I don't own anything.
"Who are you?"
Even with the dust flowing into me, I didn't fail to notice the barrel that was currently held to my back. Slowly, I sheathed my sword before putting my hands up in surrender.
"Jaune Arc." I swallowed the urge to follow it with 'Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it.' Somehow, I doubted that she would appreciate it. I flinched when the barrel of the gun twitched. I had plenty of aura left, but a point-blank bullet would doubtlessly take a huge chunk out, and that was assuming she only shot once.
"Why are you here?" Her voice was flat, and I had little doubt that she would shoot me if she felt it necessary.
"I'm on my way to Beacon, I heard the gunshots and thought someone was in trouble, so I came to help." I resisted the urge to keep rambling. I had no desire to test her patience while she still held the gun to me.
Suddenly, the barrel vanished from my back, right as her foot hooked one of mine and something slammed into my back. I fell to the ground and rolled, shaking off the impact pretty quickly, but when I looked around, I was alone in the clearing. The girl was gone.
I dropped back to the ground, breathing at my feet, the adrenaline of the encounter having left me. I felt my guts twist into knots as it sank in that I had just nearly died, not to a Grimm, but to someone I had sought to help. A little laugh bubbled out through my lips, not with mirth, but with a sort of crazed panic.
Beacon could wait until I caught my breath.
"All candidates, prepare yourselves. This is the final entrance exam for Beacon academy. You will each face a single mechanical enemy.
3…
2…
1…
Bzzzzz!"
A robotic voice droned through the speakers in the room's corners. I was stood in the center of a small arena, dirt packed floors and white walls beyond that. There was even a screen to my left, displaying my aura bar, eerily similar to the AP bar in the corner of my own vision.
When the buzzer sounded, the white wall in front of me split open. It must have been a door, but so seamless that I hadn't even noticed. The technology on display here was incredible. And the thing that walked in only cemented that fact further.
It was a robot, standing around my own height, though a fair bit wider. It wasn't bulky, though, all smooth angles and with no visible wiring. On its face? Mask? Whatever, it had a glowing green visor, matching the lights around the rest of its grey-black body. It walked forward with heavy footsteps, coming to a stop around ten feet away from me.
I was so stunned by the fact that something like this was even possible, that I barely noticed when one of its hands shifted and turned into a cannon. The bright green bolt of energy it fired at me, was a bit more noticeable, but I barely had any time to get my shield up.
I did manage it, though the blast was strong enough to knock me off balance anyway. Not a second later, it crashed into me, much faster than I expected. I got Crocea Mors up, blocking its blade hand thing? Meanwhile I rammed into the glowing canon with my shield, knocking the limb out of the way and causing the blast to tear up the ground somewhere behind me.
Both of its limbs occupied, I slammed my head into its own to break the stalemate. 'Bad idea, horrible idea!' I saw my aura bar decrease a little as stars danced across my vision. Slamming my head into a robot made of solid metal, not my best plan.
While I was stunned, it stepped back before lunging forward for a stab, trying to run me through. I turned the blow aside with my own blade before smashing my shield into its shoulder. The thing was heavy, incredibly so, but I was heavily focused on strength, it stepped back. When it slashed out again, trying to regain momentum, I allowed it to hit, trading a blow for a blow to its blasting arm.
My aura dropped by almost 25% for the direct hit, but the robot's blasting arm almost came off in return. It sparked dangerously, and only flickers of light bloomed in the canon, the motes unable to harm anything. I had taken one of its weapons.
Seeing that its ranged option was now ruined, it lashed out with the blasting arm, trying to distract me from the slash it aimed at my side. Crocea Mors swept out, causing the blow to go wide, while my shield made contact with the already damaged arm. The edges of my shield weren't sharp by any means, but with my strength score, it had a hell of a lot of force behind it. The fact that the robot's arm was already heavily damaged didn't help. The arm came off entirely.
I was about to slam my shield into it again, when the robot fell over, the lights in its visor cutting off. The buzzer in the room sounded again, signaling the end of the test.
"Thank you, Mr. Arc. We have seen enough. Please make your way to the exit. You can expect your results by end of day." A voice cut in over the intercom. Meanwhile, a door behind me opened up, allowing me to leave the arena.
Dear Mr. Arc
Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that I inform you of your acceptance into the Huntsman program at Beacon Academy. You have been given this opportunity in recognition of your scholastic achievements, in addition to a strong showing during the combat assessment.
Enclosed, you will find the itinerary for the first of September, along with a list of necessary equipment.
We look forward to having you at our school this upcoming academic year.
Sincerely,
Glynda Goodwitch
Deputy Headmistress
Beacon Academy
The last few hours had been torture. Sitting, waiting for the response. Especially since my scroll still blew up with messages from home that I was steadfastly ignoring. Now though, I had had to check every notification, afraid to miss the message from Beacon. But not of that mattered now, I had done it. I made it in!
And it was time to celebrate.
I stood up off of the bed I had failed to use the previous night, grabbed my wallet and coat, and walked out of the door. At 17, I had never been to a club before, mostly because Ansel didn't have any. There were two bars in Ansel, mostly used by the adults to unwind after work. Occasionally, there was a big birthday party or something which might have been hosted in the sports hall, but nothing like a nightclub.
Saphron had told me about them, though, and it honestly sounded kind of fun. Loud music, dancing, drinking and probably more than a couple of pretty girls. What's not to like. As far as I knew, Saphron had even met Terra, her fiancée in one of the clubs here in Vale.
We had been on holiday in the city, back then. But I had been too young to go out with her. Not to mention that even if I had been old enough, Saph probably wouldn't have wanted to take me with her anyways. She would have probably said I was 'cramping her style' or something stupid like that. Now though, nothing was stopping me. And so, I made my way to Downtown Vale with a huge grin on my face and a skip in my step.
The boulevard was beautiful at night, the storefronts, open even after dark had signs with brightly colored lights flashing and drawing the eye. People milled about despite the late hour, making the most of their day. When they said that Vale was the city that never sleeps, they weren't wrong. Seeing more than a couple of people out after ten PM in Ansel was rare. Here, there was over ten times that just walking along this one street.
And then there was the nightlife. Neon signs flashing, bouncers and touts standing around the entrance among the scantily clad smokers who were taking short breaks from the inside.
The Encore came first, according to the internet it was one of the best clubs in the city. And it looked it too. Open air and filled to the brim with partygoers, I squeezed my way inside, bobbing my head to the music. I grabbed a drink, something fruity, alcoholic, and probably way overpriced, but it was good.
And then I danced.
As much as I had moaned and groaned when my sisters would drag me into one of their little 'dancing sessions', I had probably enjoyed them just as much as they had. With the added benefit that I actually knew what I was doing out on the dancefloor. The fact that I had seven of those sisters also meant that I had learned to dance to a lot of different music.
It all blurred together a little, but I remember snippets. Another drink made its way into my hand and a cigarette was pushed into the other by a cute blonde I was dancing with. We had tried to swap names, but after trying twice, I hadn't been able to catch hers over the music, and I was sure she didn't know mine either.
One dance partner became two, and when one of them left to go to the toilet with a wink, she dragged the other with her. Turning around, I found a group of guys standing around a table with a platter of plastic beer cups, trying to chug them as fast as possible. They dragged me into the fun, and they laughed merrily when I lost, drinking my beer the slowest and somehow still managed to spill a quarter of the bitter drink down my front.
Little droplets of sweat beaded on my forehead as I twirled another girl across the dancefloor to some kind of techno remix of a popular song. And when the next came on, we dramatically swayed from side to side as we sang along horribly to the love song, laughing all the while.
I remember bribing the first girl I had danced with, swapping a kiss for another one of her cigarettes, as we talked outside, cooling down. After a while, I drifted over to the next club, some place called Junior's.
Inside, the dancefloor itself was a lightshow. It was tiled with lights that flashed in every color of the rainbow, mesmerizing the dancers to the beat of the music. Again, I got on the dancefloor, drink in hand. But sadly, all good things must come to an end. Slowly, people began trickling out of the club. Little groups of people broke off and left, and the music quieted down with them.
After a while, I simply sat myself down at the bar. "Mantle Mule please." I flagged the barman down and accepted the cool copper mug after a couple of seconds. The spicy and sour drink hadn't been the first cocktail I had tried tonight, but it was by far my favorite. Most of the others were either too sweet, or too bitter.
Looking around, I spotted some of the last remaining patrons sitting at the bar as well. Among them was a single woman, nursing an amber-colored drink. And she was beautiful. Oh sure, I had seen plenty of pretty girls and women over the course of the night, but none were like this one.
Pale, smooth skin, clad in a dark red, strapless dress, showing smooth and pale shoulders. She had raven-colored hair than ran down her back and over one side of her neck in gentle waves. And her eyes, oh god those eyes. Amber orbs, more gold than anything, almost smoldered. And then she looked back at me.
'Shit. Shit! SHIT! What do I do!?'
My tipsy body betrayed me. And before I knew it, I was sitting down next to her. Okay, you've got this Jaune. Don't panic. Don't you dare panic. What did dad say again? Just be confident.
"Hi, I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. Ladies love it." I stuck out a hand, palm facing upwards. All I got was a raised eyebrow.
"Do they now?"
'Oh god, even her voice is beautiful.' And it really was. Smooth, rich and with a teasing lilt that did things to me. Well, dad also said that if at first you don't succeed, try and try again.
"Well, I sure hope so. Otherwise, my mother has been lying to me." I told her with a smile that I hoped looked a whole lot more confident than I felt. Her ruby lips quirked up at the stupid little joke, so I would consider that a success at least. She put one of her hands in mine, soft as silk and I brought it up to my lips. When she pulled away after a moment, I felt it was much too soon.
"Cinder, Cinder Fall."
"Well, Cinder, Cinder Fall, can I get you something to drink?" I said, noticing that the amber liquid in her glass was running low. Those golden orbs looked at me out of the corner of her eyes as she took one last sip from her glass before she replied.
"You're funny Jaune, but I'm going to have to pass." She said, walking off.
I hated to see her go, but I loved to watch her leave. When she vanished out into the streets of Vale, though, I slumped down into the barstool, dropping my head onto the lacquered wood of the bar.
"This one's on me." I looked up to see the barman sliding me another Mantle Mule, as he patted me on the shoulder. 'Great, even the barman feels bad for me.'
A/N: Hey everyone, I'm back! Sorry for the delays, but I should be back to uploading more regularly now. I appreciate everyone who wished me and my dad well. Just for the record, he is mostly fine and recovering well, the pain meds just make it hard to do most household tasks, so I'm over there pretty often to help clean, cook etc.
Thanks to all the people who are willing to swap ideas with me, both for this story and for Morningstar. I appreciate it, and I already got a couple of good ideas from talking to CrowMADDER. Chaos65 has also reached out, and if you haven't (though you probably have) go check out Grimm Evolution. I read it a long time ago, but it's very well done.
If you guys have any feedback, feel free to leave a review or PM me as per usual.
Have a good one!
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