"How long… has it been…"
SOME TIME AGO…
"Three…two…one!" A small child in an orange dress with familiar green hair counted down beginning the game of hide and seek. It is the dead of night with a shattered moon that barely lit a dark Grimm infested forest. There a young forsaken little girl hunts her prey.
"Ready or not, here I come!"
The child ran past the pillar she used to start the count and trekked through the secluded part of the forest where she and another called their home. Her little footsteps left small flaming footprints where she would step that would quickly disappear not long after. On her search through her home she spotted tracks left by her prey made on the dirt path, now all she needed to do was follow them.
"If I were a witch, where would I hide…" The child had reached a large silver cauldron that along with torches that miraculously floated in place. The lighting from the flames underneath the cauldron and the torch were enough for the child to see the top of a big pointy hat hidden behind a mass of pots and vases as the child has found her prey. With light and slow steps the child was able to sneak up on her prey and jumped out at them.
"Got you Hecate! You're dead!"
"Ah! Got me you did Melinoe, but I daresay I can escape your clutches just yet!" Below Hecate formed a white glowing circle where her body quickly disappeared into a blue flame.
"Hecate, that's cheating!" The little Melinoe's prey escaped her grasp and therefore she must go on the hunt once more.
Melinoe continued her search for the witch but the darkness of the night made it hard to find her caretaker. That is until the sound of a howl from a Hecate's dog, Hecuba made it clear to the little girl where to look. Running towards the southern edge of their home Melinoe with the help of the lamps that dimly lit their home was able to find her prey hiding behind a large tree root. "Ah ha! Got you again!"
"Oh so persistent! Give up already huntress for I am the strongest witch in history, you cannot vanquish me!" Hecate playfully said to the little Melinoe as she once again created a glowing circle underneath herself as she disappeared into a blue flame.
"I can and shall!" The little girl stated as Hecate could not help but chuckle In the distance from how adorable the little girl sounded. Which ultimately would be the Witch's downfall and Melinoe was quickly able to track Hecate down. Running towards the south eastern side of their home Melinoe found Hecate for the last time.
"Got you again Hecate!" The little Melinoe said with a laugh that was a pleasant surprise to the witch. It reminded Hecate her of days long past, a simpler time in her life. Melinoe could see even behind her caretaker's veil something was wrong and she began to grow worried "Hecate? Is something the matter?"
Hecate quickly realized her vulnerability was showing and she quickly gained her composure while standing up and towering her the little Melinoe "...Ah it's fine Melinoe it's just.. tsk… I had not heard your laughter in some time. It reminds me of your mother, much more preferable to the sound of grief."
"I promise not to cry anymore Hecate… I still get sad but not as much…"
"Don't make promises you can't keep child, tears are worthless so let them flow, there's no purpose to keep them contained."
"But you never cry Hecate! And I wish to become a strong huntress like you someday, then I can go find mother so you can hear her laugh again!"
"And I shall do everything in my power to prepare you for the day you'll become a huntress as strong as me, maybe even stronger."
"I promise I will mom!" The little girl said with determination in her eyes.
"I've told you not to call me mother or anything that may refer to me as such."
"S-sorry Hecate…"
"It's quite alright Melinoe, now let's get you to bed. On the morrow, we shall be learning how to hunt bigger prey."
…
PRESENT DAY…
Nemesis was fast asleep, not really dreaming but was as peaceful as she could be having to listen to Eris snoring for who knows how long. So when she was finally able to drift off into the land of sleep she almost looked peaceful if it was for her permanent scowl on her face. But unbeknownst to the muscular child of Night, the shadow of the aforementioned Eris loomed over her with her wings blocking the morning sun from reaching her. And in her hand was a air horn she bought yesterday, she couldn't help herself but to silently snicker as she shook the can and held it next to her big sister's ear and did a silent little countdown, three, two, one!
BWOOOOOP
WHACK!
Nemesis shot up from her sleeping bag and was wide awake from that loud air horn going off in her ear. Instinctively her arm swung towards the noise and Eris was sent halfway across the room and fell in a very funny position. Nemesis looked at her sister who was clearly knocked out clean out and smiled "I've been waiting to do that for three days."
Many others were woken up including Melinoe and knocking her out of her flashback like dream. She heard the muffled sounds of a girl groaning in pain and looked to her side where the black winged Eris who slowly got up and rubbed her jaw where she was punched by Nemesis. The black winged girl mumbled "Fucking…ow…"
"Are you alright?" Melinoe asked.
"What do you care, loser?" Eris left after rudely saying that to Melinoe.
The morning went as it would another day after that, the students brushed their teeth, got some breakfast, and went into the locker rooms to go grab their weapons for their initiation. Inside Melinoe's locker were her three weapons Lim and Oros, Descura, and Zorephet. Now she needed to make a decision on which to take with her, Lim and Oros complimented her speed, Descura allows her to be safe from a range, and Zorephet allows her to strike with more power than the others. After careful consideration she decided on the staff Descura and from that same locker grabbed a purple satchel full of different kinds of dust as the staff's ammunition. She closed her locker to then see a nervous Artemis waiting beside the door "Oh Artemis, how are you this morning?"
"Awful, Melinoe, is it true that the initiation pains us up with someone at first glance?" The deer faunus seemed to be very distressed at the current situation.
"Well… according to my mo- I mean teacher, that's how they usually go about it."
"Oh no no no… Melinoe can we pair up together? I don't know anyone here and what if I get paired with someone who despises me?"
" I'll do my best to find you but I can't guarantee anything… trust me Artemis everything is going to be fine."
"I-if you say so Melinoe…" The deer faunus replied while still worried, there's still a chance to partner up with the one person she talked to other than Blake from the night prior but she hasn't seen her all day.
Not too far from the two green haired girls was the Night sisters preparing for the initiation. Opening her locker Nemesis stared at her silver armor for a moment and took a deep breath, today was the day she proved herself. She worked as Hard as possible to be here and this was where she made her first step as a huntress. Taking her armor from her locker she began the process of getting on every piece which was more annoying and time consuming than one may think but she was used to it. Meanwhile to her side was Eris eating chocolate for breakfast and tossing the wrappers on the floor when there was a trash can not too far away from her.
The clicking of heels grabbed Eris' attention and looked to her left where she can see the heiress Weiss Schnee approaching them. She elbowed Nemesis who was in the middle of getting her chest piece on and said "Yo Nemmie, ice queen on her way."
Nemesis gazed at the heiress who greeted the two "Nemesis and Eris, it's been awhile since we last saw each other, how have you been?"
"Awful." Nemesis replies with a look of pain on her face after practically babysitting Eris for the past couple of days.
"Incredible!" Eris said with a complete opposite reaction to Nemesis
"O-oh… well I'm sorry to hear that Nemesis, well I was coming over here to ask if you were putting any thought on who's team you'd like to be on, I bet you have been bombarded with people who'd want a strong and well known woman like you on their team!"
"Surprisingly not many, I don't really know that many folks but as long as they can pull their own weight and not drag me down then I'm fine with whatever." She responds as she grabs her sword and shield from her locker.
"Well… I was thinking maybe we can be on the same team together?" Weiss suggests.
"If we happen to cross then you won't hear any complaints from me."
"Great!" The heiress began to plot and scheme off to the side as everything was going as according to plan. With her smarts and Nemesis' strength they will be unstoppable, they will become celebrities, they will get perfect grades, nothing can come between them!
Except for the living breathing embodiment of strife right next to them "Sorry Weiss, but Nemmie over here is gonna be partnered with me! There's no way I'm letting this behemoth go with anyone else but me, I called dibs so suck it princess!"
"It's heiress I'll have you know! And what do you mean dibs? What are you five?"
"Yeah five inches deep in your mo-"
"Both of you shut up, you both are fucking children." Nemesis told the two of them as she stood up and stored her sword on her back as she walked away from the conversation.
The two were silent until Nemesis was out of earshot when Weiss commented "Why do you even want to team up with her Eris? Last I remembered you two absolutely despised being around each other?"
"People change Weiss Cream, is it really unbelievable that I want to hang out with my sister after all this time?"
"Absolutely."
"Tch whatever, might as well give up on trying to partner up with her because of these babies!" Eris pointed to her wings as they spread wide for Weiss to see. "Finding Nemmie is gonna be easy peasy so go find someone else princess, like that kid with the silver eyes and the red hood you were busy making such good friends with yesterday!" Eris told Weiss before she flew away.
"This isn't over Eris!"
…
The Beacon cliff, students were lined up on platforms overlooking the emerald forest. In front of them stood their Headmaster Ozpin and one of the teachers Glynda Goodwitch who Melinoe learned yesterday arrested Ruby, so she could easily tell that they were not someone to mess with. She can already feel her icy cold gaze staring at her and being too afraid to point it out. Once everyone had arrived with Eris being the last to join the group Ozpin began the briefing "For years you have trained to become warriors, and today you will put your skills to the test in the emerald forest."
Glynda pulled out her tablet and spoke to the students "Now I'm sure many of you have heard rumors on the assignment of teams. Allow us to put an end to your confusion, as of today all of you will receive teammates."
Looking to her side Melinoe could see a distressed Artemis clearly not thrilled about the assignment of teams. While also a certain silver eyed girl whined about the announcement.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time at Beacon Academy, so it's best you find someone you can work well with. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next 4 years."
Ruby could already feel her world shattering like a mirror as she let out a concerned "Whaaat?!"
Artemis merely mumbled under her breath "This is the worst…"
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." Exactly the type of words Eris wanted to hear as she gained a malicious grin on her face.
"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"
Artemis was halfway Into raising her hand before Ozpin said "Good, now take your positions."
The variety of students took their stances ready to be flung off into the Emerald Forest, Nemesis held her Stygian Blade, Ruby took out her Crescent Rose and held the scythe with her two hands, Yang put her fists up with her gauntlets ready to fire at any poor Grimm who would dare stand in her way. Melinoe took out her staff and Artemis letting out a sigh of defeat pulled out her mechanical bow but was still shakey. Melinoe looked towards the deer faunus and said to her "Everything is gonna turn out fine Artemis, trust me."
"Handling Grimm is one thing because they are soulless killers without reason, I can handle them but when it comes to people I can barely keep myself from freezing up." Artemis complained as the platforms began to fling students into the forest.
"We'll find each other, I just know it."
Yang looked towards her little sister and popped on her aviator shades before getting flung at high speeds into the forest and Ruby soon joins her sister being flung a second later.
"If you say so, see you later Melinoe."
"Till we meet again Artemis." Melinoe gave Artemis a reassuring smile as she was flung into the sky with Artemis taking a deep breath as she followed suit.
Eris was beyond thrilled to be flung after Artemis and when her turn finally came, she heard the sound of the platform going off but she moved nowhere as Ozpin and Glynda just stared at her. Eris looked down and realized she was so excited that she didn't notice her wings were still carrying her and took her off the platform. It felt very awkward to say the least and Eris said "Uh…oops, well… I'm just gonna go now, 'kay byeeee…" She flew into the forest feeling very embarrassed.
…
Students came crashing down at high speeds and it was up to them to have a landing strategy so they may make It down to the ground safely without using up too much aura to soften their landing. With her staff Descura Melinoe had loaded Descura with Gravity Dust so when she aimed her staff at a certain direction she was able to shoot herself upwards before she hit the ground and once gravity came back after the shot was fired she was able to land without any problems. Nemesis had no need for a complicated landing strategy or much of one at all as she came crashing down straight to the ground and leaving a crater in the floor but stood up as if it were nothing. Eris from the cliff simply glided down into the trees, she couldn't find Nemesis from the trees as they blocked the forest floor so she decided it was best to land in one of them and find her sister closer to the ground. Artemis with a special type of arrow In her hand shot an arrow at a tree releasing a line that with the help of momentum, swung her towards and leading her to land perfectly on a tree branch, upon her perfect landing Artemis jumped from branch to branch hoping to be unseen until she could find Melinoe.
Melinoe's burning feet left scorching footprints on the ground that disappeared not too long after each step she took. The girl sprinted through the forest in search for the relics but more importantly, a partner. Optimally she'd be paired with Artemis but say that outcome doesn't come to pass who should she pair with? There's Ruby of course, she seems to be a very bubbly energetic girl who would make for interesting discussions about weapons, but that feels like it would be annoying after awhile. Yang is a strong courageous girl who seems like a fun time to be around, but oh gods no she cannot handle 24/7 puns that sounds awful. Well as long as she doesn't get paired with that rude girl with the black wings she should be fine. But what about that girl she calls her sist-
Melinoe's train of thought was halted by going past a tree and seeing a large girl clad in armor. She was a split second away from crashing into her but Melinoe activated her semblance, Melinoe phased right through the girl like a ghost as she slid to halt her movement leaving a trail of fire from her feet. They both quickly turned and the two made eye contact. Speak of the devil and they shall appear, the large woman in armor did not look amused by Melinoe's trick and walked up to the shorter girl "Watch where your scrawny ass is going next time."
Her large stature was very intimidating with her golden piercing eyes helping her intimidation factor. But Melinoe hid any signs of fear behind a stoic expression. "Well my apologies miss. But no one seemed to get hurt so all is well in the end. I prefer we'd not get off on the wrong foot so you may call me Melinoe "
"Nemesis. just don't hold me back." The armored woman began walking towards the location of the relics with Melinoe following suit. Not a good start already, she just hopes Artemis is paired up with someone she's not deathly afraid of…
…
About thirty minutes in the exam go by as many students quickly find their partners such as Yang pairing up with Blake after the blonde brawler took out a pack of Ursa, that girl really does care about her hair. Or with Ruby Rose getting paired up with Weiss Schnee, which was clear from the get go they would not be getting along so well as the partners prior. But who knows, maybe they'll be a better pair than the next pair of partners we shall come across…
Artemis was hidden by the trees and hopping from branch to branch to the northern part of the forest, she's been able to spot a few students who had yet to be partnered up with anyone but they didn't seem like the right type of people for her and plus they weren't Melinoe so she continued forward before they could lock eyes. She vividly remembers in the rules that you are partnered once you lock eyes, so as long as they don't see her she should be fine.
Eris had touched down on solid ground after she struggled to traverse the woods due to the minimum amount of space there was to weave through the trees and she did not want to have to go through the trouble of repairing her precious wings. She took a moment to stretch and unwrap herself some candy which she promptly threw the wrapper on the floor caring little for the environment, she was completely unaware of the red glowing eyes staring at her from the trees. Until it was too late, a Beowolf hungry for blood jumped out at her with Eris too preoccupied with her sweet tooth to notice the Grimm popping out at her. But she was saved when she heard the sound of an arrow brushing past her head and piercing through the bone armor of the Beowolf as Eris turned to where the arrow was shot to see for a split second a girl in a green cloak running away. And hoping from branch to branch.
The one who shot the arrow was Artemis. After hearing the sounds of Eris' mechanical wings, she grew curious and wanted to see who it was. Artemis had the awareness to tell the black winged girl was being stalked by a Beowolf so by pure instinct she pulled an arrow from her quiver and fired at the Beowolf. It was a perfect shot going right through the Beowolf's head as the monster began to turn to ash. She quickly fled the scene praying she wasn't spotted as she still had to look for Melinoe, and for a minute everything was alright until- "Hey you dropped something!" that same black winged girl flew right in front of Artemis' face holding her arrow
"AH!" Artemis was scared and fell back to the floor as she winced from the pain but thankfully nothing too bad, she did feel her aura take a hit from that as she was not the most bulky girl in the world by any means.
The black winged girl dropped down right in front of her as her wings folded back, Artemis was scared to death being face to face with another girl as her mouth began quivering which Eris noticed "What's wrong Robin Hood, looks like you've seen a ghost? Come on I didn't scare ya that bad did I?"
Artemis was able to get herself up and let out a sigh of defeat as she now realized she was partnered with a complete stranger that almost scared the soul straight from her body.
"So what do I call ya?"
"A-Artemis…"
"Dope, I'm Eris. We're gonna have a lot of fun you and I! Say, you seen a big tall scary looking woman with muscles of a linebacker around here? Golden eyes, purple lipstick, black hair tied in a bun, a permanent scowl on her face?"
Artemis shook her head no. "Darn, well we all gotta go north so maybe we'll find Nemmie later. Come on Artie let's get a move on!"
Artemis held her head down low in despair, well there's a chance she might not be so bad? Right? If any deity is listening she's praying that everything could go well with Eris and she won't torment her like she does that large woman she hangs around with.
…
Melinoe and Nemesis were back to back with each other as a pack of Grimm had decided to make the mistake of confusing the two girls as prey. A fatal mistake and their final mistake as one decided to pounce towards Nemesis before getting a shield plated backhand across the face sending him flying towards a couple other Beowolf lumped together setting up for a perfect slash by Nemesis but in the corner of her eye she was barely able to see a giant ball made by energy dust that Nemesis was forced to side step to not be caught in the explosion.
Nemesis turned to Melinoe and told her in a harsh tone of voice "Check your aim…"
Melinoe scoffed at her comment and focus on the surrounding Grimm as she weaved through their attacks and using her semblance to phase through the surrounding Grimm and position herself to where she can fire shots of energy dust at the Grimm. Nemesis was not about to let this girl outshine her so with a boost from her semblance she jumped in the air and stabbed her sword into the ground creating a shockwave that killed the surrounding Grimm. While Nemesis was uncaring for Melinoe's safety, the fire-footed girl was able to become intangible at the right time to avoid the shockwave.
Nemesis after a moment bit down on her lip to prevent a scream of pain from releasing from her mouth as she fell on one knee using her sword to keep herself up. Her breathing was heavy and her body ached like hell "Fuck… that fall hurt more than I thought…"
Melinoe who was about to be mad at Nemesis for pulling off such a move began to worry seeing her clearly in pain on the ground and rushed to see if she was alright. "Are you alright Nemesis?"
As Melinoe got closer Nemesis pushed her away as she got up "I'm fine. Let's go find those damn relics." It was clear as day she was not fine by the way she had a limp in her step but Melinoe was already having a terrible view on Nemesis so she did not wish to discuss it further.
A camera followed the two as they strolled through the Emerald Forest as we soon came to Ozpin and Glynda keeping tabs on the students "Our last pair has been formed sir, Artemis Olympian and Eris Night. That poor deer faunus… are you sure that Hades girl Is Hecate's disciple? The way she talked about her I expected more, I only pray she doesn't act like Hecate did back when she was enrolled here."
"I can assure you she is Hecate's and I trust her word that she's an eligible candidate." Ozpin reassured Glynda as he took a sip from his mug. "Hecate is one of the best huntresses to come from this academy and I have no doubt of her teaching abilities."
"If you say so, we'll have to find out soon enough. They should be reaching the temple ruins shortly, speaking of. What did you use for relics this year, Ozpin?"
…
From the forest, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna step out into a clearing that reveals the circular stone temple, broken and decrepit but for the platforms are it's inside, holding several items of black, gold, silver, bronze variety and other various types of rock and metal.
Yang looks at her partner and asks "Think this is it?"
In response, Blake gives Yang a look of disbelief and the two head down the hill, her partner following. They walk across the floor and observe the items on each pedestal, now shown to be familiar shapes.
Blake picked up a golden piece that was in the shape of the sun "Clip on accessories?"
"Some of them are missing so we mustn't be the first ones here."
"Well I guess we should pick one."
"Oh oh oh I call the golden sun!" Yang said as she picked up the relic and clipped it onto her jacket with Blake pocketing said relic. "Well that wasn't so hard!"
"It's not exactly a very difficult place to find." The two share a smile which was swiftly interrupted by the sounds of what felt like carpet bombing rapidly approaching them.
"That… doesn't sound good…"
Blake and Yang took out their weapons expecting the worst as they soon heard the sounds of Artemis screaming for her life as one final explosion sent her flying towards the abandoned ruins. The deer faunus landed right beside Blake as her muffled groans could be heard from the faunus. Eris soon touched down to the earth and yelled out to Artemis "SEE! NO MORE GRIMM!"
Artemis pulled up her head and yelled "I hate you!"
Blake and Yang sat there in disbelief of what just happened "Did she just carpet bomb the forest"
"I-"
Yang was interrupted by the sounds and scenery of two girls running from a death stalker who happened to be Melinoe and Nemesis. The two seemed to be arguing as they ran from the giant Grimm.
"Are those girls running from a deathstalker?"
"I don't-"
"HEADS UUUUUUP!" The screams of Ruby falling down to the ground after apparently falling from the wings of a giant Nevermore. The sounds of her yells of panic made Melinoe turn her head towards the sky which left her open to have a pincer smacked right into her and had her barreling forward at the right angle to crash right into Ruby. Both of them were knocked straight into a tree and left in a daze. Melinoe was left slumped over a branch "Blasted Grimm, blasted Nemesis…"
"Ooooh what was that…"Ruby shook her head and noticed the fire footed girl in front of her. "O-oh hey Mel… rough day?"
Melinoe looked up towards the silver eyed scythe wielder with a deadpan stare "You'd have no idea…"
"You wanna get down from here?"
"Definitely." The two dropped down to the floor and the silver eyed girl immediately spotted her sister and in a burst of rose petals she traveled over to her.
"Yang!"
"Ruby!"
"Come on Nemmie it's almost got you!" Eris shouted just as the two sisters were going to reunite and made the group of six stare at the giant armored girl fend off an even more gigantic Deathstalker.
Artemis, after finally calming down, went beside her partner and asked "That's your sister? Should we… help her?"
"Nah she can handle it." Eris snickered.
Yang has had enough of the sequence of events that have happened in the span of a few minutes and her composure cracked with her semblance flaring up and her lilac eyes turned a dark red as she yelled out "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
Everyone listened to Yang and was silent for exactly 2 seconds as the scary display of Yang yelling at them caused Artemis to hide behind Melinoe and leave her shivering from fear. But once the two seconds were up Ruby tugged on Yang's arm and pointed up causing everyone in the group who weren't 1v1ing a deathstalker to look up towards the sky as the weather forecast was accurate about a case of falling heiresses as Weiss Schnee fell to the ground and screaming at Ruby "HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?!"
"I said to jump!" Ruby yelled at the falling heiress.
"Do you wanna do something?" Yang asked Eris.
"Huh? What am I gonna do?" Eris asked in return
"Can't you fly with those?"
"Oh yeah I could do that, but I'm gonna have to activate them and it takes soooo long like 2 seconds and-"
"Eris just do it" Artemis yelled, fed up with her partner's antics which certainly surprised Melinoe as her eyes visibly widened.
"Alright alright cool your jets Artie" Eris' wings activated definitely in less than 2 seconds mind you and she flew up to catch Weiss from becoming a Schnee pancake on the floor.
Artemis looked towards Melinoe and asked "How has your partner been?"
"The absolute worst…"
"Likewise sister."
With her arms outstretched Eris was able to catch Weiss in her arms "Your carriage has arrived princess, shall I fetch some tea and crackers for your trip down to the floor?" Eris said in a fancy yet mocking tone of voice.
Weiss rolled her eyes and replied with "My hero."
Eris landed back down to the floor and dropped Weiss onto her butt as she replied with a "Hey!"
Nemesis in the midst of fighting the death stalker was flung towards the group of seven making a total of eight students who were looking to be grimm food for a Deathstalker and Nevermore. Nemesis held her head as no matter how hard she hit this damn Deathstalker it just won't go down and she was starting to get more pissed by the second. Melinoe loomed over the fallen night sister and smugly replied with her hand out to help Nemesis up "So how did facing it head on go for you?"
"Tsk… just shut up…" She took Melinoe's hand and stood back up.
Yang Jokingly says "Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!"
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby rose charged off screaming towards the Deathstalker using Crescent Rose to boost herself forward with a gunshot.
"Ruby, wait!" Yang chased after the red hooded girl as Melinoe instinctively followed suit.
"What is she doing she's gonna get hurt…"
Ruby, still screaming, was prepared to attack but got flicked away by one of the Deathstalker's giant pincers and took a nasty fall to the floor but she was able to work through the pain and got back up "Don't worry, I'm totally fine!" She stood up to find the Deathstalker approaching and using a shot from her Scythe to help her make space between her and the Grimm she ran off towards Yang and Melinoe with the giant Grimm hot on her trail.
Running as fast as they could with Melinoe being faster than the blonde brawler they both yelled out to the silver eyed girl "Ruby!" But disaster struck when the Nevermore came flying back around and letting out loud caws, the flying Grimm flapped its wings towards the three sending a volley of arrows that not only caught Ruby's cape but blocked off both Yang and Melinoe from reaching her. Yang held out her arm for her sister but Melinoe dashed through the feathers with the brief intangibility her semblance gives her and appeared right to the side of Ruby and holding her foot up "Okay Ruby, I'm gonna burn your hood a little bit just so we can get you out of here."
"Wait, no you can't!"
"Ruby we don't have a choice right now I have to-"
"It's that last thing my mom gave me I can't!" Ruby yelled at Melinoe as the silver eyed girl still tried to pull the cape of the hood out.
The words struck Melinoe like an arrow through the heart, it was the last thing from her mother… She can't damage something so valuable to her. She couldn't bring herself to step on the cape and the Grimm was approaching fast, she forgot to load her weapon with dust and it would take too long to reload and shoot a batch of ice dust. Hecate is gonna be furious when she finds out, Melinoe stepped in front of Ruby and shielded the red hooded girl and bracing for the worst to come, she closed her eyes expecting to meet a brutal end but a few seconds went by and… nothing?
Both Ruby and Melinoe opened their eyes to see Weiss in front of the two with a giant glacier of ice made from the dust in her rapier. "You are just so childish, dimwitted, and hyperactive!" Weiss reprimands clearly referring to Ruby "And you, whoever you are?"
"Melinoe Hades."
"Melinoe, do you not have any self preservation, you quickly just threw yourself in danger instead of using any sort of dust."
"I… sorry…" Melinoe said, looking away and rubbing her arm.
Weiss looked back to Ruby and said "I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but we're going to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off. I'll be...nicer."
"I'm not trying to show off Weiss… I just want to show you I could do this…"
"Then prove to me you're not some little girl and think before you act okay? Do that and you'll be fine." Weiss walked away from the conversation and Melinoe put out her arm to help Ruby up off the ground.
"Thanks for not burning my hood Mel, sorry I almost killed ya heh heh..."
"Water under the bridge my friend."
"Ruby!" The red hooded girl had only a split second before getting put in a bear hug by her older sister. Ruby could feel the air leaving her body from Yang's strong arms embracing her tight.
"Yang… can't… breathe…!" Ruby struggled to let out as Yang realized her own strength being a bit much for her little sister. The sounds of the Nevermore's caw made everyone look up towards the sky as it was beginning to fly back around most likely to attack our fellow group of eight.
"Y'know this whole sister thing is really compelling but we still have TWO GIANT GRIMM ON OUR ASSES!" Eris yelled out.
"Well, no use in dilly-dallying, our objective is right in front of us." Everyone turned towards the relics.
Ruby bounced off her statement "She's right, our mission was to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. We don't need to fight these things!"
"Sounds like a good plan, are we all on board?" Melinoe asked the rest of the group.
"Whatever."
"Sure thing Trouble!"
"I-if you say so Mel."
The rest agreed on the plan and everyone went to go grab a relic, Ruby and Weiss picked the two remaining golden suns. Meanwhile Melinoe, Nemesis, Eris, and Artemis grabbed the silver crescent moon. The group of eight then made a mad dash towards the cliffs attempting to outrun the now freed Deathstalker and the Nevermore that soared over the group of huntresses in training. The group was able to escape the forest and came across abandoned ruins of structures that once were, the Nevermore flew over them and caused the students to run for cover behind the ruins as the Grimm perched itself on one of the higher ruins and let out a loud caw.
The Deathstalker from earlier crushed any trees in its path and burst its way out from the woods. Melinoe looked towards the giant grimm on land and yelled "We have to move now, Artemis, Eris, distract the Nevermore."
Artemis gave her a nod "Of course Mel." She took out her bow and began to fire a couple of arrows, even in the midst of a life or death situation the deer faunus was calm as could be and her shots struck the giant bird monster but nowhere near enough to kill.
"I'll do it, but not because you told me to!" Eris shouted before firing her Adamant Rail at the Grimm with a mixture of bullets and explosives as they advanced further into the ruins and became ever more surrounded by the two giant Grimm. The Nevermore flew out of view and cawing in pain from the arrows, the Deathstalker was able to sneak up to the distracted Artemis but in the nick of time Melinoe and Blake were able to pull a synchronized attack and stagger the monster which gave time for Weiss to swoop in and carry Artemis out of danger. The group attempted to run towards the ruins through a bridge but the Nevermore was beginning to circle back around and it knew to charge straight through the bridge as the old bridge was turned to rubble leaving Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nemesis, and Eris on one end and Melinoe, Blake, and Artemis on the other who clearly lacked the fire power to keep it at bay with the most Melinoe and Artemis were able to do was shock the grimm with lightning dust.
Nemesis had no form of range so she was practically useless against a Nevermore so she had to get across that gap to the Deathstalker, but she knew with her semblance that she'll destroy what's left of the bridge and even if she did make it across the gap she'll be too hurt to even fight back. She looked around and her eyes were brought to Eris currently firing bullets with Ruby at the Nevermore and she got an idea. "Eris, get me across this gap, we gotta help our partners."
"What?! Hell no you weigh a ton with or without that armor!"
"Eris I'm useless here just get me across, for once in our lives I'm genuinely asking you to help me out here."
Eris thought about it for a moment and a figurative light bulb flickered on in her head. "Okaaaaay Nemmie but you gotta promise me no matter what, you can't hit me after I pull this off because this is an asspull plan at best."
"Eris, what are you planning?"
"Promise!"
"Eris I'm not gonna say it until I know-"
"Just promise!"
"Fine, I promise. Happy?"
"Like a pig in shit Nemmie, better activate that semblance honey!" Eris pointed her weapon at Nemesis and almost instantly she regretted asking for help as Nemesis had to block and activate her semblance as she tanked a full rocket, Eris made sure it was a strong one too as Nemesis was blown straight into the Deathstalker crashing into it and bouncing over to Blake which caused her to be knocked off the edge. Thankfully Gambol Shroud came in hand and allowed her to the Ruby and the other's over on the other side of the gap as Eris was able to fly over to the other side. "Wasn't that fun Nemmie?"
"Eris I fucking hate you…" Nemesis stood up with her sword and shield out.
"Hate me cause you ain't me."
The Deathstalker stabbed it's tail in what was remaining of the bridge so if they didn't move quickly the three of those without wings are gonna plummet straight down to the foggy abyss below. Melinoe took notice and shouted "We have to move now!"
"Yeah but-" Artemis shot an arrow that was blocked by the bone armor of the Grimm "This blasted scorpion is blocking the path!"
"I can kill it." Everyone looked towards Nemesis. "But we're only getting one shot, and if I miss I'm dead so find me an opening."
"You heard Nemesis. Artemis, do you have lightning dust left?"
Artemis fidgeted around with her quiver and pulled out one lightning dust arrow "What do you know, I got just one left."
"Good enough, can I trust you to make the shot?"
"Can I make the shot?" Artemis said in a joking tone as everyone stared at her waiting for an answer which made her blush in embarrassment "O-of course I can!"
"Good. Eris, take the attention of that stinger off us."
"Aye aye captain" Eris made a mocking salute and she flew off to go do what she does best.
"Come on Nemesis." Melinoe dashed towards the Deathstalker as it immediately swung one of its pincers at Melinoe which she phased through with her semblance and with a quick reloading of ice dust Melinoe attacked the pincer slowing it down as it began to freeze over. Nemesis attacked the second pincer and showed just how strong she was as she was able to parry the monster's blows with her shield but even with her strength she wasn't able to crack the armor. The space between them was small but Artemis has shot through worse conditions. Everything around her slowed down and her heartbeat was slow, she was calm, no signs of stress or panic as she took a deep breath and let go of her arrow as it was able to make it through the small gap Melinoe and Nemesis made together and the lightning arrow shot right into one of the Grimm's various red eyes as it screeched out in pain and was stunned by the electricity going through its body.
Nemesis was fairly impressed and had a smirk on her face "Nice shot Artemis, now everyone move!" Melinoe, Eris, and Artemis ran past the electrified monster and Nemesis jumped on its head and held her sword up high ready to stab the monster straight through the head, with all of the stored pain she could muster she used her semblance to boost herself and stab her sword straight through the Deathstalker's bone armor and into the brain. The Grimm let out one final screech of pain as it's body began to collapse and disappear, Nemesis was able to jump off the monster but once landing on solid ground she almost instantly felt the drawbacks as she collapsed letting out a scream of pain. Melinoe was going to help tend to her teammate but Eris held onto her shoulder to pull her back.
"Just wait a minute Trouble, don't touch her or anything, just let it play out."
"But she's hurt I-"
"Wait, did she not tell you how her semblance works? Nemmie's semblance is called Revenge, she can store pain using her semblance and use it to buff her up to make her super strong. But after she uses it she kinda needs a moment because her body starts to hurt like hell after she uses it, she describes it as every muscle in your body twisting almost like how you squeeze excess water out a towel!" Eris explained.
"That sounds really painful…" Melinoe frowned hearing that explanation.
"You bet it does!"
Nemesis' body began to recover as the pain stopped but she didn't have the energy to get up and just turned around on her back. "Haah… did we… win?"
Melinoe sat down by her partner's side and she had a smile on her face. "Indeed we have."
"Fucking finally…"
Now all they could do is watch Ruby and her group try to take out the Nevermore as they were amazed by the scene of Yang punching shotgun bullets into the Nevermore's mouth. Thanks to Ruby they were able to come up with a plan, Blake and Yang held Gambol Shroud on top of two pillars and thanks to Weiss' glyphs the Scythe welding Ruby was able to use Gambol Shroud's rope like a slingshot . Ruby's Scythe caught the Nevermore by its neck and with another use of Weiss' glyphs, Ruby ran up the cliff firing Crescent Rose for more speed as the Nevermore's head was sliced clean off. Melinoe and her group could only watch in shock at Ruby and her group's ability to pull something like that off.
"Wow… she's incredible…" Melinoe mumbled under her breath as Ruby stood atop of the cliff with Rose petals coming from her cape.
…
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." Ozpin began to say the names of these boys who the group of eight did not seem to catch during their time in the Emerald Forest. The screen of the auditorium shows each of their profiles as the boys are lined up for the applauding audience to see as Ozpin continues. "The four of you retrieved the black eclipses. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"
The audience gave another ovation to the boys as they walked off stage as Melinoe, Nemesis, Eris, and Artemis took their places in front of the headmaster. "Melinoe Hades, Nemesis Night, Eris Night, and Artemis Olympian. You four have retrieved the silver moons, from this day forward you will work together as Team MNEA led by… Melinoe Hades!" The crowd applauded the four of them as the team was left in shock, Artemis was happy for her friend being chosen as leader but Melinoe and Nemesis were shocked to say the least. "W-wait… me?"
"Congratulations young lady, you have a bright future ahead of you." Ozpin said.
"Damn! I thought you were gonna be leader Nemmie, womp womp!" Eris laughed clearly knowing her sister wanted the role as leader. Nemesis couldn't even muster words at the moment, she wanted to tell Ozpin that his choice was wrong but it was almost like she could feel her mother watching her. Telling her to stay silent and just go along with it, so she said nothing and the newly formed Team MNEA walked off stage.
After heading off stage Artemis tapped Melinoe's shoulder and the girl turned to face her friend "Congratulations Mel, I really do believe you will make a great leader and I'll follow your every order."
"Thanks Artemis… but are you really sure I can do this? You may be fine with the decision but what about the other two?"
"All we can do is try our best sister."
The final group stepped onto the stage being Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. The four of them took the golden sun pieces and became known as Team RWBY which will totally not be confusing as the team is led by Ruby herself. Just like that the day was over and students were sent back to their dorms to go rest after a long exhausting day. With our teams formed, who knows what the future of the world will bring, only time will tell.
…
Hecate is sitting down in a bar somewhere in Mistral, the witch pulled out her cellphone and made a call towards a contact named "The Old Wizard." After a few rings the person on the other side answered the phone revealing to be the voice of Ozpin
" , to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"It should be fairly obvious why I called you but in case you are unaware, I wish to know how my pupil has fared. If my memory does not mistake me, the day after students are brought to beacon they flung into the Emerald Forest where they will form teams to survive against the Grimm inside the forest. So how did Melinoe fare Ozpin?"
"Melinoe, of course. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that your daughter-"
"Ozpin she is not my daughter, she's Persephone's. I simply am just her teacher." Hecate said in a stern voice correcting the headmaster as she hates when she's mistaken for the girl's mother.
"My apologies Hecate, you'll be happy to hear that your pupil has become the leader of her own team."
"You surely jest you old wizard! Has she really?!" Hecate stood up from her seat in excitement.
"I assure you it's the truth."
"Haha I knew she could do it!" Hecate sat down as people stared at her and she realized she was making a scene. "Ahem, apologies for my outburst, who is my pupil paired with exactly?"
"She's been paired with Nemesis Night, Eris Night, and Artemis Olympian."
"Nyx's daughters are there?! Haha! In that stuck up old hag's face! Both of her daughters are now under my pupil, if only I could see the look on her face it would be priceless!" Hecate said in pride of Melinoe's achievements.
"So, when should I be expecting you back, Hecate?" Ozpin asked.
"Not for a while but I promise to make it before the Vital Tournament, I wish to see Melinoe compete in person to see how much she has learned going to your school."
"Hecate… you aren't going to find Persephone…"
"You bite your tongue you old fool!" Hecate smashed her hand on the table she was sitting at. "I will never stop searching for that girl's mother, she's out there I know it, After all we still have no signs of a new spring maiden. I know it's been years since we last saw her but I finally have a lead this time, and if things turn out the way I hope they should… then we can kill two birds with one stone."
"Alright… if you have a lead then take it."
"Look after her daughter for me you old fool." Hecate hung up her scroll and stood up and walked out of the bar.
…
AN
So there we go that's the whole Emerald Forest Arc in one chapter :D
I really hoped you enjoyed reading this, according to google docs I got to 41 pages minus the author's note.
So just a recap
Melinoe's Semblance lets her become intangible for a brief period of time almost like a ghost.
Nemesis' Semblance lets her store pain so she can boost her strength up for a devastating attack at the cost of her body receiving all the pain afterwards.
And Artemis' Semblance lets her converse with wildlife and animals.
Eris' Semblance has yet to appear but trust me it will, I got the idea in the shower and I think it will be great.
So anyways thanks for reading and bye bye, I'm gonna go play FFXIV now.