Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past.

Man, born from dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness- creatures of destruction- the creatures of Grimm- set their sights on man and all of his creations. These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void.

However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change, and in time, man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds. This power was appropriately named "Dust".

Nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness, and in the shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, life.

But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die. And when they are gone... darkness will return.

So you may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called "free world", but take heed... there will be no victory in strength.

But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten. Things that require a smaller, more honest soul.

A mushroom looking-like woman and four of her seemingly henchmen were heading down an alley from the shadows. The henchmen stopped behind the woman, who reignited her cigar without touching it and grinned before walking down the road, frightening nearby citizens as they made their way towards a shop called "From Dust Till Dawn".

The woman, known as Amanita Torchwick, and her henchmen entered the shop. There was no one there, apart from the old shopkeeper and a young boy wearing a hooded red cloak in the corner of the shop, reading a magazine.

Amanita flicked her cigar. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?"

One of the henchmen pointed his gun at the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper raised his hands. "P-please! Just take my card and leave!"

"Shhh, shhh, calm down, we're not here for your money." She turned to the henchmen. "Grab the Dust."

A henchman opened a case and removed one of several cylinders, which the group used to take Dust from the tube containers on the walls.

He placed another open case on the display to the shopkeeper. "Crystals. Burn. Uncut."

The shopkeeper proceeded to fill the case. As another henchman went for another tube, he heard a muted song from the boy's direction, and unsheathed his sword.

"Alright kid, put your hands where I can see 'em." He said, pointing his sword at the boy's back.

No response.

"Hey, I said hands in the air! You got a death wish or something?!"

He went over to him and turned him around, the hood dropping to reveal a surprised blue-skinned boy wearing headphones. He motioned for him to lower them.

"Yes?" The boy said, doing so.

"I said, put your hands in the air, now!"

"Are you... robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"Ooohhh..."

Amanita was waiting for her men to finish the heist when a "Hey!" and "Hyah!" were heard, and the threatening henchman flew past her. She calmly motioned for another to handle the boy.

"Freeze!" The henchman shouted, pointing his gun at the boy.

Both of them crashed out the window. The other men looked outside as the boy got up and unfolded his weapon into a scythe. Amanita scowled, but he smiled back at them before twirling the weapon around, striking it into the ground and turning off his headphones.

"Okayyy..." She turned to her remaining henchmen. "Get him!"

The henchmen headed out of the shop and ran at the boy, who spinned around on top of his scythe and kicked the first approaching criminal in the face. He got the weapon out of the ground and fired it off to hit another one with the butt of it, sending him flying. He fired again, brought the side down on one attacker and dodged the next's gunfire with his rifle's speed, getting close enough to knock him into the air and follow him upwards so he could beat him away to Amanita's feet.

"You were worth every cent. Truly, you were." She turned to the boy, dropping her cigar and crushing it with her cane as approaching police sirens were heard. "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around..." She raised her cane and opened the bottom to reveal a rifle with a cross grid. "...I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

She unleashed a red blast at him, who fired at the ground and leapt over it. When he landed and looked up, Amanita wasn't there, and was climbing up a ladder on a nearby building.

"You okay if I go after her?" The boy asked the onlooking shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper gave a short "Uh huh", and the boy set off.

Amanita had made it to the roof, with the boy high-flying again and landing right behind her.

"Hey!"

Amanita stopped at the edge. "Persistent..."

He got ready to fight her, but a getaway Bullhead rose up and opens the hatch to allow Amanita inside.

She turned around, holding up a red Dust gem. "End of the line, Red."

She threw it out at his feet and fired at him, resulting in a large explosion.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" She stopped laughing when she saw something on the roof. "Huh?"

A woman in a purple cape was now in front of the boy, casting a circle of protection over them with her wand. As he looked on, she waved her weapon and summoned several streaks of purple at the craft. Amanita was thrown around in the back until she went to the cockpit, where a blonde woman, her face unseen, was struggling with the controls.

"We got a Huntress!"

The woman got up and headed toward the back as Amanita took the controls.

The other woman glew purple for a moment and aimed another blast above the craft, resulting in a dark storm-cloud right over the jet.

"The hell...?"

With a flick of her wand, large jagged hail started falling that pummeled the jet and even broke through the window, narrowly missing Amanita's head.

The blonde reached the back and her arms and chest lit up like fire, aiming a burst of energy at the Huntress. The Huntress blocked it, but the flame splattered behind her and glew hot with the enemy's raised hand. She backflipped out of the explosion, which destroyed part of the roof, and magically gathered the shards to create a large arrow, which she threw at the craft. The fiery woman shattered the arrow with several blasts, but it reformed just in time to hit the side of the jet due to Amanita's quick aerial lean. The wreckage separated and reshaped into more arrows that encircle the jet, but the Huntress summoned several glowing rings around herself that expand and destroy the shards.

The boy, finally acting, reverted his scythe into its rifle form to fire at the woman, who blocked each shot and created several blazing circles around her two opponents. The Huntress telekinetically pushed him and rolled herself out of the explosion's radius; looking up to see the hatch close and the craft fly away.

The boy looked at the purple woman. "You're a Huntress!" He put on a pleading, awe-stricken face. "Can I have your autograph?!"

The boy's amazed face turned to one of shame as the woman, with a tablet computer, paced around the table he was seated at, right underneath a bright light in the otherwise dark room.

"I hope that you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young man. You put yourself and others in great danger."

"They started it!"

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home... With a pat on the back..." She noticed his smile. "...And a slap on the wrist." She demonstrated with her riding crop, which he barely avoided as he gave out an "Eeek!". "But... there is someone here who would like to meet you."

She moved out of the way so the surprised boy could see a man in green come through the doorway, holding a mug and a plate of cookies.

"Wanderlust Rose..." He leaned in to look at his face. "You... have silver eyes."

"Uh, um..."

"So! Where did you learn to do this?" He gestured with his head at the tablet showing Wanderlust's fighting.

"S-Signal Academy."

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"

"Well, one teacher in particular."

"I see..."

He put the cookies on the table in front of Wanderlust. He tentatively picked one up, ate it in a single bite, and then, not seeing any rebuttal, shoveled the rest into his mouth.

"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty, old crow..."

"Oh! That's my uncle!" He mumbled through his full mouth. He then swallowed and wiped his mouth, embarrassed. "Sorry. That's my Uncle Vester! He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. And now, I'm all like- Hooowaaah! Witchaaaa!" He proceeded to make some karate-style poses and noises.

"So I've noticed." He placed his cup on the table as he leaned in, then sat down opposite Wanderlust. "And what is an adorable boy such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well... I want to be a Huntsman."

"You want to slay monsters?"

"Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon!" He was talking faster and faster with his enthusiasm growing. "You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntsman 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, hey, I might as well make a career out of it!" He giggled. "I mean, the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, gosh, you know!" He flipped out at the last part, staring at the two with a wide, crazy smile.

The woman and the man studied him.

"Do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Cygnus. You're the headmaster at Beacon."

Cygnus smiled. "Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

"You want to come to my school?"

"More than anything."

Cygnus exchanged glances with the woman, who showed her disapproval with a "Hmmph" before he turned back to Wanderlust. "Well, okay."

Wanderlust smiled, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"Oh, I can't believe my baby brother is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"

A girl with curly purple hair tackled Wanderlust in a hug aboard the large Vale Airship to Beacon, crushing the air out of him.

"Please stop." Wanderlust said, gasping.

She released him. "But I'm so proud of you!"

The girl was Brezziana Xiao Long, Wanderlust's elder half sister. The two were born to the same father and different mothers. She was just starting at Beacon this year.

"Really sis, it was nothing."

"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees."

"I don't want to be the "bee's knees", okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal boy with normal knees."

"What's with you? Aren't you excited?"

"Of course I'm excited... I just..." He sighed. "I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."

Brezziana went over and gave her brother a one-armed hug. "But you are special."

The kids' attention was drawn to the newscast on Vale News Network playing nearby, talking about the robbery and showing Amanita's mugshot.

"The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Amanita Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on her whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department."

The news feed was cut off as a hologram of the purple woman replaced it.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!"

"Who's that?" Brezziana questioned.

"My name is Felicia Goodwitch."

"Oh."

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The hologram disappeared.

Among several other cries of surprise, Wanderlust could barely be heard. "Oh, wow! Look, you can see Signal from up here!" He and other students were looking through the glass walls at the town below. "I guess home isn't too far after all!"

"Beacon's our home, now." Brezziana replied.

The two heard a passenger groaning and hunched over nearby, running to the back of the ship.

"Well... I guess the view isn't for everyone." Brezziana rolled her eyes.

"It was a nice moment while it lasted."

The ship was approaching Beacon across a large body of water, the siblings still talking.

"I wonder who we're gonna meet!"

"I just hope they're better than Vomit Boy. Oh, Brezz, gross! You have puke on your shoe!

"Gross!"

"Get-Get away! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!"

Chapter Text

There were several ships carrying students and docking at the entrance of the school. As soon as one landed, a boy emerged and went over to the nearest trash can, hunching over it as he lost his lunch.

Wanderlust and Brezziana, alongside several other students, walked out of the ship and headed down the paved path to the front of the school.

"Wow..." They exclaimed, as they took in the entirety of Beacon Academy.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this!" Brezziana said.

Wanderlust kept getting more and more excited. "Oh my gosh, sis! That kid's got a collapsible staff! And she's got a fire sword!" He tried getting closer, but Brezziana pulled her brother by the hood. "Ow! Ooww!"

"Easy there, little brother. They're just weapons!"

"Just weapons? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool!"

"Well, why can't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?"

"Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose!" He said, transforming his weapon into its scythe form. "I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people, but better..."

Brezziana playfully pushed his hood down over his face. "Wander, come on, why don't you go try and make some friends of your own?"

Wanderlust took off his hood. "But... why would I need friends if I have you?"

"Well..." In a flash, a group of other students surrounded Brezziana and they all dashed down the road. "Actually, my friends are here, gotta go catch up, 'kay, see ya, bye!"

"Wait, where are you going?!" Wanderlust was still spinning and dizzy-eyed from her sudden leaving. "Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms?" He stopped for a moment, still reeling. "I don't know what I'm doing..."

He fell backwards into a luggage cart, sending cases flying. Someone was also standing over him...

"What are you doing?!"

"Uh, sorry!" Wanderlust apologized, getting up on his hands.

The boy standing in front of him had red hair and was wearing a shirt, shorts and a bolero transitioning from white to pale blue, and white boots.

"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?"

Wanderlust was still holding a case. "Uuhhh..."

"Give me that!" The boy snatched the luggage from him and opened it to reveal its twinkling-sounding contents. "This is Dust- mined and purified from the Schnee quarry!"

"Uuuhhhh..."

"What are you, brain dead?" He held out a vial of red Dust and shut the case. "Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!"

"I... I know..." He started coughing from the Dust pouring into his face.

"Are you even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Wanderlust, who had been receiving more and more Dust to his face, finally sneezed, which erupted into a full-blown explosion of flame, snowflakes, and electricity right onto the boy. 

The bottle he had been holding flew over the courtyard and at the feet of an androgynous looking pink-haired student dressed in black and white, who picked it up and seemingly noticed the logo on the side as they read from a book and looked over at the scene.

The red-haired boy was now covered in soot, though he quickly tried to wipe it off. "Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

Wanderlust was left apologetic and embarrassed. "I'm really, really sorry!"

"Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

"Well, I-I..."

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters, so... watch where you're going!"

Wanderlust was finally fed up. "Hey, I said I was sorry, prince!"

"It's heir, actually." 

The boys looked over as the pink-haired student approached with the bottle. They also had glasses, and a black bow on their head. "Jack Schnee, heir to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally! Some recognition!" Jack said, smiling smugly.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

Jack was getting angry again as Wanderlust chuckled. "Wha- How dare- The nerve of... Ugh!" He got up in the other student's face and took the bottle from them, walking off in a huff as his helpers gathered the luggage and followed.

"I promise I'll make this up to you!" Wanderlust shouted to the storming Jack, still sorry. He sighed. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day... So, what's..." He saw the pink-haired student walking off as well, then he collapsed to the ground on his back. "Welcome to Beacon..."

He remained this way until a shadow came over him.

A boy with dark blue hair was holding out his hand. "Hey... I'm Hadley."

"Wanderlust." He said, taking his hand. He stood up. "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

Beacon inside the walls was filled with scenic trees, arching architecture, and a winding road alongside a river, down which Wanderlust and Hadley were walking.

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!"

"Look, I'm sorry! Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind." He said, laughing.

"Oh yeah? What if I called you Crater Face?"

"Hey, that explosion was an accident!"

"Well, the name's Hadley Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue- ladies love it!"

"Do they?"

"They will! Well, I-I hope they will. My mom always says that... Never mind."

Wanderlust giggled before a short, awkward silence fell. "So... I got this thing!" He pulled out Crescent Rose and stabbed it into the ground.

"Whoa! Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!"

"A-wha...?"

Wanderlust cocked it, smiling. "It's also a gun."

"Oh. That's cool!"

"So, what you got?"

"Oh! I, uh..." He unsheathed a blade. "I got this sword!"

"Ooooohh!"

"Yeah, and I've got a shield too!" He got his scabbard, raised his arm and expanded the metal into his defense.

"So, what do they do?" Wanderlust said, touching the shield.

Hadley was fumbling with his shield as it retracted off his arm, expanded, and retracted again before putting it back in place and finally shrinking it down for good, placing it on his belt. "The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away..."

"But... wouldn't it weigh the same?"

"Yeah, it does..."

Wanderlust giggled. "Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, sooo... I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."

"Wait- you made that?!"

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?"

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me! He laughed. "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah, the classics..." Hadley replied, sheathing his sword.

Wanderlust started moving on again. "So why'd you help me out back there? In the courtyard?"

Hadley started walking alongside him. "Eh, why not? My mom always says strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

"Hmm." He looked around. "Hey, where are we going?"

"Oh, there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some sort of recognizable landmark? Is, uh... Is that a no?"

Wanderlust laughed. "That's a no."

Chapter Text

Wanderlust and Hadley entered Beacon's giant auditorium, filled to the brim with people. Wanderlust looked over when he heard Brezziana's voice.

She was waving. "Wander! Over here! I saved you a spot!"

Wanderlust turned back to Hadley. "Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony!" He left.

"Hey, wait!" He sighed. "Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky kid to talk to?"

A girl was behind him, hand on her hips as she watched him walk away.

Wanderlust joined Brezziana, arms crossed. "How's your first day going, little brother?"

"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?"

"Yikes! Meltdown already?"

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice...?"

Brezziana was smiling broadly. "Are you being sarcastic?

Wanderlust scoffed. "I wish! I tripped over some crabby boy's luggage, and then he yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then he yelled again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted him to stop yelling at me!" 

What he didn't realize however was that Jack had been behind him all along.

"You!" 

Wanderlust quickly jumped into his sister's arms. "Oh God, it's happening again!"

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"

Brezziana took a deadpan expression. "Oh my God, you really exploded."

"It was an accident." He got down and turned to Jack. "It was an accident!" 

Jack held up a pamphlet titled "Dust for Dummies and other Inadequate Individuals" to Wanderlust. "What's this?" The latter asked.

Jack started listing off policies to a clueless and horrified Wanderlust, going faster and higher pitched with each word. 

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field."

"Uuhhh...?"

"You really wanna start making things up to me?"

"Absolutely?"

Jack handed the pamphlet to Wanderlust. "Read this and don't ever speak to me again."

"Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" Brezziana entered the conversation.

Wanderlust put the pamphlet away. "Yeah! Great idea, sis!" He held out his hand as he cleared his throat. "Hello, Jack! I'm Wanderlust! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"

"Yeah!" Jack replied, seemingly enthusiastic. "And we can buy stuff and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blue-haired, and scraggly over there!"

Hadley could be heard saying "Hm?".

"Wow, really?!"

Dead silence under Jack's glare.

"No."

The kids' attention was drawn to the stage, where Professor Cygnus was readying the microphone, with Felicia beside him.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." The students began whispering among themselves. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

As Cygnus left, Felicia stepped up to speak. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

"He seemed kind of... off." Brezziana commented.

"It's almost like he wasn't even there." Her brother agreed.

Hadley approached Jack from the side. "I'm a natural blue-haired, you know!"

Jack put his hand to his face in exasperation.

The first night at Beacon, all students were splayed out in sleeping bags. 

Wanderlust, in his pyjamas and with a sleeping mask around his head, was writing in a journal when Brezziana crashed next to him, also in pyjamas.

"It's like a big slumber party!"

Wanderlust didn't look up. "I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though."

"I know I don't!" She made a disgusted face as she watched several muscular, shirtless guys... and Hadley, dressed in feetie pajamas, waving to her, which made her groan before she returned her attention to Wanderlust. "What's that?"

"A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

"Aw, that's so cuuuute!" She was knocked back as a pillow was launched at her face.

"Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here."

"What about Hadley? He's... nice! There you go! Plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase!"

Wanderlust turned on his back. "Pretty sure Jack counts as a negative friend. Back to zero..."

"There's no such thing as negative friends! You just made one friend and one enemy!" She was hit with another pillow, this time looking like a dog, to the face.

"Look, it's only been one day. Trust me, you've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet."

The two siblings noticed a candle being lit nearby, and the pink-haired student from before was leaning against a wall, reading a book.

"That person..."

"You know them?"

"Not really. Saw what happened this morning, but left before I could say anything."

"Well, now's your chance! She grabbed Wanderlust's arm and lifted him up.

"Wait! What are you doing?!"

The student looked over their book to see Wanderlust unsuccessfully struggling against Brezziana's grip as she led her brother over to their spot before letting go.

"Hel-looooo!" Brezziana sang. "I believe you two may know each other?"

"Aren't you... that boy that exploded?"

"Uh, yeah!" He let out his hand. "My name's Wanderlust. But you can just call me Crater..." He smiled, embarrassed. "Actually, you can just call me Wanderlust."

"...Okay." The student replied, back in their book.

"What are you doing?" Brezziana whispered to Wanderlust.

"I don't know, help me!" Wanderlust whispered back. He then went back to smiling.

"So... What's your name?"

The student sighed as they were distracted yet again. "Mihaly."

"Well, Mihaly, I'm Brezziana, Wander's older sister! I like your bow!"

"Thanks!"

"It goes great with your... pyjamas!"

"Right..." Mihaly said in an irritated tone.

Wanderlust laughed uncomfortably. Brezziana tried to break the silence. "Nice night, don't you think?" 

"Yes- it's lovely! Almost as lovely as this book." 

Wanderlust and Brezziana stood there.

"That I will continue to read." 

Wanderlust and Brezziana continued standing. 

"As soon as you leave."

Brezziana turned to Wanderlust again. "Yeah, she's a lost cause."

"They." Mihaly said.

"Oh, sorry." 

"What's it about?" Wanderlust turned to Mihaly.

Mihaly was surprised. "Huh?"

"Your book. Does it have a name?"

"Well... i-it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body."

"Oh, yeah... That's real lovely!" Brezziana said sarcastically.

"I love books. Brezz used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters... They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntsman!"

Mihaly laughed a little. "And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a boy, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right and protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

"That's... very ambitious for a child." Their smile turned into a frown. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairytale."

"Well, that's why we're here! To make it better."

"Oh, I am so proud of my baby brother!" Brezziana hugged him into the air.

"Cut it out!" Wanderlust kicked into the air.

The forced sibling bonding evolved into a dust cloud of fighting limbs.

Mihaly laughed slightly. "Wanderlust, Brezziana, it's a pleasure to ha-"

Jack stormed onto the scene in his own pyjamas as Wanderlust trapped Brezziana's leg. "What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?"

"Oh, not you again!" Jack and Brezziana shouted at the sight of each other.

Wanderlust stepped in. "Shh! Guys, he's right! People are trying to sleep!"

"Oh, now you're on my side!"

"I was always on your side!"

"Yeah, what's your problem with my brother? He's only trying to be nice!"

"He's a hazard to my health!"

Mihaly, who rolled their eyes at the fight, simply closed their book, reached over to grab their candle, and blew it out, everything turning black.

Chapter Text

Sometimes you will wake up and see a blonde girl fill your view.

"Wake up, lazy butt!" She dashed to the side.

The student got up with a groan as the girl hounded him.

"It's morning! It's morning! It's morning! It's morning!" She sang.

He sighed again. By the time they had gone to the bathroom to brush their teeth, the girl was still talking.

"I can't believe we've been at Beacon for a full twenty-four hours! Not that I thought we'd get kicked out or anything, I mean, you're the perfect student and I'm... well, I'm me! But it's just crazy, you know?"

"We've been friends for soooooooo long! What are the odds we'd still be together? Well, not together-together... Not that I'm not saying that you're not handsome; you are handsome, but that'd just be weird, right?"

"Right! What was I thinking? But still, I hope we end up on the same team together!" She slurped up the rest of her pancake. "Oohhhh! We should come up with some sort of plan, to make sure we end up on the same team together! What if we bribe the headmaster? No, that won't work. He has the school."

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal! A secret signal so we can find each other in the forest! Can you imitate a sloth?

"Talia?" He finally replied.

"Yes, Blake?"

He sheathed his weapons in his sleeves. "I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."

Talia thought about this for a moment. "That's why it's perfect! No one will suspect we're working together!"

Blake smiled and shut his locker. "Come on Tal, let's go."

"Not together-together..." She giggled.

Blake headed out while a skipping Talia followed, passing Wanderlust and Brezziana as they were busy readying themselves.

"Wonder what those two are so worked up about?"

"Oh, who knows? So, you seem awfully chipper this morning!"

"Yep! No more awkward small talk or getting-to-know-you stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." He stroked Crescent Rose as he sighed happily.

"Well, remember, Wander, you're not the only one going through initiation. If you wanna grow up, you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work together."

Wanderlust sighed in frustration. "You sound like Dad!" He shoved his weapon into his locker. "Okay, first of all, what does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!"

"But what about when we form teams?

That made him suddenly nervous. "Um, I don't know, I... I'll just be on your team or something..."

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Brezziana said, bringing her hair around her shoulder and stroking it.

"My dear sister Brezziana, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?"

"What? No! Of course I do! I just thought... I don't know, maybe it would help you... break out of your shell!"

"What the-?! I don't need to break out of my shell! That's absolutely-"

Hadley suddenly walked in between the siblings, holding a map and looking lost. "Ridiculous! There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday! I would've remembered having to count that high! Why does this have to happen today?"

Hadley passed Jack and another girl with a long black ponytail and a red streak as they were readying themselves at their lockers.

"So, Liv, have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual such as yourself!"

"Hmm... I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well... I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together."

"Well, that sounds grand!"

"Great!"

Jack turned around with a manic smile on his face.

This will be perfect! The smartest boy in class combined with the strongest girl in class! Together we will be unstoppable! I can see it now! We'll be popular! We'll be celebrities! We'll get perfect grades! Nothing can come between us now!

"You know what else is great? Me. Hadley Arc. Nice to meet you."

Jack's expression turned to one of irritation. "You again?"

"Nice to meet you, Hadley!" Liv said, hurriedly letting herself be seen.

"Yeah, yeah." He pushed Liv aside and went to Jack, posing slightly. "So, Jack, couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

"Don't worry! No need to be embarrassed! So, been hearing rumors about teams! I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?"

Liv interrupted. "Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so-" 

"You don't say. Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team."

Jack separated the two. "Hadley, is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, snow king."

"This is Liv."

"Hello again!"

"Liv graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

"Never heard of it."

Jack scoffed. "She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row! A new record!"

"The what?"

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" Jack was waving his arms rapidly in anger.

Hadley gasped suddenly. "That's you?! But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?" Jack asked Hadley.

"I guess not... Sorry..." He hung his head.

"Actually, Hadley, I think you'd make a great leader!" Liv exclaimed.

He immediately brightened back up. "Oh, stop it!"

"Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!"

"Sounds like Liv's on board for Team Hadley. Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?"

"Alright, that's a bit too close! Liv, a little help, please?!"

Hadley looked back just in time to see Liv's spear strike him, sending the would-be leader flying off.

"I'm sorry!" Liv echoed.

An announcement played on the intercom system.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

Jack passed Hadley as he hanged from the wall of a locker on his way out. Liv followed him, grabbing her spear and dropping Hadley to the ground.

"It was nice meeting you!"

"Likewise..." Hadley replied, slumping against the locker.

Brezziana approached with Wanderlust. "Having some trouble there, man-killer?"

"I don't understand. My dad said all people look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" He accepted Wanderlust's offered hand and used him to lift himself back up.

"Snow King probably wasn't the best start."

"Come on Hadley, let's go."

Wanderlust led Hadley out of the locker room, supporting him and his damaged self-esteem.

They now were on the Beacon Cliff, overlooking a forest, where several students -some old, some new- were standing on silver tiles in front of a mug-holding Professor Cygnus and Felicia with her tablet.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." 

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams." Felicia continued. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

A "What?" and an "Ohhh..." could be heard.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

This time, a groan could also be heard.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"Whaaaat?!"

"See? I told you-!"

"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."

Nervous laughs and loud gulps were heard.

"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?"

Hadley raised his hand. "Yeah, um, sir?"

"Good! Now, take your positions."

Everyone striked a pose on their tile. Talia crouched low, Blake wielded his weapons, Brezziana raised her fists, Wanderlust readied his body, and Hadley was still raising his hand.

"Uh, sir? I've got, um... a question." He missed the tile under Jack rising up into a springboard, rocketing into the air and over the forest, as the platforms activated down the line. "So, this landing... strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling."

Hadley was missing more students being thrown. "Oh, uh, I see... So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

Hadley was still not seeing an excited Talia and Blake getting launched. "Uh-huh... Yeah."

At her turn, Brezziana winked at her younger brother, put on a pair of aviators, and flew off with a "Woo-hoooooooo!" a second before Wanderlust joined her.

"So, what exactly is a landing strategYYY!..." 

He asked this part just when he finally had to get hurled with the cloud of students now making their way down into the forest below under the eyes of the teachers. Cygnus, for his part, simply took a sip of his drink.

Chapter Text

A black bird was flying slowly and magnificently in the Emerald Forest. 

...Right up to the moment it gave a final shriek and a blue-skinned boy crashed through it in a burst of feathers as he plummeted downward.

"Birdie, no!"

Wanderlust fired off a few rounds from Crescent Rose to slow himself down, then turned the weapon into its scythe form to catch the branch of a tree in its blade and fall downward at a slower pace.

Jack, armed with his own weapon, summoned a white snowflake circle under him and leapt off of it to the forest below.

Blake descended and spun in the air, eventually using his blades to spiral around the trunk of a large tree and hit the ground, brushing off his clothes before looking up to see...

"Woo-hoo! Yeah!"

Brezziana, soaring right over the treetops, was using her gauntlets and their fiery force to push her through the air further and further north, spinning and laughing with each blast, even when she crashed through the leaves of a tree and leapt off two trunks to tumble to the ground.

"Nailed it!" She ran off.

Liv, her weapon in sword form and armed with a shield, crashed through several trees and rolled on a branch, immediately shifting her blade into a rifle and looking through the scope at Hadley as he continued to scream and fall helplessly. Liv coolly transformed her weapon again to its spear form, took a moment to evaluate her throw, and rocketed the javelin deep into the forest until a "THUNK!" was heard.

"Thank you!" He echoed in the distance.

Liv waved. "I'm sorry!"

In the middle of the forest, Wanderlust landed in a crouch, then darted off with a single mantra in his mind.

Gotta find Brezz! Gotta find Brezz, gotta find Brezz, gotta find... 

"Brezz! Breeeezz!" He shouted.

Oh, this is bad, this is really bad... What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first? Well, there's always Hadley. He's nice. He's funny! ...I don't think he's very good in a fight, though. Ooh! What about Mihaly? So mysterious, so calm... Plus they like books! Then again, I'm not sure I'd be able to hold a conversation with them... Ugh! Okay... Who else do I know in this school? There's Brezz, Hadley, Mihaly, aaaand...

Time seemed to slow down as he skidded to a halt in front of Jack as he turned to face him. He stopped just in time for their eyes to meet. A pause followed.

That ended when Jack turned on his heel and walked the other way.

Wanderlust began following him slightly. "Wait! Where are you going?!" He stopped and kicked the ground dejectedly. "We're supposed to be teammates..."

Jack was struggling through the forest, giving an occasional grunt or "Ow!" as he pushed plants out of his way. He brushed himself off and sighed in relief when he heard a voice above him.

"Come on, come on! Stupid...!"

Jack saw Hadley hanging a few feet in the air by the spear embedded in his hood and the tree behind him. As he gave up trying to pull it out, he looked down and saw Jack, giving an embarrassed wave. 

Jack simply headed back in the direction he came from and Hadley groaned in dejection.

Jack passed Wanderlust and pulled on his hood. 

"By no means does this make us friends."

"You came back!" Wanderlust squealed, overjoyed as he was being dragged away into the bushes.

Hadley saw the scene and waved his arms. "Wait! Come back! Who's going to get me down from here?!"

"Hadley?" Someone was heard below.

He looked down at his savior. 

"Do you... have any spots left on your team?"

"Very funny..." Hadley said, crossing his arms. He eventually looked down at Liv and gave a smile, which she returned.

Jack was still trudging through the forest, his partner behind him.

"What's the hurry?" The blue-skinned boy broke the silence.

"I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow! I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your-"

A smiling Wanderlust suddenly appeared next to him.

"What the...?"

"I'm not slow, see? You don't have to worry about me!"

Jack looked back, slightly amazed. "When did...?"

"Jack, just because I don't exactly know how to deal with people doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters!"

He got an arm around a skeptical Jack's shoulders. 

"You're about to see a whole different side of me today, Jack, and after it's all over, you're going to be like, Wow! That Wander boy is really, really cool, and I wanna be his friend!"

He disappeared in a shower of rose petals, which Jack waved away from his face just as he heard crackling and rustling in the bushes around him.

"You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" He called out to him.

Silence.

"Wanderlust?"

The forest darkened, forcing the red-haired boy to lean in to try and find his new partner, a pair of red eyes glaring behind him.

"Wanderlust...?"

Multiple pairs of red eyes were now staring at Jack from the bushes and a deep growl was heard. He turned around until he spotted a large, jagged Beowolf emerging from a bush and approaching him.

"Wanderlust!"

The Beowolf roared.

Chapter Text

"Helloooooooo?" Brezziana called out, not seeing a shadow quickly pass by.

"Is anyone out there? Helloooo?" 

She stopped and raised her arms. "I'm getting bored here!"

She heard a rustling in the bushes behind her and turned. "Is someone there?"

The rustling continued as she came over and peaked inside. "Wander, is that you?"

She heard a low, inhuman growl and her head rose up as she stared at the creature.

"Nope!"

She quickly rolled to the side as an Ursa charged out of the green. She got up and activated her gauntlets, staring at the monster before another Ursa ran out behind her. She leapt over it, and its companion ran at her again, only to get knocked back by a fiery punch. The other Ursa and Brezziana charged at each other, and the girl managed to get under it and deliver several punches and a kick to send the creature back.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a boy in a red hood, would you?"

The Ursai merely growled at her. 

"You could just say no."

One of the Ursai stood on its legs and swiped at her twice, Brezziana barely dodging the attacks.

She laughed. "Geeeez, you two couldn't hit the broad side of a ba..."

Before she could complete her insult, a single strand of her purple hair fell in front of her face and landed on the forest floor.

"You..."

She closed her lilac eyes, then opened them to reveal red, making the Ursai look at each other confusedly before she screamed. 

"You monster!!!"

An inferno surrounded Brezziana for a moment, and she rocketed forward, unleashing a devastating combo of flaming hits and blows on the offending Ursa, making it fly through several burning trees. The other monster ran over, but stopped short at her gaze while a tree fell to the ground behind her.

"What? You want some too?!"

The Ursa reared up and prepared to strike... right when a whirling noise was heard and the monster made a befuddled noise, falling down a second later to reveal nobody else but Mihaly with their weapon in the beast's back.

Brezziana let herself pant in exhaustion while Mihaly recalled the weapon back to their hand, sheathing it on their back and smiling to the side.

"I could've taken him." Brezziana spoke to her new partner, now lilac-eyed again.

In another area, Jack was deflecting the swipe from a Beowolf with his weapon, Myrtenaster, and getting pushed back into the middle of the beastly circle. He held out his sword.

Remember your training, Jack. Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward -not that forward!- Slow your breathing, wait for the right time to strike, and... 

He brought his rapier up, the revolver spinning. 

Now!

Jack dashed forward with his loaded weapon at the Beowolf in front of him, just when something suddenly appeared between the two in a blur of rose petals and a swipe of a scythe, landing a hit on the monster.

"Gotcha!"

Jack widened his eyes and screamed as he quickly stopped, swinging the sword in a random direction and creating a line of fire that set a nearby tree ablaze, followed quickly by the rest of the forest around the clearing.

Wanderlust, distracted by Jack's mess-up, was barely defended when the same Beowolf scratched at his weapon, knocking the younger boy onto the heir.

"Hey, watch it!"

"Excuse me! You attacked out of turn! I could've killed you!"

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that..."

The duo wielded their arms as the pack of Beowolves whined and growled around them. Wanderlust reloaded his scythe just as a flaming tree fell near them.

Jack grabbed his arm. "We have to go!"

He led Wanderlust out of the blaze as it engulfed the grass and set the Grimm to running back the way they came or suffering in the fire.

The boys stopped a safe ways from the smoke and flames. Jack leaned over and panted as Wanderlust looked behind him.

"What was that?! That should've been easy!"

"Well, perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!"

Wanderlust scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just surprised someone who talks so much would communicate so little during an encounter!"

"Well, I'm sorry you need my help to win a fight. I'm just fine on my own!"

"Well, congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak your way into Beacon. Bravo!"

Jack began to walk off on his partner yet again. Wanderlust, with an agitated shriek, unfolded Crescent Rose, sliced a tree down to the stump, refolded it back, and followed his partner as the tree crashed behind him. Neither noticed the large dark feather floating onto the fallen trunk behind them.

Meanwhile, across the forest, Liv and Hadley were making their way through the bushes. Hadley heard a noise far away and turned his head.

Did you hear that?"

"Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

They kept moving forward, Hadley still staring in the sound's direction as Liv raised a branch to pass by and accidentally released it right at Hadley's face, flooring him instantly.

"Hadley! I'm sorry!"

Hadley laughed, lowering his hand from his cheek to reveal a gash from the wooden recoil. "It's okay. Just a scratch!" He got back up when Liv approached him.

"Why didn't you activate your Aura?"

"Huh?"

"Your Aura."

"Gesundheit."

"Hadley, do you... know what Aura is?"

He waved the question off, avoiding eye contact. "Psch! Of course I do! Do you know what Aura is?"

Liv smiled at him and got ready to explain.

"Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

"Uh... yeah."

"With practice, our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals."

"What about monsters?"

"No. The monsters we fight lack a soul. They are creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity. They are the darkness, and we are the light."

"Right, that's why we fight them!"

"It's not about why; it's about knowing. Understanding dark and light helps us manifest our Aura. Everyone has some of both. By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting."

Hadley opened his eyes with the revelation. "It's like a force field!"

"Yes, if you want to look at it that way."

Liv walked up to Hadley and touched the side of his head. "Now, close your eyes and concentrate."

"Uhh... Okay."

Liv smiled and closed her own eyes, opening them as her skin glew and her irises shrunk before shutting them again. The two stood there, now with Liv glowing a faint red and Hadley a bright white.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death." She placed a hand on his chest. "I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee." She stopped glowing and hunched over in tiredness.

Hadley was still glowing, concerned. "Liv?"

Liv got back up. "It's all right. I used my Aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own. She grinned as she watched the scratch close up and vanish. "You have a lot of it."

Hadley smiled and looked at his hands as the glow stopped. "Wow..."

In the meantime, another student was trekking through the forest's tall grass.

Blake stopped and narrowed his eyes, looking around him while a huge black Grimm serpent rose up from the grass behind him and quickly surrounded him with its large, hissing body. He adopted a fighting stance as the snake coiled together in front of him and attacked with its long fangs.

Blake leapt out of the way, the snake's mouth hitting the ground and instantly coming up again to hit the jumping boy back with its snout.

He landed in a crouch when the serpent encircled him again, and he unleashed his weapon, StormFlower, before jumping up and firing at the creature.

The snake flowed around him and tried to bite him again, but he flipped over it and drove his weapons into its head, pausing a moment without sensing the serpent's white head behind him.

He turned and looked up at the white head as it launched itself at him, dodging it and landing just in time to see the head slither towards him. As it got closer, he ran at it and leapt onto the black head, sliding over its body and blasting the other head.

Blake however was unprepared for the white half to hit him with its head, knocking him off as he dropped his weapons, and leaving him to merely raise his arms and distantly cry "No!" to the mouth of the black head.

After a while, he now held the front fangs of the colossal snake in his hands, glowing a faint, pulsating pink as he gripped the teeth and yanked them from the monster's mouth, causing it to flail away. It attempted to bite him again, but he spinned to the side and stabbed a fang into its eye, rotating his arm to deliver a final blow that dorve the makeshift weapon into its skull, which rippled, expanded, and blew apart in a dark mess as its headless body fell over its fellow creature. Wasting no time, he ran right at the white head.

A while later, he stood atop of the body of his enemy, sliding the weapons into his sleeves and brushing them off before a strange, animal-like noise was heard above him twice. He looked up and met the upside-down eyes of Talia.

Blake chuckled. "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like."

In response, Talia gave her friend a "Boop!" on the nose.

Chapter Text

In the meantime, Cygnus was watching the students on his Scroll at the Beacon Cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest when Felicia walked up behind him, holding her own tablet.

"The last pair has been formed, sir." She tapped her screen. "Talia Valkyrie and Blake Ren. Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Miss Nikos." 

Her screen changed to Liv and Hadley's trek through the woods.

"Mmmm..." Cygnus muttered.

"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Hadley fellow is not ready for this level of combat." She deactivated the tablet, walking back a little. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. She turned back to Cygnus. "Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?"

Silence.

"Professor Cygnus?"

He didn't answer, watching his tablet with a contemplating interest as it showed the footage of Wanderlust Rose sitting on the grass and picking stray leaves while his "partner" Jack Schnee walked in random directions.

Jack was walking right. "It's definitely this way." He stopped and started walking left. "I mean... this way! It's definitely this way." He stopped in front of his partner. "Alright, it's official: We passed it."

Wanderlust stood up, slightly annoyed. "Jack, why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?"

"Because I know exactly where we're going! We're going... to... the forest temple!"

The younger boy sighed, frustrated.

"Oh, stop it! You don't know where we are either!"

"Well, at least I'm not pretending like I know everything."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a big, stupid jerk and I hate you!"

Jack sighed to himself, spinning around and walking in another direction. "Just keep moving!"

Wanderlust put on a faux imitation of Jack's voice. "Oh, just keep moving! Hurry up! Waaaah! Watch where you're going!" He returned to his normal voice. "Why are you so bossy?"

Jack turned back around to face him. "I'm not bossy! Don't say things like that!"

"Stop treating me like a kid!"

"Stop acting like a kid!"

"Well, stop acting like you're perfect!"

"I'm. Not. Perfect! Not yet... But I'm still leagues better than you." He continued to walk away.

"You don't even know me..." Wanderlust spoke to himself, dejectedly.

From the forest, Brezziana and Mihaly stepped out into a clearing that revealed the circular stone temple, broken and decrepit but for the platforms around its inside, holding several black and gold objects.

"Think this is it?"

In response, Mihaly gave Brezziana an incredulous look and headed down the hill, their partner following. They walked across the floor and observed the items on each pedestal, apparently familiar shapes.

"Chess pieces?" Mihaly was looking at a black king, confused.

"Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Well, I guess we should pick one."

Hadley and Liv were standing at the mouth of a dark cave, with drawings to the side involving armed men against giant beasts.

"Think this is it?" Hadley asked.

They were walking inside the cave, Hadley holding a short, burning torch to light their way.

"I'm not sure this is it."

Hadley sighed. "Liv, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for, like, five more feet?"

Suddenly and completely unexpectedly, Hadley tripped on the ground, and the torch flew into a small puddle, extinguishing the flame so the two were cast in darkness with only their eyes visible.

Hadley got up and grumbled. "Do you... feel that?" His partner asked him.

"Soul-crushing regret?"

"No, it's... warm."

Back at the temple, Brezziana approached one of the relics.

"Hmmmm..." She studied the golden knight, then picked it up and showed it to Mihaly. "How about a cute little pony?"

Mihaly smirked. "Sure."

They walked towards each other to the center of the temple floor.

"That wasn't too hard!"

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find."

They shared a smile.

Hadley and Liv continued onward through the cave until they saw a large glowing point of gold right in front of them, illuminating Hadley's excited features.

"That's the relic!"

He slowly reached out to grab it, but it moved away from his swipe. 

"Hey! Bad... relic!"

He tried to get it again, then jumped forward and hanged onto it as the object rose him above the ground.

"Gotcha!"

"Hadley...?" Liv said in a worried tone.

Hadley's catch lowered itself so he was dangling right in front of the now-glowing red lines and eyes of a Death Stalker.

Hadley's scream was heard all the way from the temple, where Brezziana turned towards the direction of its source.

"Some girl's in trouble! Mihaly, did you hear that?"

Mihaly didn't answer, staring at something in the sky.

At the cave entrance, Liv rushed out right before the monster crashed through the hole, roaring and waving its grass-encrusted claws as Hadley hanged from the stinger, calling for help and continuing to scream.

"Help! Whoa-ah-ah-ah-ah! Why?! Liv! He-e-e-elp! Liv, this is not the relic! It's not!" He continued to yell and get shaken around. "Do something!"

Liv wielded her spear in front of the creature. "Hadley! Whatever you do, don't let-"

Before she could finish, the Grimm hurled its tail back and launched a still screaming Hadley across the forest as she watched in dismay. 

"...Go." 

She turned back to the scorpion as it continued to snap its claws at her, and she smiled embarrassedly before turning and rushing away in a burst of green leaves.

Mihaly was still staring at something above them, but Brezziana was focused on the forest.

"Mihaly, did you hear that?" She turned partner. "What should we do?"

Finally, the faint-but-growing-louder scream of "Heads uuuuuuuup!" was heard when a boy fell from the sky. 

Chapter Text

Jack and Wanderlust were hanging on to something very feathery and very fast, as evidenced by the loud wind and the two being blown sideways.

"Wanderlust! I told you this was a terrible idea!" Jack shouted to be heard.

"We're fine! Stop worrying!" Wanderlust also raised his voice.

"I am so far beyond worrying!"

"In a good way?"

"In a bad way! In a very bad way!"

"Well, why don't we just jump?"

"What are you? Insane?!"

He was met with silence; Wanderlust had already disappeared.

"Oh, you insufferable little red-!"

Down on the ground in the Abandoned Temple, Mihaly was still staring skyward and pointing for her partner Brezziana to look up.

"Mihaly, did you hear that? What should we do?"

Suddenly...

"Heads uuuuuuuup!"

Wanderlust was falling right towards them, finally getting Brezziana's attention.

Just as he was about to hit the ground panicking, Hadley came flying through the air and crashed into him, knocking him off course and sending them both into a tree to the left of where Mihaly and Brezziana were standing. 

"Oohhhh... What was that?" Wanderlust said, dazed by the rough landing.

"Eh-hem!"

He looked up to see Hadley hanging upside down in a tree branch above him. "Hey Wander..."

Back on the ground, Mihaly was looking at the tree. "Did your brother just fall from the sky?"

"I..."

Before Brezziana could continue, several crashing noises were heard in the forest ahead of them, and an Ursa came out, claws swiping, just as a pink blast of energy hit it in the back and it crashed to the ground, depositing its rider.

"YEEEE-HAAAAW!"

Talia rolled off of the creature's back, then got up and groaned, saddened.

"Awwww... It's broken."

She dashed onto its neck and observed the carcass as Blake came up behind her, panting and leaning on the monster.

"Talia! Please... Don't ever do that again." He looked up again and saw no one, Talia having ran off again, and he looked around frantically.

Talia was now in the Temple, staring at a golden rook relic. "Oooohh..." 

She suddenly grabbed it. 

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

"Talia!"

Talia stopped dancing with the rook on her head, then saluted, dropping the relic into her hand. "Coming, Blake!" She skipped off.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Mihaly questioned.

"I..."

Brezziana was interrupted once more as a screech was heard from their right, and Liv came onto the scene as the scorpion creature uprooted entire trees in its chase after her. She narrowly dodged its giant claws and kept on running.

"Hadley!"

"Liv!"

Wanderlust stood up, looking at the monster below. "Whoa!" He started running off of the branch and landing in a roll.

"Wander!" Hadley whined.

Wanderlust stood up, back on the ground.

"Wander!" Brezziana called out.

He got excited. "Brezz!" He raised his arms as if to give his sister a hug.

"Talia!" Talia came between the two and knocked them off-balance in surprise.

The scorpion Grimm continued to follow Liv as she ran.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Mihaly questioned again.

Brezziana was getting angrier until she growled and erupted in a small burst of fire, eyes flashing red. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"

The tick-tock of a clock counted down the two seconds of her cooling down, Blake running over to a ditzy Talia, and Mihaly and Wanderlust looking up.

"Umm... Brezz?" He tugged on his sister's sleeve and pointed.

Jack called down to Wanderlust. "How could you leave me?"

Up above, Jack was hanging on a talon the size of his entire body that belonged to a gigantic Nevermore.

"I said jump!" Wanderlust shouted back.

"He's gotta fall." Mihaly said.

"He'll be fine." Wanderlust reassured.

"He's falling." Blake agreed with Mihaly.

Hadley was finally out of the tree, panting until he looked up and grinned at the sight of Jack falling through the air, giving him the opportunity to jump off the branch with arms outstretched and catch him in a slowed-down moment.

He smiled at Jack. "Just... dropping in?"

Jack was speechless... and Hadley realized why when they both looked down.

"Oh God." 

They hanged on to each other wide-eyed as their moment of suspension ends, their weapons flying behind them.

"Oh noooooooo- Oomph!"

Hadley did a faceplant into the dirt, limbs splayed out, and served as the perfect landing spot for Jack as he fell into a seated position on his body.

"My hero." Jack said mockingly.

"My back..." Hadley groaned.

The Death Stalker was still hunting Liv, but she managed to land on her side at the feet of the others.

"Great, the gang's all here. Now we can die together." Brezziana exclaimed.

"Not if I can help it!"

Wanderlust sounded a battle cry and rushed towards the Grimm.

"Wander, wait!"

Wanderlust, still screaming, fired Crescent Rose and charged at the oncoming Death Stalker. When the two met, the Grimm swiped him away and he was knocked back.

"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" He got up slowly.

He turned back to the monster and shot it in the skull, running away from it and sheathing his scythe as the Death Stalker now went after him.

"Wanderlust!" Brezziana ran forward.

He rushed towards her, but the Nevermore cawed above them, flapping its wings and releasing lines of sharpened feathers with points that catched on Wanderlust's cape and prevented Brezziana from reaching him.

"Wanderlust, get out of there!"

He was still struggling with the cloak. "I'm trying!"

The Death Stalker approached, raising its golden stinger above a scared Wanderlust and heading down on the helpless boy.

"Wanderlust!" Brezziana reached out in vain.

A white blur raced past him and reached the stinger just as it was about to pierce him.

"You are so childish!"

Wanderlust opened his eyes to the sight of the stinger encased in ice and lowered his arms from their futile position over his head as he stared at his savior.

"Jack...?"

"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." Jack continued berating him as he removed Myrtenaster from the ice. "And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this."

"You're fine." He walked away.

Wanderlust breathed a sigh of relief, then closed his eyes and clasped his hands as he gratefully whispered: "Normal knees..."

He got up and stared at the Death Stalker as it struggled to escape with its tail trapped in the ice. "Whoa!"

Brezziana rushed up to him and gave him a hug, which he grunted at upon receiving.

"So happy you're okay!" 

The two stared at each other for a moment, then looked up at the Nevermore still flying overhead and roaring.

Hadley was now back with the group. "Guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?"

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying." Jack told him. "Our objective is right in front of us." 

The group stared at the relics.

"He's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs." Wanderlust nodded to his partner. "There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live- that's an idea I can get behind!" Hadley replied.

Wanderlust went over and grabbed a gold knight, identical to the one Brezziana picked out, and Hadley took hold of a gold rook, similar to Talia and Blake's piece, smiling at each other. The Death Stalker continued to fight its bonds, cracking the ice a little in the process.

"Time we left!" Blake yelled.

"Right." He waved to the others. "Let's go!"

Wanderlust went forward with everyone following except for a smiling Brezziana and Mihaly as the latter approached their partner.

"What is it?"

Brezziana was staring proudly at her brother as he leapt on a boulder and motioned the group onward. "Nothing..." She moved on as Mihaly smiled in realization and left as well.

The group headed out of the forest and into another abandoned series of structures as the Nevermore followed them from the air. They spread out when it passed above, concealing themselves behind some of the stone blocks with their allies as it perched on a high column and caws.

"Well, that's great!" Brezziana said with an annoyed tone.

Hadley looked behind at the Death Stalker bursting onto the scene.

"Ah, man, run!" Hadley yelled. The group emerged from their hiding spots, causing the Nevermore to rise up into the air.

"Talia, distract it!" Blake shouted.

Talia obliged, running out from her block and jumping through the feather projectiles before reaching behind her and launching several heart-topped shells from her grenade launcher, bursting into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore and causing it to retreat. She was unaware of the Death Stalker rushing up behind her until Mihaly and Blake performed a cross-slash with their weapons against its shell. Jack landed next to Talia so he could create a jumping platform beneath them and leap to safety while Mihaly and Blake were now being chased.

"Go, go!" Liv stopped running beside Hadley and got out her weapon, firing red shots alongside Blake's green blasts for a second until it reached them and tried to swipe, prompting the group to run again.

The eight raced over the ancient stone bridge, not noticing the Nevermore closing in on them until it used its giant wings to shatter the path right in the middle, forcing Wanderlust, Jack, Brezziana, Talia and Hadley closer to the central collection of columns and leaving Mihaly, Blake and Liv on the other side with the Death Stalker. Wanderlust fired at the retreating Nevermore while Mihaly was beaten back by the scorpion.

Hadley came to the edge of the break in the bridge. "Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!"

Talia ran up beside him. "Let's do this!"

Hadley looked down at the misty abyss. "Yeah, but, uh... I can't make that jump."

Talia smiled diabolically at him, laughing as she knocked him back, turned her weapon to its full-length hammer form, and jumped to the edge of the bridge.

He saw what she was about to do. "Oh, wait!" He was too late.

She slammed the hammer into the bridge and threw Hadley to the other side, yelling: "No, no, no!"

Talia placed one foot on the hammer and fired it off the collapsing section of bridge, launching her to slam its face right in the center of the Death Stalker's skull. She fired it just as the stinger came down to get her, and blasted back again to avoid its reach, accidentally knocking into Mihaly and making them fall from the edge. Mihaly saw the Nevermore above them and launched their whip so the gun's blade sunk into the edge of the bridge, circling around and leaping onto the aerial Grimm's back. They dashed all over its body, slashing the entire time, before jumping off and landing on the ruined platform at the top of the columns next to Wanderlust, then going over to Brezziana and Jack.

"It's tougher than it looks!" They yelled.

Brezziana readied her gauntlets. "Then let's hit it with everything we got!"

The Nevermore approaching, Wanderlust, Mihaly, Jack and Brezziana set their weapons to fire a barrage of blasts at the bird, which it either dodged or took harmlessly until it crashed through the columns and platform. They leapt from one section of falling stone to the next until they reached the higher bridge on top, just below the cliffs.

"None of this is working!" Jack shouted.

Wanderlust was watching Mihaly whip over to another section of the area and Brezziana firing round after flaming round at the Grimm. "I have a plan! Cover me!" He blasted away as Jack raised his blade and headed into the fray.

Down below, the Death Stalker was still battling Hadley, Blake, Talia and Liv.

"We gotta move!" Hadley yelled. 

They all rushed towards it.

The Death Stalker aimed a claw at Liv, but she deflected it with her shield and slashed it with her blade. The scorpion recoiled and swiped at her with its other claw, but Hadley was there to deflect it with his shield, knocking it back so Liv could leap over and attack its face. Blake ran up firing and got on the stinger when it tried to hit him, shooting at the base between it and the tail while Talia fired more grenades at the attacking claws. Liv hurled her javelin straight into one of the monster's ten eyes, making it throw Blake to the side.

"Blake!"

He hit the side of a stone block hard and fell to the ground, not getting back up. Hadley, though, managed to stand and notice the stinger is hanging limply.

"Liv!"

"Done!" She raised the shield and hurled it like a discus, slicing the stinger off and causing it to fall into the Death Stalker's head as she retrieved her rebounding shield.

"Talia, nail it!"

"Heads up!"

She jumped on Liv's shield, Liv leapt as Talia aimed her blast down to give herself a maximum lift, and she smiled the entire way up before twirling down until her hammer slammed its head into the stinger, driving the point through the Death Stalker's head and crushing the bridge beneath it.

Hadley and Liv bounded over the monster to the land behind it, and Talia fired up and away behind them as the monster fell to its doom. Hadley hit the ground on his back, Talia landed on her bottom, Liv managed a crouched pose and Blake simply walked over to them, panting and groaning until he just collapsed. The other three got up and watched as the Nevermore was peppered with firepower.

Brezziana was still burning through her ammo on the beast, landing a blow at its face and causing it to head right towards her, but she leapt for its open maw and forced the beak wide as she attacked.

"I! Hope! You're! Hung-! ...-gry!" She screamed and fired a round with each syllable.

She looked behind her and jumped back from its mouth onto a ruin, causing the creature to crash into the cliffs.

Despite her attempts, it recovered quickly, and she smiled as she spotted Wanderlust and Mihaly on the broken columns with Jack rushing to the battle. She passed him while the monster started to fly back up, but Jack hopped over to the ruin it was lifting off of and froze the tip of its feathery tail to the ground, leaving it stuck in the same spot despite its flapping. He backflipped into a snowflake-circle jump and landed on the other side, running to the group.

Mihaly fired the pistol portion of their weapon over to Brezziana, and the two tightened it between the columns so Wanderlust could jump on the center with Crescent Rose and bend it back into Jack's black sigil, right next to the caster.

"Of course you would come up with this idea."

"Think you can make the shot?"

"Hmm! Can I?"

A second passed.

"Can't?"

"Of course I can!"

Wanderlust looked forward and pumped Crescent Rose as Jack turned the circle from black to red and released him at such a speed that the ground behind him launch cracked, rose petals flying from his ascent. With each new shot, he got closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until his scythe caught the monster's neck in its blade and caused them both to fall to the cliff wall. Jack raised his sword and created a series of white circles up the wall, which Wanderlust dashed through by firing the entire way up.

Brezziana, Mihaly, and an exhausted Jack watched him climb up with the bird in his grasp until, both warrior and monster crying out, he reached the top of the cliff, circled up, fired one last shot, and rended its head from its shoulders in a shower of petals.

He landed beside the severed head as the body of the giant creature fell lifeless to the ruins and crevice below while the group and, farther away, the other four watched in amazement.

"Wow..."

Wanderlust, his cape and petals flowing with the wind, looks down to his friends as they peered up.

"Well... That was a thing!" Brezziana said.

He continued to smile to the faint sounds of an audience clapping, growing louder and louder as a familiar voice was heard.

"Haze Thrush. Pulse Winchester. Gray Bronzewing. Joy-Ce Lark."

The screen of the auditorium showed each of their profiles as the boys were lined up for the applauding audience to see as Cygnus continued. 

"The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team PHGL, led by... Pulse Winchester!"

The audience gave one more wave of ovation, while four students walked up to the stage to take their places in front of Cygnus as their faces filled the screen.

"Hadley Arc. Blake Ren. Liv Nikos. Talia Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team HTLB."

Amid the clapping, Talia laughed and gave Blake a hug.

"Led by... Hadley Arc!"

"Huh? L-Led by...?"

"Congratulations, young man."

A grinning Liv offered a friendly shoulder bump to him, but her "fine leader" was knocked over and fell to his butt in front of the laughing audience.

"And finally: Mihaly Belladonna. Wanderlust Rose. Jack Schnee. Brezziana Xiao Long." He motioned over the four as they stood before him. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team WJMB. Led by... Wanderlust Rose!"

Jack looked to his right surprised, where Wanderlust was obviously in shock as Brezziana went over to hug her brother.

"I'm so proud of you!"

'It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." Cygnus finished.

In a shadowy room filled with shelves and a desk in the back, a woman was getting a call on her phone. The muffled conversation ended, and Amanita angrily slammed the phone down, sighing. She held a cigar to her mouth and put her symbolized lighter to the end, just as a man in a grey mask and black hood came with a trolley. She held out a collection of bills, which she placed on the table and the man took.

"Open it."

The masked man did so with a crowbar, revealing a large amount of Dust crystals of varying colors- orange, blue, white, red, green, cyan, gold, yellow, and more. Amanita picked up a blue gem in her hand and looked at the loot.

"We're gonna need more men..."

The map above the desk showed Vale and various districts and areas of crossed-out locations, all leading into a specially circled place- Beacon.

Chapter Text

In the new room of Team WJMB, Jack was sleeping soundly in his bed. His eyes fluttered open and he stretched his arms above himself, yawning, while his leader, dressed in his strangely colored school uniform, creeped up on his side and suddenly blew a whistle, causing Jack to fall off the bed.

"Good morning, Team WJMB!"

"What in the world is wrong with you?" Jack called to him from the floor.

Wanderlust ignored the question. "Now that you're awake, we can officially begin our first order of business."

Jack got up and brushed himself off. "Excuse me?"

Brezziana was holding a collection of objects -pillows, pamphlets, a candle holder- in her arms, also dressed alongside Mihaly. "Decorating!"

"What?"

Mihaly lifted their suitcase. "We still have to unpack." The suitcase opened, spilling its contents. "Aaaand clean."

Jack did not look enthusiastic, especially when Wanderlust knocked him back again with the blow of his whistle.

"Aaaalright! Jack, Mihaly, Brezziana, and their fearless leader Wanderlust have begun their first mission!" He raised his fist into the air. "Banzai!"

Mihaly and Brezziana did the same at his sides. "Banzai!" They turned at an angle as Jack laid on the floor. 

The decorating begun.

Brezziana placed a poster of six girls in various poses named "THE ACHIEVE WOMEN" on her part of the room. Jack positioned the painting of the Forever Fall forest to perfection and walked away. Mihaly was busy putting away their books on the shelves, picking up a copy of Ninjas of Love and widening their eyes as they warily looked around before putting it back. Wanderlust positioned Crescent Rose at an exact angle against the curtains so he could perfectly slash a diagonal portion off. The work and repaired curtains ended with the group admiring their handiwork... with one problem. The beds were cramped together in the center of the floor.

"This isn't going to work." Jack said.

"It is a bit cramped." 

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff..." 

"Or we could ditch the beds... and replace them with bunk beds!" 

"Umm, that sounds incredibly dangerous."

"And super awesome!"

"It does seem efficient."

"Well, we should put it to a vote!"

"I think we just did."

Mihaly thumbed up the idea, Brezziana made a double rocker gesture, and Jack angrily curled his fists at his side. Decided, they rushed at the beds, with sounds of jackhammering and sawing until they gather back at the front of the room.

"Objective: Complete!" Wanderlust exclaimed.

While Jack's bed was simply on the ground next to his art and luggage, Mihaly's bed was next to their books, which were used to raise Brezziana's bed over it by placing the novels on the posts, and Wanderlust's was hanging from ropes on the ceiling with a blanket used as a tent over it.

"Allllright! Our second order of business iiiiiiiis...! The room spinned until he landed on his bed with a book in his lap. "Classes..."

He pulled out a pencil. "Now, we have a few classes together today. At 9, we've got to be-"

"What?! Did you say 9 o'clock?" Jack asked.

"Uuuum..."

"It's 8:55, you dunce!"

Jack was the first rushing out of the room and down the hall, the members of WJMB and HTLB peeking out from their doorways to look at him go.

Wanderlust was flabbergasted until he decided. "To class!"

He ran out, followed by Brezziana, then Mihaly.

"Class...?"

Hadley lost his balance and ended up toppling his teammates on top of him. He managed to get out from under them and start dashing.

"We're gonna be late!"

In the courtyard, Cygnus and Felicia were watching the two teams hurry through the school. Felicia looked at her watch, and Cygnus simply sipped his drink.

The sight of an axe-blunderbuss weapon panned down to the boards displaying various species of Grimm -King Taijitu, Death Stalker, Beowolf, Boarbatusk, Nevermore, and Ursa- behind an elderly teacher, Professor Port.

"Monsters! Deeeemons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Haha!"

The members of WJMB, seated on the front row, were in varying stages of interest; Mihaly and Brezziana were sitting up and paying attention, Jack was taking notes, and Wanderlust had his head propped in his hand as he took a quick nap until he was woken back up by Port's bad joke, which received a cricket-filled silence as a result.

"Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." He gave Brezziana a wink, which she groaned uncomfortably at. "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

A student raised his fist. "Ayyyy-yep!" He stood like this for a moment as everyone looked at him strangely before sitting down, embarrassed.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..."

His words faded into the background and a series of "blah"s when Jack noticed Wanderlust was very focused on penciling the paper in front of him.

"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. "Young man," he told me..."

The speech evolved into more "blah"s as Wanderlust chuckled at his creation and showed it to his teammates: a ball with limbs and a head drawing of the teacher with stink lines coming from him and "Professor Poop" written underneath. He blew a quick raspberry. Mihaly and Brezziana laughed, but Jack looked annoyed.

"Ah-heh-hem!" He waited until he had their attention again. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"

The teacher took a bow as Jack slowly got more and more frustrated with Wanderlust's antics.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!"

Wanderlust was balancing an apple on a book with his pencil held only by his finger while making a silly face.

"A true Huntsman must be dependable!"

Wanderlust had fallen asleep again in the first class of the year.

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"

Wanderlust was not-so-subtly picking his nose, much to Jack's building anger.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Still angry, Jack raised his hand. "I do, sir!"

"Well, then, let's find out!"

He turned to gesture at the glowing red eyes surrounded by shadow shaking the cage that trapped it. 

"Step forward, and face your opponent!"

The unknown monster continued to growl.

Chapter Text

Jack was now back in his regular attire, readying his Myrtenaster at the growling creature in the cage. His teammates cheered him on from their seats in the front row.

Brezziana was raising her fist. "Goooo Jack!"

Mihaly was waving a small flag saying "WJMB". "Fight well!"

"Yeah, represent Teeeeam WJMB!"

He lowered his sword and looked over at his "leader". "Wanderlust! I'm trying to focus!"

Wanderlust looked sheepish. "Oh, um... Sorry..."

"Allllright!" The teacher was next to the cage, pulling out Blowhard. "Let the match... begin!"

The professor swinged down and broke the lock, dropping the cage door and revealing the Boarbatusk inside, which immediately charged at Jack. He used Myrtenaster to deflect its attack and roll to the side, readying himself for its next move. The Grimm stood a distance away from its enemy, studying him.

"Haha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?"

"Hang in there, Jack!"

Jack was now speeding towards the oncoming Boarbatusk, sticking his blade straight at its skull until they met and Myrtenaster was trapped in the beast's tusks. Jack was still hanging on to the hilt, and was tossed around as he struggled to get the rapier back.

"Bold, new approach. I like it!"

"Come on, Jack, show it who's boss!"

Jack turned to glare at Wanderlust, only for the Boarbatusk to turn its head and rip the sword from his grip. Myrtenaster landed far away from its master, who was knocked back by the creature's tusks.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?"

Jack looked up just in time to see the Boarbatusk charge again, rolling out of the way just in time to avoid getting trampled and make it crash into a desk. He rushed at his sword and slid to get it back in his hand.

"Jack! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-"

He turned to Wanderlust. "Stop telling me what to do!"

The boy looked hurt at Jack's rebuttal. Meanwhile, the Boarbatusk leapt into the air and rolled into a ball, spinning rapidly in the air and landing on the ground, consistently gaining speed until it launched itself at Jack. It came closer and closer, but Jack activates one of his blue-white circles and blocked the roll, leaping up into the now-black snowflake symbol and turning it blue again so he could drive the blade into the Boarbatusk's stomach. It squealed and fell silent while Jack gasped in relief.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntsman-in-training!" 

Jack stood up at attention from his exhausted position and Wanderlust continued to frown. 

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Jack glared and turned away, walking hurriedly to the exit past his teammates.

"Sheesh, what's with him?" Hadley watched him leave.

The remaining members of Team WJMB looked at each other with the same question.

Jack was still storming off, but Wanderlust turned a corner and managed to catch up with him.

"Jack!"

He turned around. "What?"

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being-?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a leader, and all you've been so far is a nuisance!"

Wanderlust scoffed. "What did I do?"

"That's just it- you've done nothing to earn your position! Back in the forest, you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so!"

"Jack, where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about working together? I thought you believed in acting as a team."

"Not a team led by you. I've studied and trained, and quite frankly, I deserve better. 

He turned his back to Wanderlust, trying to reach out but dropping his hand with the following words: "Cygnus made a mistake." He walked away as Wanderlust looked dejected.

Cygnus was standing right behind a surprised Wanderlust with a coffee in one hand and his cane in the other. "Hmm... Now that didn't seem to go very well."

Wanderlust looked doubtful, even on the verge of tears. "Is he right? Did you make a mistake?"

Cygnus laughed slightly. "That remains to be seen."

Jack was still walking around the halls until he came across a balcony where Professor Port was watching the sunset over Beacon Academy's rooftops.

He approaching him. "Professor Port!"

He turned to look at Jack. "Ah, Mister Schnee! And to what do I owe this fine pleasure?"

"I... I enjoyed your lecture!"

"Of course you did, child; you have the blood of a true Huntsman in you."

"You really think so?" Jack smiled.

"Most surely!" He noticed Jack's small frown and lack of eye contact. "Hmm... Something's troubling you."

"Yes, sir..."

"Dear boy, confess to me your strife!"

"Well... I-I think I should have been the leader of Team WJMB!"

The teacher was silent for a moment until he spoke. 

"That's preposterous!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it's only been one day. Wanderlust... I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. But at this moment, I would not consider your appointment to leader to be one of them." Cygnus leaned in so he could look more directly at the boy. "Do you?"

Jack was getting angry. "Excuse me?!"

"I've believed in Professor Cygnus for many years, and the man's never once led me astray!"

"So you would just blindly accept his decision even after seeing how exceptional I am?"

"With all due respect, your exceptional skill on the battlefield is matched only by your poor attitude.

Jack was seething now. "How dare you!"

"My point exactly. I see a boy before me who has spent his entire life getting exactly what he wanted."

Jack crossed his arms, looking defiant. "That's not even remotely true!" Under the teacher's gaze, he reluctantly relented. "Well... not entirely true."

"Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you're not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you?"

Wanderlust looked thoughtful with Cygnus' words, then smiled at him.

"So the outcome did not fall in your favor. Do you really believe that acting in such a manner would cause those in power to reconsider their decision?"

Jack was finally calming down and looked at him again. 

"So instead of fretting about what you don't have, savor what you do. Hone your skills, perfect every technique, and be not the best leader, but the best person you can be."

Jack smiled a little at the words of wisdom.

Cygnus turned back on Wanderlust, still talking to him. "You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Wanderlust. I advise you take some time, to think about how you will uphold it."

The boy, with a last look of consideration, turned and walked away. He came to the balcony where Port was walking away from Jack and smiled a little at his partner.

I

n the room of Team WJMB, the door opened with Jack's shadow against the hall's light. Mihaly was sleeping under the covers, Brezziana was spread out on her bed and snoring, and when Jack lifted the blanket of Wanderlust's tent, he found the occupant with his head resting on notes, a pencil in his hand, and open books all around him. Jack, looking amazed at his partner's determination, cleared his throat and gently shook the other boy awake, who took a second to regain consciousness and start flailing in surprise.

"Jack! I-I was studying, and then I fell asleep! I'm sorry..."

Jack placed a hand over his mouth and puts a finger to his own so Wanderlust understood the need for lowering his voice. Jack looked near his pillow and spotted an empty Beacon coffee mug.

He lowered his hand. "How do you take your coffee?"

"I... I don't..."

He got irritated. "Answer the question!"

"Uhh, cream and five sugars!"

Jack sighed. "Don't move."

He ducked under to his own bed and came up a minute later with a fresh cup, offering it to Wanderlust. "Here."

"Um... Thanks, Jack."

Jack smiled, apologetic. "Wanderlust, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader."

Wanderlust smiled appreciatively. 

"Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have!"

They shared a smile. 

"Good luck studying!" 

He ducked under, only to come up and point at one of Wanderlust's papers. "That's wrong, by the way."

He ducked under again, and his voice came from the doorway this time. 

"Hey, Wander?"

"Uh-huh?"

Jack stood in the door with his hand on the knob. "I always wanted bunk beds as a kid." He started to close the door.

Wanderlust, grinning at the progress with his friend, went back to his notes.

Chapter Text

A student was standing with his weapon on his shoulder with Hadley opposite him with Crocea Mors drawn, leaning on his weapon as if exhausted, in the spotlight shining on the Beacon Academy auditorium stage.

He looked at Pulse, who laughed at his opponent's tiredness, and Hadley gathered his strength to charge forward and swing his blade at Pulse, only for him to jump out of the way. He looks back, surprised, as Pulse's weapon, The Executioner, sent Hadley's shield -and himself- flying back. Now only armed with his sword, Hadley continued to try and attack, but was blocked by the mace's hilt. Their weapons locked, Pulse forced himself up, towering over a struggling Hadley.

"This is the part where you lose."

"Over my dead-!"

He was cut short as Pulse kneed him in the gut, making him drop his sword and fall to the ground in pain. Pulse raised his mace and was about to slam it down on a worried Hadley just when the buzzer ringed, the lights came back on, and Felicia's voice caused him to stop.

"Pulse, that's enough!" 

He relented and walked away as she came onto the stage, tapping her tablet. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Hadley is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match. 

Hadley still laid on the floor in defeat and Liv looked sad, watching from above. Felicia turned her head to look at the losing warrior as he pulled out a smaller tablet with his low, blinking stats and that of his entire team. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?"

"Speak for yourself..." Pulse muttered.

Felicia turned to the seated and standing students, doing all sorts of things, such as Brezziana punching the air in anticipation, Jack shaking his fists with an excited smile, and Wanderlust shaking his entire body with enthusiastic energy while squealing softly. "Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"

The bell rang, and students started leaving while Liv continued to frown sadly. Hadley, still sitting on the floor, hung his head in shame.

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..." 

"It was day."

Talia was telling an unbelievable story, her turquoise eyes wide, with Blake occasionally interrupting to correct her.

She turned to Mihaly, paying no attention as they were lost in their book, and Brezziana, who who hanging on her every word with her hands cupping her face

"We were surrounded by Ursai..."

"They were Beowolves." 

"Dozens of them!"

She screamed this as she stood at the table of both Team WJMB and HTLB, where Jack was ignoring her, Wanderlust and Liv were listening politely, and Hadley was messing with his food.

"Two of 'em."

Wanderlust and Liv were now looking at a distant Hadley with concern.

"But they were no match... And in the end, Blake and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

Blake sighed. "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now."

Liv was looking at her leader. "Hadley? Are you okay?"

Hadley snapped out of it, turning back toward them. "Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?"

"It's just that you seem a little... not okay..."

The others stopped their distractions to stare at him. 

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" He held up a thumb while laughing nervously until his attention was focused on the members of Team PHLG, standing around a girl with rabbit ears jutting from her blue hair as Pulse laughed at her and his teammate with turquoise hair held up his hands to his head in a mock interpretation of her unusual features.

"Hadley, Pulse's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Liv broke their silence.

"Who? Pulse Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"

"He's a bully." Wanderlust agreed with Liv.

Hadley scoffed. "Oh, please! Name one time he's bullied me."

Hadley was on the way to class as Pulse was going the other way down the hall. When the two passed, Pulse knocked his arm into Hadley and made him drop his book, then continuing on his way with his hands out as if daring anyone to challenge him.

"Ah, come on!" Hadley complained.

Hadley and Pulse were about to pass through a doorway, but Pulse clicked on Hadley's sheath and extended it into its shield form as he was going out, causing him to run into his own defense and have it block the exit.

"Come on...!" Hadley grunted in frustration as he tried to lift his shield back out.

Felicia was in the locker room with several students, gesturing at the devices.

"Each of you will be assigned one rocket-propelled locker to store your weapons and extra armor. Additionally, your locker can be sent to a custom location based on a six-digit code."

Hearing this, Pulse looked at Hadley -standing between him and the only open locker in the room- and the cliché played itself out as Pulse quickly pushed a shocked Hadley into the small dark space and closed the door on him, pressing random buttons on the pad right after that.

"What?! No, wait, wait! You've gotta get me out of here! Please! Don't! Don't! Don't do it!"

It was too late to protest when the locker scrunched down and launched up with a burst of blue fire coming from its base. Pulse watched as the locker slowly soared across the sky.

"Ahhh, coooome oooooooon...!" Hadley could be heard.

The others were totally focused on him now.

"I didn't land far from the school!" Hadley attempted to laugh it off.

"Hadley, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask." Liv reassured him.

"Ooooh!" Talia got up from the table and presented her diabolical plan with a not-entirely-sane grin. "We'll break his legs!"

"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."

They all looked over as the laughing grew louder, mixed in with cries of pain from the rabbit girl when one of her ears was tugged on by Pulse.

"Ow! That hurts!" She stopped struggling and grimaced as she said: "Please, stop..."

Pulse continued laughing as he turned to his cronies. "I told you it was real!"

"What a freak!" A boy with brown curly hair was still guffawing with his teammates.

Pulse finally relented, and the girl stood up and hurried off, her head bowed and hiding her face from the watching table of the eight.

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him." Liv remarked.

Mihaly was staring daggers. "He's not the only one..."

Brezziana had a sad expression, leaning her head on her hand. "It must be hard to be a Faunus."

Having gotten up from the table, Hadley looked back at his friends and sighed to himself before moving on with his tray table. He didn't realize that Pulse was watching his walk of shame with a sinister grin.

Chapter Text

A uniformed, sleeping Hadley had his head resting in his hands while a fast-talking teacher was in the middle of his hyperactive lecture, educating Jack, Mihaly, Liv, the blue-haired girl from before, known to be named Magma, and a leaned-back Pulse directly behind Hadley.

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution -more popularly known as the Faunus War-" In front of the class there was a map covered in papers behind his desk. "Humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." He pointed at the map of said area with his stick, then zooms off to the side for a sip of his coffee before appearing in front of the desk. "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" He went around the classroom more, sipping his coffee again before continuing to and talk. "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

Some of the students raised their hands. Magma, after a moment, did the same.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" He took another sip of his coffee. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?" 

A hand was raised.

"Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle!" Jack answered.

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Unseen by the professor, Pulse flicked a paper ball at Hadley's head, causing him to wake up.

"Hey!"

The teacher went over to Hadley's face. "Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"

"Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... that the Faunus..." 

He looked behind the teacher's focused face at Liv, who coughed and motions to her lips as she gave him the answer.

"...had over that guy's stuff..." 

He saw Liv cup her hands around her eyes and went for the most obvious answer.

"Uhh... Binoculars!"

While Hadley looked pleased with his answer, the class laughed at him and the teacher, back at the front of the class, sipped his coffee. Liv sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead as Pulse pounded his fist on his desk while chortling.

The teacher went back behind his desk. "Very funny, Mr. Arc! Pulse! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier."

The teacher shook his head.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Pulse?" Liv asked him.

"What? You got a problem?"

"No, I have the answer! It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark."

Pulse growled at the correct response.

Mihaly continued. "General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." They turned to Pulse. "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

Pulse got up from his seat, fist clenched.

"Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat." 

Hadley laughed at his tormentor's embarrassment.

"You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." He took yet another sip of his coffee.

Hadley's shoulders slumped. "Oohhhh..."

"Now! Moving on!"

When the lesson ended, Liv, Talia and Blake came out of the classroom, only for Liv to stop near the doorway.

"You go on ahead. I'll wait for Hadley." They looked back inside as the after-class talk occured to the two boys.

The teacher sipped his coffee. "You two have been struggling in my class since day one! Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest, or just your stubborn nature, but whatever it is..." He took a longer sip of coffee. "It stops now! You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school, and we only accept the best of the best, so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it... you're destined to repeat it. Pages fifty-one to ninety-one! I want an essay on my desk by next class! Now! Run along."

With that, he went out of the classroom and past a waiting Liv in a blur. Hadley came out first, and Pulse emerged behind him, pushing him to the ground and emitting an "Ow!" from him that made the bully laugh before walking away.

Liv pulled Hadley back on his feet. "You know, I really will break his legs." 

Hadley sighed, and Liv looked like she was struck by inspiration. "I have an idea! Here, come with me!" 

She grabbed a confused Jaune by the arm and dragged him along as she turned down the corridor.

A dejected Hadley and Liv came onto a rooftop of one of the buildings, with a clear view of the glowing green orbs in the central tower of Beacon.

"Liv, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not that depressed." He looked over the edge of the roof, to the confusion of Liv. "I can always be a farmer or something..."

Realization hit the girl with horror. "N-n-no!" She dashed to push Hadley away from the edge. "That's not why I brought you up here! Hadley, I know you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so... I want to help you!"

"Wh-what?"

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!"

"You think I need help?"

"N-no! No, that's not what I meant."

"But you just said it."

"Hadley, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

He turned away from her, lowering his head and voice. "You're wrong. I-I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say! Of course you do!"

He turned back around, now angry. "No, I don't!" He sighed as Liv looked bewildered and he reveals the truth. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon..." He turned his back to her so he didn't have to face her.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

Hadley's voice went higher and higher as he confessed. "I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests, I didn't earn my spot at this Academy!" He looked at her again. "I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied!"

"What? But... why?"

"'Cause this is always what I've wanted to be!" He turned away again. "My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."

Liv approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Then let me help you!"

He suddenly turned on her with mad frustration. "I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

"Hadley, I-"

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own... then what good am I?"

Liv attempted to reach out for his arm and console him, but he leaned back from her touch.

"Just... leave me alone, okay?"

Liv's head was bowed, sad. "If that's what you think is best..."

She walked away, her footsteps getting softer and softer until she left the roof. Hadley paced a little.

Lying about getting into an academy such as Beacon was bad, sure, but what else could he do? He wanted to be a hero, he wanted to help others...

He heard a mocking laugh and someone appeared on the roof from his window.

"Oh, Hadley..."

He looked behind him at his bully. "Pulse!"

"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room. So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I gotta say, Hadley, I never expected you to be such a rebel!"

Hadley took on a begging tone. "Please, Pulse, please, don't tell anyone!"

"Hadley, come on! I'd never rat on a friend like that!"

Hadley approached. "A... a friend?"

"Of course!" He trapped him in a headlock under his arm despite his struggling. "We're friends now, Haddy boy. And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." He finally released Hadley, who gasped as he leaned on the ground. "That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings the teacher gave us today. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" He leaned down to rub Hadley's hair and got up with a grin. "That's what I thought."

He headed back to hang onto the edge. "Don't worry, Hads; your secret's safe with me."

Pulse dropped back down to his room as Hadley rubbed his neck in pain and worry. 

Chapter Text

In the student dorms, Liv was looking out the window sadly as Blake loaded StormFlower and Talia was jumping on her bed in the room of Team HTLB.

"How come Hadley gets home so late?" Talia asked.

"He's become rather scarce since he started fraternizing with Pulse." Blake pointed out.

"That's weird... Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!" She proclaimed this while twirling in midair so her back hit the covers.

"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing." Liv said angrily.

Talia and Blake exchanged glances, not knowing that Hadley himself was looking in through the crack of the door.

"Mmmm... I guess so." Talia said.

Hadley hangs his head and closed the door, just as a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey Hadley!"

Startled, Hadley turned around to see Wanderlust in his pyjamas, and he giggled at his reaction. 

"Long time no see! Did you lock yourself out again?"

"Oh, uh, nope!" He raised his Scroll, attempting to laugh. "Got it!"

"So! Where have you been lately?"

"I, uh..." He tried to come up with something, but just sighed and lowered his head. "I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have, and now Pulse has me on a leash, and Liv won't even talk to me, and..." He breathed heavily through his nose. "I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea."

He pressed his back to his team's door and slid down to the floor in depression. "I'm a failure."

"Nope!"

He looked at the younger boy in surprise. "Nope?"

"Nope! You're a leader now, Hadley. You're not allowed to be a failure."

"But... what if I'm a failure at being a leader?"

Wanderlust thought about it for a moment, then gave his answer. "Nope!"

Hadley laughed as Wanderlust joined him on the floor. "You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."

"Nope!"

Hadley leaned into the door some more.

"Hadley, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid..."

He groaned and sunk lower to the ground. 

"...and you might've even been a failure the first day we met!"

He groaned and went lower still.

"But you can't be one now. You know why?"

"Uhhh, because...?"

"Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Hadley. We both do! And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us."

He got up and placed his hands on his hips as he spoke. "We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Hadley. And I think that can be you." He walked over to his door and opened it as Hadley, now slightly inspired by his words, watched him wave. "Have a good night, Hads!" He went inside.

With new energy, Hadley pushed himself off the ground and faced the door, ready to turn the knob and face his team, but his Scroll beeped and he pulled it off of his side to open it, seeing Pulse's contact relaying a message.

Hey! It's your buddy Pulse! I know you're probably busy with that Dust project I gave you, buuuut I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier Wasps.

Hadley made a terrified sound.

And make sure they've got some really big stingers! It's important, so don't screw this up!

He closed his Scroll just when it began to beep again. Sighing, he wearily headed down the hallway and away from his room.

Next day, Felicia was leading teams WJMB, HTLB and PHLG through a forest bustling with red leaves and grey trunks.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sightsee. Your teacher has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

The group stopped, and Hadley, grunting and carrying a large case with six empty glass jars on top, tried to catch up with them and ended up bumping into Pulse. The bully scowled at him, who attempted to feign innocence by whistling tunelessly.

Felicia was still instructing her group, holding up a full jar of their objective. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun."

While Brezziana and her brother smiled at one another, Hadley attempted to noisily sneak away from Pulse to his team, but he saw this and grabbed him by the back.

"Come on, buddy- let's go!"

Hadley miserably looked up at his team, where Talia and Blake were already walking into the forest's depths and Liv was staring sadly at the scene. Dropping his gaze, he turned and followed PHLG, to the disappointment of a sighing Liv before she continued on.

Team PHLG was making themselves as comfortable as possible by leaning on stones, trees, and the ground while Hadley returned to the group with six full jars, setting them down just as he collapsed face-down. The surrounding team got up in response.

"Hey, great work, Hadley boy! Now that wasn't too hard, was it?"

He was still on the ground, cross-eyed and sounding dizzy. "I think I'm allergic to this stuff..."

"Greeeeat, great, great. So, Hads, I bet you're asking yourself, Why did my buddy Pulse ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?"

Hadley nodded, still exhausted. "That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."

"Well, come with me, and you'll find out."

Hadley sat up and gulped in worry.

Now perched on a hilltop overlooking the other students, team PHLG -plus Hadley, squeezed between Pulse and another boy, Haze- peaked their heads over the crest and watched as everyone was retrieving their samples of sap. 

Blake, kneeling to collect it from a tree, passed a full jar to Talia, who "Mmmm!"ed at the gift as Blake traded it for the other jar in her care. He turned back to the tree and started filling it up while several licking sounds are heard until he looked back at Talia, now with an embarrassed smile covered in red and an empty jar in her hands.

Hadley turned to his left. "Pulse, wh-what's going on?"

Pulse was still staring at the unsuspecting group sharply. "Payback."

Hadley widened his eyes in understanding. "Liv...?" He watched her gather more sap from a tree. "Wh-what are you-?"

Pulse pounded his fist on the ground. "That's the girl. Black-haired know-it-all, thinks she's so smart. Alright, boys..."

He pulled out a buzzing cardboard box with a large "W" written on its sides. "Last night, old Hadley here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work."

Haze grabbed Hadley by the shoulder, who barely laughed in nervousness.

Pulse went on. "Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things loooove sweets." 

Liv was finishing her sap collection. 

"I'm thinking it's time we teach her a thing or two."

The members of PHLG got up. Pulse offered his hand to Hadley, only to painfully yank him up on his feet and shove the jar into his grasp.

"And you're gonna do it.

"Do what?"

"Hit her with the sap!" He leaned in close to his face. "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

Hadley looked down at the jar of sap in his hands and then up at the four grinning teammates waiting to see what happened. He turned towards the group and aimed his throw at an oblivious and smiling Liv, trying to steel his nerves and shaking hand to do the deed, but ultimately steeled himself for what he was about to do.

"No."

"What did you say?"

He was gripping the jar tightly. "I said... NO!"

He turned and threw the jar at Pulse, instantly recoiling his hands to himself as he looked at Pulse's breastplate covered in sap. The other team leader, however, just looked at himself and laughed darkly.

"Oh, you've done it now..."

Hadley humorously laughed to himself once more with his hands still raised in an attempt for defense and terrified eyes as two of the boys, Gray and Joy-Ce, grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in.

Chapter Text

Hadley got pushed to the ground, groaning as he looked up and saw a sap-covered Pulse looming over him. The bigger warrior picked him up by his front and grinned while punching him back to the ground.

"You know that wasn't very smart, Haddy boy." He picked up a bruised Hadley again while the rest of Team PHLG watched. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny pieces."

Hadley's head was hanging back. "I don't care what you do to me..." He looked at Pulse with fury. "...but you are not messing with my team."

Pulse looked momentarily shocked. "What? You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?"

Hadley smiled in defiance. 

An enraged Pulse roared and raised his fist again, but just as the hit connected, a bright light shone from Hadley, and when the white faded, Pulse was crying out in pain as he held his hand. Hadley, now back on the ground but completely healed, looked confusedly at his hands as they faintly glew white. While he stared, though, Joy-Ce kicked him in the back and got him on his stomach, but he looked up and glared at the approaching Pulse.

"Let's see how much of a man you really are..."

Just as he said this, a low growl was heard, and a surprised Team PHLG turned around and saw a large paw crash onto the scene, belonging to a huge Ursa Major with dozens of jagged spikes sticking out from its wide back. It leapt forward and stood over the terrified students, lifting its head in the air to smell the sap on Pulse's breastplate. It landed back on its forelegs and roared at Pulse while his teammates heroically fled.

"That's a big Ursa!" Haze yelled.

Pulse was rooted to the spot when the Grimm swinged its claws and knocked him sideways, revealing Hadley cowering behind him. The Ursa continued to sniff, uninterested in Hadley and following its nose to Pulse. He watched as it towered over Pulse, who got his wits and pulled out The Executioner only for the monster to swipe it away to Hadley's feet. He looked conflicted, wondering whether to fight or run away.

Meanwhile, the roar of the giant Ursa was heard by the members of Teams WJMB and HTLB, still collecting sap on the other side of the forest.

Wanderlust got up, concerned. "Did you guys hear that?"

Suddenly, they saw the remaining members of Team PHLG running the other way from the roar through the other students.

"Ursa! Ursa!" Haze accidentally ran into Brezziana.

"What?!" Completely unfazed by his collision, she picked him up by the front of his shirt. "Where?"

Haze was struggling and still running in air, but pointed back from where they came. "Back there! It's got Pulse!"

Liv dropped her jar of sap. "Hadley!"

"Brezziana! You and Mihaly, go get Professor Goodwitch!" Wanderlust went into leader mode. Dropping Haze, Brezziana and Mihaly nodded before following the orders.

Liv turned to Blake and Talia as she and Wanderlust activated their weapons. "You two, go with them! There could be more!"

Pulse was attempting to run from the following Ursa, but it leapt over its prey and clawed him away. He tried to get up and crawl away.

"Crap! Crap, crap!"

Liv, Wanderlust and Jack came onto the scene. "Oh no!"

They watched as the Ursa leaned over the helpless victim, raising its paw and swiping it down... only to be blocked by Hadley's shield, Crocea Mors. He struggled to defend a stunned Pulse from its attempts to lean on him, but Jack lifted Myrtenaster as he prepared to go help.

"Wait!" Liv called out to Jack.

Hadley took the shield out from the Ursa's paw and slashed at its stomach, causing it to lash out and try to crush him. He rolled out of the way and jumped over its swipe at his feet, but was unprepared for when it launched a claw at him in midair. He landed far away, yet was immediately back on his feet and passing Pulse as he charged again. The Ursa knocked Hadley behind it when he tried for a leaping attack, and he looked at the Scroll in his shield to find out that his Aura level was in the red. He grew angry again and started to run at the Ursa as it also began to dash towards him.

As they were just about to clash in slow motion, Liv saw that Hadley had left himself completely open to the Ursa's attack, and lifted her hand out to him, gathering dark red energy in her arm. Just as the Ursa was about to hit him, the glow surrounded his shield and made it lift up to block the swipe. Hadley used the surprise defensive move to lean on the ground, push his shield back up, and swing his blade right through the Ursa's neck. The head fell as the body slammed onto the ground.

Liv's hand stopped glowing and she smiled. 

"Uhhh... What?" Wanderlust asked?

"How did you...?" Jack was equally amazed.

"Well, Wander has his speed, you have your glyphs. My Semblance is polarity."

"You can control poles..."

"No, you dunce! It means she has control over magnetism!"

"Magnets are cool, too..." Wanderlust whispered, still impressed.

Jack noticed Liv start to leave. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Yeah! We gotta tell them what happened!"

"We could... Or perhaps we could keep it our little secret?" 

She walked away again as the partners smiled to each other in understanding and a bruised Hadley sheathed his weapon before going over to Pulse.

The latter, still covered in sap, looked up at Hadley as his savior offers a hand. He smiled as he took it and was lifted back up on his feet.

"Holy crap, Hads!"

"Don't ever mess with my team -my friends- ever again." Hadley stared Pulse dead in the eye, threateningly. "Got it?"

Pulse looked intimidated, possibly even apologetic. With his order spoken, Hadley turned and walked away from a frozen Pulse.

Later that night, on top of the dorm building, a uniformed Hadley stood on the edge and looked into the distance at the green lights of Beacon.

"No Pulse tonight?"

Liv walked to his side. "I thought you two were best buds?"

He turned to her. "Liv... I'm sorry. I was a jerk! You were only trying to be nice, and... I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head-"

"Hadley! It's okay!"

They smiled at one another.

"Your team really misses their leader, you know." She began to walk to the exit. "You should come down! Blake made pancakes! No syrup, though- you can thank Talia for that.

Hadley smiled, but held out his hand and called out: "Wait!" 

She turned around, him looking sheepish.

"I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but... would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?"

Liv turned around so a worried Hadley wouldn't see her satisfied smile. She went up to him and suddenly pushed her leader to the ground.

"Hey!" Hadley whined.

Liv was standing over him with her arms on her hips and an evaluating tone. "Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." 

She offered him her hand, which he graciously accepted, and they continued to hold onto and grin at each other. 

"Let's try that again."

Chapter Text

The streets of Vale were being decorated in time for the Vytal Festival. Red, yellow and green streamers and balloons were proudly on display, and Team WJMB was strolling through it all with an awed Jack in the front. A sign was being put up that read in bright red letters "WELCOME TO VALE!" for all the foreign newcomers from their respective kingdoms of Remnant.

Jack stopped and raised his arms in amazement. "The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!"

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Jack." Wanderlust frowned a little. "It's kinda weirding me out..."

Jack turned to him. "How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"

They continued walking.

Brezziana sighed, arms crossed. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."

"Quiet, you!"

They stopped near the docks to the sounds of foghorns. 

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"

Her brother covered his nose. "Ugh, they smell like fish!"

"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!"

Jack started walking away again.

"He wants to spy on them so he'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Mihaly assumed.

Jack scoffed. "You can't prove that!"

"Whoa." Wanderlust turned his head to the right.

The team looked at a shattered window down the street and a door full of yellow caution tape of the Vale Police Force before walking over to the detective in front, who was writing on a pad. 

"What happened here?"

"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He walked over to his partner.

Brezziana sighed sadly. "That's terrible."

The detectives were still speaking. 

"They left all the money again."

Wanderlust turned his head when he heard this. "Huh?"

"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?"

"I don't know, an army?"

"You thinking the uh, White Fang?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough." 

"Hmph! The White Fang." Jack crossed his arms and pointed his nose in the air with his eyes closed. "What an awful bunch of degenerates!"

"What's your problem?"

Jack turned to Mihaly. "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths." They crossed their arms, getting serious. "They're a collection of misguided Faunus."

"Misguided? They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!"

"So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"

"Hmm... Mihaly's got a point." Wanderlust interrupted. "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick lady I ran into a few months ago... Maybe it was her?"

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Jack said to Mihaly's growing anger. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"That's not necessarily true..."

"Hey, stop that Faunus!"

As the team overheard the cry for help and rushed over to investigate, they saw a Faunus with a dark monkey tail and two buns running down the length of the boat and leaping on to the edge as the two sailors were about to apprehend her.

She looked back at her pursuers. "Thanks for the ride, guys! Haha!" She jumped off and hit the dock running.

"You no-good stowaway!"

She was using her tail to hang on a lamppost while she peeled back a banana. "Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" Before she ate, one of the detectives down below threw a stone at her to get her attention.

"Hey! Get down from there this instant!"

She dropped the banana peel on the detective's face, who growled in return. The monkey-like Faunus twirled up to crouch on the lamppost, laughed in amusement, and proceeded to leap off and run away from the detectives. As she ran past Team WJMB, she winked at an astonished Mihaly before she continued to be chased by the officers.

"Well, Jack, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes..." Brezziana said, watching the Faunus get farther and farther away.

Jack held up a finger. "Quick! We have to observe her!"

Jack and the siblings gave chase. Mihaly stood still, lost in thought. What had just happened?

They then came back to reality and followed their friends. The team rounded the next corner, but then Jack bumped into someone and tripped. He looked up only to see the girl jump on to a building and disappear from his view.

"No, she got away!"

"Uhh... Jack?" Brezziana pointed strangely at the girl underneath her teammate.

Jack finally saw that he'd fallen on a smiling girl with blue hair and pink streaks, which startled the heir and he hastily got up.

The girl was still down on the ground, smiling widely.

"Sal-u-tations!" 

"Um... hello."

"Are you... okay?"

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking."

The team looked at each other in bewilderment before Brezziana spoke again.

"Do you... wanna get up?"

The girl thought about this for a moment. "Yes!"

She leapt back on her feet while the team stepped back a little. 

"My name is Sara! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hi Sara, I'm Wanderlust!"

"I'm Jack."

"Mihaly."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Mihaly hit her side. "Oh, I'm Brezziana."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"You already said that." Jack pointed out.

Sara paused again. "So I did!"

"Well, sorry for running into you!" They turned around and start walking away.

Wanderlust waved his arm. "Take care, friend!"

They got far enough from a startled Sara.

"She was... weird..." Brezziana spoke.

Jack was looking to his right. "Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?"

Sara was suddenly in front of a surprised Jack. "What did you call me?"

Jack looked back and forth in shock and Brezziana looked apologetic. "Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!"

"No, not you." She walked through the group and leaned her head down to Wanderlust. "You!"

The boy was startled. "Me? I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh..."

"You called me friend! Am I really your friend?"

"Uuuum..."

He looked over Sara's shoulder while his teammates motioned to deny her. 

"Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?"

His teammates comically fainted, but Sara looked overjoyed and laughed.

"Sen-sational! We can buy stuff, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

Wanderlust groaned to Jack as he brushed himself off. "Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?"

"No- she seems far more coordinated."

"So... what are you doing in Vale?" Brezziana asked Sara.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament!"

"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Jack said, confused.

"I'm combat ready!" Sara replied, saluting.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

"Says the boy wearing jeans." Mihaly commented.

Jack crossed his arms. "They're combat shorts!"

The shorts brother speeded over to Jack's side. "Yeah!" Jack held out his hand and Wanderlust low-fived it.

Realization hit Jack. "Wait a minute."

He walked over to Sara and grabbed her by the shoulders. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?"

"The who...?"

He held up a a poor drawing of the criminal-in-question. "The filthy Faunus from the boat!"

"Why do you keep saying that?!"

Jack turned his attention from Sara to Mihaly. "Huh?"

Mihaly walked over to him, angry. "Stop calling her a rapscallion! Stop calling her a degenerate! She's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jack released Sara and motioned to objects around him. "Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"Stop it!"

"Stop what? She clearly broke the law. Give her time, she'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!

Mihaly growled, clenching their fist. "You ignorant little brat!"

Jack looked offended, but when Mihaly walked away, he followed. "How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!"

"You are a judgmental little boy."

"What in the world makes you say that?"

"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus girl with a terrorist group solely based on her species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe her to be!"

Brezziana slid up to Wanderlust, looking uncomfortable. "Um, I think we should probably go..."

Sara popped up behind him, smiling. "Where are we going?"

"So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!"

"That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

As the siblings continued to observe, it had gotten from afternoon near the docks to nighttime in their dormroom.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"

"That is the problem!"

Jack got up from his bed. "You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

Mihaly got on their feet as well. "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Pulse, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like me?"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!"

As they stared each other down in silence, Jack leaned in close, leering as he spoke quietly. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?"

He leaned against the bookshelf by the window. 

"It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members, executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my mother would come home furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." He banged his fist on the bookshelf.

Wanderlust went to comfort him. "Jack, I-"

"No!" He turned away and walked back over to Mihaly. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"Well, maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

Silence dropped down on the scene again.

A surprised Jack backed away slowly, and Mihaly realized their mistake as they looked around at their teammates.

"I... I..."

They dashed out the door.

"Mihaly, wait! Come back!" Wanderlust ran over to the door and called to them down the hallway as Brezziana sat herself down and Jack looked down.

Mihaly ran outside and arrived at a statue of an armored man with a sword and a hooded woman wielding an axe on an outcropping, staring at the Beowolf under the stone heroes in particular.

They had done it.

Again. 

The secret was out. They'd spent a lot of time in the organization thinking against humans, but they actually managed to fit in with some.

Well, up until now.

How would they react? Jack was super prejudiced, they'd seen that. How about the siblings? Would they be any different?

That wasn't even the worst thing.

They had run away.

Again.

When they realized one of the people most important to them was now a monster, they'd done the same.

They'd ran.

Like a coward.

And look where they are now, running away again.

Even their Semblance.

Creating a shadow clone that takes the hit for you while you escape.

How cowardly.

Mihaly wanted to be a Hunter. They'd wanted this for a while now, and had become super hopeful upon seeing their Beacon Notice of Acceptance. But Huntsmen and Huntresses slayed beasts, the Grimm. So, where did that put them?

They closed their eyes and slowly lifted their arms up to their bow and pulled the string to release the bow from their hair. They wiped away a tear, a pair of cat ears atop their head, now revealed. 

"I knew you would look better without the bow."

On the verge of crying, they became startled when they heard the voice above them. They turned around and looked up.

It was morning at Beacon. Wanderlust woke up from his sleep, yawning in the process.

He looked over at Mihaly's empty bunk and groaned sadly.

Some hours later, Wanderlust, Jack and Brezziana were walking through the empty streets of Vale.

"They've been gone all weekend..."

"Mihaly's a big kid, I'm sure they can handle themselves!"

"Jack, come on. They're one of our teammates." Brezziana scolded him.

"Are they? We all heard what they said!"

"Jack."

"Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Either way, they're missing, and we need to find them."

"A member of the White Fang! Right underneath our noses!"

"I just hope they're okay..."

Elsewhere, Mihaly was sipping a cup of tea and sighing. They looked up at the monkey Faunus from before sitting across from them, who held her drink with her tail as her hand propped her head up. 

She took a sip when Mihaly put their cup down.

"So, you want to know more about me..."

They looked at her intently.

Chapter Text

"Finally, they speak! Nearly two days and you've given me nothing but small talk and weird looks!"

Mihaly gave her a firm look.

"Yeah, like that."

They rolled their eyes before closing them and looking at her sadly.

"Phoenix... Are you familiar with the White Fang?"

"Of course! I don't think there's a Faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid holier-than-thou creeps that use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks, if you ask me!"

Mihaly sipped their drink while listening until they spoke up. "I was once a member of the White Fang."

Phoenix promptly went cross-eyed and choked on her drink, making her put it down and wipe her mouth as she held up a hand to process this information. "Wait a minute, you were a member of the White Fang?!"

"That's right. I was a member for most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it..."

"Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between Humans and the Faunus. Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. And I was there. I was at the front of every rally, I took part in every boycott, and I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist. Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor, and the worst part was, it was working. We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect... out of fear."

Mihaly put down their teacup in front of a stunned Phoenix.

"So, I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence, and instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Hunter. So here I am: a criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow."

They wiggled their cat ears beneath the bow disguise to demonstrate.

Phoenix was coming to terms with this. "So... have you told your friends any of this?"

Mihaly merely looked down in shame closing their eyes and said nothing.

"Mihaaaaly!"

"Mihaaaaly!"

The rest of Team WJMB were walking through town and calling in vain for their missing teammate.

"Mihaaaaaaaaly! Where aaaare yoooouuuu?!"

"Mihaly!"

Wanderlust turned to his partner. "Jaaack, you're not helping!"

"Oh! You know what might be able to help? The police!"

He crossed his arms in irritation. "Ugh, Jack..."

"It was just an idea!"

Wanderlust continued walking down the sidewalk. "Yeah, a bad one."

Brezziana followed behind. "Jack, I think we should hear their side of the story before we jump to any conclusions."

Jack followed behind her. "I think that when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right!"

"And I think Jack's hair looks wonderful today!"

They turned around suddenly in surprise.

"Aaaah! Sara! Where did you come from?!"

She cheerfully ignored the question. "Hey guys! What are you up to?"

"Uhh..."

"We're looking for our friend Mihaly."

"Ooooh, you mean the Faunus one!"

The three stared at Sara.

"Wait, how did you know that?"

"Uhh, the cat ears?" She pointed to her head.

Brezziana laughed a little. "What cat ears? They wear a... booooowww..."

The realization left them in silence as a tumbleweed blew through in the wind.

"They do like tuna a lot..." Her brother whispered.

"So, where are they?" Sara asked.

"We don't know. They've been missing since Friday."

Sara gasped. "That's terrible!" She approached an uncomfortable Wanderlust. "Well, don't you worry Wander, my friend, I won't rest until we find your teammate!"

Wanderlust did his best to continue smiling. "Uh, that's really nice of you, Sara, but we're okay! Really! Right, guys?"

He looked over Sara to direct his question at Brezziana and Jack, who had suddenly departured from the company of the strange girl. Another tumbleweed blew past them again in the quiet.

"It sure is windy today!"

Phoenix and Mihaly were walking down an alley.

"So, what's the plan now?" Phoenix asked, hands behind her head.

"I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed that much Dust before." Mihaly contemplated.

Phoenix widened her eyes. "What if they did?" She lowered her arms and paced in front of Mihaly as she continued her theory. "I mean... the only way to prove that they didn't do it, is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it, and not find them there! Right?"

"The only thing is, I've no idea where that would be."

"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas."

"How huge?"

"Huge. Big Schnee Company freighter."

"You're sure?"

Brezziana came out of a shop with Jack, waving to the person inside.

"Thanks anyways!"

She sighed.

"This is hopeless. You really don't care if we find them, do you?"

"Don't be stupid; of course I do. I'm just afraid of what they'll say when we find them." He walked forward. "The innocent never run, Brezziana!"

Brezziana looked down in thought.

"So, Mihaly is your friend?"

Wanderlust sighed as they make their way down the sidewalk. "Yes, Sara."

"But you're mad at them?"

"Yes. Well, I'm not. Jack is."

"Is he friends with Mihaly?"

"Well, that's kind of up in the air right now..." 

"But why?" Sara was trying to contemplate this.

Wanderlust sighed again. "Well, you see, Mihaly might not be who we thought they were..."

Sara gasped. "Are they a man?"

"No! No, Sara. They're..." He stopped and sighed, looking at Sara. "I don't know what they are. They didn't exactly talk to us before they decided to run off."

"I don't have a lot of friends, but if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things.

He turned his gaze downward sadly. "Me too..."

They continued walking.

Amidst the chirping of crickets and darkness of night, Mihaly laid flat on their stomach on the rooftop overlooking the shipment of Schnee Dust containers.

"Did I miss anything?"

They looked up as Phoenix dropped down to their right. 

"Not really. They've offloaded the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there."

"Cool." She held out one of the green apples in her arms. "I stole you some food!"

They gave her a questioning look. "Do you always break the law without a second thought?"

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" 

Mihaly delivered an angry glare at her.

"Okay, too soon!"

Just as she said this, the wind blew all around them, and they looked up to see a Bullhead's searchlights flashing around for a landing spot, descending in the middle of the cargo containers and extending a ramp for a black hooded individual with a metallic fanged mask to come out of.

"Oh no..."

"Is that them?"

Mihaly stared at the bloody wolf on the back of the man's outfit.

"Yes... It's them."

"All right, grab the tow cables!" The man told the other White Fang members coming out.

"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?"

Mihaly was staring sadly at the scene. "No. I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right." They closed their eyes in despair, only to open them suddenly when they heard a new voice.

"Hey! What's the holdup?!"

The soldiers looked up at Amanita gesturing widely and coming down the ramp. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

"This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a Human. Especially not one like that."

They stood up and unsheathed the katana of Gambol Shroud before walking off the edge of the roof.

Phoenix was alarmed. "Hey, what are you doing?!"

Mihaly fell to the ground in a crouch, then continued on to hide behind one of the containers, peeking around the corner to see Amanita berate a White Fang member holding a coil of rope.

"No, you idiot! This isn't a leash!"

As she was looking around, Mihaly suddenly appeared behind her with their blade at her throat.

"What the- Oh, for f-" She rolled her eyes when she was cut off by Mihaly mid-swear.

"Nobody move!"

The White Fang soldiers readied their guns and equip their swords in response.

"Whoa! Take it easy there, little one."

As the White Fang closed in on them, Mihaly used their free hand to go for their bow and remove it, causing the ribbon to fall away as their Faunus ears were shown to the world.

"Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?"

The White Fang members lowered their weapons a little at this development, unsure of what to do, when Amanita laughed.

"Oh, kid, didn't you get the memo?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together!"

"Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation."

Suddenly, the air was filled with more turbines blowing the wind wildly around the holdup.

Amanita looked up. "I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation..."

Two more Bullheads were hovering above the heist, and as Mihaly watched in horror, Amanita smiled and managed to fire her cane at Mihaly's feet, resulting in a large explosion.

Sara and Wanderlust turned around upon hearing the noise, seeing the smoke rise from the docking bay just a few buildings away.

"Oh no..."

Mihaly, dazed but relatively unhurt on the ground, quickly rolled and ran out of the way of Amanita's continued attacks, flaming missiles destroying cargo behind them as they flipped and used their Semblance to dodge then retreated behind more containers.

Amanita approached slowly. "Here, kitty kitty..."

Her taunt was interrupted when a banana peel landed on her head, causing her to toss it aside then look up and growl at the assailant eyes widening.

"Woohoo!"

Phoenix leapt from the container above her and dropped down on the criminal's face feet-first, rolling up and readying herself to fight.

"Leave them alone!"

The Bullheads opened to let more White Fang members descend on the scene, standing by Amanita as she got up and surrounding Phoenix.

"You are not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you, kid?"

With that said, the White Fang charged at the monkey Faunus, but she managed to dodge slashes and get some of the soldiers with her fists and kicks until she rolled out of the way of one's sword.

"Haha!"

Pulling out a collapsible red staff, she quickly used it to beat down on each opponent near her, felling each one in a single flaming blow when she twirled it around, even creating a scorching shockwave to beat the last of them.

Mihaly peered around the corner of the container to watch Phoenix jump around and beat another White Fang soldier, landing on his back and causing him to fly over toward Amanita's head. The crime boss ducked then growled in annoyance and aimed her cane at Phoenix, firing a shot that she defended herself from just when Mihaly leapt into the action.

"She's mine!"

They went in close and became a blur of afterimages as they slashed both blades at Amanita, who backed away and deflected each would-be blow with her cane at unbelievable speeds. Mihaly continued to dash, hop over, and slide around her to try and find a weak spot, finally landing a blow after using their Semblance but she quickly recovered, deflecting several more attacks before attempting to punch them in the face, only to hit a clone as they flipped away. The two clashed weapons again, then she jabbed them in the side.

"Hahaha!" She landed a few more hits on them until one final beating to the head with her cane caused them to go down.

Just as she'd dealt with one opponent, Phoenix appeared right behind her. Vaulting over Mihaly, she kicked Amanita in the chest and disconnected her staff into two spinning circles of flame-firing shotgun nunchucks that only slowed down once to show the audience what they were before becoming twin arcs of offense again. She swinged each gun at Amanita while firing everything she had at her, but even with the rapid series of shots and flying bullets, Amanita managed to defend herself against every bullet and hit until a millisecond-long pause allowed Mihaly to get a slash in and knock her back.

On her back, she noticed a container hanging by a crane right above the two warriors, and got up to fire her cane at its supports. Mihaly leapt behind it, but Phoenix barely missed when she jumped forward, ending up right below the nozzle of the cane. Just as Amanita was about to fire, her and Phoenix's attention were drawn to a familiar voice.

"Hey!"

Wanderlust appeared on the rooftop overlooking them, Crescent Rose extended and ready for action.

Amanita lost interest in Phoenix, waving.

"Well, hello, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?"

Sara approached him. "Wander, are these people your friends?"

"Sara, get back!" 

While his attention was diverted, Amanita snarled and fired his cane at him, launching the young Huntsman-in-training back from the explosion's force and sending his scythe flying away. 

"AAAAAH!"

She gave off a professional-level evil laugh at her attack on the young boy. Sara turned her head toward the criminal and gave her first glare, walking forward while the boy tried to get back up.

"Sara, wait! Stop!" He raised his hand in a futile attempt to stop her.

"Don't worry, Wanderlust. I'm combat ready!"

Her backpack mechanically opened up, and from its dark depths came a single sword that extended and multiplied into several blades hovering over her back. Leaping from the rooftop with the weapons acting as wings, she sent three of her swords to knock two White Fang soldiers down before even landing on the ground, where she proceeded to fling the swords at one enemy, impale another to a wall, create a barrier of spinning steel against a running attack, leaping over a goon with her swords in tow, and finally making a wheel that she threw to knock multiple Faunus off their feet.

Phoenix was observing the spectacle in amazement. "Whoa!" She ran off to safety.

Three Bullheads come from the skies and opened fire on the battle, but Sara merely formed a shield and launched two of her swords into the wall behind her, which in turn pulled their wielder back with their strings. When her swords swirled around her again, she commanded them to open their points and build up a large glowing ball of green light. With a punching action, several bright lasers cracked the pavement when they fired at the transports and sliced each one in half, causing several of the White Fang members inside to fall and letting Wanderlust watch as Bullheads fell in pieces behind him.

Stunned, he turned back to Sara as she aimed her swords at the remaining Bullheads holding the crate of Dust and pulled back on their wires, tugging the aircraft with them.

"Whoa... How is she doing that?" 

Seeing the Bullhead's flight fall under Sara's control, Amanita grimaced and turned to run towards the last transport.

Sara, after her large green pupils dilated for a second, pulled with all her might on the strings, and the aircraft crashed into a stack of crates, causing an explosion as a result.

Amanita was watching from the safety of her escape.

"These kids just keep getting weirder..."

With her observation made, she used her cane to close the doors and the jet lifted off, flying away from the lost battle.

Later, a handful of police cars were at the docks, where Wanderlust, Mihaly, Phoenix and Sara were sitting on boxes in silence. That was, until Jack and Brezziana appeared on the scene.

Wanderlust spoke quickly to explain the situation. "Look Jack, it's not what you think, they explained the whole thing. See, they don't actually have a bow, they have kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute..."

Jack ignored him and squared off with Mihaly.

Mihaly calmly looked him down. "Jack, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-"

"Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you?"

He paused.

"Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided...

Brezziana, Phoenix and Wanderlust looked on, worried.

"I don't care."

"You don't care?" Mihaly was surprised.

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

"Ah-bahp-bahp-bahp!" He silenced them. "I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..." He looked at Phoenix behind them as he caught himself. "Someone else."

Mihaly looked at the siblings grinning at them and wiped a tear from their eye, nodding. "Of course."

Jack smiled and nodded. The moment was serious for a second more until Wanderlust waved his arms and screamed:

"Yeah! Team WJMB is back together!"

Jack pointed accusingly at Phoenix. "I'm still not quite sure about how I feel about you!" 

Phoenix laughed nervously.

"Hey, wait a minute... Where's Sara?" Wanderlust looked around.

From the darkened backseat of a limo, Sara watched the group of friends reuniting with each other.

"You should know better than to go running around in a strange city."

She lowered her head, sadly. "I know, sir."

The car drove off from the scene.

"Sara, your time will come..."

Meanwhile, Cygnus was holding a Scroll showing a "LIVE FEED" of Wanderlust at the docks. He closed the video and opened up a communication with someone, whose team name and other information was blank and their only message was:

"QUEEN HAS PAWNS."

"Hmmm..."

Amanita walked into a large warehouse with a shadowy interior. She went over to a table and placed down a case of mysterious contents, sighing in tiredness.

"How very disappointing, Amanita."

She turned around suddenly when she heard the voice and their noisy entrance. "Whoa! Hehe... I wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon..."

Of the three figures before her, only the woman's head, containing black eyes and blonde hair, was visible. "We were expecting... more from you."

Amanita laughed a little before getting serious. "Hey! You were the ones who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang."

The woman chuckled darkly. "And you will continue to do so." She summoned a fireball in her hand and stepped out of the darkness with her two companions, a black-haired boy and dark brown-haired, tanned girl. "We have big plans for you, Amanita. All we ask is... a little cooperation."

Last thing Amanita could see was her evil little smile.