Chapter 2

My alarm sounded from my Scroll making my eyes snap open and I threw myself out of the bed and then failed to catch myself and landed on my knees and elbows.

"Ow..."

Yawning I stood up and blinked myself awake, looking around my hotel I locked eyes on the clock in the room. Dragging my hand over my face reading the time as '8:10am' the Beacon opening was at ten o'clock but supposedly we needed to arrive at Beacon's personal Airship platform.

Stretching for a few minutes to get rid of any tension or whatever, thankfully my room was large enough for me to get my full wingspan.

Oh I hadn't mentioned that yet had I?

I'm Azrael Solatium, son of Gaea Solatium and most apparently an Eagle Faunus. My mother and sister were Jackal Faunus themselves with the large ears that pointed into the sky, my younger brother was also an eagle Faunus though his trait was his eyes, his vision was perfect in every conceivable way and he could see the details on anything perfectly up to four or five kilometres.

Me though, I was lucky in that I had enormous wings that had a total wingspan of 13ft or just a little bit over that. They were a dark ashen grey with white tips on the feather, one great thing about having them aside from flying which was a lot of fun, was that I could wrap them around my torso and I was able to hide them easily enough with just a t-shirt.

The reason I did that wasn't like with my eyes in that they were dangerous, but because while Faunus treatment was supposed to be pretty good in Vale I didn't want to get made for a White Fang member while I was wearing my mask due to the horrible stuff they've been doing recently. As well as that though I wasn't interested in having people pull feathers out or deal with morons thinking less of me because I was Faunus rather than getting to know me, so if I could hide my wings for as long as possible that would be nice.

I should make it clear that I've never actually experienced any racism towards Faunus myself, but that was due to Valor being a lot like Vacuo in that everyone respected one another because anything less than that and we'd be dealing with Grimm all the time. Though the two religions that were back home were also super friendly with one another and encouraged that, so there were more than a few reasons as to why I hadn't, like I said I wasn't looking to start either.

After showering and washing up I dressed myself in a maroon t-shirt that went down to past my waist to the top of my thighs, I put on black pants and running shoes because they were comfy. The kukri sheath was sitting around my lower back and the handgun was holstered against my bare chest under my wings wrapped around me. Lastly was the executioner's sword I decided to call "Macellaio" an old word I remembered reading somewhere that I thought fit, was slung over my shoulder and all my belongings were in a sports bag,

Seeing as I was ready and needed to get move on I put my mask on as I left the room locking it and heading down to the lobby to turn in my key and leave.

Despite my grumbling about them yesterday I used a taxi to get to the Airship platform and get there right as the first group appeared to be boarding to head up the cliff face to the school.

Like usual I got looks from people as I passed by because of my height and mask, I did catch a group of people laughing while looking in my direction and pointing at it like I was the preflight entertainment. After boarding the enormous aircraft I made my way out onto the topside decks passing by hundreds of other people my age all geared up and chatting with one another.

The people I passed one or two people I recognized from having seen around the city when I was out walking around, amongst those people were the two girls I bumped into on the street. The blonde was saying something about Bees knees, I kept moving hoping that neither of them saw me so I wouldn't have to deal with that.

Once I was on the top deck outside I found myself staring at a girl, she looked like the redhead that had been in the lobby of the hotel when I got back last night.

She was sitting down on a bench alone looking wistfully out into the scenery of the cityscape below as the ship rose to the height of the cliff.

What else was there to do but go over and introduce myself?

"So what's your name? I'm Azrael." I offered watching as she suddenly looked up and around us until her eyes landed on me sitting next to her realizing I had spoken.

"Oh! Ah! Sorry about that! I didn't see you there." after apologizing she seemed to catch what I had asked. "My name is Pyrrha, it's nice to meet you Azrael..." she paused looking into the mask's eye holes.

"Sorry if this is distracting, it's a precaution to keep my funny looking eyes from hurting people." I explained probably in a more jovial way than I should have.

"Right. Well… so you don't know who I am then?" She seemed like just another girl to me but I suppose she won some tournament or was on T.v, maybe it was something else?

I knew about the fighting tournaments that were held because my sister always hated hearing about them, she really didn't like the idea of people profiting from fighting while the Grimm were still a threat.

"No, until now Pyrrha I didn't know who you are- after all that's how meeting someone works." the slight sarcasm in my voice looked like it slapped her in some way. "Er… I didn't mean it like that, I mean yes I don't know you are, should I?"

"No no! It's a good thing you don't!" that wasn't normal was it?

She… she didn't happen to be the person being mobbed in the hotel lobby did she?

"Okay, well if you don't mind me asking then where are you from Pyrrha?" changing the topic lightened her mood some as her green eyes lit up.

"Mistral, I transferred to Vale in the last month to join Beacon." her smile became a natural setting for the rest of our conversation. "Where are you from Azrael?"

"Well I lived near the border to Vacuo on the Vale side in a small village with my mother, she helps to run a temple." Explaining that made me think about my sister and brother. "Actually she's the reason I wear this mask, apparently the blank featureless one I used to wear wasn't very inviting so I got given this one to look more friendly."

I hadn't expected it and I don't think the people around us had either, but she started laughing about it. A few minutes went by and she calmed down enough to explain herself.

"I'm sorry-" she giggled some more about it. "That's just such a silly reason but it made me laugh-" she continued for a bit longer, Pyrrha may not have been able to see it but I was smiling too. The way she acted was very genuine and it was a nice change of pace from the people I had interacted with from the city up until now.

Before I could say something else and continue a voice cut through the entire airship on speakers that came from the Deputy Headmistress Miss Goodwitch.

There was a hologram of her that appeared and introduced everyone to the school.

Pyrrha followed along with me as I went back inside and we watched as most of the students rushed over to the windows to look at the campus we were slowly approaching. Amongst the chaos as we approached and all the other students got louder while they all talked away about teams and what they thought was going to happen, sighing to myself I leaned back in my seat closing my eyes-

Not that my reprieve lasted very long when a blonde boy ran past saying something about throwing up before he puked in the bin near the door of the ship, along with that though Pyrrha noticed something as it seemed and asked me about it as we walked off the ship onto the school grounds.

"Is that your weapon?" she pointed to the sword in its sheath hung over my shoulder.

"Yeah I went with something simple-" I leaned over and pulled out the Kukri and showed it as well before putting it back. "So what do you use Pyrrha?"

I realised she was dressed in a more female fit version of the armor I had brought that was in my sports bag, though mine seemed like it covered more than what she was wearing… were those heels?

"This is my Miló and Akoúo̱" she held out a rifle for Miló and a shield for Akoúo̱.

"Is the rifle mechashift or do you just like beating Grimm to death with a shield and the butt of your gun?" Surely it was like a sword or something too right? I mean I can't really imagine that with how she carried herself that she didn't use one.

"Ah yes!" it turned into a sword and then a spear.

"Cool, I'd like to get something like that when I have a chance, my Macellaio really is just a sword." I pulled it out and offered it to her to hold and she took it in her right hand-

"Oh!" she nearly dropped it catching herself before she did. "It's heavy!" she exclaimed with wide eyes as he heafted it up to rest on her shoulder.

"Yeah sorry should have told you about that." I got it off her and sheathed it.

"Sorry I need to go deal with this, do you want to talk again later?" she said as her Scroll rang and she went to answer it.

"Uhh sure, I'll see you around." I watched as Pyrrha walked away.

[Friend Ship]

Upon leaving me to take her call Pyrrha was swarmed and carried off by the masses while I was left to explore on my own, by the time I made it back to the main pathway and Airship docks though there were still hundreds of new students crowded around another in groups talking.

What caught my attention though was an enormous explosion and the shrieking of two girls, I decided to go and look into it, finding the red hooded girl and one in a white dress. The one in white looked familiar while she berated the red hood about something to do with dust, I stepped in and cleared my throat getting the attention of the girls.

"YOU complete Dolt! What-" White looked at me for a moment the same with red before both gave me a strange long look.

"Why are you two yelling?" I asked calmly getting a stutter out of white while a vial she had dropped rolled past me and another girl appeared and kindly informed me of whom White was.

"She's the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss Schnee." The curious kitten that appeared and informed me raised her eye's to meet mine, freezing up upon seeing the mask before her amber eyes darted to the other girls and she walked off after tossing the vial to the now named Weiss.

"Alright, that was great and all, but that doesn't explain why you-" I looked at Weiss. "Are yelling at her-" then red. "Because from what I just saw you were the one that was throwing dust around Weiss, surely you'd know better than that while telling someone to be careful about it."

'I wonder why that girl in black acted so weird about my mask?'

"Y-y-you! Argh!" With that I watched as the daughter of the most powerful company in Remnant stomped away leaving her servants to pick up her things that had been thrown all over the palace.

"Thanks for that." Red said from behind me as I watched Weiss walk off, turning to her I realized she was pretty young, or at the least she had an innocence about her that made me think she was.

"Oh? Sure, it's fine." I wasn't really sure what to say. "Um… so what's your name?"

"Ah! It's Ruby Rose!" she said cheerily changing moods in an instant.

"I'm Azrael Solatium, nice to meet you Ruby." her eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Azeal?" Ruby seemed to be having a hard time getting her head around my name.

"No, Az-ra-el" I sounded it out for her as she tried to pronounce it a few times. "That doesn't matter much for now though, just call me whatever you want."

I was about to start walking away when she called out to me.

"Wait! Az!" she teleported to me…

"How the hell did you do that?!" my voice was somewhat shaken by the fact that the girl had just appeared in front of me in a millisecond of calling for me to stop.

"My semblance!" The girl said brightly before continuing onto what she wanted of me. "Can I see your weapon?"

"You're not the first girl to ask me that today, what is up with the women I've been meeting?" the last part coming out in a whisper.

"Eww yuck! Not like that! I mean do you have a sword, gun? A scythifle maybe a shield rocket launcher?" she started to get excited about weapon combinations and listing off all sorts of random contraptions. She did stop for a moment though to ask about my mask. "Oh and why are you wearing that mask?"

"I hadn't meant it like that, I meant it literally… so I'll tell you about my mask first, I got it to keep my semblance in check." we had started walking along the path towards the enormous auditorium where I could see students filing into. "As far as my weapon goes though-" pulling it out I showed it off a little with a few swings. "It's just a sword."

Her eyes sparkled like the stars in the night sky as she basically glowed with happiness upon seeing it before whipping out what I could only guess was the scythifle that she mentioned earlier.

"This is my baby Crescent Rose! What's yours called?"

"Macellaio." but it wasn't like it made much sense to name a tool right? Like you wouldn't name a hammer would you? Or a screwdriver? Sure I named mine but it's more a joke title than a name.

"What does it mean?" the shorter girl stared up at me with sparkly eyes.

I laughed "Butcher, it's a crude name because it's a crude tool for executing. There's no other reason for it." shrugging after my explanation the girl's expression got a little apprehensive.

Realising we had managed to make our way into the auditorium I said-

"I'll see you later Ruby. I want to find a good spot for this speech." with that I excused myself from her presence, it sounded like she was about to call after me when that blonde friend of hers called her name, distracting her from me as I faded into the crowds of people.

Finding a spot where I could see the stage alright and there weren't too many people surrounding me I sat down and waited for the Headmaster to come out on the stage, it didn't take too long for that though as within five minutes of me sitting down he was up there with Miss Goodwitch. Stepping up to a microphone he tapped on it twice before clearing his throat.

Most of what he said though as I immediately realized was that he was trying to incite kids to do more and become proactive about their learning and whatnot, the problem being that he sounded hollow and as though he didn't care as to what people thought of his words. After finishing the speech Miss Goodwitch approached as the old man walked off stage sipping from a mug.

"You all will be staying in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow your initiation will begin… you are dismissed." with that she left the stage while several teachers came out of the doors and started directing students towards the ball room.

I found a spot to settle down in the hall fairly quick, most of the other guys were walking around in only pajama pants showing their bodies to all the girls acting like some kind of show for them to pick out what they wanted. Whereas I was just in a simple pair of thin shorts, a sleeveless shirt and my mask of course- though now that I was sleeping in a room with so many I needed to keep it on while I slept, not that it would do much seeing as I there were far too many people in here for me to sleep easy at all.

[Resting]

'Ugh my head'

I put my hand to my mask to make sure it was on right and hadn't been messed with while I slept, after that I went and found a bathroom with a shower so I could freshen up and change into my combat gear.

My outfit was an almost skin maroon black long sleeved shirt with my breastplate over that, then I strapped on the vambraces and greaves over the black pants I was wearing along with a pair of back boots. My graphite like coloured hair wasn't causing me much trouble today thankfully, the red band of the mask was doing its job to keep my messy short hair in its place.

On top of that I had a big jersey to hide my wings under.

Stepping into the dining hall I got into line and started the journey to collect my breakfast. I didn't see anyone that I might know nor did I see any of the people I had met yesterday while I was wondering, in a way I was glad that I hadn't seen Ruby, the girl was far too excited and energetic about weapons. Though I would like to have spoken to the girl who explained who Weiss was or maybe even Pyrrha…

Though maybe I should look up who Pyrrha is on my scroll after I'm finished eating?

She didn't seem to want to be known, but it would be nice to read up about her a little at least and see why she was so uppity about my not knowing who she is.

What I ended up getting to eat though was a tray with a couple pieces of toast, a bowl of cereal and a glass filled with water. I sat down at a random table and lifted my mask just enough to eat when I was actually eating rather than just the entire time because even that would be too much for me- plus I'd rather not accidentally break the table while I'm using it.

As I was eating a few people sat down at the table with me, a shorter guy with black hair that had an odd pink stripe in it and a ginger haired girl that was doing all the talking for them- I think she was going on about… well actually I couldn't tell because she was making pancakes disappear by the stack for ten minutes until the guy stopped her and she 'awwed' like some kind of kid.

I was frightened of her from that single instance, you might ask why and if you're doing that then obviously you don't understand how scary it is to watch someone look like they unhinge their jaw to shove stakes of pancakes down their gullet.

After putting my dishes where they were supposed to go I headed to the locker rooms where I had left the rest of my gear that I dumped in before going to sleep last night. As I stepped into the locker rooms though I did see a few familiars in Ruby, the pair from breakfast and then I spotted Pyrrha.

Ruby seemed to be with her blonde friend that was a few inches taller and they looked like they were familiar with one another, the pair were talking and Pyrrha was getting scowls from a few of the other students like this ginger guy wearing full armour walking out with a mace in hand.

Said Ginger gave me a dirty look as well as he walked past me.

Going to my locker I typed in my code and opened it to grab the knives out of it that I had in there, they were a bandolier of throwing knives infused so that the tips expelled dust upon contact with something. I wore it around my waist, there was also a spare handgun, I went back and brought a second one just in case.

Turning away from my locker as my scroll buzzed I pulled it out and read the message that appeared.

\\-Sweety I hope your day goes well and I know for sure you'll get into Beacon without a doubt!-/

It made me smile, there were another two messages, one from both of my siblings that amounted to the same thing though my older sister's just said something about a landing strategy. I only replied to my mother's message though, as right before I could ask my sister about what she meant I was interrupted by a voice from my right. Looking up my eyes met the green of the redhead I had forgotten to look into.

"What do you think Azrael?" her bright expression looking for any hint as to my thoughts on whatever it was that I was being dragged into.

"Of what exactly? I've not been paying attention to the conversation you were having." After speaking I noticed Weiss on the other side of her looking at me incredulously.

"Oh! Sorry, I thought you were- we were discussing teams and what they might be like."

"That's fine, uh dunno anything about it, I have no objections to joining either of you if you'd have me then?" I wasn't too bothered about who I got tagged with for the next four years.

"You seem capable at least." the Heiress said with a disgruntled tone, I was about to ask something back to the two but was yet again cut off when Miss Goodwitch's voice came on the intercom and she asked all students to head out to the cliffside.

"Guess that's us then." I said walking out the door while talking to the redhead and Schnee.

When we arrived at the cliffside the headmaster and his deputy were standing next to one another with these weird metal platforms that students were being guided to so that we would stand on them. Shutting everyone up Ozpin started another speech.