Chapter 10: Calavera
Several hours had passed since I'd taken care of the Apathy and we'd left the Brunswick farms behind. Maria hadn't exactly been pleased with my actions concerning the Apathy, calling it a needless and reckless endeavor.
She wasn't exactly wrong either. The graveyard of a village didn't see many, if any visitors. There weren't any signs of anyone even coming near it, let alone entering the town.
Apathy, as it turned out liked to nest in dark places. Unlike other Grimm that actively hunt for people, Apathy preferred to stay in abandoned man made areas and wait for any unsuspecting visitors.
The Brunswick farms had been so far outside of regular travel paths that no one had been there in years and it was likely to stay abandoned and empty. I'd put myself at unnecessary risk when I chose to wipe out the Apathy that inhabited the town… or so Maria said.
In truth, I felt that my actions were warranted. Due to the actions of one person that thought they could trick Grimm by using a single Apathy, the entire town had ended up dying. Apathy could travel long distances if they felt the need to. If they got out, they may have tried migrating back to their original home and who knows how many people they would have ended up killing.
Seeing a pair of Ursa ahead, I unsheathed my blade and quickly cut through them, not breaking my stride for a single moment. Continuing onward, I raced up a hill, stopping once I reached the top.
"Finally," Maria breathed, jumping off the pack that she'd been using as a makeshift seat. "What do you think of the view?"
Sitting in front of us was the city of Argus. A large stone wall stretched across the land between two massive rocky peaks with several skyscrapers peaking over the wall. A large gate allowed entrance on one side while the other side had a small tunnel that had train tracks going through it.
"It's… larger than I thought it would be," I replied. From the little I'd already seen of it, I could confidently say that a city that large could easily house a few million people.
"I suppose that's something you would notice, having only seen the smaller villages and farmlands," Maria muttered. "Argus is large, but it's nowhere close to the largest city in the world. That title belongs to Vale with Atlas being a close second. Can you guess where Vacuo and Mistral are on that list?"
"I'd guess that Mistral is third and Vacuo is forth due to it being in a desert."
"Then you would have guessed wrong," Maria smirked. "Mantle is actually in the fourth place and Vacuo is last."
"I didn't know we were counting other cities as well," I said, once more suppressing the twitch in my eyebrow.
"Always expect the unexpected, Coal," Maria hummed. "Now, let's go down there. We've got a good few hours before it becomes nighttime and more than a few things to get done before then."
"Like?"
"Oh, you'll see," Maria smirked.
That felt ominous and foreboding, but I doubt it would be anything I couldn't handle.
…Breathe…
Entering the city was a lot easier said than done. Identity checks were done at the main gate by Atlesian soldiers to ensure that they weren't letting a criminal into the city. The fact that I didn't have a scroll wasn't that much of an issue. The issue was that I didn't have an identity.
It seemed that, regardless of the fact that I'd been living in Black Rock when I was younger, I hadn't been properly registered. Now this wasn't too big of a problem. They scanned my face and checked my finger prints to search for any criminal record concerning me and couldn't find anything.
Once that had been done, they began the process of properly registering me, which took a full hour. Not because the process was especially complicated, but rather because I have my Aura unlocked and wasn't officially being trained as a Huntsman by one of the schools.
There was a lot of back and forth discussions with that, eventually Maria had to step in and have a short discussion with the commander. After that, the process sped up, I'd finally been properly registered and we could enter the city.
"Shouldn't I get a card printed out," I asked, walking beside Maria. "You know… for to identify myself."
"If it was a few decades ago, yeah," Maria replied. "But things are done differently nowadays. An identification card has become obsolete. Everything's been logged onto the CCT, if someone needs to be identified, their face will be scanned." She gestured towards the numerous cameras that were attached to the main wall protecting Argus.
Well, that made me feel a little uncomfortable, but I suppose it was necessity when living in a world where being sad could attract monsters.
"Are there more cameras in the city?"
"It's been a while since I was last here, but there should be a few," Maria nodded. "Argus prides itself on not only being one of the largest cities in the world, but also being one of the safest. Crime rates here are incredibly low which keeps the populace happy. It's been over fifty years since a Grimm has managed to cross these walls."
Now I was beginning to feel nervous. "Anything that I should know before we enter the city? Like laws that I might accidentally break."
Maria let out a snort. "You're worried about that?"
"It just seems to be a very stick place and I don't want to be locked up for doing something that I wasn't supposed to."
"The laws are pretty much the same as the ones everywhere else. Don't kill people, don't steal and don't destroy anything, you should be fine," Maria reassured me. "But if you're so worried, you should know that Huntsmen and Huntsmen in training have a little leeway with the laws. So long as you don't commit any serious crimes, you'll be fine."
That was a relief. I didn't want to do all this training in preparation for Salem only to be locked up because I didn't throw trash in the right bin or cross the road when I wasn't supposed to… But that did remind me.
"What was it that you said to those soldiers back there?"
"Hmmm, what soldiers, when?"
Trust Maria to avoid a simple topic.
"When they were registering me on the CCT," I replied.
"Oh, that," Maria hummed. "Well, I suppose I could tell you now, or I could... What the hell is that?!" She pointed behind me.
Spinning around, I placed my hand on my sword, ready to deal with whatever came, but found nothing. Turning back, I found Maria darting off towards Argus, laughing all the way.
Rolling my eyes, I chased after her.
…Breathe…
Maria, as it turned out, really didn't want to talk about what happened back at the main gate, which only made me want to know it more. Each time I brought it up, she would either change the topic or run… then there was the time she decided to 'test' my reflexes, which hadn't been too bad. My Aura was constantly up after all.
Dropping the topic for now, I resigned myself to following her through the streets. I was wholly unfamiliar with Argus, but it seemed that Maria knew it well enough for the both of us.
"And here we are," Maria announced, coming to a stop.
I blinked and looked around. "Sanctum Academy? We're stopping at a Huntsman Academy?"
Maria shook her head. "Not us, you. I've got a few things that I need to do and I think this is as good a place as any for you to spend the day."
"Wait… You're leaving me here?"
"It's as good a place as any," Maria replied. "You'll get to see what the average Huntsman in training goes through… besides, I have a feeling that if I leave you alone for too long, you'll end up pissing off an Ancient Grimm."
Ancient Grimm? Like that Wyvern that's sleeping in Mt. Glenn? Maybe it was a good thing that Maria was leaving me at one of the Academies for a day. It would be interesting to see their training method over Maria's which was mostly just her throwing me at Grimm and waiting for me either sink or swim.
I might even be able to get some pointers on future Grimm.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go check this Academy out," I said enthusiastically. Staying in an Academy permanently was definitely not in the cards, but staying for a day or two… I could do that.
"You're oddly cheerful for someone that's been told they need to go to school," Maria noted, leading me into the building.
"It's not like I'm going to be here for too long," I shrugged. "I mean, if you were enrolling me permanently, I would have some issues, but you're not… Right?"
"Hah, no," Maria chuckled. "With the rate that you're learning, sticking you in one of these places would be a waste. The people who need a place like this are like flowers that need a gentle nurturing hand to grow. You on the other hand are like a weed growing through a crack in cement… the worse the conditions, the stronger you become. The only problem is finding the right amount of poison to throw on you without accidentally killing you."
Calling me a weed sounded like an insult, but I took it as a compliment. It was certainly a good way of describing me.
"Out of curiosity, what would you call… crap," I muttered. The door to Sanctum Academy was locked. Looking around, I noticed that it was pretty quiet. This was a school and yet there were no students around. It could be class or maybe… "What day is it?"
"You know, I'm not sure," Maria hummed. "It's funny how when you're on a farm or out in the wilderness, days seem to just lose meaning."
She was right, but I thought she'd been keeping track. "There's no one here and the doors are locked, meaning that it's probably weekend."
"Damnit," Maria cursed softly. "I guess I'm just going to have to take you with me."
Turning around, we slowly made our way back to the street.
"So, what were you going to be doing while I was staying here?"
"Looking for a place to stay for us to stay, meeting up with a few old contacts," Maria shrugged. "Nothing too important, mainly boring stuff."
"That doesn't seem so bad. Although you were right, it does seem a little bori…"
"Wait!" A feminine voice called out from behind us.
Turning around, We were greeted to the sight of a blue haired woman dressed in a simple white button up shirt and a grey skirt exiting the Academy. Catching up to us, the woman took several deep breaths.
"Um…" I began.
Reaching into her skirt pocket, the woman proceeded to pull out a paper before placing it in my hand. "There, those are directions to the homeless shelter, they serve food there, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about."
I blinked, not knowing what to say while Maria began to laugh.
"Oh, wait," The woman reached into her pocket again and pulled out a plastic card, before placing it on top of the map that she'd provided. "There, that should be enough Lien for the two of you to take the trolley."
"I really don't think…"
"It's alright, you can take it. There's no shame in it," The woman encouraged me. "Just make sure that you and your Grandmother get to the shelter in time."
No amount of control over my body could prevent my eyebrow from twitching. "We're not homeless," I finally said. Well, we didn't technically have a place to stay right now, but it was still the truth.
"You're… You're not?" The woman asked. "But the backpacks and your clothes… not to mention that I heard you talking about finding a place to stay."
She thought we were homeless based on what we were wearing. I took a quick glance at Maria and then myself. She looked alright, but I could understand why blue haired woman assumed that I was homeless. My clothes showed signs of wear and tear.
"We are looking for a place to stay," Maria replied. "After all, we just got here."
"But then… why did you come to Sanctum Academy?"
"I was hoping to leave Coal here for a few hours," Maria gestured towards me. "Show him what the students here are learning."
The woman glanced towards me and then the sword at my side before her eyes light up in realization, only for her face to begin turning red.
"Oh… I… I'm really sorry for this misunderstanding… It's only… I..."
"Eh, don't worry about it," Maria waved her off. "The last town that we stayed in thought we were bandits. Homeless is a cut above bandits in my opinion. So, about showing Coal around…"
"Normally, prospecting students are shown around during the day… and at the beginning of the year," The woman began, glancing at the map and Lien that she had shoved in my hand before her face coloured red. "But I'm sure we could make an exception."
"Actually, I'm not a prospecti…"
Maria stomped on my foot, shutting me up.
"Great. I'll leave him in your hands then. Be sure to keep an eye on him, he gets up to all kinds of mischief when you're not looking his way," Maria replied cheerfully. "I'll be back in a few short hours."
The woman hesitated. "I'm… not sure that's a good idea. There's a few things that need to be discussed and I need to get some of your details."
"Coal can handle some of that," Maria waved her off. "And I'll fill in the rest when I get back."
"I really don't think…"
"Hey Coal, mind giving me that map. It's been a while since I've been in Argus, so I might get lost."
The Woman winced at having being reminded of her mistake while Maria simply smirked, accepting the map.
"Thanks," Maria hummed, before turning towards the woman. "Now what was it you were saying?"
"… Nothing," The woman replied.
"Good. As I've said, you can have Coal look at all the necessary paperwork, he's smarter than he looks… Although you should probably keep an eye on him, he can make dumb decisions when it comes to fighting Grimm. The last thing I want is for him to run into a Grimm that he's got no chance of beating."
"I… will be sure to do that," The woman nodded.
Maria smiled and said her goodbyes, before disappearing down the street. A small part of me felt a little panicked and briefly considered that she might have just left me here permanently. It would be the perfect opportunity too. I didn't let that panic overwhelm me. It was as Maria had said, worrying about a thing won't get me anywhere.
The blue haired woman deflated, before glancing over to me. "Well, I suppose we best start with getting you registered as a visitor. I'm Nicole Ross, by the way." She held out her hand.
"Right… I'm Coal," I replied, briefly shaking her hand, before handing her Lien back.
Nicole's face briefly turned red, before she managed to fight it down. "Alright, just follow me into the school and we can get started." Nicole turned, leading me into the Academy.
My eyebrows initially shot up when I noticed the blue cat tail poking out behind her. I'd almost forgotten that Faunus existed here… This was the first time I'd met one and I hadn't even realized it.
…Breathe…
Entering the Academy, the door clicked shut behind me while Nicole proceeded to lead me towards what looked like a reception area.
"Normally the doors are kept unlocked, but with the tournament coming up, there's been an influx of people coming here that have no interest in becoming Huntsmen," Nicole explained, stopping at a desk. "Could you pass me your scroll, please?"
"I… don't really have one," I replied sheepishly.
Nicole shot me an inquisitive look, before glancing at my clothes and sighing. "Alright, I suppose I can have your visitors pass printed out. I just need to scan your identity first and then we can continue."
"Scan my…" I began, but was interrupted by a flash coming from Nicole's scroll.
"Let's see here," Nicole hummed as waited for her scroll to finish processing my image. Several seconds passed, before her scroll let out a soft ding and she nodded. "Coal… Calavera, apprenticed under Maria Calavera, retired Huntress."
…
Ping!
Your name has been updated.
Name: Coal Calavera
…
My eyes widened in surprise. Out of all the things I'd been expecting today, that hadn't been one of them. So this is what Maria had talked to the Atlesian soldiers about and the thing she'd been avoiding. She'd… kind of… adopted me.
"Alright, now I just need to print out the pass and then I can show you around the Academy," Nicole said. "We can leave the paperwork for last… Are you alright?"
"Huh, what?" I asked, looking up.
"Nothing, it's just… you look distracted."
That probably was due to the fact that I was distracted. I'd been completely caught off guard with that. It was possible that the reason Maria gave me her last name was for convenience, to speed up the process at the gate, but then again, it was also possible that she'd done it for… other reasons.
"Coal?"
"I'm fine," I replied.
"Alright," Nicole nodded, not pressing the issue. She disappeared into a back room for what felt like several minutes before coming back, holding a laminated piece of paper along with my now full name and a picture. "Just wear this on your jacket and I can begin a short tour."
…Breathe…
Sanctum Academy, as I soon discovered, was a lot like a regular school. There were several classrooms filled with desks, a lunch room, a training room, a media center and a courtyard outside the back.
The difference, however was what they taught here. On top of the regular courses, they also had ones that focused on dust, weapons creation and maintenance, Grimm studies and physical education which amounted to sparring with fellow students… not that there were any students here right now.
It was kind of funny to me… the difference in which the students here had been learning compared to how Maria had been teaching me. Here, they got all the support they could get, but they weren't exposed to any truly dangerous situations while Maria had literally thrown me at whatever Grimm came our way, with the exception of the Apathy which she had been incredibly wary of.
I wondered how I stacked up against the students here. From the looks of things, they might be better at fighting human opponents, but I couldn't see them doing very well when fighting Grimm that were decidedly inhuman, especially ones like Death Stalkers.
"Any questions?"
"Could we see the training room?" I asked.
"Ah, that," Nicole muttered. "That's sadly not going to be possible. A student has already booked the room for the day and has requested to not be disturbed. We could go visit one of the other rooms."
That was a pity. I wanted to see if their training room had any special equipment. "How about the media center then?" I asked. I was pretty sure they had computers that were hooked up to the CCT. I could get some research done and find out exactly where I was in the timeline.
"That would be alright," Nicole replied, before gesturing for me to follow her. "It's just through this way, we'll be passing by the training room, so you'll be able to see where it is for future reference."
I nodded, following closely behind her. I didn't know how useful that bit of knowledge would be. I didn't even know if I was going to be coming back here tomorrow.
Nicole pointed out the training room as we passed it by, although, it would have been tough to miss. The door and wall around it seemed to be made of reinforced steel, no doubt to prevent any stray bullets from bouncing into the hallway. There was the faintest sound of a fight going on inside.
"Here we are," Nicole announced as we entered a room filled with computers. "The media center. This is a place that's used by students when they need to research topics for their assignments. Every computer here is connected to the CCT, do you want to give it a try?"
Do I want to use the Remnant equivalent of the internet after being offline, training in the woods and farmlands for several months? I don't think I could come up with a dumber question if I tried.
"Yeah, sure," I replied, doing my best to hide just how eager I was.
Nicole signed into a guest account and showed me the basics of how to use the computer, something I was secretly grateful for. The interface was something that I hadn't been at all familiar with and the search engine was completely alien to me.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you've never used one of these," Nicole said.
"I haven't," I replied, not taking my eyes off the screen.
"What?! But… all teenagers know how to use computers," Nicole gasped. "Where've you been living? Under a rock?"
"A cabin out in the woods actually," I replied, although under a rock would be an apt description. "It was pretty cold there, we had to use firewood to keep the cabin warm and running water was a bit of a luxury."
"Oh," Nicole hummed, looking a little pale. "Well, at least you're a fast learner."
"Thanks."
…Breathe…
Nicole stuck around for the first hour that I'd been on the computer, but left soon after when it became apparent that I was engrossed with searching things on the CCT. From my research, I was able to figure out almost exactly where I was in the timeline.
It would be about six and a half months before the next semester of Beacon began, which coincided with Weiss Schnee who had already turned 17. The next Vytal festival was just over a year away and it was being hosted in Vale. It wasn't a huge amount of time, but it would have to be enough.
After I'd figured out where I was in the timeline, I began to look up anything that would help me better fight Grimm, but I had to abandon that avenue for lack of information.
As it turned out, I was logged on as a civilian and not as a Huntsman in training, thus the amount of information I could access regarding Grimm was restricted. It was most likely done to keep the general populace from panicking when they saw some of the tougher Grimm that were out there.
Huntsman training was also something that was lacking online. Everything path I looked through pointed to joining one of the Academies and not trying anything on your own. It was frustrating, so I turned to the only thing that I could find that was somewhat relevant to me.
History. Reading about the history of earth had been a bit of a boring endeavor to me in my past life, but reading about the history of Remnant, where there were super humans, people with animal traits and monsters that evaporated after being killed… It was decidedly more interesting.
"Coal," Nicole said.
I looked up suddenly, before looking around, quickly catching sight of a small speaker that was attached to the wall.
"Please come to the reception. Your grandmother is here."
Not knowing if I should reply or not, I got up, hit the power button on the computer and headed out. Walking down the hallway, I noticed that the building had somehow gotten quieter. I paused by the training room and glanced at the door that had been opened by the slightest degree. There was an extremely faint smell of sweat and the sound of someone breathing by the door.
"You know, if you don't want anyone to know that you're there, you should shut the door properly and stand further back."
The person inhaled sharply. "I… I was just getting ready to leave. I didn't know there was anyone else here today," The girl said.
"Yeah, well, I'm only here out of convenience," I replied. "I'm actually leaving now as well. You could wait there for me to leave or you could head with me to the front."
I waited for several second and just before I was about to leave, the door opened. The girl behind it was tall, about the same height I was. She had red hair, pulled back and hidden by a baseball cap, a mask on her face and a pair of sunglasses covering her eyes.
It didn't take me long to figure out that she was Pyrrha Nikos.
"I'll… come with. My mom is probably waiting for me."
"Alright," I shrugged.
We headed towards the reception area in silence, the only sound being our footsteps. Ordinarily, I would be thinking about how strange it was to run into Pyrrha of all people when randomly dropping in on Sanctum Academy, but I had bigger things on my mind… specifically, my new last name.
It didn't take us long to reach the reception area and indeed Pyrrha's mom was waiting for her… or, I assumed that was her mom. She had red hair and green eyes.
Maria shot me a smirk. "How'd school treat you?"
"It wasn't too bad," I replied. "I got to use a computer for the first time. That was fun."
Pyrrha and the red head froze at that while Nicole only sighed.
"Right, they would have some of those here," Maria nodded. "Me personally, I never saw the point of them. I get by with my goggles just fine."
"Excuse me," The redhead stepped in. "Are you telling me that neither of you have used a computer?"
"Well I've used a few back in my day, but don't really bother now, the screen always flickers with these eyes of mine," Maria tapped her goggles. "But Coal here… to the best of my knowledge, today was the first time he's used one."
"What about scrolls?" Pyrrha's mother asked.
"We've never really been around CCT's long enough to use scrolls," Maria shrugged. "What's with all the questions?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, that's rude of me," The redhead apologized. "It's just… I don't believe I've ever met anyone as… I'm not even sure I know the words to properly describe it… Disconnected?"
"Mom!" Pyrrha squeaked.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean it as an insult. It's just refreshing to see two people that aren't caught up in the sensationalizing of things online."
I shared a look with Maria. The idea of either of us being caught up with the latest gossip was comical at best.
"I believe that I've kept the two of you for long enough," The woman sighed. "Sorry for that."
Well… I now knew where Pyrrha got her whole apologizing thing from.
"Don't worry about it," Maria hummed.
"It would probably be for the best if Pyrrha and I get going," The redhead said. "I'm Thetis by the way. Thetis Nikos and this is my daughter Pyrrha Nikos."
"Maria Calavera," Maria nodded, before gesturing to me. "And this is…"
"Coal Calavera," I introduced myself, smugly tapping my visitors pass when Maria looked at me in surprise.
"It was nice to meet the two of you," Thetis began. "But we really do need to get going." Tapping Pyrrha on her shoulder, Thetis gestured towards us.
"Oh, um… Goodbye," Pyrrha said before trailing after her mother.
Maria and I watched as the mother and daughter left the Academy.
"So…" Maria began awkwardly.
"You don't have to say anything," I replied. In truth, the name wasn't the Important part. The important part was when Maria took to training me, ensuring that I was safe, traveling across the country with me and not leaving when she had the perfect opportunity. The name was just that, a name. Maria's actions on the other hand… they were the world.
Maria nodded. "Come along, I've found us a place to stay while we're in Argus."
And we left, leaving behind an exhausted secretary who'd had to stay long beyond when her shift had ended.
And so Coal and Maria arrive in Argus, meet another major character and Coal finds out that Maria sort of adopted him.
Anyways, I'm up to chapter 15 on the P word website.
P
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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.
Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.
Next chapter will be posted on the 8th of July.
See you all then.