. Shi instead jumped into the air and onto its back before placing the hook of the scythe underneath its chin and shooting, the recoil causing the beast's head to come clean off.

Ash stayed further back, trying to not freak out too much as she took her weapon, a small baton with a telescopic body named Conductor, and pointed it at a Soldier, a bolt of Fire Dust shooting from it like a Roman Candle, colliding with it and sending it to the ground. She then caught sight of Shi's tactic and followed her example, waving her baton in front of her and sending out a wave of ice that covered the ground and caused yet more Soldiers to slip, leaving them vulnerable.

A vulnerability that Mercury would take advantage of, leaping towards them and stomping on them with his boot before kicking one in the head while a Dust round expanded out from the sole, sending it barreling into its compatriots and knocking them down just as they were getting back up. He then ducked under a sword as a Soldier tried to attack him, and responded by kicking outward, using yet another Fire Dust round to blast a hole in its chest and send it down.

Meanwhile, three Soldiers found themselves coming to a halt as they saw what appeared to be a brick wall in front of them. It appeared to encase them, putting them in a cage. They looked around and tried to figure out how to get out, in spite of not being smart enough to realize the truth. Emerald had used her semblance to trap them, and after they were stuck, she threw a Magma Dust crystal at their feet, shooting it and causing it to explode, consuming the Soldiers in molten liquid.

Neo engaged with a few soldiers, having drawn the sword component of Hush, and dodged as they attempted to wildly strike her, all while smirking. She eventually did a backflip and kicked one in the chin, sending it to the ground. She then landed on her feet and stabbed outward, running the other Soldier through and then kicking it off her sword, smirk never fading.

Lilith, meanwhile, took it upon herself to engage the bow-wielding Soldiers. Their arrows were quickly deflected or outright cut in half by her with her katana as she set upon them. She cut one's head clean off before thrusting her sword forward, running through a soldier before jumping back just in time to avoid an Aslan's claws and its rider's spear. She then side-stepped the beast as it charged at her and cut upwards, slicing both beast and rider right down the middle.

Haimon, wielding a single large sword painted bronze, swung it at any Nephilim that got close to him, cutting down swathes of Soldiers with a single strike, before shifting his weapon into a spear, just in time to stab into an approaching Aslan and halt it entirely in its tracks, giving him the opportunity to yank his spear out and shift it back to its sword form, bringing down his weapon to decapitate the beast, before grabbing the Rider with his free hand as it tried to get up before he tossed it against a tree, causing its body to shatter and fall apart.

Astra stayed further back at first, writing in her ever-present journal. As she did, three soldiers of paper mimicking the look and capabilities of Soldiers, appeared and moved to engage with their counterparts. She then slipped her journal into her satchel and pressed a button on her pen, turning it from a simple pen into a spatha after a lot of parts shifted and changed. She then moved forward, intent on fighting alongside her soldiers.

Also not far from Ash was Verte, who fired round after round of her revolver at the Nephilim, bringing them down with well placed shots and the dexterity needed to speed-reload her weapon in very little time.

Finally, Nora laughed with glee as she swung her hammer at their adversaries, bringing down several with each swing, and bringing down yet more when she changed her hammer into its grenade launcher form and began to shoot large Dust grenades into clumps of the beasts.

The Nephilim were being beaten back handily by the combined efforts of the class, while Tyrian watched from the background with a grin, not even having to step in as none of the Nephilim got close to him.

However, that changed when the sky appeared to be engulfed in golden light. For the briefest moment, everyone seemed to pause, including those Nephilim that remained. The sky appeared to open up, as from white clouds descended an Archangel, and Shi expected time to slow and the text to appear, denoting who it was, but none came. She still had her hud elements, but…

Tyrian immediately gained a more serious expression as he stepped forward. "Students, get to the designated landing area immediately! This is not a foe for you to fight!"

Shi would have disagreed, but she realized that she not only couldn't risk the others getting hurt, but also that her eyes wouldn't be able to deal out an explosion like they had before so easily, not until she had trained more.

She and the others moved back, only engaging with the few remaining lesser Nephilim, while also watching as Tyrian leapt into the air once the Archangel got close enough to the ground. His arm blades deployed and he cut into the Archangel's armor, but it didn't seem that affected. His tail shot out and caught it on the arm, but alarmingly it still didn't seem phased.

It then swiped outward with the large sword that it brandished, and while Tyrian fell fast enough to avoid the slash itself, he wasn't able to avoid the subsequent wave of light that sent him to the ground.

He just barely managed to blast it with his armguards, lessening the impact, but still, he gritted his teeth in anger as he realized that this beast was going to need more than just him to bring down. "I'll hold this thing off! You kids get to the landing spot!"

Then, a new voice joined the conversation, one that sent a wave of relief crashing into Shi. Neve spoke in an even tone as he said, "That won't be necessary, Tyrian." He walked forward, coming in from the treeline. "I was worried something like this might happen… a group of Nephilim trying to set up in our backyard? It could have only been by the direction of an Archangel…" He stopped in front of the class, facing towards the Archangel, wearing his usual sit and holding his cane in his usual position. "No matter, I'll handle this myself."

Tyrian slinked backwards a bit, while remaining in front of the students. "Alone? Are you sure, Headmaster? You know Salem will be upset!

"Bah." He smirked as he raised his cane and smirked. "This? It's nothing I can't handle."

It was then that Shi realized the reason why she got no boss screen when the Archangel appeared. It wasn't her boss to fight…

It was his.

In the blink of an eye, he rocketed off the ground, flying into the air at seemingly impossible speeds. He swung his cane, connecting with the Archangel's sword for the briefest moment before, from behind his coat, he pulled out Daybreak and swung it at the Archangel, a large wave of green and blue energy shooting from it and crashing into his foe, sending it flying backwards.

He was quick to give chase, flying after it as it struggled to correct itself in the air. It swiped its sword, sending out its own wave of energy, much like it had done to Tyrian. It connected with him, kicking up a cloud of smoke.

Smoke that was soon parted as Neve shot through it, covered in a bubble of green magic, a trick he'd done far too many times to count. As the bubble connected with the Nephilim, the green energy seemed to bore into the Archangel's armor, causing it to grit its teeth in a rare display of emotion. The bubble then exploded, sending magic expanding outwards and pushing away the Nephilim again, the winds from the blast powerful enough to send a gust towards Class Alpha.

He chased after it again, this time reaching it before it could correct itself. As he appeared above it, cane raised, he said, "Here's a lesson straight from the Headmaster!" He then brought his cane down, colliding it with the Nephilim's body and sending it rocketing down to the ground. As it collided with it, dust and debris kicked up and momentarily blinded the class.

During that brief moment, all they could do was listen as Neve said, "You might have wings, but…" The dust cleared, and they saw the Nephilim wrapped in chains made of raw magic, struggling against them. Neve smirked as he looked at it, before leveling his cane at its chest while still in the air and jabbing it repeatedly, a flurry of uncountable numbers. "That doesn't mean you won't FALL!"

The Archangel rocketed backward, the chains no longer binding it as the fully kinetic force of the cane strikes did their job with such power that yet more wind was kicked up due to the sheer kinetic force that was being emitted. The Nephilim crashed into a tree, then another, and it continued, taking down tree after tree as it was sent deeper into the forest.

It finally came to a stop far enough away that it almost couldn't be seen, but what could be seen was the golden energy dissipating from it, rising into the sky and indicating its death.

Neve returned to the ground; meanwhile, Tyrian directed the students to leave. Although Shi, notably, wasn't herded with the others. She saw Neve fall to one knee, and hurried over to him while exclaiming, "Dad!" Once she got to him, she placed a hand on his shoulder, his eyes closed as he winced with pain. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Neve managed. "I'm getting… weaker. Back in the day I could have killed that thing with one, maybe two spells. Hah…" He planted his cane on the ground and tried to stand, with Shi helping him do so. "...Not out of the game yet, though."

Shi shook her head slightly. Seeing her dad in such a state was still foreign to her, even now. "Dad… you need to be more careful."

Neve shook his head, smirking. "That wasn't any ordinary archangel. I expected an archangel, but I didn't expect it to come from… his personal army."

"His…?" Shi pondered, before her eyes widened. "You mean, it was sent by…"

Neve nodded and said, "Yes…Ozma. He's testing me, I know he is, trying to gauge how weak I've become, the bastard…" He chuckled. "No matter. I'll stop him as many times as I need to.

"Right up until I can't anymore."