A/N: So, I somehow forgot in my A/N for the most recent skater marriage chapter that the last chapter of this story was chapter 12 not 15. Oh well, on to the story.

RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth and the late Monty Oum.

Chapter 13: Skills and Tragedy

As the two teams left the room, the only thing most of the other students could think about was that the top five in their class had just been demolished by one man. How strong was the assassin to do it so easily?

'I think you broke them Slade,' Shadow said as Slade looked at the other teens in the room.

'Maybe, but hopefully they now understand where they fall as far as skill.' Slade was leaning against the bookshelf in team RWWBY's dorm. The others sat either on the beds or in the chairs for the desks. Ruby, Weiss, Nora and Ren were sitting to the right on Weiss' bed, with Ren in the chair. Blake and Pyrrha were on Blake's bed to the left with Yang laying on her bunk, and Jaune was in the chair at the end.

"Weiss," the heiress looked at him obviously wary of him now, "You ok. I know I let it go a little overboard with letting you think that I had killed you."

"A little?"

"Ok, a lot. Just are you good enough for us to continue; because, if not, I need to know. After all, this is the second time something like this has happened. Not exactly the way partners should interact with each other, right?"

"True, I'll be fine, but Slade." Weiss sighed

"Yes, Weiss?"

"Next time this happens I get to stab you since you apparently can't die." The look on the fencer's face left no room for argument. What surprised everyone else was Slade's reaction.

"Noted, and well I can die but it's more an inconvenience since I just come back so yeah," Slade quickly said, slightly paler than usual. "Ok, so where do all of you want to start on our discussion on that match?"

"You're not going to try and defend against that?" Yang asked smirking.

"Nope, I know that look, and being stabbed is better than being frozen, which is what Winter does when I make her mad."

"Who is Winter?" Pyrrha asked.

"Weiss' older sister. We can get into that story later, ok. Right now, I'm supposed to be going over your mistakes."

"Ok, well what did you mean by my semblance can be used against me?" Yang asked. Seeing that Slade was going to keep evading other questions until they had discussed the fight.

"Oh that, well your Semblance is that with each hit you take you can transfer that energy into your attack power?" Yang nodded. "Well, you wait till your aura is low to use the full force of your power; because that is when you should be at peak strength. This is not the case. It makes you predictable. So, if someone dodges or negates the attack, it leaves you wide open for a counter that will either end the match or your life in a real fight. Your Semblance increases the rate at which you drain Aura by at least 13%. This means that is someone times it right they get the same results as our match."

Yang looks at him confused for a moment thinking about what he said, "What."

"Keep an eye on your Aura and work on pacing your semblance out letting it burn brighter over time instead of a brief flash of power. Get what I mean?" Slade explained.

"Yeah, I think," Yang nodded.

"Good. Who's next?"

"Pyrrha and Weiss set themselves up for your last attack by standing to close together." Blake commented.

"True there is a lesson in dispersion to be learned there but let me tell you my honest opinion of the fight. Since no one seems to be seeing what I'm looking for." Slade said, seeming to want to move the conversation along.

"Sure," came Yang's response.

"You all did fine."

…

…

"WHAT!"

"Besides what I've already told Yang about her semblance use. You were fighting an unknown opponent that just happened to be the better fighter. There was no way you all were going to win. This match was merely to stress the lesson of, 'There is always someone stronger.' To teach you that if you want to protect what you care about, all of you need to get better. I just thought I'd light a fire under you since soon you all may become targets for my enemies. So, Glynda suggested this to me in our meeting yesterday."

Everyone in the room looked at him surprised at the casualness of his explanation.

"Anyways, I can say that this group here is possibly the best of the first-year students. I have been thinking, and decided, since you are all going to be near me a lot, I'll tell you a story about myself. One that should explain at least why I take combat ability so seriously especially for myself. Consider it your reward for doing your best during today's match." Slade looked around the room to gauge the reactions of the other teens.

The reactions of the others varied. Ruby had bounced to the edge of Weiss' bed her eyes wide with excitement over the prospect of a story about her partner, with Nora looking much the same on the other side on the heiress. Weiss cocked her eyebrow wondering what kind of story he was about to tell. Ren, Blake and Pyrhha waited with a polite interest. Yang just propped her head up on her arms and Jaune was watching the Faunus with a nervous look wondering if Slade knew about his transcripts. They all had noticed the change in Slade's tone. His normal energy gone replaced by a tired, somber determined.

'You sure about this Slade? You know what you are going to have to tell them as well.' Shadow asked.

'Yes, I know.' Slade answered

"I'm going to use my Semblance to show you what happened through my eyes. You are only going to see the important parts ok. So, save your questions for when I'm done, please?" He waited till he saw everyone nod their heads in agreement. He took off his hat and cloak, laying them on the bookshelf behind him. "Good. This story happened nine years ago on the day of a ceremony known as Blooding. It is an event where some elder members of the Pack take the ten-year-olds to fight Grimm in their first real test to become assassins. We are taken out with minimal armor and a single weapon, often a knife or short sword. Death is expected during the Blooding, but never to the extent of mine. I was the only one to survive. I'm going to tell you about the first time I failed those I cared for, so remember that." As he finished a black mist formed at his feet; spreading around the room until it engulfed the other teens in darkness.

~Flashback seen through the eyes of the other teens~

"Niisan! Niisan! Niisan! NIISAN!" Came a female voice out of the darkness. Slade opened one of his eyes to look at the girl screaming at him. She was the same age as him with dark gray hair down to her shoulder blades tied up in the Pack fashion. She was dressed in light armor consisting of cargo pants, boots and a chain shirt, a knife kept at her hip.

"I told you not to call me that you, nerd," Slade said as he stood up putting his then white hair behind his ears. "What do you want, Carla? Sup, Tyson."

"Sup, Bro," came the response from the young faunus that looked almost exactly like Slade, except he had black hair. He was dressed in the same fashion as the sister standing beside him.

"We came to find you because the ceremony is about to start, and you have been missing all day." The grey-headed girl fussed at her brother.

"What ceremony was that again?" Slade scratched his head, looking into his siblings' silver eyes.

Both other triplets deadpanned, "Are you serious?" they said in unison.

"Of course not, I was asleep, so I lost track of time. Let's go guys I can't wait to kill some Grimm."

The triplets started walking to the center of the village where the Pack was gathering. They found the other children their age and stood towards the back of the group as their mother and father walked up on a raised platform. "Geez, because we had to look for you, we barely made it on time, Niisan." Carla looked at her snow-haired brother on her right.

"I honestly think our parents waited till they saw us arrive," Slade refuted.

"Hush, both of you the ceremony is starting," Tyson said from Carla's left.

'Always the straight faced one, Tyson.' Slade thought to himself.

"Wolves of the Pack, the time has come once again for our young to take their first test in becoming true assassins of our clan," the man on the podium spoke. He was a middle-aged man with jet black hair and deep brown almost black eyes. He stood taller than most others in the Pack, and most people in general. The Patriarch, as he was called, was dressed in a similar fashion to the ten-year old's except in place of the knives most of them sported, he held a tachi at his side. "Every year we take those who have reached ten years of age to fight Grimm in their first hunt. This year myself and all my sons and daughters who have already passed this ritual will be acting as guardians. We will finish the ceremony to begin the hunt once my wife our Matriarch has said her piece," he continued gesturing to a small group of teens beside the platform.

"As eloquent as ever, Shade," the shorter faunus women replied.

"What did you expect, my dear. I don't do speeches. You certainly didn't marry me for my poetry," the Patriarch countered.

"True I married you because you seemed like a man who could give me many children, hence why we have thirteen of them," the Matriarch bit back.

"Huh," came the unintelligent answer from Shade. The adults all started laughing, as the teens beside the platform groaned at their parents' antics. Carla face palmed and Tyson smirked, Slade just sighed knowing his parents would get back on track in a moment.

The Matriarch stepped forward, "Okay Whelps, listen up today you will be attacking a Grimm nest that has popped up near the village. Once you have killed the last of the vile creatures, you will make your way home before midnight. Is that understood?"

"Yes mam," the children replied.

"Alright, I trust all of you are prepared. Guardians take your position at the gate." The teens stood on either side of the gate, five on either side with Shade standing in the middle. "Children get ready," the thirty kids that were heading out filed in between the teens and behind the Patriarch. Slade, Carla and Tyson lined up with their oldest brother Kyron.

The older Faunus looked at his youngest siblings, "How many Grimm you kids think you will kill?"

"A solid 20 at least. More, if the nest is bigger than expected," Carla answered confidently.

"About the same as Carla, maybe a few more since I'm a better frontline fighter than her." Tyson shrugged.

"…"

"What about you Slade?" Kyron asked again.

"All of them," came the simple answer from the white-haired boy.

"What? You got your head in the clouds again little bro?" The older faunus asked.

"No, I'm just gonna kill every Grimm I see, so there is no point in counting."

"Damn, you're kind of scary kid. That's good it will help you as ana assassin."

The Matriarch stood to the side of the formation, "Everyone ready?" She waited until all the children and guardians nodded in agreement. "Alright then, begin!"

With that all the faunus going through the ceremony sprinted out of the gate leaving the village behind. Slade looked at the sky, 'Despite my confidence, I got a bad feeling about this.' Slade turned to his siblings running beside him, 'Oh well, we got this together the three of us can't be stopped.

A couple of hours later the group of wolves were standing just inside the tree line on one side of a clearing. On the other side was a cliff with a large cave at its base. There were a few Grimm milling about outside the cave about ten in all, but it appeared that there were more still inside.

"How are we going to draw them out?" the oldest teen, Shira, asked Shade.

"It would make sense for some of us to get the attention of the ones outside, but the question then becomes who do we send?" the Patriarch answered.

"I'll go," came then answer from behind the two leaders for the group. They turned to see Slade standing there, hands in his pockets looking bored.

"Are you sure?" his sister asked looking puzzled.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm bored and want to get started. I already have a group ready to go anyways. We are all aiming for the Buster class, so we are supposed to distract large numbers of enemies right. Let us do what we need to do. Also, I'll act as the bait since I have the Regen ability, with Tyson backing me up with his Reality Break," the young faunus explained.

"I still don't think that…" his sister began.

"Don't worry I got them, sis," Kyron dropped down from a tree crouching beside Slade. "I'll make sure they don't do anything stupid."

The Patriarch looked at his two sons, "Your job is to take down the ones outside the cave and draw the rest out got it nothing more."

"Roger, we have fourteen including us just don't take too long if things go south, Old Man."

"Your sister and I will be the first there."

The two boys went back to the group they had formed earlier. There were three other teens and nine of the children preparing to move. "So, I guess we are a go?" the female of the teens asked. She had blonde hair and red eyes; besides that, she looked like an older version of Carla.

"Yes, Kara, get everyone ready to move on my signal," Kyron commanded.

"Got it, everyone lineup in column of twos behind Slade and Tyson they are taking the role of Breakers let them get ahead before you move. Guardians post two on each side be ready to assist at any moment."

The children and teens took the positions as instructed. "Ready up front?" Came the call from the oldest faunus. Tyson and Slade looked at each other a silent conversation passing in a second, they both nodded to their brother. "Ready in the rear?" he asked the children and guardians at the back of the formation. They all nodded. "On my mark. Ready. GO!" Once the order was given the first two shot out into the clearing the small formation about twenty feet behind them.

"Brother."

"Yes, Tyson."

"You are sure about this right?"

"Would I have suggested it otherwise?"

"Yes."

"Ouch. Have some faith in me, anyways they have spotted us." Slade said pointing at the Beowolves that were closing in then. "Let's get to killing."

The two boys drew their knives as they spread out to let the Grimm pass between them, "Indraga!" came the shout from the other side of the beast as an inferno flared up and slammed into the monster's flank. The Beowolf howled in pain as the flames vanished. Slade jumped up landing on its shoulder stabbing it in the eye. He jumped down as the creature began to dissolve and rushed to his brother that was running around the next target staying just out of reach. The other kids were in range now and began pairing off to attack the Grimm singling out creatures to take care of them more easily. The teens also joined in each taking a Grimm to themselves.

'Just a little bit more,' Slade thought. He jumped past Tyson, Slamming his shoulder into the Beowolves gut. As it stumbled back Slade moved to stand with his brother. "You good?"

"Yeah."

"Let's finish this thing and help the others then." Both boys rushed forward again zigzagging across the beast's path to confuse it. It lunged at them trying to catch at least one of the little pups that were taunting it. Once it as in the air both boys jumped up behind it their training kicking is as the brought their blades down on the Grimm's neck like a pair of scissors, killing it instantly.

The pair looked around and saw most were finishing their prey as well. "Hey, Bro."

"Yes, Slade?"

"We got first blood."

"Is that why you volunteered us for this?"

"Yep."

"You know Carla is probably pissed now. right?"

"Shit," Slade began to imagine the revenge his sister was going to take on him since he had left her out of his little glory plan. "Let's make it through this first."

"Agreed." The brothers made their way to the group that was forming around their brother.

"Alright, now to draw the rest out of their hiding place. We need to be careful about this, or we will get swarmed, and the others will not get here in time to help." Kyron said looking at the cave entrance behind them.

"So, no fire, Tyson," Kara stated.

"Awe, but I like fire," Tyson whined.

"What about smoke bombs?" one of the other children asked. "We could throw some into the cave the back away before the Grimm get out.

"That is not much different than just straight fire," Kara said.

"Smoke bombs have a time delay though, nice thinking kid," Kyron pointed out. He reached into the pouch at his belt ten small objects. "This ought to do the trick, now, who brought a lighter?"

"Even when they weren't supposed to," Kara added.

None of the children raised their hands, looking around for who would have broken the rules. Then Tyson and Slade raised their hands.

"Of course, you two did," Kara rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Well, Sister, I am a lighter," Tyson said holding a small flame in his hand.

"What's your excuse?" Kara asked Slade.

"Nothing, I just brought a lighter." Both teens groaned their youngest siblings proving he was the biggest handful once again.

"Then you two are in charge of lighting the fuses. Everyone else grab a smoke bomb." Kyron directed. The eight children did as directed grabbing smoke bombs and moving closer to the entrance four on each side. Slade and Tyson took positions at the front of the lines to light the smoke bombs. Kara grabbed the last bomb from Kyron and stood at the end of one of the lines, Kyron at the other. "When I say go, get your bomb lit and throw it into the cave. When your done run to the center of the clearing and signal the others." The children nodded getting ready to move.

"Go!" Slade flicked his lighter lighting the first girl's bomb, she threw it into the opening as far as she could as he went to light the next in line, sprinting to the center once she let go. This went on with Tyson lighting the fuses on the other side until all ten bombs were in the cave. Slade, Tyson, and the four teens took off to join the rest. Just as they got a few feet away from the cave they heard a terrible roar echoing out of the cave.

"RAAAWWWWWRRRRRRRRGH!"

"What the hell was that?! It sounded all most human!" Kara asked her brothers.

"Don't know don't care yet; get to the center, our father and sister might know. They are with the rest now." Kyron answered. Noticing the rest of them had met up with the advance group.

Just before they reached the rest, they heard a voice that stopped them in their tracks. "Who dares wake me, a King of Grimm, from my rest?"

The siblings turned around and saw a sight that made the teens' blood run cold. They had heard of the legendary Grimm before but had thought them merely myth or an extinct species. It stood at about seven and a half feet tall standing on two legs and was humanoid in appearance. Its head was that of a goat and its arms ended in clawed fingers. The creature's feet were cloven hooves, and its tail was forked ending in two spade shaped spikes. "I thought they were all dead," Kara said.

"What is it, Sis?" Slade asked, drawing his knife.

"It is a Lucifer type Grimm, Slade." Kyron answered placing himself protectively between the monster and his siblings. "We don't stand a chance."

A/N: Writing these notes quickly before work doesn't leave much time so me to try and be funny y'all have a nice day.

Thanks for reading; please leave a review. Brazenark.