Waylon could feel his chest rising and falling due to his altered breathing, he had slept relatively nothing, perhaps because of the constant noise of the other aspirants in the crescent-shaped structure, or because of the strange smell that some faunus could transmit, or maybe and mainly because of how nervous he felt about how important today would be.
It was no mystery to him, he was genuinely eager to put his skills into combat against the Grimm of the Emerald Forest and completely show off against the other premature teams, even if his partner was completely useless, he could manage, his training in Pharos made him improve his combat style and keep his aura at bay to avoid ending up sold out to the enemy.
Add to that his training with Qrow and Winter, his parents, Waylon had certainly made a great effort to learn everything his parents could offer him, Qrow was already somewhat old and was not as good a teacher as he was in Signal, but his knowledge was still important and key for any aspiring Huntsman, it was not every day you were trained by a member of STRQ, although being his son, sooner or later it would happen.
Winter was a different case, during his childhood she was quite attentive to his training and formation at the combat level, helping him from time to time and usually putting him as opponents with a couple of Schnee summons, however, Winter was not in the middle of her 20, and even worse, she had been quite an active maiden during her time as an active Huntress, her body had suffered quite a bit, so it was not that big of a surprise to see her slowly moving away from her son's training.
Schnee Corp had been a relatively old project created by Winter Schnee, directed by Whitley Schnee in the beginning and operated mainly by Winter herself in present times, Schnee Corp had been the direct evolution of SDC into something much bigger, the Dust company continued to exist without any problem, however, The new company created by the winter maiden had ended with more than juicy fruits, a new market away from the use of Dust seemed to be paradise for the family's future, one that Winter's desires for greatness had completely embraced.
Cutting-edge technology experiments, prototypes of incredibly powerful weapons for the armies of all kingdoms, new scientific discoveries related to all of Remnant were the face of Winter's new company, Waylon understood it, that's why he didn't complain.
He wasn't complaining about having his mother so far away for weeks and weeks.
"I can hear your heart beating like crazy, and I'm sure it's not because of a girl" Bryan mocked Waylon loudly, his gloved hand closing the weapons locker with a loud metal door slam, forcing the white-haired boy to look to his cousin with more attention.
"Pharos was like a child's game when I was already 13, I need a much bigger challenge" Waylon responded neutrally, looking at his own hand also surrounded by a black glove, part of his Huntsman outfit "You're excited too, Bryan"
"Signal was kind of boring, too, since Kirina was born my mothers have spent a lot of time at home, they have trained me very well, I think I'm ready for this" Bryan rubbed his palms together quickly, giving a clap before turning his body completely towards his other familiar "Neithan, what about you?"
Neithan took the handle of his scythe and took it out of the locker, closing the door normally, he looked at his cousins with some curiosity and nervousness, Bryan's lilac eyes only showed a deep feeling of excitement and expectation for his response, typical of Waylon was the other side of the coin, his gaze was like a fairly strict judge, prepared to criticize any type of aspect that Neithan could mention.
"Well, yesterday I was a little crazy, but I think I can try my luck, don't you think?" Neithan didn't seem to sound exactly confident, Bryan didn't seem to take much notice, while Waylon only sharpened his gaze even more.
"This is not about luck, Neithan, being a Huntsman is much more than simply killing a group of Grimm and getting paid for it, there must be impeccable training and preparation to be able to enter this academy" Waylon walked next to Neithan Pushing him roughly with his shoulder, the black-haired boy grabbed his upper arm, somewhat confused and a little irritated.
"Do you really think you have the right to disappear for so long and judge me?" Neithan's voice was as low as a whisper, only being heard by Bryan "How can you stand him?"
"My mother Yang has told me a lot of stories about Winter and Qrow, I think I can understand where all of Waylon's arrogance comes from" Bryan shrugged, downplaying the whole thing "Ignore it, I don't think we'll end up being team, don't worry about him"
Neithan nodded with some hesitation, his neck was surrounded by Bryan's arm, beginning to be choked by the blonde.
Waylon looked around as he walked at a slow pace, the number of lockers in this room was considerably large, perhaps there were hundreds distributed in rows, most of the aspiring Huntsmen had left some time ago, the excitement was quite noticeable in the face of almost all teenagers, Waylon couldn't blame them, he understood really well that feeling.
He stopped when he recognized Roy, his locker was completely open, completely revealing the glorious form of Myrtenaster, Waylon couldn't help his throat from going dry for a moment, his fingers began to flex to try to calm his curiosity and excitement, so suddenly, and with some caution, he approached his cousin's back.
"Myrtenaster" Waylon whispered, surprising Roy and causing him to turn around, letting out a sigh of relief as he recognized his cousin "Is it a copy?"
"It's the original" Roy responded with a smile, not being able to believe the great gesture his mother had when she gave him said weapon, Waylon didn't seem to believe it either, because his frown was pure confusion "I know it's hard to believe, the last time we met, you beat me with a wooden sword, and my rapier couldn't even touch you"
Waylon relaxed his gaze a little, looking away "You didn't do too bad, I'm sure you got better with time, Waverly must have taught you some tricks, I wish I could have-"
"Waverly was too busy graduating from Atlas while I was training to come in here" Roy closed the locker door with a loud slam, silencing his cousin at that very moment "...I wish i could be with her? Stay close to my sister so I could learn everything about her? You were always going to keep me away, right?"
Waylon didn't respond immediately, Roy's tone was one of quite obvious annoyance, an emotion that he didn't remember at all in that little boy he used to play with on the weekends, even if it had been so many years ago, he couldn't completely believe an image of Roy genuinely angry with him, he is a kind person, he knows that.
"I thought maybe we could meet again someday and show each other how strong we are now" Waylon tried to give his best smile to reassure his cousin, although he only ended up with a strange grimace on his face.
Roy's eyes were completely fixed on his cousin's expression, his mind seemed to have many things inside, caged insults, contained anger, it could be many things, Waylon couldn't guess, in fact, he couldn't be sure that it was still the same boy from before.
It was obvious, he was going to change.
"You thought wrong" Roy responded dryly, he was now the one who pushed Waylon with some effort due to the difference in strength, the red-eyed did not seem impressed, his expression was closer to that of confusion and regret, he did not do anything of action to prevent his cousin from leaving, he simply stayed there, static.
"Waylon Branwen, I definitely didn't expect to see a celebrity hidden here" A female voice brought Waylon out of his trance, his gaze moved to the side with some curiosity, finding a girl with purple hair and eyes of the same color, her clothes were a purple dress that looked certainly expensive, some ornamental details here and there, a kind of flower hung from the scarf that the girl was wearing around her neck, her slender figure highlighted her attractive appearance even more, Waylon wanted to feel the need to flirt with her deep within him, but she soon discovered that he was not in the mood to do so.
"...Myrian?" Waylon mused, Myrian Val was his classmate in Pharos, in fact, she was known as the queen of the school, practically all the students at the academy wanted to go on a date with her or similar, however, she had never had a boyfriend or girlfriend in all that time, claiming that none of them were worthy of her "You entered Beacon"
"Of course" The purple-haired girl responded, taking some of her hair and pushing it in the air, causing an almost movie-like effect "Did you miss me?"
"I was wondering where the other Pharos students were, it seems like you were the only one who had the guts to stop by and say hi" Waylon said calmly, finally smiling a little subtly at the girl "It's nice to see familiar faces"
"It's really difficult to penetrate Waylon Branwen's armor, it's almost steel, but it's not impossible either" Myrian approached Waylon and gave him a small punch in the chest, she couldn't move him even an centimeter "It also makes my chest flutter, I was already leaving, but I couldn't help but see your conflict with that other boy"
"It's none of your business" Waylon didn't mean to sound upset or offended, he simply wanted to make clear the boundaries with Myrian, they knew each other, of course, but they weren't friends "I'll catch up with you later, I'll stay a few more minutes"
Myrian did not make any kind of complaint, he simply turned around and left the place normally, Waylon took a couple of seconds to stand up, managing to see Bryan and Neithan approaching him.
"You didn't have any luck with Roy, did you?" Bryan asked with a playful smile, not receiving a response from his cousin/uncle, he simply shook his head "Man, you're a total social misfit, he's very upset with you, you know?"
"I'm not blind," Waylon hissed, causing the blonde to give a short laugh "...I don't need a lecture from you, Bryan, we can settle this in the woods later, okay?"
Bryan shrugged his shoulders and started walking, Neithan gave Waylon one last look before chasing his cousin closely, leaving the red-eyed completely alone in the weapons room, loneliness was not something new for him, he did not have many friends, he only had 3 friends in Pharos, and none of the three had decided to continue their studies at Beacon, so he was technically in unknown territory.
Meeting Bryan and Roy again had been somewhat predictable, he had tried to regulate his emotions so as not to seem excited about the reunion, but he couldn't help it, it felt very good to see them again and know that they were fine, they could finally show how much they had come and support each other in their growth as aspiring Huntsmen.
Not the same case with Neithan, they had never exactly been close, even when they were children, Waylon preferred to spend all his time hanging around his cousin Ruby, he was always calm when he was given a story about some other mission that Ruby had recently completed, it was something that excited him with great fervor, he even begun to secretly fall in love with her, although the feeling went away once he understood that it was very strange considering that she is his legal cousin.
Neithan was practically a stranger to him, he didn't even remember what his semblance was or if he had even unlocked it, his birthday, favorite things, nothing, he had never been deeply interested in him, they played from time to time, the occasional confrontation of quite basic and harmless children, they were not very close.
It would be a shame, a very big shame if they ended up being teammates.
It didn't take Waylon long to leave the academy, heading towards the cliff that overlooked the emerald forest.
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Waylon placed himself on top of the metal plate that would propel him into the interior of the emerald forest, It was no secret to the process that the initiation usually took, future students were usually thrown into the depths of the forest where Grimm habited in various parts, from the simplest ones like Beowolves to the most dangerous ones like an Ursa Major, the variety was almost the same as that of a buffet, so each student had to be careful in the strategy they would use.
That didn't stop Oscar and Nora from giving a quick explanation an explanation.
"I want to remind you for the last time that Beacon is not responsible if one of you loses an arm or a leg or dies directly, there is a whole law that details it in depth, so I don't want whines afterwards" Nora Valkyrie moved back and forth as she kept her gaze fixed on the teenagers in front of her, there were several of them, quite a few, in fact, although her attention was completely taken by the front row, where the best of the best were.
"...Ignoring that" Nora smiled from ear to ear, taking out her hammer from her back and hitting her head against the cliff grass "In recent years, missions where they pull you from a damn Bullhead and they left to your own thing and that stuff, it's nothing new, so the first part of the initiation will be to check how good you are at preventing your young butts from ending up like meatloaf on some tree in the forest, understood?"
"Nora, you scare them" Oscar Pine grabbed his coworker and sometime teammate and pushed her away with some force, turning on his Neo-Scroll and projecting a full-size map of the forest "Headmistress Nora already explained the first part, the next part is very important and the one that really matters to us here, you must find a temple to the north of the forest, take one of the relics and take it to the other cliff, there"
Oscar turned around and pointed to the north, emphasizing another piece of mountain miles away from where they were located at this precise moment "The first person you see will be your teammate for the next 4 years, once you manage to obtain the relic and head to the assigned location, you can begin assigning the other half of your team"
Oscar turned off the Neo-Scroll, looking towards the hundreds of students in front of him, his eyes locked on Neithan for a second, bringing a smile to the young teenager "You are the future of Remnant, show your preparation in this ceremony, if you achieve it, then you will be more than worthy of being part of Beacon"
Oscar gave one last nod to his future students and turned around, Nora did not waste another second and activated a mechanism in her Neo-Scroll, the plate under Waylon began to move from side to side in a somewhat discreet way, the gears under the plate made a noticeable noise, soon, the mechanism activated and shot the boy into the air at an impeccably high speed.
Waylon narrowed his eyes as a strong current of air hit him in the face, he quickly took a fragment of Gravity Dust kept in his pocket, a series of glyphs appeared below him in the shape of a slide, the red-eyed created a replica of Harbinger in a second, loading the gun with another identical Dust crystal and firing a bullet upwards, being pushed downwards.
It was a very quick affair, the ramp served as a slide that would propel him down and help him fall safely, the process was too fast for him to appreciate it properly, but it should work without many complications.
The only complication was the tree that hit him square in the chest.
Waylon collided with a tall log, his lips parted to let out a muffled gasp, he fell to the ground with a soft sound, his body being caressed by the thin lines of grass on the ground, briefly distracting him from the deep pain he felt in his chest
Landing strategy? Bad.
Waylon got up from the ground with some difficulty, he hit his arms and chest to remove any trace of dirt from his jacket, once he was more or less clean, he looked up at the sky to try to locate himself on the map, he must have fallen in the south of the forest, so it wasn't even a question of intelligence, he would simply have to walk straight.
At least that's how it should be, if he hadn't been brutally beaten by someone else.
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Neithan screamed like a scared girl when he was shot by the plate into the air, his mind began to work at high speeds to try to devise some way to fall without breaking his aura, the most logical thing would be to use his scythe and stick it in some tree to be able to fall on the ground safely, he would have to check his plan first.
Neithan took the red disc located on his hip, activating a mechanism activated by a black button, in an instant the circular object opened to reveal a double-bladed scythe, the black-haired boy made an effort to try to lift it in the middle of the turbulent air, just managing to move it a little.
The panic on his face became visible as the weapon flew into the air, leaving his range of vision in less than a second, Neithan cursed out loud now with two worries, one, falling alive, the other, finding some way to defend himself from the fearsome Grimm that were throughout the forest.
Red Reaper had flown off to who knows where, while his semblance would save him a couple of times, in a forest it was simply suicide, he could burn a tree by accident and end up setting the entire testing ground on fire, a punishment from his father wouldn't be enough, a beating from Ruby was much more to be expected from such a result.
Neithan finally ended up descending towards the ground, his body collided squarely with another person that he could not recognize, his eyes had been closed since he had lost his scythe, the ground creaked in an unpleasant way, the boy's body ended up forming a something ugly hole in the middle of the grass, with the other person that he still didn't recognize, the light stopped being something visible in this new environment.
Neithan opened his eyes with some doubt, looking around, his first impression was to shout to the sky that he was alive, the other was to make sure that he had not killed the other person, which was even more worrying, being hit by a teenager at sixty miles per hour couldn't be pleasant.
Maybe it was lethal, even.
Neithan stood up after a few seconds, the dirt on the ground no longer had some kind of trace of grass, it must be some kind of underground tunnel opened by the hole, the boy's eyes fluttered to the sides, there was no light source visible nearby, the darkness complicated things, so he had to be guided by the sense oftouch, Neithan moved his arms randomly to his sides, without managing to hit anything at all, in fact, his footsteps made some echo, so the tunnel was perhaps not so improvised, and was some kind of shortcut to another area of the forest.
The boy quickly looked in his pants for a small torch that he carried with him almost everywhere, his mother had advised him for years to always carry something made of wood so he could use it as a light source in situations similar to this one, his eyelids closed slightly at the moment he used his semblance, lighting the small wooden stick with fabric rolled up in the most bulbous part on fire, in an instant, now the surroundings were moderately illuminated.
Neithan looked down, managing to recognize the person on the ground, it was Waylon, his body was face down, so he was not able to see the completely shocked and frightened expression of his unwanted companion, in fact, he didn't even seem to be alive.
Neithan felt a new panic run through his body, this time it was fused with fear, it was one thing to have knocked any other guy unconscious, he would apologize and they would be companions for 4 long years, it would become a certainly funny anecdote, and nothing else would happen.
Waylon Branwen was another case, Neithan was aware with how their short reunion had totally implied that this boy is crazy, he seems to be too involved in this whole being a good Huntsman, even if his interactions with Bryan and Roy had been somewhat friendly and relatives, Neithan felt that the white-haired boy despised him, several reasons could cross his mind, but none would serve to prevent Waylon from killing him at this precise moment.
Neithan knelt down with some hesitation, extending his trembling hand towards his unconscious companion, with some fear, he managed to give him a small tap on the arm, Waylon woke up instantly from the contact, getting up from the ground forcefully and taking Neithan by the neck, slamming him to the ground and forcing him to drop the makeshift torch.
Waylon was breathing erratically and clearly upset, his expression became confused as he recognized Neithan, without much more to wait, he opened his mouth and growled "What the fuck happened?"
"I hit you by accident! I was in the air and my scythe went flying, when I landed on the ground you were in the middle and I ended up hitting you, the impact must have thrown us into a tunnel, I think it can take us outside, but I'm not sure"
"Did you throw us into a fucking tunnel?" Waylon spat, pushing Neithan aside and taking the torch with agility, passing the flame through different sectors of the tunnel, verifying the silver-eyed boy's words "The only thing I didn't want to happen, was for me to find you"
"Hey!" Neithan said, clearly offended.
"Do you know what the hell happens if you die buried here and I come out alive? Oscar kills me, Ruby kills me, my parents kill me, the whole damn universe will be against me!" Waylon shouted, pointing at Neithan accusingly "Couldn't you just shoot the fucking ground with your disgusting scythe?
It took Neithan a few seconds to process Waylon's complaint, in fact, it was quite sensible, the boost that Red Reaper would receive due to the shot of pellets would have caused the fall to be slower, unfortunately for him, it had not occurred to him before, Waylon must have assumed that like Crescent Rose, the Red Reaper had a shooting cannon, and he was right.
"...I didn't think about that, honestly" Neithan responded, clasping his hands nervously.
"But you thought of throwing me into a dirt tunnel that leads to who knows where!" Waylon gripped the torch tightly, if he put any more pressure on the piece of wood, it would probably turn it into a pile of useless mush "Okay...Okay, this is what will happen, you will stay behind me, you don't have your weapon, and we only have this thing to light this dirt hallway...I can do this, you can do this Waylon, it's just finding the way..."
"Can't you use your summons? A Beowolf?" Neithan asked innocently, eliciting another violent growl from the red-eyed man.
"I don't summon Grimm! I summon weapons, WEAPONS, Roy could get us out of here...my Neo-Scroll" Waylon raised his left hand, finding that the device was completely destroyed, a few pieces of plastic here and there, even the battery was visible, it was unusable.
Waylon let out a cry of despair that even the now deceased Summer Rose could hear from the other world.
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"Did you hear something?" Bryan asked as he looked around confused, he swore he heard someone screaming quite loudly, maybe it had been his mind, there didn't seem to be anyone else around him.
"I think someone is upset" Roy responded, pushing another branch that was in his way, he had been repeating that same process for a few minutes after falling next to Bryan, both were lucky enough to have found themselves practically in the same place, so now they were teammates, luckily for them, because it made the fact of having to interact much less uncomfortable.
Bryan made an effort to locate himself on the map that Oscar had shown them just 10 minutes ago, his Neo-Scroll was out of service, which made a lot of sense considering how easy it would be to get to the temple and simply take the relic.
The blonde simply tapped his watch, returning his attention to the surroundings, it was quite, no Grimm had appeared the entire way, and they didn't meet with other students either, even if they had heard the odd exchange of blows from afar, both Bryan and Roy had decided to stay out of the conflict.
Bryan hit a rock blocking the path with some force, shattering it into small insignificant pieces "Do you think we'll meet Waylon and Neithan on the way?"
"...I don't know" Roy responded indifferently, Bryan raised his eyebrows somewhat confused, his half-breed cousin had seemed much more open to talking yesterday, he could even remember the emotion that was on his face when he met them again, including Neithan, so what had happened?
"What did you talk about with Neithan yesterday in sector F? Me and Waylon stayed to talk for a while" Bryan commented somewhat distractedly, trying to sound as casual as possible.
"Catching up, you know, you don't always get two years ahead of time to get into Beacon" Roy tried to smile genuinely, and like his cousin, all he got was a strange grimace "...And the fact that Waylon is here."
"I heard your conversation in the lockers, don't you think you went a little overboard? He's trying" Bryan looked to the side, making sure he didn't see any Grimm nearby "He's excited to be with you again, I'm sure you noticed."
"I blamed myself for years for his estrangement, I thought I wasn't strong enough for him to stay close to me or you, now I understand it was just stupid" Roy shrugged, clearly trying to downplay his little problem with the abandonment of his cousin "I don't want him to just get back into my life, and just left again"
"Waylon made a mistake, I understand that, but I can see he's trying to forget it and move on" Bryan paused for a moment, turning his head to look at Roy with a calm look "You should do the same, I've done it"
"Your ability to forgive others and find the best in them is...enviable" Roy murmured, slowing down his walk as he heard the leaves on the trees move irregularly "Although, as far as I remember, you broke his nose yesterday"
"The heat of the moment" Bryan let out a breathy laugh and stopped like his cousin, the air of the forest seemed to be more tense now that they were approaching what appeared to be the north, Bryan raised his right arm and hit a forcefully on a tree cut in half, giving him a new view of a somewhat small clearing with ruins in the middle, there were no relics, so they were in the wrong place.
Roy approached the center, taking a quick look at the multiple figures drawn on the stone in a somewhat peculiar way, the symbols did not seem to be complete, claw marks and scratches partially blocked the drawings, so the blue-eyed could not give a quick conclusion about those marks.
The young Schnee shrugged, holding Myrtenaster with some strength, he turned to the side so he could reposition himself on his mental map, his head remained lowered when a bush in front of him moved somewhat aggressively, while a low growl assaulted his ears.
"Grimm" The boy whispered, raising the rapier in the air and pointing at the bush, Bryan stood next to him and prepared for any type of assault, in an instant, an ordinary Beowolf jumped from the bush and pounced on Roy, being stopped in mid-air when it's skull was grabbed tightly by Bryan's gauntlet.
Bryan lifted the Grimm into the air with an impeccable display of his strength, he pushed his elbow down with quite some speed, slamming the Beowolf into the ground and creating a small tremor in the nearby surroundings, Roy quickly prepared his rapier and stabbed the Beowolf's head with precision, managing to end it's life in a second.
Roy looked at Bryan with some shock on his face, managing to show a surprised smile "Wow, I didn't know you could lift one of these so easily"
"Yang taught me many types of exercises to work my body" Bryan said as he looked around, managing to capture more irregular movement among the trees "We have guests, do we welcome them?"
"Sure" Roy responded, getting into a combat stance as multiple Grimm emerged from the trees.
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Waylon looked with some relief at the exit of the cave located on a small elevation of land, he spent the last 20 minutes of his journey trying to get out of the tunnels located beneath the forest, barely managing to get out without having to beat Neithan to death to stop asking stupid or redundant questions, are we close? Why can't you summon Grimm? Will a Grimm Capybara appear here?
He didn't feel comfortable around Neithan, he had seen practically nothing of his combat style, and he couldn't get an idea of what he could do either, he was completely unarmed, and without a weapon, he is much worse than dead weight, his semblance would only put the environment of the emerald forest in total danger, so there was not much choice but to simply take care of it.
Waylon watched with feigned neutrality as Neithan began to climb one of the trees, forcing him to stop "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to look for the Red Reaper..." Neithan responded, his fingers gripping the wood of the tree trunk tightly as he looked around for some vestige of his scythe, finding a disappointingly countless number of branches and leaves "Damn!"
"We can't be delayed because of that, stay close" Waylon ordered, without giving the boy another look, limiting himself to remaining in a satisfactory silence, only interrupted by the sound that Neithan's feet made as they hit the grass again.
"What if you give me one of your weapons?" Neithan asked in a pleading tone, looking only at Waylon's back. "Come on? Come on, come on?"
"It doesn't work like that" Waylon responded sharply, creating a replica of Harbinger and throwing it at Neithan without seeing him, the black-haired boy managed to grab the weapon firmly even in the air, giving it a couple of curious glances before it easily disappeared by being minimally moved a couple of centimeters.
Neithan sighed with some nervousness and discomfort, on his list of least desired possibilities, meeting Waylon was located at the final edge of the paper, he was definitely horrible to be next to, he was cutting, he lost control easily, and he was not even able to explain why he didn't want to collaborate with him.
Neithan made an effort to remember some of the most interesting information about Waylon in recent times, if his memory worked correctly, the only person with whom he had continuous contact during his training period was his mother, Ruby Rose, Waylon was always very close to the legendary silver-eyed heroine, since he was born he has done everything possible to imitate her, he even knows in millimetric detail all the operations and mechanisms of Crescent Rose, something that Ruby commented with great pride.
"Someone must have fought here" Waylon commented, breaking the perpetual silence that he had formed with Neithan, the last mentioned stopped in his tracks, finding in front of him multiple basic weapons such as swords and shields lying on the ground, some broken by the half, but not a trace of blood "They must have been students, maybe they just ran away and hide scared"
Neithan did not respond immediately, his eyes moved from one side to the other, finding a piece of brown cloth with some crimson stains, completely nailed to a branch of a nearby tree, the boy approached slowly, looking more closely at it the bloody cloth.
Waylon stood next to Neithan, analyzing the boy's discovery with interest, the red-eyed circled the tree in an attempt to look for a faster or more accurate clue, he couldn't find any sign of a person or even a victim, his feet collided against something heavy, forcing him to look down.
Waylon lifted Red Reaper with some force, taking a quick look at the scythe before throwing it at Neithan, throwing the boy back "I found your scythe"
Neithan smiled from ear to ear, firmly gripping the handle of the gun and looking at Waylon with relief "Thank you! I don't know what I would have done without this thing."
"Die maybe" Waylon responded dryly, turning around and resuming his walk towards nothingness itself, apparently "We must find other students, my house is in a different forest than this one, there aren't many open spaces here"
"Looks like we're not having much luck then, we haven't seen anyone the whole way," Neithan commented, shrugging as he followed Waylon at a safe distance "I think maybe we should-"
"Neithan! I'm trying to think of a coherent solution" Waylon increased the volume of his voice, sounding genuinely annoyed "We've already wasted too much time, who knows if Bryan and Roy have already found the temple with the relics and we're here wasting time?"
"I just want to give ideas! But you're being a complete idiot" Neithan didn't seem to be in the mood to endure Waylon's insults either, so he attacked in the same way "You think that because you're stronger than others that you have the right to be an annoying boss?!"
"I'm the best Pharos has ever had, my semblance is somewhat unique within the Schnee family, and I definitely don't have the damn brain of an ant" Waylon approached Neithan a little closer, pointing at him accusingly and shoving something in his chest "The strongest are those who are qualified to lead, the weak must follow orders"
Neithan placed his fingers on his forehead, trying to relax the migraine that was beginning to intensify in his head "Look, I'm just trying to pass the test, we are partners, whether we like it or not, but if you keep like this-"
A somewhat high-pitched and annoying scream echoed throughout the forest, both Waylon and Neithan raised their gazes into the air, where the origin of the sound had been heard quite close, their gazes locked on a fairly large Nevermore located on a small hill, seeming be looking for their next prey.
Neithan looked at Waylon for a couple of seconds, the boy's mind began to work on a quick solution to the location problem, from the ground they were unable to see anything, climbing a tree wouldn't help either... but being able to have the complete vision in the air would be a very good idea.
Waylon was forced to follow Neithan when he began running in the direction of the Nevermore.
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Samuel Lionheart raised his arms with a low growl, his fingers wrapped in his sharp metal gauntlets mixed with the dark molasses of the Ursa had killed just a couple of seconds ago, he was forced to apply a little force to finally be able to pull out completely his hands from the Grimm's body, giving himself a couple of seconds to recover his energy.
Samuel was a boy with brown hair and green eyes, his brown jacket managed to do a good job of giving him a more casual and normal appearance, in Mistral it was essential to go unnoticed on the streets, it was of no use to you to be Leonardo's grandson Lionheart, in Mistral, everyone must search for their survival.
The green-eyed felt the ground with his lion's tail, trying to make sure he had not missed any small detail such as a weapon or a relic, it was somewhat sad that he had only found teams and duos already formed, as if it were incredibly difficult to meet his future partner.
He was aware of how complicated it would be, even when he had not boarded the cruise ship to Vale he was already completely aware of the process that Beacon did in the initiation ceremony, the first person you would see would be your companion for the next 4 years, the other 2 They would be assigned to you once the test was over and they managed to find the other pair of aspiring Huntsmen who took the same piece that you and your partner took, it was quite simple.
Samuel sighed somewhat disappointed, his hand moved quickly into the air, managing to grab a small Nevermore by the neck, the teenager squeezed the monster hard, destroying its body until it turned into a pile of dark ash, the forest did not seem to be that dangerous as they painted it, or at least that's what he thought.
He walked a few meters before finding a small downward slope, the mud completely covered the surface, some traces of shoes and hand marks crossed the entire ground, Samuel supported himself with his right hand and sat on the edge, letting himself fall forward and sliding down with ease, once falling to the ground without a hint of discomfort.
Samuel felt his face be fiercely struck by sharp claws, throwing him backwards and making him hit a tree, his back cracked in an unsatisfactory noise as the boy fell to the grass, his green eyes quickly found the perpetrator of the attack, an Ursa Major.
The lion faunus rose from the ground in one easy movement, beginning a charge forward and managing to intercept the Grimm's right arm, the bear-shaped monster hissed aggressively, extending its head downwards and trying to catch Samuel with its jaws, being hit in the face quickly.
Samuel extended the claws of the nails of his gauntlet, scratching hard at the chest of the Ursa Major, the monster was barely affected by the attack,it moved to the side and pushed Samuel against the ground using all it's body weight, succeeding in immobilize him firmly and giving it complete accessibility to his most sensitive parts, neck, face, chest, everything.
Samuel tried to activate the Dust mechanism of his gauntlet, his right arm was immobilized by the Grimm's enormous paw, exerting a pressure that soon turned into a sharp and annoying pain, the lion faunus gasped from the feeling of helplessness, beginning to move side to side in an attempt to push the Ursa Major away.
The Grimm slowly opened its jaws, showing its sharp and whitish teeth to Samuel, giving him a rather grotesque and even disgusting sight, the brunette continued struggling for a while, managing to keep the monster away for a few seconds, the constant movement stopped when the Ursa Major stopped trying to bite him, the reason was the knife that pierced it's skull, killing him instantly and giving Samuel the opportunity to recover, the lion faunus moved away with some panic the burning corpse on top of him, having to use a large part of his physical strength.
"It seemed like that little bear wanted some honey" A female voice introduced herself as the boy's savior, Samuel looked up with some curiosity, finding a girl with black hair and blue eyes like the sky, her bright smile dazzling the view of the boy for a few seconds, she was kind of pretty.
"Thank you..." Samuel groaned as he stood up, still trying to catch his breath "It could have left me with a nasty scar if you didn't intervene, what's your name?"
"Riana Ren" The girl responded, taking a couple of long steps towards the boy's side, firming her stance to appear a little bigger "And now I'm your teammate!"
"Riana Ren? Your parents must be Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie" Samuel commented as he stared at the girl, receiving a nod in response "You didn't find a partner either, right?"
"Before you? Well, I think most of them already made it to the north of the forest, at least the ones that were interesting, some are lost there, I swear I saw a couple of boys fall over the edge of the forest..." Riana she whispered, sounding quite enthusiastic and animated "And it looks like I finally found someone! What is your name?..."
"Samuel Lionheart" Samuel extended his hand with an open palm, being quickly squeezed by Riana, who squeezed her opponent's hand quite tightly, making him make a small moan of pain "I was going north right now...do you want to go north? over there?"
"Sure!" Riana responded, staying completely still in the boy's eyes, it took Samuel a couple of seconds to try to understand the sudden lack of action on her part, he quickly understood that she was waiting for him, so he began his path north.
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Telsius loved sleeping, he was very good at it.
He could still see himself in Sanctum from time to time, sleeping peacefully while the teacher on duty explained some topic in a boring and uninteresting way, even if eyes were on him, he never used to care, a good nap would always wake him up in the moods.
His parents never liked that, how could they? Seeing his own son throw away his future was certainly worrying for both adults, in fact, it could be worrying for any parent, Telsius was not real dead weight, his talent was there, inside him, coming out into the real world from time to time.
Pythias Nikos, the mother of Telsius and sister of the deceased Pyrrha Nikos, was a woman quite loyal to the family legacy, the Nikos family was never one precisely known for its political power or for having a hereditary semblance like those of the Schnee, its Popularity exploded when Pyrrha Nikos began to sweep the competitions in Sanctum, even appearing in Pumpkins Pete's cereal (Unhealthy) and currently being one of the main faces in Beacon, the academy's AI is about a life image of her, after all.
Pythias remembers a lot of her sister, she was a girl of just 8 years old when Pyrrha decided to leave Mistral and seek her future in Beacon, the decision was totally respected by her family, and the young Pythias was more than excited to see her sister managing to surpass herself during her journey through the academy, the multiple letters, the anecdotes, the nights of joy she had as part of the JNPR team was simply an example of how perfect Pyrrha's life was.
But she died.
Pythias never seemed to get over the death of her beloved sister, when her son Telsius was born, she decided to give him special training with private teachers, he was given a spear and a shield practically the same as the ones Pyrrha once used, even if they had a functioning differently, Telsius could feel how much his mother wanted him to be like Pyrrha.
He couldn't hate her, he also admired Pyrrha, the stories he had heard about her only confirmed how great and nice she was, one of his biggest dreams has always been to meet her, that is why, even if he is here in Beacon by his mother's wish, he also wants to pursue the path that Pyrrha wanted to cross.
He wants to be like her, he wants to be respected and loved everywhere he sees.
Telsius opened his eyes with some problems, his eyelids seemed to be glued together, the sun violently attacked the boy's pupils, forcing him to move to the side to avoid the sunlight, his face found something soft, it seemed to be cotton, it was warm and spacious, maybe it was a pillow or similar.
The redhead raised his hands, feeling the soft object beneath him, his fingers passed slowly over the surface, the sensation was pleasant, the heat it emitted also had to be described, it was the most comfortable pillow he had ever rested his head on, maybe he should ask for one like that for his bedroom at Beacon.
"Hey, get off my stomach" Telsius stopped when a girl sounded offended, the green-eyed man finally allowed himself to see whatever he was touching, realizing that it wasn't a pillow, it was a girl's abdomen, an incredibly sexy girl.
Myrian Val gave Telsius a light slap, successfully pushing him away and allowing him to get up, the purple-haired girl took a couple of seconds to get her bearings, the fall must have been hard enough to leave her unconscious and that confirmed that she had to work harder on her aura, activating it manually was genuinely annoying.
Telsius blushed when he realized what a bizarre impression he could have given the girl by touching her abdomen in such a strange way, without delay, he stood up and leaned his entire torso down in apology "I apologize for touching you like that, I swear I thought it was a pillow...I'm so sorry"
"Don't worry, mate, I'm already somewhat used to mischievous hands" Myrian commented neutrally, looking up and noticing a mountain cut in the distance, the cut was deep enough to form a fairly perfect crescent, she knew perfectly well the shape, the history of such a peculiar formation, in Pharos, the Arkital mountain was widely studied by geology and history professors, since its origin is simply brutal.
The Artikal mountain had the terrible luck to fully receive the arrival of the brothers of creation, both beings made of pure energy had arrived in Remnant in the form of a meteorite made of light and darkness, crashing into the mountain and forming that shape similar to a crescent, it could be said that it had been the entrance to the court for the judgment of humanity.
One from which innocent people had emerged, for the luck of an entire species.
Myrian shook her head, quickly managing to locate herself on a mental map, if Artikal was visible from her current location, then it must be very close to the edge of the emerald forest, so it was incredibly far from the northern ruins.
"Well, what's your name?" Myrian asked quickly, raising her right arm and trying to locate the ruins with the relics, Telsius had been admiring the girl's beauty for a few minutes, so he quickly managed to compose himself and respond.
"Telsius, Telsius Nikos" He responded, trying to smile in a friendly way.
"Myrian Val" The girl introduced herself without returning his gaze, stretching a little in the air and drawing the boy's attention even more "I could see in your face that you are somewhere on the moon right now, I know where we are, so you just have to follow me like a puppy, okay?"
"Okay" Telsius didn't want to give any opposition, he just leaned on the ground and began to follow Myrian, definitely not yet impressed by how beautiful she was.
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"FUCK, DAMN IT, I KNEW THIS WAS A TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE IDEA!" Waylon opened his mouth and let out words in the form of a scream, his hands clinging to the thick and huge feathers of the Nevermore as the Grimm remained in the air spinning, the impact that the air gave on the boy's face was too much for him to be able to accurately see the terrain below him, in fact, was practically impossible.
Neithan also clung to the Nevermore's body, although he didn't seem as upset or worried as Waylon "ARE YOU SURE?!? I THINK I CAN SEE A COUPLE OF BEOWOLFS DRINK COFFEE FROM HERE, CAN YOU SEE SOMETHING?"
"NO! YOUR FUCKING IDEA OF CLIMBING ON TOP OF A NEVERMORE, WHICH IS GOING AT HUNDREDS OF MILLES PER HOUR, IS NOT HELPING ME SEE THE DAMN TEMPLE WITH THE DISGUSTING RELICS" Waylon screamed again in anger, his legs flying through the air, certainly worried, a fall from such a height would be fatal for both of them, his head shook from side to side to try to get rid of the thoughts related to how damn dangerous it was to be on top of a giant Nevermore.
Neithan's plan had been simple, get on the Nevermore and wait for it to cross the entire forest, although neither of them had the eyesight of a faunus, the temple had to be visible from a fairly long distance, so only It would be a matter of Waylon jumping next to Neithan and cushioning the fall with some glyphs, simple, right?
Things had started badly when Neithan decided to put the Nevermore into the air by cutting off part of its right eye, the Grimm did not seem to be very happy with its partial loss of sight, so it was no surprise to anyone that it took flight, so the first part of the plan was already done, the only problem was that Nevermore himself was incredibly upset and agitated, it's constant flapping of it's wings only sent more air currents towards the two boys, one wrong step and they would end up falling anywhere possible, the forest was not as small as it had been before, no, it was huge, entire kilometers of trees blocking the view in the form of an obstacle only showed how heavy and important it was to pass this test to enter Beacon.
"I'M GOING TO LAUNCH MYSELF DOWN!" Neithan warned Waylon, his fingers loosened the Grimm's plumage and he gently let himself fall downwards, even if the air only broke his balance momentarily.
"DAMN PSYCHOPATH! DON'T DO THAT!" Waylon roared in response, his eyes finally widening due to the sheer adrenaline and anger coursing through his veins, his heart stopping for a couple of seconds when Neithan completely broke free of the Grimm's wing, beginning to fall down.
Time seemed to stop for Waylon at that precise moment, the consequences of Neithan dying under his watch were several, Ruby would never want to talk to him again, Yang, Blake and Weiss would follow that same example, Qrow would look at him with disappointment and simply tell him some macabre joke to make him feel bad, Winter would probably send him to the desert part of Menagerie to live there the rest of his life as a hermit, yes, it sounded like a very good idea.
Waylon screamed again, this time to release the panic and nervousness that settled in his mind, with some fear, he completely let go of the Grimm's wing, the air current pushed him back with a very great force, the fall begin with a deadly speed, practically whole seconds would pass and he would already be on the ground like meat turned into mush.
Bryan stopped suddenly when he heard a strange whistle in the air, he and his cousin had finally arrived at the so famous temple after walking for several hours, to his surprise, the ruined temple was almost completely empty, there were barely 4 chess pieces left, two for black queen and a pair for yellow bishop, very peculiar color decisions if someone asked him.
Roy took one of the black queens, keeping it in his cold-weather coat, hen his gaze returned to Bryan, he noticed the cat faunus staring up at the sky, Roy copied this action, noticing Neithan falling at a speed that rivaled with Ruby Rose's.
It didn't take Bryan a second to place his arms open in front of him, the impact that Neithan's body caused on his limbs wasn't that strong, it just made him shake a little, his body had suffered worst things, he was completely safe.
"Should I ask what you were doing flying in the air?" Bryan asked with a raised eyebrow, while Neithan seemed to be trying to search his brain for an answer to his cousin's question.
Roy heard another scream, one that was filled with fear and anger in equal measure, he quickly recognized the new figure that was plummeting in the sky, it was Waylon, his cousin, who seemed to be scared and angry.
The young Schnee raised his rapier, creating a small tower of gravity glyphs before Waylon slammed into the ground, the red-eyed man's body crossed all the glyphs quickly, gradually slowing down until he finally fell to the ground completely, coming to grips with the fact that he was still alive.
"Ruby is going to kill me, god, mom will take my arms and legs, maybe I can go to another kingdom and start a life...yes, the tribe should have a place for me" Waylon whispered almost incoherently while he remained in a ball on the ground, his body trembling violently while his eyes were closed, he almost seemed completely oblivious to the presence of his cousins in front of him.
Roy looked towards Bryan and Neithan without knowing exactly what to do, the blonde simply pointed his index finger at Waylon, the blue-eyed boy groaned subtly, approaching his cousin and giving him a small blow with the edge of Myrtenaster, alerting him at that precise moment.
Waylon stood up in the blink of an eye, creating a copy of Harbinger and moving the blue weapon from side to side, it took him a few seconds to recognize Bryan, Roy and Neithan, a sigh of relief left his lips when he saw that the silver-eyed boy's plan did not work so bad after all.
The red-eyed approached one of the pillars, grabbing the piece of the black queen, keeping it inside his jacket, Roy seemed to get certainly tense by his cousin's action, which sentenced their future as teammates for the next 4 years. .
"Well, since the 4 of us are together, let's go towards the cliff there" Waylon pointed up, his index finger was positioned on top of a high elevation of land cut in half, some ruins gave way to a precipice that, even from How far away they were right now, they could say that it was quite dangerous to fall there.
"Perfect!" Bryan dropped Neithan to the ground, making him groan in pain "I'm sure you and Roy could create Schnee glyph stairs without difficulty."
"...We could" Waylon looked at Roy for a couple of seconds, finally smiling at him with some affection "What do you say?"
Roy felt upset with himself for even thinking about his cousin's proposal, he was supposed to stay away from the same person who hurt him so much in the past, not help him to achieve their shared dream, he would definitely deny the proposal and give up, he would return to Atlas and simply tell his parents that it didn't work.
"Sure, they just shouldn't be too hard" Roy cursed himself internally as he found himself unable to disappoint Bryan and Neithan, he could do this for them, Waylon was not his concern, and he hopes it never will be.
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Oscar looked with curiosity at the number of teenagers who had finally managed to pass the test, it could practically be hundreds and hundreds, his curiosity grew even more when he noticed that neither Waylon, Bryan, Roy or his own son Neithan were among the approved, which was somewhat peculiar, even more so considering how much they want to be Huntsmen.
"Nora, come with me to the cliff on the other side" Oscar suddenly suggested, the orange-haired woman pushed away the plate with a dozen pancakes in her mouth, seeming somewhat disappointed at not being able to eat and surprised by her friend's request.
"Any specific reason?" She asked, moving to Oscar's side and looking at the list of missing participants, Waylon Branwen, Bryan Xiao Long, Roy Schnee, Neithan Rose, Samuel Lionheart, Telsius Nikos, Riana Ren (her precious, beautiful, divine, and perfect daughter) and Myrian Val.
"There are really only 8 left?" Nora asked as she stuffed a pancake into her mouth, chewing it slowly as she waited for a response from the headmaster of Beacon.
Oscar nodded, his gaze raised once again to observe the vast emerald forest in all its splendor, the countless number of trees was overshadowed by the enormous figure of a gigantic Nevermore prowling the skies, its fluttering wings headed to the north, where the ruins that faced the cliff on the other side of the land were located.
"Nora, I think we have front row seats to see the next generation in action" Oscar mused with a friendly smile, receiving a strange look from Nora in response.
"...Can I eat this before?" Nora asked quietly.
"No" Oscar responded bluntly, beginning to walk towards his destination with his companion (who was hungry and still confused about what they were supposed to do).