Chapter 9

Supposedly we would be going on a brief four or five day at most long survival trip into the Forever Fall Forest, I say supposedly but we actually were and our dorm at the moment was in the middle of packing for the short few day long stunt.

Prof. Khthónios and Prof. Peach were in charge of the outing as a joint venture class so we could knock out two nevermore with one stone and get two large parts of our grade done on this trip instead of separately taking a second one for the other.

Our main objective was to make use of basic camping skills we had been learning in class and put it to use while out in the forest, amongst other things recognising local fauna and their uses enough to use at least four of them in an applicable situation. Obviously there was more to our goals while there, but that's just the gist of it.

We were told to pack spare clothes, a firestarter kit, spare ammunition in case we needed it and some other minor things. Otherwise we were told to show up to the class in our combat outfits with our weapons, so I was wearing a black t-shirt and knee length shorts with some leather sandals then my armour over all that.

Right now though Yang was doing reps with my sword while Blake made sure she had the right stuff and Pyrrha double checked hers, since I had gotten mine over and done with very quickly and the blonde right after the two of us had gone to collect ours, and our teammates weapons. Or in mine and Pyrrha's case I had carried her armour along with her gear and my weapons after suiting up.

Once the other two finally finished up and got in their combat gear we headed to the Survival Studies classroom, we would be getting some laminated sheets from the teachers about what we needed to achieve or things we could do that would help towards the grade.

I noticed team SLVR ahead of us while we were walking and it reminded me to ask Yang about something I had been a little concerned about.

"Hey Yang, did your sister ever manage to patch things up with Weiss? I know they were having a lot of issues when their team was first formed- the arguments were quite rough after all." The first time I properly met her sister's team left me with a sour taste in my mouth as the white haired girl had shut down Ruby at almost every turn propagating that she was the team leader and more.

While Ren and Nora were very personable and nice people that I liked well enough, they also seemed rather uncomfortable with Weiss and the way the heiress acted toward them. Personally, I had limited experiences with her such as the day of initiation when I barely spoke to her when Pyrrha had brought me in on their conversation. The white haired girl had somewhat been ignoring me and didn't acknowledge me very often and I had to wonder if it was to do with her family's past of Faunus mistreatment and their company was known for Faunus slave labour or so I was told, I hadn't ever heard about them until I came to Vale.

For that matter Dust as a power source back home was next to nonexistent, but that's a story for another time.

The blonde's eyes briefly flashed red as she scowled. "No. Ruby won't let me set that ice bitch straight either, she's determined to do it on her own terms."

I understood where Yang was coming from, I know for sure that even though I knew my brother could look after himself just fine and was probably better at defending himself than I was. If I knew he was being shit on for no reason other than his age and lack of experience or maybe our heritage then I'd gladly mince whoever was giving him grief.

Finally reaching the class and sitting down in one of the many rows in wait for everyone else to arrive I noticed Mrs. Khthónios was on her terminal at the desk at the front of the classroom looking through something.

The woman in question was probably only thirty at most if I had to guess her age, she was very young looking and it had become a topic among some of our classmates to guess her age. Personally I put her as being about twenty-five or twenty-six, Yang had bet she was younger than that, but I didn't want to take her bet seeing as we'd never know and I wasn't interested in betting on it anyway.

She was about as tall as Blake, had light wispy like ivory coloured mid-back length hair, ocean blue eyes, a rather curvaceous form and happened to be wearing a toga today that went down to her knees with similar leather sandals to those I was wearing actually. Though the white toga she was wearing had a turquoise sash around her like a belt and went up and over her left shoulder.

Normally she just wore blouses and skirts, but I suppose even our teachers had their combat gear. Pretty sure the golden broach with the sapphire in it she was wearing wasn't required for it or helpful in any meaningful way, though she was wearing some vambraces again like my own, but hers were in a bronze colour instead of the brushed dark steel that my armour was.

About fifteen minutes passed before our professor finally looked up at the class that was now all here.

"All of you need to know that Professor Peach won't be joining us as originally planned as she ended up suffering a concussion when a students weapon went rogue and crashed into her head, so you'll be stuck with me for the duration of this trip- you are still expected to complete her work that she's set for you though." The ivory haired woman cast a glance around the room.

"Though because of the school's regulations we need at least one other adult of competent skill to watch over you so if you need anything and I'm not around to help or am held up with another student please see Mr. Jómsborg." as she said that Manus came into the class and stood there waiting to hear what else was to be said.

Five minutes of doing the roster finally had us out the doors and headed off to the airship/bullhead landing platform where there was a set of three bullheads ready to take us out about a day and a half from Vale. So quite deep into the Forever Fall, part of this was so that there was a sense of proper danger and because the forest was too dense and far from any cell towers for anyone to be able to use their Scrolls to do anything other than check the time basically.

Mrs. Khthónios had made it very clear that if anyone got hurt then they'd have to deal with the injury until the five days was over and then some because the Bullheads would not be coming back until then, so we had to put everything we'd been learning to the test and make sure no one ended up in such a situation.

Though she had a first aid kit it was more a last resort because one of the things we were going to be graded on was whether or not we could patch someone's wound or injury up with what was available to us in terms of local fauna and whatnot.

[Off to the forest]

Stepping off the bullheads, Arc pushed through several people, the last being me making me nearly fall over as he rushed to a nearby tree and hurled up whatever he had eaten that morning on the ground.

Frowning, I turned away and looked out into the ocean of dark wood trees with some of the most beautiful red and shades thereof tree leaves, even some pinkish hued leaves.

"Maybe you shoulda worn your normal mask Azrael all you do is frown and it's kinda making you lose all your mystery." Said my team leader as she passed by heading over to an opening where our teacher was calling people over to.

What she was referring to was the fact that I was wearing that black mask I got with the golden accents and most particularly allowed people to see the lower part of my face.

"You look peaceful amongst nature." said the familiar odd tone of Shamhat as said green haired girl came up on my right stopping next to me with a light smile across her face. She was wearing a different flower crown today, it was made up of blue and yellow flowers that I didn't recognise.

"How are you doing Shamhat?" As I asked her I noticed all the flowers growing around her bare feet on the grass beneath our feet.

"Well, the sun is good here so my Semblance runs freely." her smile got wider and it made me smile back, there was something comforting about being around her, maybe it was her Semblance?

"Does it have something to do with the flowers sprouting around wherever you've stepped?" Watching her face she didn't react at all to the question instead asking one of her own.

"You're closer to Anpu than you were before, accepting things helps understanding." she poked my forehead with her index finger. "May I borrow a feather?" she asked and I just nodded wanting to understand what she would do with it.

It hurt of course, it always did when one was forcefully taken.

"What do you plan to do with it?" The green haired girl actually decided to answer me this time.

"Send them on their way by rite-" then she started mumbling a vaguely familiar chant under her breath and took another feather from me, taking one for herself and giving me the other after also holding it to her forehead and chanting again.

"What was that about?"

"Everything deserves a conclusion, guide them there." With that my weird friend? Left walking off and ended up passing by a dead rabbit that a hawk of some kind was eating causing the bird to flee- she knelt down brushing the feather over the rabbits head despite the gore then brought it back up to her forehead closing her eyes.

Finally moving on she left to find her team.

That girl was something else and honestly I doubted I'd ever understand her at all.

But my own feather left in my hand made me think about what she had done-

"Hey tall, dark and moody we're finding a place to set up camp c'mon!" my team leader's hand gripped my wrist and I was suddenly dragged off, unable to finish my thought.

When she finally let go of my wrist and I walked next to her I remembered one of the major rules that was hammered into us, that everyone's campsites needed to be at least a hundred meters from one another so that again you were on your own as well some other reasons I forgot.

Manus walked past giving us a nod as he went over to ask a group that was standing around arguing if they needed help, after five odd minutes of walking we came to where Blake and Pyrrha had set up a firepit with a large square design that had big rocks around it defining the edges with the center dug down into the ground with some sticks and dried long grass in its base.

Basically it was ready to start being lit.

"I need you to use your sword to flatten down the ground around here and cut up a couple bushes." My leader said as she went over and settled her things down leaving me to look at her with a raised brow, even if she couldn't see it I felt that way.

"Sure thing boss."

With that I got to doing as she said while she and Pyrrha went around collecting stuff to make some makeshelters with what was available to us in the large branches that had fallen to the ground, moss, leaves, sticks and whatnot. One of the things we were getting graded on was the kind of shelter we could put together and how well it stood against the elements.

While I was going about using my sword that was made for beheading criminals as an axe/machete that was far too oversized for such work I could hear distant yelling that went on for a good ten minutes. When Yang returned from gathering branches and moss she asked if any of us knew who it was, I wondered if Blake could hear it better than the rest of us.

Pretty sure I've mentioned before but I'm certain she's the daughter of the current leader of Menagerie who also happens to be the people that originally started the White Fang. On a totally unrelated note whoever the current head of the Fang would lose their life if I ever saw them, because of the shit I've been hearing about and seeing on the news whenever my team leader was watching the news broadcast every other night.

They had begun sacking and marking any business that didn't serve Faunus despite them being the reason those businesses' refused to now serve us. It sucked to see it.

Again not sure if I mentioned it before but I like the idea of the White Fang and wholeheartedly support the idea of people working to better the lives of Faunus across all of Remnant, because I know that not everyone of them has had nearly as safe and nice an upbringing as I did. But their recent actions in Vale city and a few places on the outskirts of it have been absolutely disgusting and abhorrent.

There was no way that Faunus would ever benefit from them attacking people the way they have been doing, and sure it could be a minority of the Vale sect as Blake had suggested saying that it wasn't right and that it made no sense for them to do it.

Anyway, the yelling got even louder in the distance to a point where we could clearly make out who it was-

"Weiss is going off at your sister again Yang." Our raven haired member said, turning to her partner watching as she began to walk in the direction it was emanating from only to stop when we heard Ruby raise her voice in such a way none of us could have ever imagined the red hooded girl would do.

It was deathly silent afterward.

I went back to clearing away the spots for our shelter while our team leader left to check on her sister, she asked us if it was okay and all of us told her to go already. Something had happened and her sister would likely be thankful for her support.

Swinging my sword around hacking at the bushes that were in the way I did wonder what had happened, well I mean I know everyone was wondering that, but I did kind of get an odd enjoyment out of seeing the Schnee get slapped around be it in conversation or in sparring matches when she fought against superior opponents.

I wasn't really sure why.

[Disagreement]

Our blonde leader returned after half an hour in time to see what Pyrrha and I had done so far in terms of the individual shelters, Blake had gone off to fish in a river that was about a kilometer and a half from our camp so she wouldn't be around for a while.

Though we managed to cross off one of the minor objectives we had in finding some blackberry bushes, I collected a reasonable amount leaving quite a few because we didn't really need that much. Though it had been while I was getting the berries and putting them in a pouch that I realised I had a Khukri and I should've been using it earlier instead of my sword.

I had used said knife of mine to make some decent kindling for the fire, after putting in the hole my partner and Blake had put together I pulled out the flint I had brought with me and got to work striking a spark to light the fire.

"Looking like home already." the lilac eyed girl said as she came and sat down on the other side of the fire from me.

"How was Ruby?" I asked while Yang warmed her hands over the flames.

"She was fine, she's a big girl now after all." Yang sounded annoyed and looked it. I offered some of the blackberries that I had already given Pyrrha her share of. "For me? You shouldn't have!" her mood brightened.

"Blake went fishing at that river if you want to go and help her, otherwise Pyrrha and I have the shelters covered." I said as I stood up and brushed off some of the dirt on my clothes.

"I'll head there then, I wonder if she's got anything yet?" Yang said aloud as she walked off in the direction of the river.

We were probably all far too nonchalant considering the Grimm presence in the forest and area in particular, apparently some of the trees in the area were known for a sickeningly sweet sap that even Grimm couldn't resist the smell and flavour of.

Then again being nonchalant was probably the right move seeing as negative emotions brought Grimm upon us anyway.

An hour later it was getting dark and the sun was in the last stages of setting. Our fisherwomen had brought back a 'Grass Carp' with them, it was a very hefty looking fish. They explained that Blake had caught a bunch of smaller fish up until Yang had shown up and after a while caught this Carp leading to them setting the others free.

I quickly set up a cutting board and started filleting the fish and deboning it, while I had next to no experience with fish prior to coming to Vale, our survival studies class saw fit to educate everyone equally on the matter of how to make them safe to eat and whatnot.

Pyrrha had made some bark plates to sit over the coals of our firepit and warm up while Blake and I finished portioning the fish fillets for everyone and making sure there absolutely weren't any bones in it. I really didn't want my first experience eating fish to involve choking on a bone.

When all was said and done, the fish was cooking, the fire smoldering away nicely as it got darker and our shelters were only missing one thing- and that was us in them. We had decided that we'd make just two instead of one for each of us, so it would be Yang and Blake sleeping together while Pyrrha and I did. This was because it would've taken too long to put together four little hut things.

My wings would likely help keep me warm though since I was only wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sandals now. I had taken off my armour now that things were winding down and we had established a shift rotation of Blake, Pyrrha, Yang and lastly me towards the morning. We'd only be on guard for a few hours.

While we were eating and chatting away I remembered that I had brought something in my pack and rifled through it, it took me a few seconds to I find what I was looking for-

"Azrael… is that a guitar?" said my partner's voice, sounding and looking very confused.

"Why yes it is." you may be asking yourself how and why I brought this along, but I answer that with why not? Plus I needed something to lift my spirits and I thought being out in the wild and playing it would remind me of home again.

I got home sick a lot as it turned out and honestly I wasn't sure how much longer I could stay at Beacon, it may have only been a month and a week so far but I was really missing home despite how much I loved my team and wouldn't trade anything for them. They were all great people that I wanted to get to know better, but being away from the safety of the temple and home was putting a lot of stress on my mind. I felt like I had to constantly watch myself and make sure I didn't slip up.

This Semblance was a curse like no other.

A sigh escaped me as I started strumming the chords. "This isn't just any guitar, it's called an 'Oud' a traditional guitar of sorts from the depths of Vacuo's history, a gift from my mother for my tenth birthday." I explained to my team and got reminded of a song while I strumed away turning the tune toward what I wanted.

I almost started singing the lyrics to the song when I realised that I was with my team, and started feeling really embarrassed about showing this side of myself.

"You didn't have this when our team first formed, did you get it sent to you?" the raven haired girl commented when I stopped strumming away.

"I told my mother that I wanted it because I didn't want to forget how to play and she sent it almost immediately, the reason you haven't noticed it around was probably because I took care to keep it hidden these last two weeks I've had it."

"Are there any songs you would be willing to play?" the redhead asked with those green eyes looking like their interest had peaked.

"There's a couple, do you want one about sailing the sea's or a tale of a soldier in a war? Before I start though just to be clear you guys likely won't be able to understand the lyrics either unless you've learned the languages they're from."

"Wait, you know more than one language?" Yang asked.

"About four and I'm studying my fifth, it's why I'm always mumbling to myself in the hallways." My mother had made sure we had all grown up multilingual saying it would help us understand the world and make more friends.

She might have been right but people looked at you funny if they were only able to speak their native tongue and suddenly you start fluently speaking an entirely different language with another person. Accepting this or just wanting to see if I was pulling their legs Yang asked for the one about the sailing first.

I tuned the Oud finding the right sound and played it for a minute as I warmed myself up for what was next.

And then I went silent letting the anticipation settle on my friends before motioning like I was about to strum it, but instead I just hit it lightly with my palm tapping to the rhythm that was in my head.

"Þat mælti mín móðir... at mér skyldi kaupa fley ok fagrar árar… fara á brott með víkingum-" my voice started to echo off the trees in the forest and as I continued someone's voice deep in the forest unseen came back echoing the lyrics slowly getting closer.

"stýra dýrum knerri… standa upp í stafni…" who ever it was had gotten within twenty odd meters of our camp and I turned to see-

"Manus?" I said completely dropping the song and barely keeping the song alive through the chords I pretended to strum.

"I hadn't expected you to know one of the songs common in my family, let alone had I expected to hear it in the forest tonight." The enormous man looked beyond happy.

"Ah yeah… didn't I mention I spoke old Ostmen?" I can't remember why Mum made me learn it, but aside from our own anscentrol language Ostmen was one of the others I learned.

"No you didn't, how are the rest of you doing then? I hope being without me hasn't left you without leadership." Manus joked, Pyrrha was about to ask something when Ruby broke into our area looking very frantic and worried.

"Guys, have you seen Weiss!? She's been gone for the past three hours!"

Author's Note: One of the few things I don't like in retrospect about this story is a music stuff.