RWBY 1. City on Fire

Cinder AU

Some things change, and yet others stay the same. The wheel of destiny always has its game set, but sometimes it can be played with different pieces in different positions. The game and its rules never change, but sometimes small events do.

How will the future change when these small details are mixed and matched, and the world as some know it is flipped on its head?

* * *

Cinder Fall sighed as she walked around Vale streets as the sun went down on the horizon, more content than she had been for as long as she could remember. In a few days she would be receiving her reply to the request letter send to Beacon, a school that would train her to be the best of the best, a Huntress who could defend humanity from the terrible force of the Grimm and finally begin to use her abilities for true good. But before that she would need to stop in and pick up some Dust for school supplies, after all even if she didn't make it in she could use the Dust for around the house purposes.. Her family wasn't quite poor enough for the academy to cover the costs of all the stuff she would need to attend, so that meant the Dust she got would have to be paid for out of pocket. Of course it was already rather late and there weren't too many places open at this time of night. She mentally cursed Emerald for making her sit through a second movie, though she would admit that the movie was one of the better ones she had seen in a while. Finally she came to a pause in front of a small store, which not only seemed to be open but actually had both powder and crystal Dust. Hm… From Dust Till Dawn? She would admit that the stores name was a bit hokey, but who was she to complain at the time? Cinder entered the store and was quickly greeted by the old man behind the counter.

"Can I help you today miss?" his voice was rather kind, albeit a bit worn with age.

Cinder nodded a bit, reaching into her purse and pulling out a few Lien to show him that she was a paying costumer. "Yeah, I was wondering if maybe I could get a few tubes of Burn and maybe a crystal, uncut if you have them." the young huntress to be was an adept Dust user, able to challenge it at an advanced stage and manipulate them into powerful attacks. Sometimes a bit too powerful, but the intricate seals weaved into her clothing and hidden along her arms provided a bit more control.

"We are having a sale on Burn actually, bit of a fire sale you might say." the old man laughed at his little joke before getting out some storage containers. "It will take me a bit too get your order together, why don't you check out our selection of magazines from the back?"

The young woman gave the storekeeper a bow before moving past the shelves and too the magazines in the back. A few of them were just catalogues for different weapon mods or new Torchwick brand Dust mixes. Cinder picked up a new 'Strange Tales of Hunters' from the rack. The magazine had quite an old run, telling strange stories that Hunters and Huntresses saw in battle against the Grimm. Some of them had liberties taken to make the story flow better, but she still got a kick out of it. Before she got well and started reading through she brought her headphones up to her ears, deciding to listen to a song or two while she read.

While the young huntress listened to her music and read another figure entered the store, backed by four men in rather nice suits and wearing hats, an outfit commonly worn by those of the Three Bears gang. Three carried blades at their sides, and the fourth carried a small pistol. The fifth person to enter was a rather tall woman; she had long flowing blonde hair and two golden gauntlets that covered both of her arms. The look in her eyes was filled with dark fire, a look that could burn a person's soul if they looked into it for too long. Too put it lightly, she had the eyes of a killer. "Hey there old guy" the woman waved toward the shopkeeper and one of the men put a gun to his head. "Any chance you are having a sale today?"

The man's hands quickly shot above his head, not wanting to die in defense of his modest shop. "Please don't kill me, just take the Lien and let me be." his words were desperate as he pleaded with the woman, who he recognized straight away. Yang Xiao Long of the Blood Rose gang, one of the most notorious and deadly people in the city. She was known for going on huge killing sprees with little to no reason, and it was said that the only thing that controlled her was her sister, the leader of her gang.

Yang went "Tsk-tsk" and wagged a finger at the old man. "Come on now, I am not gonna take your money." she turned her eyes toward the four men. "Grab the Dust and let's go." The four men nodded and grabbed their Dust containment jars, ready to drain the place as fast as possible. "Hey how about you give me some Freeze, one of my friends has been dying to get her hands on it." The man nodded and quickly handed it over. "Hm… craftsmanship is spotty at best, many if I wasn't stealing this I would be offended." Yang balanced it on one finger and smirked.

As one of the men was draining the Dust from its container he noticed a girl at the very back of the store, reading a magazine and listening to a pair of headphones. He sighed a bit, obviously not really wanting to scare some young girl but also having a job to do. He pulled out his blade and walked toward her. "Put your hands in the air, this is a robbery!" The girl didn't seem to hear him, focusing more on her music and reading than the world around her. The man took another step and put a hand on her shoulder, turning her around and pointing toward his ear.

Cinder blinked in surprise and embarrassment, expecting to see the shopkeeper having come to inform her that her stuff was ready and instead finding some man she had never seen before. She pulled down her headphones and the music she had been listening to bleed out into the world around her. "Yes?" she asked politely.

"Put your hands in the air." the man gave her a threatening look and raised his blade.

The young woman took a moment to process the situation, wondering just how exactly she had gotten into this situation. "Are you robbing me?"

The man let out a sigh and nodded. "Yes."

"Oh, well then." she put up her hand and let out a massive ball of fire directly into the man's stomach, sending him flying backward out the window of the business. He probably wasn't dead, but with burns like that and the broken bones that came from the impact he certainly wasn't going to be feeling good.

Yang raised an eyebrow as one of her men went flying out the window, landing quite unflatteringly on his back. "Huh?" she asked in confusion. She pointed toward the man with the gun to go see what was happening.

The man turned the corner and raised his weapon at Cinder. "Freeze!"

The huntress to be smirked and raised her finger. "No." she snapped and the gun melted in his hands, drawing a scream from him as the molten metal bit through his gloves and burned his skin. Before he could react to this through Cinder was moving forward, slamming a burning palm into his face and using the momentum to carry them through the shattered window and tossing him into a nearby building. Her music clicked off as she turned back to look at those who had been inside of the building, deciding that she would probably have an easier time getting them to surrender if she could scare them. With a deep breath Cinder drew in her power, setting the runes along her dress on fire and cutting a terrifying figure against the mostly black night, like a pure fire in human form.

Yang crossed her arms and took a good look at the young girl, unable to believe that some brat had managed to take down two hardened criminals like they were nothing. "Huh?" she shook her head and pointed at her. "What are you idiots waiting for, get her!" the men nodded and ran outside to attack Cinder.

The girl let out a sigh and stepped back, drawing her power toward her hands and creating two new fireballs. These people weren't about to back off, and that meant that she couldn't either. She aimed her palms down and launched her flames at the ground, and when they hit a circular wall of flames surrounded her, forcing the two standing men too retreat from their heat. Before they could think of dodging two whips made of fire lashed out and grabbed their weapons, pulling them away from their grasps and tossing them aside. Before they could even process this through the ground under their feet suddenly rose to massive temperatures, melting their shoes and causing them to fall over. Cinder killed the flames and looked toward the leader of the group, who was giving her an odd stare from the window of the shop.

"Well crap, those guys weren't worth half of what my sister paid for." Yang shook her head and stepped out of the shop, craning her neck from one side to the other and drawing free some fresh pops from it. "Now normally I would kill you, but I would hate to be late so….." the woman lashed out and sent a bullet straight at Cinder, which exploded in a cloud of smoke in front of her face. "Later!" Yang rushed past the girl and toward a building in the distance.

The shopkeeper came out of the building, looking afraid but unharmed. Cinder turned toward him and smiled a bit. "I am going to go after her, do you mind?" the man shook his head and tossed her the Burn crystal she had asked for, showing support for her efforts, probably believing that she was an actual Huntress. Cinder quickly gave chase after Yang, seeing that despite the short amount of time the woman had managed to get rather far. Cinder drew energy from the crystal and began to run quickly, getting to the ladder that Yang had climbed up and using the force from her flames to rocket her to the roof of the building, looking at Yang.

"Man you kids just don't know when to stop do you?" she turned around and looked at Cinder as a light airship rose up behind her. "Sadly I don't have much time to waste on you… So…" Yang jumped up into the open door of the ship and tossed out the Freeze crystal, having it bounce right next to Cinder's feet. "Bye-bye" she launched a shot from her gauntlets, expecting the explosion of cold to freeze the young girl.

Before it could however a figure descended from the sky and formed a shield around the Cinder and itself. When the ice cleared the figure was revealed to be none other than Glynda Goodwitch, one of the bigger thorns in the Bloody Rose's plans. The woman gave a glance toward Cinder before refocusing on Yang.

"Oh come on, this was supposed to be a quick hit!" Yang discarded her current shells from the gauntlets that covered her arms and loaded in a number of bright yellow shells. She quickly launched it out, trying to hit the Beacon professor, only to have her dodge and have a massive explosion shake the rooftop. However Glynda didn't pause for a moment, creating a spiral of destruction form the broken bits of roof the blast had created. Yang fired down with her explosive bullets at the stream, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference as no matter what blew up it kept coming straight at them. The blow hit the ship hard, but thankfully the lackey behind the wheel was more competent than the four that had been with Yang on the ground, and most of the damage was to noncritical systems. Before the best blow could hit Yang gathered together all of her energy and forced it out, creating a wave of pure fire that surrounded the ship and burning the debris.

Cinder looked at Glynda and up too Yang, launching out a few blasts of fire from her hard up at the criminal. However her attacks proved useless, and the response was a number of powerful and destructive shots from Yang's gauntlet, nine shots that would have destroyed the building they were standing on with ease. Before they could land Glynda focused all of her energy into a shield, causing them to detonate harmlessly in the air. This however gave the pilot enough time to carry them away into the air and out of her range.

Cinder let out a sigh and looked toward Glynda. "Are you… Are you a Huntress?" the woman turned toward Cinder with a look that was hard to read. "C-can I have your autograph?" she asked meekly with a bright and hopeful smile on her face.

* * *

The next hour or so was a blur for Cinder as the Huntress took her down to the police station to be questioned before sitting her in a small room with just Glynda and Cinder in it. "In all my years I have never seen anyone do something so very foolish… and also very brave." Glynda gave Cinder a look that showed that she disapproved but respected Cinder. "I am tempted to let you go home with a pat on the back…" she brought down her crop on the table near Cinder, causing her to jump. "And a slap on the wrist" the woman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "But that's not really up to me, there is…someone who would like to see you."

Almost as if on cue a white-haired man entered into the room carrying a plate of chocolate biscuits and a cup of tea. He got a bit close to her, examining her for a moment. "You have… golden eyes"

Cinder blinked for a moment and nodded a bit self-consciously. Her odd eye color had been the interest of a number of people, not all of them kind. "Excuse me?"

The man seemed to shake off the thought and put the biscuits and tea on the table, setting them down in front of Cinder and nodding at her to eat her fill. Cinder did so happily, being a huge fan of sweets and tea. "So then," the man lifted up a holoscroll that had a display of her fight on it. "Tell me what weapon you used in to do this." he pointed toward the screen to show where Cinder had created the massive fire barrier.

Cinder tried to speak but almost choked on one of the biscuits, causing a small blush to rise from her face before taking a sip of the tea in order to wash down the food. "I um… I didn't sir."

The man seemed surprised by this. "You mean you controlled this much power without using an apparatus to focus it in?"

She nodded a bit, playing with the hem of her skirt. "It's something I have always been able to do."

The man looked toward the woman and nodded his head toward her. "Have you thought about what you want to do with this power of yours young lady?"

Cinder smiled and looked up, confident in answering this question. "Yes, I want to be a Huntress."

"You want to fight monsters?" the man added.

"Yes, I feel like I was gifted with these powers for a reason, and while I understand that the police help people too I feel like I am better suited to help battle against the endless hoard, you know fighting to advance humanities standing and creating a better future for us all… It's something my mother used to always say, 'if we sit back and don't fight for tomorrow than who will', so yeah…" Cinder clammed up again after realizing that she had been speaking rather rapidly.

This answer seemed to satisfy the man. "Tell me, do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin, right?" Cinder looked up at the man, recognizing the headmaster of Beacon, the school she so desired to go to, from his global fame.

The man nodded and smiled. "Hello there."

"Hi." she gave an awkward wave.

"So you want to come to my school?" he asked, through it sounded like he already knew the answer to that question.

"More than anything." Cinder confirmed.

Ozpin reached into his coat, pulling out a letter and placing it on the table. Stamped over the front of it was the word 'accepted' in bright red letters. "Well, all right then."

In that moment it felt like Cinder could have died from happiness, the pure joy of knowing that her dreams were coming true just seemed unreal.

* * *

And now it just felt like she was actually going to die. "Oh man I can't believe we both got accepted oh man this is just way too awesome!" Cinder's best friend and current squeezing death trap went by the name Emerald. Her skin was tinted a light tan color, and her mint green hair ran down her back in two small strands. "And especially after last night, man people are going to think you are awesome." she finally let go of Cinder, allowing the air to flow back into her lungs.

"It's not all that great," Cinder rubbed her arm a bit, biting her lip and looking down. "I am just like anyone else."

Emerald punched Cinder in the arm gently. "Nope, none of that you were amazing and you just need to accept that for the plain fact that it is."

Cinder let out a chuckle at her friends antics and looked down at the city they were leaving. She had lived all her life in Vale, and watching it now it was amazing to see just how large it really was. "It's beautiful." she said mostly to herself.

"Yeah, it really is…" Emerald wasn't looking at the city, but rather at a boy among the crowds.

Cinder raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Careful who your eyes fall on, you will need to actually focus this time around in class."

Emerald huffed up and poked Cinder in the cheek. "You need to start getting interested in boys miss bookworm, like maybe…" she pointed into the crowd, her finger aiming at a blonde boy who appeared to be clutching his stomach and running toward a trash can. "Okay maybe not him…" she scratched the back of her head and chuckled.

Cinder rolled her eyes and turned toward the holoscreen on the TV. "If everything went your way then I would already have twenty boyfriends and two husbands." She raised a hand to pause Emeralds response as a news report began to play.

"_Yesterday members of the once peaceful Faunus civil rights group the Black Fang committed another act of corporate sabotage by blowing up a number of factories with unconfirmed cases of labor abuse. Seen on the sight of the bombings was notorious leader of the Black Fang, Blake Belladonna. Just as fast as they appeared they were gone again."_

The news was handed over back to the main desk.

"_In other news, infamous murderess Yang Xiao Long of the Bloody Rose crime family was seen robbing a Dust store last night, attempting to gather Dust but choosing to leave the Lien. More news on this story as it develops."_

Cinder tightened her hand into a fist as she saw the face of the woman she had gone against the previous night and cursed inside of her head, wishing that there was some way to go back and stop her. Before the thought could develop through the holoscreen was replaced by the floating figure of Professor Goodwitch.

"Who's that?" Emerald asked as she nudged Cinder in the side.

"Hello students, my name is Glynda Goodwitch." the hologram started.

"Oh." Emerald quieted down to listen to the message.

"The world we live in is going through a wonderful time of peace at the moment, free from some of the dangers our ancestors faced. However in order to keep this peace people must be trained in order to defend it, those who have the will to protect this world. You have been chosen because of your skill, bravery, and power. We have been tasked with giving you the knowledge of the world in order to allow you to most effectively defend this world, may you prove yourselves to not only yourselves, but the entire world" the hologram faded and students began to gather at the windows, looking at the approaching school.

"Here we go." Cinder whispered under her breath, putting a hand on the glass.

"Uh Cinder, might want to move your foot." Emerald pointed down and Cinder jumped up.

"Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!"

_Well, not every story starts off as heroically as the legends would have you believe._

* * *

And that about wraps up the first chapter in this new little AU idea I had. Feel free to leave a comment to tell me what you guys like and what I can do better.

_Hey guys, I beta'd this! –Shattered Spectre_


	2. A New Flame is Born

After a few more minutes the airships began their decent toward Beacon, landing on the waiting docks and opening their doors so the new students could get free of them. As soon as these doors opened the blonde boy from inside the airship Cinder was in ran out and found the nearest trashcan, letting loose into it and making noises that almost didn't sound human. Cinder and Emerald walked past the puking boy along with the rest of the crowds, letting out sounds of awe and wonder as they looked at the massive buildings that made up the academy for future Hunters.

"Man this place makes Signal look like crap" Emerald said in a rather blunt tone, grinning from ear to ear as she looked at the massive building that would be her new home. "Don't cha think so too Cinder?" she looked over to her friend expecting a response.

Instead of responding or looking at the massive building with her friend Cinder was doing something else. She was looking at each and every student, struck in awe and wonder as she did. "Beautiful…" she said in almost a whisper. For as long as she could remember Cinder had a special ability that let her see people's Aura's in a way that no one else could. The bright and vibrant colors of a person's soul which normally remained hidden could be viewed easily when she put a bit of power into it and looked closely. Each of the students that passed all had a unique Aura, like a thumbprint that could tell you what kind of person they were. And as she looked around she saw that unlike the muted Aura's of normal civilians or even those trained at Signal the Aura's around her were all bright, like a beautiful cloud of light surrounding each of the people. Some were even so developed that they has special features, like wings, or claws, and in one case even a detailed set of armor.

Emerald sighed and tapped her fist on top of Cinder's head to get her attention. "You know starring at people is rude." She gave a smirk to Cinder.

"Coming from you that is rich" Cinder rubbed the top of her head and fixed her friend with a glare. "Aren't you the one that is constantly staring at the boys?"

"That's not fair, I actually talk to them after getting a good look" Emerald played at annoyance, but her joking tone was easy to hear.

Cinder rolled her eyes at that. "I can learn a lot about someone just by seeing their Aura, it speaks volumes to who they are and what they think. Honestly what is even the point of getting to know people when you can just figure out everything you need too with a look?"

"What happens when you end up on a team and can't talk to anyone through?" Emerald pointed at in a kind tone, honestly worried about her friends isolationist tendencies.

Cinder shuffled uncomfortably at that, not really having an answer. "I…um… I will just be on your team right?"

Emerald bit her lip and looked away, not really wanting to tell Cinder the next bit. "You are my best friend Cinder, but you need to learn to work with more people. You have seen the old war films, and you won't always have a conductor who can compensate for a lack of communication"

Cinder sighed in defeat, knowing that her friend was right but not really wanting to accept it. If only she could conduct herself, but sadly her Aura wasn't suited for it. Those with the ability to 'conduct the battlefield' could link their Aura's to others, creating an instant chain of free flowing thoughts and ideas. Conductors would send the flow of thoughts through the head of the leader, to the rest of the group, feed input from the team to the leader, and then pull off the maneuver. This all happened within seconds without a word needing to be spoken between people unless they wanted something to remain private. But people with that ability were rare enough as it was, and not all of them chose the Hunter life. "Well maybe we could still be partners and I can still try the whole branching out thing. Hey at least we get to hang out now right?" Cinder turned and noticed a curious lack of Emerald next to her. A quick scan revealed she was talking to a group of boys who already seemed to be slobbering all over her, something she would no doubt use to her advantage for a bit of fun.

Cinder pinched the bridge of her nose and walked forward, her mind filled with confusion and terror over the fact that for one of the first times in her life she would actually need to confront and try to connect with a human being that she hadn't known since the beginning of forever. She was awkward enough with just the one friend as it was, adding more was just asking for trouble and she knew it. She was so distracted by these thoughts that Cinder ran smack into a cart filled to the brim with box upon box of Dust, causing them to spill over and Cinder to fall among them.

"Are you an idiot!?" a rather pissed off sounding male voice asked her from above. "Do you have any idea what you are doing?"

_Maybe if I just lay down he will think I am dead and I can sneak away. _She thought to herself before cracking open one eye to look at the person who had called her an idiot.

The young man in question was a rather nicely dressed guy with orange hair covered by a bowler hat. He also walked with a cane in his right hand, although he didn't really seem to need it to assist him in walking. "Well are you going to sleep all day, or has Beacon lowered it standards and started to employ the mentally challenged into its number now? Seriously who walks into a cart full of Dust!?" the young man picked up one of the bottles, which was marked with a pair of eyes above a smiling face one might see carved into a pumpkin.

The insult stung Cinder and she pushed herself up, looking him straight in the eyes before taking a step back, not really sure what she was looking at in terms of the Aura that surrounded him. The color was the first thing that hit her, a dull grey surrounding a thin layer of white that covered his body. Normally with just a look she would be able to tell that the guy had problems, but that layer of white confused her to the point of not really being able to respond. "Sorry, what was that?" she asked, having realized that she had forgotten the situation she was in after seeing the man's strange Aura.

"Dust you idiot!" he began to wave around the bottle. "Fire, Ice, Electricity, the weapon that harms the Grimm?" as he waved the bottle around a thin layer of Dust began to form, which he must not have noticed in his ramblings.

Before Cinder could react however her body quickly absorbed the Dust in the air. "Oh no" she quickly pushed him back and tried to hold back what she knew was coming, but couldn't. Her energy exploded out and created a pillar of flames around herself, and kept burning until the Dust she had absorbed ran out and left her with just her natural energy.

"Are you a lunatic!?" Roman shouted as he pushed himself off the ground, dusting himself off and getting into her face. "You nearly blew a hole into the school"

"Sorry, it was an accident" Cinder wanted to lash out at the guy, but the fact she was in the wrong here was kind of plain to see.

"Sorry? I was mocking before but are you really mentally challenged?" Roman appeared to have let go of the mock and now spoke his words like potent venom.

"I said I was sorry," Cinder felt herself start to get angry at the man, not really wanting to be harassed at the moment for a mistake. "Who do you think you are to be talking to me like that, some kind of royal?" she spat the words at him, eyes running along the outfit he was wearing. It honestly looked more suited for a dinner party than a hunt.

"Heir, actually" a young man appeared from seemingly nowhere and handed Roman back the bottle of Burn Dust he had dropped when I pushed him over. The man was tall, standing at least a head taller than Roman or Cinder, and was built in a rather muscular way. His hair sat on his head and was silver, almost a bit grey. "Roman Torchwick, heir to the Torchwick Dust Corporation"

The recognition brought a smile to Roman's face. "Finally, someone among the ants who actually recognizes the face of greatness when they see it"

A smirk danced across the young man's face. "The same company that is being investigated for multiple counts of labor misconduct and paying bribes to anti-union groups to break up protests"

Cinder had to repress a laugh as Roman's face went a uniform color of red. "I…you…" his hands clenched into fists and for a moment it looked like he was going to strike, but he managed to hold himself back. "Whatever," he picked up his cane and walked away, leaving some hired help to pick up the burden for him.

"I really am sorry!" Cinder called after him. Sure he had been a jerk but she had also nearly turned him into ashes a few moments ago, so she could understand a bit of frustration. "So um… thanks for that…" she turned around to thank the person who had helped her but found that he was already walking away, seemingly not having heard her or just deciding that his time was better used elsewhere. "Damn it" she whispered under her breath, closing her eyes and forcing the tears building up in them to go back down. How could she ever expect to protect anyone when she couldn't even bring herself to just make one conversation work? Maybe she really was mentally challenged.

Before she could beat herself up anymore she felt a hand placed on her shoulder in a rather comforting fashion. It wasn't squeezing, or trying to move and invade her space, rather if just felt like someone reaching out to just be kind. "Hey are you okay?" the voice asked her, the tone matching the hand that had been placed on her shoulder, kind and without a hint of pity behind it.

Cinder opened her eyes and looked at the person who was offering this kindness to her and found herself both shocked and oddly amused that it was none other than the boy who had gotten sick on the airship before. She took a deep breath, trying to gather together words so maybe she could try and talk to someone and not mess it up. How hard could it be? "Aren't you the guy that was vomiting on the ship?" her entire brain froze as she realized what she had just said. She really was hopeless it seemed. No doubt the guy would just walk away or would get offended.

But despite her worst fears the young man actually laughed. "Yeah, and I am pretty sure you just exploded a few minutes ago, we all have problems" he turned around and waved his hand. "Come on, we should get moving before people start asking questions about the scorched ground"

The young huntress to be have a nod of her head and followed after him, utterly confused by the boy who had just shrugged off the rather insulting introduction. "I... Uh… Sorry about that" she said awkwardly, trying to keep conversation.

He waved his hand a bit at her apology. "Don't be, it may be a common problem but that doesn't mean it's not weird. Anyway the name is Jaune Arc, short, sweet, and the ladies love it" he gave her a playful wink, not the hitting on kind but the sharing a joke kind.

"Oh do they now?" Cinder crossed her arms and gave him a knowing look, deciding she could at least act normal for a bit. "By the way, my names Cinder"

Jaune scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Well uh… not yet, but they will. It's like my mom used to sa-" he blinked and quickly realized how nerdy that sounded. "Uh… Never mind"

Cinder gave a light chuckle which she quickly covered with her hand, not wanting to offend him but also not being able to hold it back. "Hm…" she moved in front of him, causing them both to stop. When they both were paused she opened up her Aura sight and looked at him. What she saw was strange to say the least. Unlike the other students around Beacon, Jaune's Aura was still locked behind the normal barriers, meaning that it had either been locked or never opened to begin with. But unlike a normal civilians soul there were actually cracks in the normal gray haze, showing pinpricks of white light breaking through. "Did you know your Aura is locked?"

He tilted his head to the side. "Aura?" the look on his face showed that he had no idea what she was talking about.

"The extension of your soul that allows us to effectively hunt down the monsters that plague our world" she couldn't believe the combat school he went too hadn't taught him about it. He must have been from some far and away country that didn't use it. "Here, I will unlock it for you" and with her decision she stepped forward and put a hand on his heart, and then the other on his cheek.

"Uh…" he blushed a bit, not really sure how to react to a girl he had just met getting this close to him.

Cinder closed her eyes and took a deep breath, speaking the words that came first to her mind. "From the ashes of this world rises a spark of life, and from that spark rages a fire that brings new life. Allow my soul to feed your flame, and allow that spark to grow." Her flame like Aura glowed around her, spreading over Jaune's body and feeding into his own. "And may your spark burn into an ever burning fire, fueling your strength to guide you down the path of transcendence" the energy that surrounded Jaune disappeared as his Aura exploded outward, forcing Cinder back a few steps. When she looked at him again she was amazed at what she saw. The sheer amount of energy radiating off Jaune was amazing to behold. A pure white light glowed off his body, forming the shape of armor over his skin. He radiated hope, strength, and honesty. She quickly closed her Aura sight just to prevent herself from looking into it too long, it was just that blinding.

"What?" Jaune looked down at his arms and noticed a quick flash of light run along them, something that made him both nervous and excited.

"Aura is the extension of your soul; it protects you and guides you down your path. All living creatures have it… through I don't think I have seen someone our age with that much of it" Cinder smiled a bit. "Hm… that sounds a bit complicated, how Qrow would put it…" she snapped her fingers. "Imagine it like a force field and radar for danger"

He nodded and looked down at himself again, however the light that had danced across his was gone. "Wow… that was awesome!"

Cinder laughed at that, nodding her head. "Yes, awesome is one word for it" she blinked and looked around. "So…where are we supposed to be going?"

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, I was following you."

"But…I was… Oh dear" she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well great."

"Think there might be some landmarks around, maybe a cafeteria?" Jaune asked with humor in his voice, walking forward again.

Cinder chuckled and followed after Jaune, not really sure where she was going but not more than ready to get there. Maybe getting to know people wasn't as bad as she thought.

* * *

Chapter 2 up and going pretty well for me. Tell me what you think by dropping a review.

Also shout out to Shattered Spectre for his awesome editing work.


	3. A Bright Beacon

Cinder and Jaune finally managed to find their way past the large doors that lead into the main auditorium, having followed their wits, ingenuity, the stars, and of course the large group of other people that had been moving right toward it. Once inside, Cinder began to look around, trying to spot her wayward friend.

"Cinder!" Emerald waved to her from the crowd. "I saved a spot for you!"

She began to start forward before remembering that she had actually been walking with someone. "Do you have anyone to stand with?" Cinder asked in a kind voice. She didn't want him to feel that she was making assumptions.

The boy scratched the back of his head. "Nope, kind of new to the city."

Cinder nodded and waved for him to follow her, walking over toward Emerald. "Hey there, room for one more?" she asked with a smile on her face.

Emerald blinked and looked between them, seemingly confused for a few moments. The idea of Cinder having already made a friend that she wanted to invite over with them was beyond strange. Which wasn't to say that it didn't make her happy, it just made her wonder if Cinder had been replaced by a less socially awkward robot. "Totally fine…" she turned toward the person standing next to her, a large and muscular guy with burnt-orange hair. "Hey Cobo"

"It's Cardin," the boy replied, looking at Emerald. "What's up, babe?"

"Two quick things, first being that you need to go away so my friend and her friend can have spots next to me. Second, don't call me babe." She smiled darkly at Cardin. "Because yeah you have the whole dumb jock thing, but that kind of burns out quickly, and the only people allowed to call me babe are… well actually no one, no one is allowed to call me that."

"You b—" Cardin caught himself before he cursed at the girl in front of a room full of other women with weapons and guys who probably wouldn't be too keen on him doing it either. "Whatever," he walked past the ground, bumping into Jaune, who before this point had been laughing a bit at Emerald's speech. "What are you laughing about?" he said with a glare.

"Uh… funny joke, something about clowns," Jaune put on his best 'innocent' face, hoping to defuse a situation before it started up.

"Whatever," Cardin made a point of hitting Jaune with his body on the way out.

"Can't imagine that is going to end well," Jaune said under his breath, more than a bit annoyed at the fact that he had just been run into for something that wasn't really his fault. Before this annoyance could grow further though, he suddenly found himself face to face with a very attractive girl with one of the oddest colors of hair he had seen before.

"So… are you Cinder's boyfriend?" she asked with a playful smirk. Both Cinder and Jaune's faces lit up red. "Oh wait, no, I don't think you two have known each other that long…" Emerald snapped, as if she had just solved a great mystery. "You two are lovers, right?" If it were possible their faces fell into an even darker shade of crimson.

"Emerald, come on, that's not funny," Cinder crossed her arms and glared at her friend, thinking to herself how much easier it would be to deal with Emerald as a pile of ashes.

Emerald opened her mouth to speak again, but was cut off by a burst of static that instantly grabbed the attention of everyone inside of the room and drew their eyes up toward the stage in the front of the room.

Standing atop the stage were Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch, looking out over the students with eyes that seemed to lock on to everyone in the crowd. After a few moments of the intense gazing, Ozpin stepped toward the mike and began to speak. "I will keep this brief," he began in a loud and commanding voice. "There are those among you here that most likely believe that by being accepted into this school your status and ability are on full display, and that this is the first step toward your future," he paused to let his words sink in. "To this I must inform you that you are wrong, this isn't the first step toward your future, for the second you entered these doors the you that exited on the airship died. The person you were, the beliefs you held, the things you found important are no longer of any importance. Your life is now in service to the people of the world, to the battle against the darkness. Beacon is not a school that teaches warriors, we make them from the ground up." His eyes scanned along the crowd, eventually locking with Cinder's for a moment, giving the Huntress in training a second longer of a gaze before moving on. "Today all I see before me is the potential that is locked within each of your current corpses, and I promise that by the time you leave this school you will either unlock it and become a new you," he turned around. "Or you will leave as you entered this room." He walked away and Goodwitch stepped forward.

"You will all rest in the ballroom tonight, in the morning you will be given breakfast and then face initiation," Goodwitch turned and followed after Ozpin, leaving the students talking amongst themselves.

"Well…" Jaune scratched the back of his head, not really sure what to say after that speech. When he turned to see how Cinder and her friend reacted to it, he found that both of them had disappeared. "Wha… oh, come on," he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Where am I supposed to find another quirky girl to talk to?" he shook his head and walked forward, not really knowing where he was going. Before he got too far though, he ran into someone, falling back and groaning. "Sorry," he looked up at the person.

Said person was a rather tall young woman with long red hair, dressed in light armor and carrying a shield and spear on her back. "It's no problem, are you okay?" she offered her hand to Jaune and he took it, allowing himself to be pulled up.

"So uh… you from around here?" Jaune asked, a bit unsure what to do with himself. Despite his success at talking to Cinder he was still not the best when it came to just talking to people he had just met.

"No, but I have been to Vale a few times," the young woman gave him an odd look, almost as if she were expecting him to say or do something different. "Do you not know me?"

Jaune shook his head. "Nope, why? Did we meet before?" he looked at her again and couldn't help but feel a spark of recognition, but as soon as it came it was gone again.

A smile crept onto her face. "No, the name is Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos," she offered a hand to him and Jaune shook it.

"Mine is Jaune Arc, short, sweet, and uh…" he stopped himself from repeating the last part. "…really excited to meet you."

* * *

Emerald stopped in front of the stone fountain and turned to look at Cinder, letting go of her arm. "We need to talk Cinder."

The golden eyed huntress rubbed her arm and glared at Emerald, more than a bit unhappy at being dragged away from her new friend and being pulled by her arm. "Talk about what Emerald? If this is about meeting people…"

The green haired girl put up her hand to stop Cinder from continuing. "Last night, what happened?" the usually light hearted girl had suddenly become serious, and the look she gave Cinder was one she had never seen before.

"I was at a Dust shop and it was going to be robbed by a few thugs and a woman with some custom gear," Cinder shrugged. "I did what anyone would do in order to make sure that people didn't get hurt."

Emerald nodded at that. "Okay, I believe you," she looked at the figures put upon the statue. A group of humans standing over the Grimm, the demons that had hunted and killed humans since the dawn of time. If only that were the only threat humanity had to face. "Do you know who the woman was?"

"News said her name was Yang, why is that important?" Cinder had to admit her confusion at the questions coming from her friend.

Emerald paused, biting her lip and trying to form the words in her head before she spoke again. "Yang Xiao Long, the rampaging dragon. Second in command in the Bloody Rose crime family… second in command to Ruby Rose."

Cinder felt her entire world freeze as the name that had haunted her life since she had first heard it passed through her friend's lips. When she had been younger she had lost her family to a cruel and vicious murderess, a woman who wielded a scythe who had brutally killed her parents. That day she had been with Emerald, staying the night at her house while her family was killed. Cinder felt her body began to heat up, the anger at the memory and the idea that she had been so close to someone who aided the person who had murdered her family and hadn't been able to actually hurt them. "You're sure?" she asked, her voice cold.

"Yes," Emerald put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Listen, the fact you survived is amazing, that beast has been known to kill people for stepping in her way at the store. Vale's police force is working twice as hard to find them with them trying to knock over a Dust store, and Qrow…" she smiled a bit. "Well he is doing his thing."

Cinder felt herself calm down at the mention of Qrow. When her parents had died he had been there the second he had found out and had taken her in when she didn't have another person in the world. He had once been one of the top Hunters in the world, a triple S rank that went by the title The Grimm Reaper. He had thrown it away in a second in order to make sure that she wouldn't be alone. Her parents had been his best friends, in fact he was actually her Godfather, but insisted she call him Uncle. If he said he was on the case, then she would believe in him. "Let's go, I am starving," she began to walk forward but was stopped by Emerald, who wrapped her arms around Cinder from behind.

"You are still my best friend in the world Cinder," the words provided a comfort all their own.

"I know Emerald, thank you," Cinder let out a sigh and suddenly felt as if she were back in that horrible time, trapped in the memory of learning she would never see her parents again. "As soon as you enter the doors, your past self dies." Cinder looked up toward the sky, really wondering if she could leave that memory behind and move forward.

* * *

The rest of the night passed uneventfully for Cinder. She grabbed some dinner, moved into the ballroom and set up a sleeping bag she could use for the night. After a quick shower, she had changed into a loose shirt and long pajama pants. She laid down and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen.

"Making out a love note to that guy from earlier?" Emerald plopped down on the sleeping bag next to Cinder's with a playful smirk on her face. The sleepware Emerald wore wasn't quite as conservative as Cinder's. A pair of loose fitting shorts and a top that left a good bit of her midriff available for all to see, something that was just classic Emerald.

Cinder sighed and tossed a pillow at Emerald's face, hitting her directly. "No, it's a letter to Qrow, he said that he wanted me to write him when I could."

Emerald suppressed a giggle and looked around at the various people. "I probably shouldn't write mine, imagine my dad hearing that I was in a room full of guys in their pajamas," she pantomimed her head exploding and grinned. "Man I wouldn't want to be in the room when that information came into his mind."

The mere thought of it was enough to make Cinder smile. "Hey, I think I am going for a walk, want to join me?" she slowly stood up and brushed herself off.

"Naw, I think I will just enjoy the sights and try to get some shut eye," Emerald laid back and scanned around, clearly enjoying the view.

Cinder left her friend and grabbed a bottle of water from a table set up with a few night snacks and things for them to drink before heading out. The night sky was rather beautiful from this high up, and not a cloud in the sky obscuring the heavens and the full moon that seemed to stand in heavy contrast to the darkness of the sky. She began to walk around until a noise grabbed her attention, the sound of grunts of effort loud against the otherwise silent night. When she went to investigate she found the young man who had come to her rescue earlier today performing a series of kicks against an invisible enemy, practicing each move with such perfect flow that it could almost be described as dancing. When he finished Cinder gave a few claps. "That was very impressive."

The young man turned around and looked at her, a look of surprise playing across his face before vanishing and returning to a more neutral expression. "Thank you," he said, his words and tone measured and without inflection.

"Would you like some water?" Cinder offered the untouched plastic water bottle to him.

"Sure," he raised his hand and Cinder tossed it to him. He quickly tilted it back and drank every drop from it, lowering it only once every drop of liquid was gone.

"So, I wanted to thank you for earlier," Cinder crossed her arms over herself, only just realizing how cold it was outside.

A smirk came to the man's face. "It wasn't an issue." He looked up at the sky and seemed to fall into a relaxed state. "Tell me, have you ever heard about the legend of the moon?"

"Depends on which legend you are asking about." Cinder had often buried herself in books when she was younger, so she knew a great many of the old legends.

The young man looked up toward the sky at the full moon. "Where I come from, it is said that the moon was once a Huntress from long ago, back when there was only darkness once the sun set. The Huntress saw the people in pain and hunted in the dark, only protected by meager flames. So using all of her power she charged the infinite darkness in the sky and went to war with it, offering her light down. Of course the darkness fights her as well, breaking her power to pieces and at some points devouring her altogether. But the Huntress always strikes back and glows brighter than ever." He pointed at the sky toward all the various stars, "It's said that the stars in the sky are the wounds she has dealt upon the darkness during their endless war."

A round of clapping came from the darkness, causing both of them to turn and look at whoever was coming toward them. "Beautiful story, real touching," Roman walked toward the two, dressed in a button up silk shirt and comfortable looking pants. "But honestly, aren't you two a bit old for bedtime stories?"

Cinder clenched her fists, wanting to reach out and set fire to Roman's hair. "What do you want… jerk?"

Roman put a hand over his heart. "Oh, I am wounded deeply," he rolled his eyes and pulled out a pamphlet from his pants and handed it to Cinder. "Anyway, I figured if we are going to be in the same combat school it would be an annoyance to have you die." The pamphlet had the title of 'Dust for Dummies', and its intent was obvious. "You are welcome," he turned and began to walk away.

Cinder smirked and snapped her fingers, setting the back of his pajama pants on fire. As soon as he felt the heat the heir gave out a loud yelp and ran toward the water in the fountain, jumping in. "You should probably get some sleep you know."

The young man raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You should do the same," the two of them moved toward the doors. "The name is Mercury, just so you know."

"Mine is Cinder, pleasure to meet you," Cinder covered up a yawn and finally felt the claws of sleep pressing into her. The next day would be the first step toward her new life.

What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

Yang sighed and lit a fresh cigarette as she leaned against the metal door of one of the various warehouses nestled close to the docks. Honestly she didn't understand why Ruby needed her around to pick up this special 'cargo' from the Black Fang. Wasn't like she would be able to do anything about it, and it wasn't like they had to scare their leader into working for them. The leader of the Black Fang worked with them only because their end game was the same as theirs; the removal of humans from the top of the food chain. Of course they probably wouldn't have guessed that Ruby was antilife and not just antihuman, but that was a fact best left for a later date.

She let out a sign and dropped the half burned cigarette to the ground, putting it out with the toe of her boot and looking up at the sky. Despite everything else, at least there was a beautiful full moon out. After a few more minutes passed by, a sound alerted Yang to another person being out in the darkness. "About time you slow pokes showed up, you know it says bad things about the Black Fang if they can't even make a meeting, Blake."

Three figures stepped into the limited light offered by the lamp hanging off of the warehouse. Two of them were dressed in the same, pure black outfits with hoods and white masks with red symbols meant to look like the eyes of a Grimm. Standing in front of those two was a woman whose every step bled power and authority. The woman wore a long trench coat with small flame designs running along it, on the back stood the current symbol of the Black Fang, a wolf's head with two blades and pure, red eyes. On her back sat the woman's weapon of choice, a Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe, one of the more dangerous weapons ever thought up. Covering the woman's face was a full mask that was white with multiple black marks that ran along its sides, along with two small slits that allowed the woman to see. "We are right on time, you however are early," the woman stepped forward and Yang rolled her eyes, opening the door. "Will she being showing up tonight?"

Yang shrugged a bit. "The boss has a habit of coming out of nowhere, but I don't really know if she will be coming tonight." She followed them into the warehouse, closing the door behind them. Inside of the building were a number of mercenaries that wore the symbol of an ash colored snowflake, the mark that they worked for one of Ruby's more powerful friends. At the end of the room was a massive cage, easily reaching up toward the roof, and wide enough to show that the thing inside must have been massive. The warehouse itself was usually meant to stock large vehicles and boats, but now it was being used to carry much more dangerous cargo. "They say it took thirty people in order to capture this thing," her words where filled with admiration, not a hint of care that thirty people's lives had been ended by the creature inside of the cage.

"Pardon me if I don't pause to weep," she looked into the cage and crossed her arms. "So this is it?"

"Yep!" a voice from behind the four caused them to turn around, which was when the two others that had come in with the woman made a mistake. They pulled out their pistols and aimed them toward the noise that had surprised them. In a blur of movement one was quickly disarmed, his gun used to kill the other before having it turned on him and putting an end to his life. The person who performed the two kills was wearing a red and black dress, and carrying what appeared to be a large gun on her back. The smile on her face was in stiff contrast to the blood that had splashed on her from the shot. "Oh look at that," the woman tossed the gun on one of the corpses. "Casualties," the woman laughed a bit and adjusted a black crown with dark red jewels on it so that it was sitting correctly on her head.

Blake reached for her weapon but paused, knowing that she was at a disadvantage at the moment. "Ruby, here I thought you wouldn't be here," she looked down at the two corpses and sighed.

"Sup sis?" Yang walked over and hugged Ruby, obviously happy that she was able to see her sister, not showing a moment of thought to the two corpses that were bleeding out onto the floor.

"Not much, just figured…" before Ruby could finish the thing inside of the cage let out a massive roar, a sound that was near deafening. "One sec," Ruby walked toward the cage and raised her right hand, which held a black iron ring with a round black orb on top of it. "Obey," the word she spoke carried a dark power to it, and the beast fell silent at the command. "So, are we still clear for the plan?" she asked.

Blake sighed and nodded. "Yes, you will release the S-class Grimm."

"Mega-Oozaru," Ruby said with a childlike smile.

"Yes that, once you release it the danger will draw out the teachers to stop the slaughter it will be performing on the new recruits. While they are distracted the Black Fang will enter the school and located the sword," under the mask a smile formed on Blake's face. "And then every human on this planet will die like dogs."

Yang grinned darkly. "I love it when she gets passionate," she offered her arm to Ruby. "See? Goosebumps."

But Ruby wasn't listening; she was looking toward the cage that held the beast that would make all her dreams come true. "The Crown of Domination, the Ring of Chaos, and soon the Sword of Annihilation," the silver eyed woman laughed darkly. "Oh yeah, the end is coming, and when it does," she turned to look at her allies. "We will drown this world in darkness."

* * *

Hey guys! So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review with your thoughts and look forward to the next chapter!

Also edited by the amazing SunaT.U


	4. Leap into the Flames

The entire world was consumed in fire and darkness, or at least that's what Cinder thought as she looked down from her vantage point from a building standing high above the streets of Vale. The city appeared to be burning, and roaming the streets were armies of shadowy beings that killed whatever was unlucky enough to cross their paths. This scene should have been horrifying to her, but she couldn't help but feel the unnatural smile on her face as she viewed it. Destruction and death seemed to own the entire city, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. Cinder stepped off the building and slowly fell down to the ground, landing softly among the chaos and watching as the monsters turned and paused as she walked passed them. They knew who she was, the power she held, and they were her weapons now. She passed by mounds of dead bodies which were set aflame by her very presence. Finally she found herself in front of a window, staring into the reflection and finding that she didn't look like herself, instead she looked like the woman who had killed both of her parents, Ruby Rose. A laugh escaped her mouth and a massive pair of red eyes filled her mind until she was shocked out of her sleep by a sudden push.

"Come on Cinder, wake up!" Emerald pushed her arm again, trying to wake her up. "We are going to be late!"

Cinder slowly got up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, trying to banish the nightmare from her mind. It must have been a holdover from the news Emerald dropped on her last night. Yeah, simple as that. At least she hoped it was as simple as that. Cinder yawned and grabbed the bottle of water she had put next to her and remembered the boy she had met last night. Two people in a single day that she had met and had gotten along with, the very idea of it was kind of exciting if she were being honest. She turned toward Emerald and noticed her eyes trailing a few of the guys as they woke up and decided to keep that little encounter to herself though. Emerald could be great, but also a massive pain in the butt.

The two of them got up and went toward the bathroom with their change of clothes in hand, taking quick but cold showers and changing into their battle gear. "So, I hear the teams are getting picked today," Emerald looked at Cinder as the two were walking out of the bathroom. "Nervous?"

Cinder shook her head. "No, I don't think so." If she had been asked yesterday, the answer would have been a loud yes, but after meeting people and talking to them, she felt like even if she didn't get teamed up with Emerald that she could survive.

A smile formed on Emerald's face and she gave her friend a hug. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast, apparently Beacon has some of the best food on the planet!"

Cinder nodded and walked with her friend toward the mess hall.

* * *

Ruby tapped her foot impatiently as she stood next to the airship they would be using to deliver the massive cage to the Emerald Forest. It was a special model that had been made for stealth, unable to be picked up on any form of radar and with the ability to cloak itself from things within a certain distance from itself. A true piece of art developed by the geniuses that used to work for the Schnee Corporation. Of course when the company had been acquired by a new CEO who didn't find much use in it -after all, it couldn't carry much in the way of weapons with the stealth system aboard- and since Grimm could detect a human's aura without needing to see the thing in front of them, the entire invention was rendered pointless in Torchwick Company's mind. No, instead they just continued to develop their battle drones and new forms of Dust. Seemed a shame to Ruby. Given a bit more time, you could at least load up the ship with explosives and invisibly ram it into an enemy flagship and take it out in a second. But since there was only one of them, it was doubtful that Weiss would let her just use it in the fun ways that existed only in her mind.

"So I know Weiss is the person who supplies us with money and weapons and stuff, but does that really excuse her for being ten minutes late?" Yang complained as she ran a brush through her long mane of blonde hair. "I mean honestly, I am itching to watch some chaos but instead all I can do is…" she winced as the brush caught on a snag. "Son of a—"

"I hate to say I agree with Yang, but her timing is rather insulting," Blake said from the top of the airship. "It's especially surprising that you aren't angrier about this," she said, directing her words at Ruby.

Ruby raised an eyebrow at the leader of the Black Fang. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked indignantly.

"You once caved in a man's skull with a tea kettle because you said he had let it go cold, and then you poured the steaming hot water on his face," Yang pointed out, enjoying getting off the occasional jab at her sister/leader.

The most feared killer in Vale crossed her arms and huffed. "The water had gotten a bit cold; it could have been way hotter in fact!" she threw up her arms. "Are you trying to say that I have a soft spot?"

"Maybe it's a twisted form of love," Blake joked dryly, not believing for a second that the monster who could somehow kill people without batting an eyelash could actually love anyone.

"I will love carving you up if you keep talking," Ruby said before pulling her hood over her head.

Before the conversation could continue, the door to their temporary base opened and two figures walked in before the door slowly closed behind them. On one side was a person who was dressed in full armor and seemed to stand at an intimidating 6'5''. The armor was pitch black except for a white T that sat on the left shoulder blade. She also wore a helmet that covered her head and face, an orange visor blocking away anything from view. The other figure wore a pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress. On the back of the bolero was an ash colored snowflake, the symbol of the once proud Schnee family. And the person wearing it was none other than Weiss Schnee herself, former heiress and current crime lord and ally to Ruby Rose in all she did. She stopped a few feet away from them and raised her left arm straight up, opened her hand and pointed each finger straight. "Weiss Schnee." On the back of her hand was the symbol of her family etched in pure black.

Yang made the same movement. "Yang Xiao Long." With her gauntlets in their bracelet forms, the symbol on the back of Yang's hand was clear to see, a black dragon that spun itself in a circle, moments away from biting its tail.

Blake sighed and followed suit. "Blake Belladonna." On the back of her hand sat the symbol of the Black Fang, a wolf's head with an X running through it, a bright red that matched perfectly with the pitch black of the wolf's head.

Finally Ruby ended the chain by raising her own arm. On the back of her hand sat a symbol made of a skull wearing a crown atop its head with a wide grin. Where the eyes would normally be were two points of the darkest red that could ever have existed. "Ruby Rose." A cold wind went through the room despite the room's perfect temperature control and vents.

The four slowly lowered their hands and Weiss spoke. "Now that that is out of the way, we get to business," she snapped and the various workers sprang to life, doing their final checks to make sure all of the preparations were ready. "Run me through the plan one last time," Weiss demanded, looking toward Ruby.

The slightly younger woman rolled her eyes and gave a shake of her head. "I swear I have repeated this like a hundred times," she cleared her throat before speaking. "We release Mega Oozaru—"

"What?" Weiss asked, clearly confused.

"Her name for the Grimm," Yang and Blake said with an almost perfect harmony.

"You mean the Pitch Affe?" Weiss asked.

"Mega Oozaru," Ruby continued with a tone of annoyance coming to her voice. "To slaughter the new students, forcing the teachers to step in to fight the S-class Grimm in order to prevent it from murdering all of the precious little things," she giggled behind her hand before going back into her serious mode. "From there Blake takes over."

She nodded and stepped forward. "From there me and a small army of Black Fang members—"

"And me," Yang interrupted, pointing toward herself with a rather cocky grin.

"…and Yang will attack the school and acquire the sword and proceed to destroy as much property as we can before making an escape on the stealth ship, striking a blow against our enemies and bringing us one step closer toward our ultimate goal," she didn't feel the need to speak their goal, it was something they all desired.

"I still don't see why you don't just let my people take care of this," the person in the armor spoke finally, and with a feminine sounding voice. "No offense to your people Blake, but the Hunter Slayers are fully equipped to take down Hunters, even on their home territory."

Blake nodded to this. "Normally I would agree, after all sacrificing a few human lives doesn't bother me that much," no one in the room reacted to her words, it was something they had known already. "But your people… well…"

"Most of them are really dumb… like… really, really dumb," Yang said, not able to accurately describe how she thought of the group.

"You and yours are better suited for single target hunts or large battlefields where you can cause as much chaos as you want, we want a scalpel for this mission. You know what I mean Alli—" before Ruby could complete her words the person in the arm had leapt forward, placing a blade with a number of small saw-like blades around it against her neck.

"Don't. Call. Me. That." A number of clicks rang out from around the hideout as every person in the room aimed a weapon at the armored woman.

Ruby for her part didn't even seem mildly worried by the blade being pressed against her throat, or the threats being made against her life. She seemed more bored than anything else. "If I call you Tex will you let me keep talking?"

The armored woman held position for a few moments before stepping back and sheathing the blade back into a slot within her armored leg, making it look like it had vanished. Without a word, she stepped back to Weiss and resumed her silence.

"The plan seems fine," Weiss said finally, watching as everyone in the room went back about their business, putting their weapons back into their holsters.

"It should, it's the same exact one you approved back when I first pitched the idea," Ruby sighed a bit before beginning to cough violently into her hand for a few moments, causing Yang to flash over to her side and place a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry… bringing the S-class under my full control was straining."

Weiss nodded a bit at that, knowing that Ruby was already doing the impossible. One of the objects by itself was supposed to be strong enough to destroy a human's soul just by using it one time, yet Ruby was actively using two of them for long stretches of time and still engaging in dangerous activity. "What did the doctor say?"

Ruby laughed a bit and stood up straight once more. "Same thing as before, using the two artifacts will slowly eat away at me until there is nothing left, and that only all three together might have a chance to stabilize the power."

"Right, all factors approved then. I will see you three once it's completed and we have the keys to the kingdom in our hands," Weiss turned away and made her way toward the exit, the armored woman known only as Tex following closely behind.

Ruby walked into the stealth airship and took a seat, looking idly at the ring on her hand. The deeper she looked into the black jewel, the more she felt herself slip away into darkness, and the more the voice in her head rose in volume.

Soon.

* * *

Cinder put a hand on her stomach and pushed the food away from her with a content sigh. "I will admit that even Qrow's birthday breakfasts are a bit bland compared to what Beacon's staff can make," she quickly turned toward Emerald and raised a finger toward her. "And if you tell anyone I said that, I will tell your parents about the 'field trip' incident."

Emerald raised her hands in front of her. "Hey, hey, I am not going to tell anyone and you are going to just forget that," she tapped Cinder's forehead. "Forget touch!"

Cinder raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Really?"

She shrugged. "Worth a shot. Anyway, let's get our gear before we are late."

The two of them got up and moved toward the lockers where they had been asked to store their weapons and other equipment the previous night. Emerald reclaimed her guns and put them into the waiting holsters on her back. While she was doing that, Cinder pulled out a Burn crystal that the old man whose shop she had saved had given her for free after her fight. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, drawing the energy from the crystal into her Aura, summoning the two forces into one. Once it was done, the crystal was left grey and dead, and quickly dissolved into dust and blew away, fading from existence.

While the two of them got equipped, another pair were making their way down the hallways. Jaune and the girl he had met yesterday after Cinder and Emerald had ditched him, the girl named Pyrrha. The two of them had spent some time hanging out the previous day, discussing stuff and kind of just passing the time. Pyrrha had been surprised that there was a person at the school who knew nothing about her championship victories or minor fame outside of a cereal box, and Jaune was equally surprised that there was another person willing to listen to him being an awkward idiot and discussing his mostly boring life from back home.

"So, are you nervous?" Jaune asked as they made their way through the lockers, looking down at the piece of paper he had written his locker number on. When he had lamented that he would probably forget it, Pyrrha had written it down for him on a spare piece of paper she had on her.

Pyrrha took a moment to think on that question. "Well I don't know if nervous is quite the right word, but it comes close enough I think."

Before Jaune could ask what that meant, the two were suddenly separated by another figure that made its way between them; Roman Torchwick in his white suit and hat atop his head. "Morning to you Pyrrha, how are you surviving the waves of inadequacy this place has to offer?"

"I am quite fine Roman, what about yourself?" Pyrrha spoke in the measured tone of someone who was used to dealing with someone she didn't really quite like.

Roman smiled and gave a nod. "Great to hear. So I was thinking that when it came time for team selection that you and I should make a great pair. After all, with my brains and your skill we would easily make the strongest team."

"Oh… uh…" the first word that came to Pyrrha's mind was no, but she didn't want to hurt the guys feelings. "I suppose we will have to see how the dice roll themselves."

"Hey," Jaune finally spoke as he got a good look at Roman. "Are you Roman Torchwick?"

The young man in the bowler hat finally turned to look at Jaune and gave a rather cocky grin. "It's amazing, even among the unwashed masses my name is legend."

Jaune blinked and looked at himself, thinking that he had done a perfectly fine job of washing himself off this morning. Sure he didn't have time to exactly soak under the water but a guy couldn't do everything in just a few minutes no matter how hard they tried. "Well uh… it's more that I heard you kind of took a swim in the fountain last night."

Roman's smile vanished and his eye twitched dangerous. "If you two will excuse me," he walked off mumbling something about annoying woman and burning something down.

"He seemed…" Jaune looked for a word. "Uh… I got nothing," he said, scratching the back of his head. He knew that his mom had always told him to not say anything if it wasn't something nice, so he was just going to stay silent on that one.

Pyrrha laughed and turned the corner. "My locker is this way, I will see you out in the field," she disappeared with a shake of her head, unable to believe that someone had actually managed to silence the ever infamous Roman Torchwick and his bragging ways.

Emerald turned and watched as the two separated and nudged Cinder. "Looks like someone has their eyes set on your boy toy, better make a move quick," her words were teasing and lighthearted, not really meaning anything by them.

Cinder shook her head but couldn't deny a pang of odd emotion in her chest at Emerald's words. Maybe it was her just feeling possessive over someone she considered a new friend, after all she could get rather annoyed when Emerald's special someone of the week starting eating up their time. Despite that though, she put on a smile and walked over. "Hey Jaune."

"Got ditched?" Emerald asked playfully. "Young love is so cruel," she gave a dramatic sigh and laughed afterward.

Jaune's face lit up and he quickly shook his head. "No, no, no, no, it's nothing like that."

Emerald laughed and nodded. "Sure it ain't lover boy. Anyway, grab your stuff and let's go!"

Cinder nudged Emerald in the ribs. "Ignore her, well other than the equipment thing; we really do need to get going if we don't want to be late."

Jaune nodded and grabbed his equipment, walking with the two young women out toward the field where they were told to meet.

After another few minutes, all of the new students had arrived at the base of a rather steep cliff, lined up shoulder to shoulder and looking down upon the forest that sat at the bottom of the cliff. Ozpin and Goodwitch slowly walked down the line of students before Ozpin finally spoke. "Today begins the first step in your journey toward being Hunters, the day when you either rise or fall," he turned to look out toward the forest, taking a drink from his mug. "The forest bellow is filled with the creatures of Grimm, and at its center lies a temple holding a number of treasures. You and your partner will collect a single artifact and bring it back here. Oh yes," he turned back toward the students. "As soon as your feet touch either ground or nature this rule comes into effect, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years of your training here at Beacon."

A number of gasps made their way through the line. Cinder wanted to gasp, but couldn't feel any part of herself as a cold sense of dread ran through her body. At first it just felt like the dread of being forced to partner with someone she didn't know, but it somehow felt deeper than that. Like there was a storm on the horizon that was just waiting to break.

"While you will be monitored throughout the exercise, no teacher will come to your aid unless your death is assured, but if a member of the school staff saves you, then you will be asked to leave Beacon and never return," his words were sharp but honest, telling the students the fact that he was sure none of them wanted to imagine. If one couldn't survive a simple exercise like this then they would never make it through anything. "You will have to work out your own landing strategy, by the way," he raised his mug. "The test begins now." The ground beneath the students shot forward all at once and launched each one of them into the sky. One loud scream seemed to break the air and despite his years of training and disciple Ozpin allowed himself a smile. He really did love this job.

* * *

Ruby looked down upon the ground of the forest through the monitors within the stealth ship and finally raised her hand. "Stop the ship." The airship paused its flight at her command and she drew in a deep breath. "Release the cage." The chains under the ship let go of the massive cage containing the S-class Grimm landing on the forest with a massive boom, like the sound of a bomb dropping. Within seconds, the cage was ripped apart and the massive shadowy figure was released into the forest.

"Today, chaos reigns," Ruby raised her hand and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them next they were bright red, the same as a Grimm's. "Let's get this party started!"

* * *

In the next chapter

Cinder and company find themselves in the first part of their entrance exam, making their landings and forming alliances as they do. However, with the massive beast that has been unleashed onto the forest by Ruby, all of their lives are put into even more danger. How will the students of Beacon survive a creature that even skilled Hunters have learned to fear?

Find out next time in A Light in the Dark chapter 5: Emerald Forest Part 1: Landing Flame

Thanks to everyone who reads this little story of mine. I would love to hear feedback from all of you and find out what I can do to make this story even better for you guys. Thanks for everything and don't forget to leave a review or comment.


	5. Emerald Forest 1: Landing Flame

At the beginning of time there was darkness and light. From the light rose humanity; strong, resourceful, and full of life. From the darkness rose the Grimm; cold, destructive, and born only for bringing death. They lived in a divided world, when the sun rose humans would roam the planet, and when the darkness consumed the land, the Grimm would wander and destroy all things humanity had created. Eventually the Grimm decided that they wanted to erase light, and began to attack during the day.

This is the beginning of the story.

* * *

Cinder cursed as she felt herself launched suddenly from the ground and high into the air. Not a moment's warning, one minute she was on the ground and the next she was flying through the air on a collision course with the ground. It would waste a bit of her energy, but she did have a plan to prevent the impact that would most likely kill her. She focused a ball of energy into her left hand before aiming it at the ground and letting out a pillar of fire, pushing her up and slowing down the rate at which she fell to manageable levels until she could touch the ground without turning into a human pancake.

"Well that was exciting," Cinder quipped to herself, before realizing there wasn't anyone around and talking to yourself was a sign of insanity. Whatever the case was, she needed to find someone fast. The Grimm of the forest were dangerous to take on alone, and she really didn't want to end up with someone she didn't know.

Speaking of which, Cinder began to run through the options in her head. There was of course Emerald, her first and best choice; lifelong friend, stealthy to make up for her more blunt approach, and a blast to be around. There was Jaune of course, but his inexperience with Aura might mean Cinder would have to watch over him at every step. The counter point was that he seemed to have massive potential. The guy she had met last night who called himself Mercury seemed nice enough, and the blows he had been practicing showed that he obviously had quite a bit of skill.

Whoever she met, she would need to do it fast because this forest was filled with loads of dark energy radiating off the Grimm, and going it alone was about as bad of an idea as letting Emerald loose on a beach full of cute guys. It could only end badly.

With a sigh Cinder began forward, wishing that she had the ability to feel Aura's as well as she saw them. But that skill was mostly kept for conductors to help them build their strategies. A sudden rustle of foliage broke her free from her pondering and made her take a battle stance, already building up power to launch an attack. "Looks like finding another person will have to wait," she muttered to herself, getting ready to strike.

* * *

Emerald laughed out loud as she was suddenly launched into the air, taking the time to do a few spins while her body was light as air. How many times could a person say they were sent flying like this and actually got to do some tricks in the air? Probably not many, so she wasn't going to waste it.

Once a spin or two was done, she looked down at the various others who must have been launched at different angles. Most of them seemed to be landing rather well, using trees, their Aura, weapons, or anything else to help prevent a big splat when the ground came rushing to meet them.

Well, except for the blonde guy that Cinder and herself had been talking to earlier. He seemed to be screaming his head off and trying his best to swim in the air. She considered helping him but found that someone else was already on it. Before he could hit the ground, a spear came flying out of the trees and hit a tree he was going by. By the looks of it, the spear was probably meant to go through his outfit to pin him to the tree, but at the last moment he adjusted himself to grab hold of it and hang on above the ground.

Good thing Cinder unlocked that guys Aura, might have looked pretty lame if he had actually gotten stuck to a tree. Emerald snickered at the idea and realized she should probably think of her own landing strategy, seeing as the ground was a lot closer than before.

She closed her eyes and focused for a moment, opening them again to get a full view of everything beneath her. Her Semblance was known as Super Awareness, the ability to process millions of variables in a matter of moments and plot out a simple route toward what she needed. Great for getting dates, and also useful for preventing painful meetings with the ground, which she was finding helpful. She pulled out one of her weapons in its pistol form and began to fire it, adjusting her position and making it so she would land on a number of sturdy branches. After enforcing her legs with hardened Aura the shock from a few snapping under the force didn't even register, and she finally landed on one branch that held firm for her.

"Woo, I totally made it!" she threw her fist into the air and looked around. "And now I don't know where I am."

She tilted her head to the side and thought about what she should do. Finding Cinder could be one thing, but then again she had her own grade to worry about, and Cinder would most likely be fine on her own.

A thud from a bit away drew her attention and she decided to follow it, turning off her Semblance to conserve power and not hear every movement in the forest. She peaked down from her hiding place in the trees and saw a young man walking along the ground. He must have just landed or something, at least, that's what she thought.

She ran her eyes along him and recognized the person as the guy Cinder had met last night on her walk. And he was cute. But was he strong? Emerald decided to follow after him, saying a silent apology to Cinder as she did.

She will be fine, whoever she gets partnered with won't be that bad.

* * *

Roman cursed as he was launched into the air and looked down toward the forest. If Ozpin had given a seconds worth of warning, he could have linked up with Pyrrha's Aura and would have been able to track her and ensure a good partner, but no, the old coot had instead decided to just suddenly launch them into the air.

The hunter to be reached under his coat and pulled out a sphere shaped object from it, pressing a button on the side and throwing it at the ground where he knew he would land. As soon as the object hit the ground, it exploded into a bed of soft goo that made it so he landed without a heavy impact.

It was something he had invented himself, a high impact foam that would distribute the force of any object impacting it along the surface, nullifying any damage from heights. It would, in theory, allow soldiers to drop from airships at any height without the need for parachutes, dropping landing times and allowing them to get straight to fighting the enemy when they touched ground.

Roman scowled and brushed some of the foam from his leg, wishing that he had included something that would make the foam not stain his expensive pants. But fashion sometimes had to come second when it came to saving one's own life.

The young man looked around the location and realized that many of the others had probably landed in trees and were probably moving via the branches, meaning that he had a slight advantage in not running into others and making a weak partner. Speaking of partners, he had some searching to do.

Roman stabbed his cane into the ground and slowly sent tendrils of his own energy around the forest. Not enough to connect with anyone and form a full connection, but enough to feel out the power of those close to him. A strong Aura inevitably meant a strong fighter. There were a few good choices, but they were also either moving quickly or close enough to another person to make it seem like they already had a partner.

After about half a minute of searching, he finally locked on to someone with quite a bit of power and no one else around them. With that information in his mind, he drew back in his search threads and began to move toward the presence. He could deal with personality later; so long as the person was powerful, he could mold them into someone he could agree with at a later date.

_What could possibly go wrong?_ he thought to himself.

* * *

Mercury closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of the wind pushing against his skin as he was launched into the air, thinking about the words the Headmaster had said. The first person he made eye contact with would be his partner. It seemed like an odd way of making such an important decision, but maybe Ozpin was a fan of destiny, and believed that the pairings would work themselves out. Or maybe he had set the springs to launch them in certain ways so they would land near ideal partners.

The young hunter in training wouldn't put it past the Headmaster of one of the greatest Hunter Academy's in the world to rig to odds every now and again. Of course he didn't have much more time to muse on that line of thought as he looked down and noticed that the ground was starting to become a lot closer.

"Cannon Mode," he spoke loud enough to echo down to his boots. His personal weaponry was equipped with two different varieties of ammo, a high impact explosive "cannon" round and a faster but smaller and less deadly "missile" round.

In order to take away reload time, he had incorporated a voice module that could easily change what type of ammo he was using on the fly. He moved his foot and activated the round, which fired off and adjusted his course toward a tree that was filled with leaves. Once he got close enough, he flared up his Aura and lessened the impact, jumping off the tree and rolling on the ground in order to remove any remaining inertia from the fall.

With all that done he finally took a moment to observe his surroundings, trying to figure out where he should go next. "Hm… from the look of the landscape I got from the top of the cliff and taking in that this is a test… the place with the artifacts would be in the center of the forest, which would be…" he closed his eyes and summoned up the memory of the forest in his head. "This way," he started walking through the forest, all of his senses on high alert for any dangers.

One couldn't be too careful when the creatures of Grimm were around. And if his eyes hadn't deceived him, a few of his old classmates had also been in the line up, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. Both knew about his past and if one ended up accidentally partnering with him it would be… messy.

Nora would have been a fine partner, but Ren most likely would kill him for getting close to her. Likewise, if he accidentally caught Ren's eyes, he probably would just kill him and call it an accident. He couldn't really blame the guy, but it was still a fate he wanted to avoid.

_Other than that,_ he thought to himself. _What could possibly go wrong?_

As soon as that thought entered his mind, he felt the need to hit his forehead with the flat of his palm. One was never supposed to think that, it invited bad tidings.

As if the universe was reacting to him, a number of red glowing eyes began to peak out from the foliage, followed by a number of low and dark growls.

"Fantastic," he muttered, taking a fighting stance and getting ready for whatever was about to come next.

* * *

Jaune dropped down from the tree, taking the spear that had come from out of nowhere with him as he landed. He expected the drop to be a lot more painful, seeing as he had been pretty high up. But instead it felt like he had just stepped down from a wall, still a bit bracing but nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

Maybe it was that "Aura" stuff Cinder had unlocked for him. He made a mental note to thank her for that when he had the chance. For now though, he was just going to wait, holding the spear that had prevented him from taking a face first dive into the ground. It felt rather odd in his hands, like it had been specifically designed for someone else's hand.

Not for the first time, Jaune began to wonder if he was really supposed to be here. After using the fake transcripts he had managed to forge, he had thought that this place could finally give him the thing he had always wanted, a destiny, a way to feel important. But now that he was here he felt completely out of his depth when surrounded by people who were already great warriors in their own right.

What could he do? All he had was a sword, a shield, and some extremely dumb luck to run into someone who had seen his lack of a basic tool in the Hunter's arsenal and unlocked it without a second thought.

Before he could continue to tear himself a new one, Pyrrha walked out of the forest and gave a wave to him, meeting his eyes without a moment's hesitation. "Sorry about that, it looked like you were a bit out of control with your landing."

Jaune laughed a bit and scratched the back of his head. "I uh… I thought my shoelace was untied and was looking at it. Didn't expect the launch," it was a lame excuse, but he was already a pretty huge dork in most people's eyes, so it was probably easy to buy.

"I see," she looked at her spear for a moment. "Would you mind if I had that back?"

Jaune nodded and tossed it over to her. "So uh… you know if you want to find a different partner there is a chance that we weren't caught on camera."

Pyrrha cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Well…" Jaune shrugged a bit. "I mean you are really good, especially if what that guy earlier was saying was true. I am okay but you would probably do better with a partner that was on your level, right?"

She shook her head and walked over to him, putting a hand over his heart. "Strength can only take you so far, a pure and honest heart is a much greater weapon than the force one can put behind their actions," she gave him a warm smile. "And I can tell that you have a great heart to you, Jaune."

Jaune blushed a bit but also felt her words dispelling the darkness that had earlier been eating away at his mind. She might have had a point, and he could also grow stronger as time went on anyway.

"Thanks…" he looked around and sighed. "You know, I just realized I have no idea where we are supposed to be going."

"Hm… well let's explore around a bit. Maybe we can find some other students and follow them," Pyrrha suggested, putting her spear on her back with her shield and starting to walk. "Try and stay alert though, I am getting a bad feeling."

Jaune nodded. "Well we are already in a forest full of Grimm, what else could possibly go wrong, right?"

* * *

Ren sighed and walked with Nora at his side, moving through the forest carefully, and ready for another Grimm to strike. He had just battled against a King Taijitu, an enemy which was usually meant for at least two Hunters, so he was understandably a little tired and needing to build up his energy.

Unlike Nora, he was more built for scouting missions and finishing blows rather than prolonged one on one fights with enemies. It was something the combat school they had previously attended had drilled into them.

One stealth fighter with quick movement and speed and a strong fighter with powerful blows. These teams were put together in a way to trick students into thinking they were organic, but in reality they were anything but. Students would be paired with people who not only balanced them out on the battlefield, but also in their normal lives.

Nora and himself made a great example of their methods, as the two of them were opposite in almost every way but were still an efficient unit. Nora had probably never really thought that their friendship was anything but natural, and even though Ren knew the truth, it didn't change that he still considered the energetic hammer wielder his best friend.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Nora asked him in a sing-song type of voice. "Still worried over that Mercury guy?"

The name of Mercury caused a look of annoyance to flow over Ren's face. It was rare that anything could get on his nerves, but that man was one of the things that truly danced on his sanity and composer. "No, just about what other surprises might await us."

Nora blew a raspberry and struck a pose. "Well whatever it is, I will beat it down! Nothing can beat the Incredible Nora!"

Ren raised an eyebrow at that. "I thought your title was 'The Invincible Nora', or was it 'The Amazing Nora'," he was mostly just teasing her at this point, an act that calmed him down quite easily.

"I can change stuff if I want too," she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Of course you can," Ren assured her before continuing on their way. They probably had quite a bit of ground to cover, but that only meant he had more time to charge up. Survival was more important than a grade, and the bad feeling that he had running through him made him think it was much more intelligent to store as much energy as he could for the road ahead.

* * *

Cardin cursed as he pushed his way through another bunch of bushes, his newly minted 'team' following behind him. The three other guys had landed pretty close to him, and after a bit of talking they had decided who wanted to be whose partner.

They were all pretty similar when it came to strengths, and they meshed well in the personality department as well. With the four of them working together, finding their way to the center of the forest had been easy. The area was clear of any trees and had a small structure that held a number of objects in it.

"Told you we would find it," he said with a smirk. The others nodded their heads in agreement and started toward it.

Before they could get far though, a massive roar tore through the forest, giving them pause and causing a few to shake with real fear.

That wasn't the sound of some low class Grimm, or even an Alpha Grimm, which though rare around forests like these, were still known to show up from time to time. No, that was the roar of a real demon.

Suddenly, a feeling caused Cardin to turn around and lock eyes with a massive beast. Before any of the four could react, the beast leaped forward and struck, knocking them all back and into the dark realms of unconsciousness.

There was a loud scream or two from the others, but the last thing that Cardin could truly remember was the creature's eyes. They were like the red of a normal Grimm, except they were marked by a strange black symbol in the center. The symbol, from what Cardin could see before falling away into unconsciousness, was in the shape of a raven.

* * *

Ruby laughed as the four young hunters went down, moving her hands much like a puppet master would when standing above their toy to control its movements. With the crown and ring together, she was able to control the S-class Grimm even at this distance. With all three objects together, anything would be possible.

"Why not just kill them?" Blake asked from the other side of the stealth airship.

"Simple, if I kill them, they will just bomb the forest," Ruby moved the massive beast to stand by the structure housing the artifacts and had it go into resting mode to converse her energy. Controlling the creature drained her a bit, so it would have been stupid to just have it roam around. The students would come to it, and then she could strike. "Leaving them alive gives incentive for the teachers to come out and protect them."

Blake shrugged a bit. "I suppose there will be time for the death of humans later."

"Indeed," Ruby laughed a bit. With all this power in her hands, with the plan in place, what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

In the next Chapter

New alliances are formed as Ruby's plans continue. Will anyone be able to survive the dark power of an S-class Grimm released in a forest full of Hunters in training? Find out next time in…

A Light in the Darkness Chapter Six: Emerald Forest Part 2: Rising Fire

* * *

Thank you to everyone who reads this chapter. I argued with myself a lot about if I should fuse this chapter and the next before remembering that I don't have much time to write with my current schedule and figured that this one would be fine. We are still sticking with events that happen thematically in the episodes in a way. What happens when and where is a bit different, but I think that should be fine in the long run. Anyway, tune in to the next chapter if you want to see what happens next, and consider giving a review or following the story, things like that make Authors really happy. Oh and tip your editors people. Till next time.


	6. Emerald Forest Part 2: Rising Fire

As the Grimm began their attack on the light humans were forced into the darkness of the caves at all times, living off of fungus and other oddities that grew deep in the holes they cowered in. That is until one day when they came across the embodiment of nature's wrath, Dust. Using the power of Dust and the strength of their soul's, humanity pushed itself from the brink and began a counter attack against the Grimm to claim the world for themselves. Standing against them was an infinite sea of darkness controlled by four beings that claimed to be gods. These four are the only documented SSS class Grimm, the most powerful creatures to ever walk the planet. Using their will alone, they could command the hordes of darkness against humanity. But even against these monsters, humanity fought.

And so the story continues.

* * *

Cinder looked at the moving brush and prepared herself to attack, forming a ball of flames into her hand and running attack strategies through her head. She wasn't used to fighting one on one, most of the time she would either be teamed with Emerald or fighting multiple opponents that would allow her to release wider attacks that she could catch groups of enemies in. But from the way the bushes moved, it seemed like there was only one creature on the other side.

"Son of a… thorns… crap," out of the bushes fell the figure of Roman Torchwick, whose entire body was covered with foliage from his trek. "Why would there even be…" he looked up and locked eyes with Cinder. "Oh no… not you," he fell backward as he realized just how very badly this was going to go.

With a partner that couldn't even control herself around Dust what was he going to do? He would get kicked out of Beacon, he would have to go back to his family and explain why he hadn't been good enough to get accepted.

While Roman was worrying about his own problems, Cinder felt her heart shatter into bits. She had always hoped Emerald would be her partner, but she wouldn't have minded it too much if someone else were to take her place so long as they were nice or at least bearable. But it seemed fate was destined to stick her with someone she couldn't stand. What was it Uncle Qrow would say? Making the best out of the worst is the best quality for a Hunter… or something like that at least. "So…" Cinder sighed a bit and looked at him.

"Yeah…" Roman stood up and looked at her, trying to form his thoughts into words. He decided to scrap that since his thoughts would probably land him with a sharp slap, and decided to go a different route. "Listen, I get that this isn't ideal for either of us."

"Agreed," Cinder said with a sigh.

"…But we both want the same thing in the end; to be Hunters and protect the world," he finished, annoyed at the interruption but not willing to start a fight over it. "So let's just try to get through this forest alive, and deal with the issues that will probably come up from it later."

Cinder thought about that for a moment. "You mean put aside any insults or annoyance for later and just act like adults?" she put on a show of considering it. "I suppose it's not the worst idea in the world."

Roman was obviously not amused, but put on a fake smile anyway. "I will take it," he put out his hand. "Let's start fresh for now. My name is Roman Torchwick, I work best with small to mid-size Grimm in up close combat and can act as a Conductor for up to ten people at the same time."

Cinder looked at his hand for a moment before reaching out and taking it. "Cinder Fall, I am a Dust Caster, I work best at a range and have limited up close fighting skills. However, my blows hit hard enough to count."

Under his guise of politeness, Roman winced at the pairing they had been given. A Dust Caster and a Conductor were two people you didn't want to have fighting by themselves. They were meant to stay back and attack at range while weapons specialists or Aura fighters held off the enemy. But this was the real world, so he knew that there wouldn't always be ideal team ups. "We should try to link up with another group of two then to bolster our numbers, I don't think either of us want to get caught in a fight with a bunch of Beowolves and no one to distract them."

"I suppose…" a sudden chill ran through the air as a dark energy ran through the forest. This wasn't like the normal chill one would get when faced with a group of Grimm, this was much more intense and much more powerful. A massive roar followed the chill, along with a number of screams of pain and terror.

"Someone's in trouble," Cinder ran toward the sound of the screams, knowing that whatever was causing them was a force to be feared. At the same time she couldn't just let someone be hurt. It was her duty to protect others, no matter the cost.

Roman hesitated for a moment, having felt the same thing as Cinder. He didn't like the idea of running toward whatever was causing it. But then a thought ran through his mind. This is probably part of the test, just a collared Grimm that seems powerful but can be destroyed at any time. With the rationalization in his mind, he ran after Cinder.

* * *

Mercury took a few steps away from the eyes and waited for the enemy to make the first move. His style was more about counterattacks than straightforward aggression, which worked well against many flavors of Grimm. Grimm tended to focus only on attacking and destroying their target with no mind for defending themselves or building a strategy for a long fight.

From the woods burst forth six Beowolves, five of which were normal versions of the creature, but the one at the very back of the pack was different. It was a bit larger than the others, and had a few more bone like blades coming forth from its skin. It was the pack's Alpha most likely, leading the group and allowing them to act in a more unified fashion.

This fight was going to be slightly difficult from the looks of it. A smile crossed Mercury's face, because to be honest, that was the way he wanted it.

"Missile," he struck his foot forward twice and launched two blasts directly into the armored heads of two of the Beowolves, knocking them away from the pack. "Now then," he turned toward the remaining three that were still moving. They ran in a V formation with the Alpha taking the back and the two Betas covering it.

Before Mercury could react though, another figure leapt out of a nearby tree directly onto the Alpha pack, forcing it to the ground and sliding on its body ahead of the two Beta's. The figure on its back was none other than Emerald, who after giving a small smirk aimed at Mercury, pulled forth her blades and slashed the back of the creature's neck, the lead armored portion of its entire body. After the cut was made, she lifted and aimed her weapons at the two other Beowolves, firing two explosive rounds into their necks and grinning as they both slumped over. "Behind me please?"

Mercury nodded and leapt over her, slamming both feet into the two Beowolves that he had knocked down, both of whom were about to attack Emerald. "Cannon," he fired two powerful shots directly into the Grimm's faces, leaving two smoking holes where their heads had once been. "Thanks," Mercury said, back still to Emerald.

"Eh, you had it," Emerald collapsed the blades on her pistols and put them back into their holsters. "I just wanted to be awesome, which I am all the time anyway, but yeah," she blinked and realized he wasn't looking her way, so she walked around to stand in front of him. But he just turned his head so their eyes wouldn't meet. "Okay, so what's with the whole not looking at me thing?"

"You don't want me as a partner," Mercury stated, already feeling old ghosts start to rise in his mind. "Trust me."

Emerald sighed. "Oh please don't tell me you are one of those 'I am a super depressed person because x happened in my past so I am always serious now' kind of people," she walked over and put her hands on either side of his face, tilting it up so he was looking into her eyes. "You are obviously a good person, Cinder told me that much. You are strong, and you want to become a Hunter. I plan on teaming up with a Dust Mancer and whoever she ended up partnered with. She is my best friend and that means that I need to make sure I can help keep her safe. I am a Weapon Specialist, and with you on the team, that makes us three of four for the perfect squad."

"That… is extremely rational," he admitted, knowing that after making eye contact he was already stuck in the partnership anyway. "The name is Mercury by the way."

"Better than what I was going to call you," Emerald stepped back and pointed toward the forest. "Let's go!"

"Wait, what were you going to—" before Mercury could finish a massive roar shook the forest, causing a multitude of birds to fly out from the tree tops. Following the roar was a loud scream, a number of them actually.

"We need to go," Emerald said, knowing that Cinder would most likely run toward the noise. She always leapt into situations that were dangerous if it meant helping people, and something that could make a noise that loud was surely dangerous.

"Right," Mercury said, tossing away his question and breaking out into a run after Emerald.

* * *

"So…" Jaune looked at the entrance to a cave and tapped his foot a bit. "Do you think that the thing we need to get is in here?"

Pyrrha looked at the painting to the side of the cave, seeing clearly that it was something meant to keep people away. "I… somehow doubt it."

"Well maybe that's the point?" he said, thinking out loud more than actually talking. "Like hide it in a place that people wouldn't expect and then have them enter it as a test of bravery or something?"

"That makes sense…" she said, still holding a lot of doubt in her mind.

"Look Ren, more people!" a rather cheery voice rang out from the woods as two figures exited the area and moved toward the cave. Nora waved toward Pyrrha and Jaune and walked over with Ren following closely behind. "Hi there other people!"

"Hey," Jaune waved, not sure what to think of the two people. They seemed nice, or at least the girl did. The guy was hanging back and didn't seem to be saying much of anything.

"Pleasure," Pyrrha said with a smile. "What brings you this way?"

"I detected two other Aura signatures, thought it would be a good idea to meet with other people with all of the Grimm running around," Ren finally spoke, his voice loud enough to be heard but no more than that.

"It makes sense from a tactics stand point, larger numbers offer better protection," Pyrrha looked toward Jaune. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, new people," he smiled. "Name's Jaune Arc."

"Pyrrha Nikos," the red head said, introducing herself.

"Name's Nora," she pointed toward Ren. "His name is Ren, he doesn't talk very much," that earned her a slight glare from Ren, but he didn't make an issue out of it. "So what's with the cave?" Nora asked.

"Well we thought—" before Jaune could finish a roar shook through the forest, followed by a number of screams. "Sounds like someone's in trouble," Jaune looked toward the other three. "I know we are supposed to focus on the artifact, but I think we should go help them."

Pyrrha smiled and nodded her head. "Right."

"Woo, kick butt time!" Nora looked around a bit and pointed. "That way!"

Ren put his hand on her shoulder and adjusted her. "That way…"

"This way!" Nora broke out into a sprint toward the sound, and the rest of the group quickly followed after her.

* * *

Cinder and Roman paused at the edge of the forest, and what they saw froze both of them in place. Standing in a spot devoid of trees was a small structure with a number of artifacts sitting within. On the ground around the structure where the fallen bodies of students who had been knocked out in battle, looking badly hurt.

Behind the structure loomed a massive ape-like Grimm which stood fifteen feet tall, pitch black body covered with a thin layer of black hair. It had four massive arms as thick as tree's with pulsing crimson lines running through them. At the end of each finger sat long, bone-like claws, and on the top of the arms sat bone-like blades that extended past its body. Covering the creatures face was a bone white mask with red lines running throughout, covering four pure red slit eyes that glowed with malice. It opened its mouth to let out a blood curling roar, revealing its rows of shark-like teeth.

Roman took a step back and looked down to his hands only to realize they were shaking. "I don't think this is a part of the test," he said under his breath.

Cinder nodded in agreement and looked at the monster. "We have to fight it," she stepped forward to face the Grimm. Even if she had to do it on her own, she would not let this monster hurt anyone.

Roman watched her and cursed her, himself, and the entire world before stepping forward. He wasn't ready to live like a coward, so he might as well die as a Hunter.

* * *

A human figure miles away put down a pair of binoculars and let out a grunt that almost sounded like laughter. The figure's body was covered by a black robe and hood, which only left room for one to see the white mask with two black eye holes and a long beak sticking out from it. On the figure's back sat a massive rifle, easily two times its size. "Hm… so then, what will you do now Ruby?" he looked toward the battlefield and tilted his head. "Whatever it is… let's hope it holds my interest."

* * *

Glynda Goodwitches Lesson of the Day: Hunter Classes

Welcome students to a prerecorded lesson. Today I will be teaching on the various classes that Hunters are commonly divided into in order to form effective squads. There are four common classes with more specific underlines to them depending on the person classified as such. The four classes are: Aura Fighter, Weapon Specialist, Dust Mancer, and Conductor.

An Aura Fighter uses their natural Aura and Semblance in harmony in order to create an effective fighting style. One need only look to Mr. Oobleck in order to see an example of such. He forms his Aura into deadly attacks, striking and defending himself with his soul.

Weapon Specialists focus more on using their Semblance and a weapon in harmony, sometimes training in one weapon and other times developing skills with multiple weapons. One need only look so far as Mr. Port and his personal favorite weapon, which he keeps on display in his classroom.

Dust Mancers use their Aura to tune in with the power within Dust, fusing the two together to perform powerful attacks and destroy their enemies. I, myself am a fine examples of this, drawing our energy inward and directing nature's wrath against our foes.

The final class we will speak about today are Conductors, those whose souls connect others. A Conductors main ability is setting themselves up as a line of communication between a number of people, allowing instant transmission of thought and strategy into multiple people. They can also allowed a sort of shared vision among those they are connected to, allowing allies to see the enemies moves even from cover. Headmaster Ozpin is one of the best known Conductors, said to be able to link up to thirty people at the same time with no stress.

By the time you complete your training here at Beacon, you will rise to an A rank in at least one of these classes, and either a B in another or C's in two. For more on these classes please see the tape marked 'Subclasses'.

* * *

Cinder finds herself faced with an enemy more powerful than anyone could imagine her to be ready for. Will the aid of others allow her to win the day, or will the overwhelming force of darkness devour all? Find out next time in A Light in the Dark Chapter 7: A New Light Appears.

* * *

Sorry about the short chapter, but the next one is already started and it's going to be BIG. I mean huge. Anyway leave a review or favorite the story if you liked it. Review if you didn't as well, critic is good. Share with your friends if you would like and I hope to see you all next time.


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