Sanctum Combat School, Argus, Anima.

"Your individual results will be sent to your Scrolls on Friday, as long as there are no unforeseen delays." Professor Dart said, eyes flicking around the room to meet the eyes of the three who had groaned at the news. "You will also have the academy applications to look forward to filling out as well, which you should complete before your results arrive; I do hope I've managed to instil the habit of taking proactive action in at least some of you."

There was another sad groan from the back of the room, followed by a thump of a head hitting a desk. A deluge of mumbled yes sirs rang out, and the severe man looked distinctly unimpressed by their lack of enthusiasm.

"Sir, sir. I still haven't decided which Academy to apply to." Cherrie said, visibly nervous. "How long do we have before we have to send them? What if they decline me? Sir—what if they decline me?"

Lima couldn't help but laugh at the girl's panic; he wasn't exactly sure about the odds, but he'd put it down as 'pretty fucking unlikely' that any of the academies would turn down a combat-ready and willing Huntress before even evaluating them.

"I'm afraid that is out of my hands now, but if you are suddenly finding yourself worried—well, perhaps you should have worked harder," Professor Dart said with a self-satisfied nod. "To answer your other question, your applications must be submitted before the end of March; those very applications will be reviewed by the respective academy's instructors, and an acceptance or declination response will be returned to you within the week."

That felt almost as if it was an entire lifetime away, but it would leave him with more than enough free time to come to a decision. Lima didn't really have a preference on which to apply for—other than the fact that Shade Academy was probably hot as balls, and Atlas Academy was cold as nuts. Haven Academy was the closest in proximity and something of a default choice, but after four years of dealing with the elitist pricks at Sanctum, he wasn't sure he wanted to follow the same standard pipeline. Beacon Academy, on the other hand, he didn't know too much about, other than that it was located in Vale—so he'd call it the second choice, considering he'd heard the temperature was just about right.

#

Sage's Home, Argus, Anima.

"You suck, your face sucks, and your mother sucks," Lima complained from flat on his back. "That's what I think, you old bastard."

"You never even met my mother, you little shit." Sage said, "Now get up, you pansy; you've still got some left in the tank."

"Pansy," Lima squawked, tilting from the ground all the way back up to his feet with a faint pulse of his Semblance. "I almost had you that time."

Lima dropped his Semblance as soon as he was back to his feet. It was something that had long since been banned during sparring or training sessions. Lima drew in a sharp breath, preparing his body for the oncoming rush of movement and then burst to the side. He stayed low to the ground and angled for a spiral inwards, circling the massive man as best he could—but Sage simply turned with him, keeping him in sight with a fraction of the effort.

"Clinging to my arm like a baby isn't going to be enough to take me down." Sage said, tracking him with ease. "You gonna hug all the Grimm to death, Lima?"

It was an outright taunt more than any kind of substantial advice because they both knew that Lima couldn't take him down without using grappling techniques. Sage's undamageable nature simply didn't allow for it—being aware that it was a taunt didn't help make it any less effective, though.

"It was an armbar, you motherfucker." Lima cried in outrage. "I'm going to break it next time, I swear to—"

Lima darted in towards him without warning, stopping just out of reach of the man's hand as it flashed by his head. He twisted with the momentum of his stop, forcing all of it into his leg and then launched a rising kick up at his face. It connected with a vicious crack that did absolutely nothing as the man's stupid Semblance reduced the impact to basically nothing and at just about zero aura-cost.

Lima was forced to duck backwards, twisting again in an attempt to deflect the man's massive hand away from his head as it tore past his cheek. He turned with the evasion, spinning low and bringing his heel around to crash—entirely ineffectively—into the back of the man's knee. Lima didn't stop, instead, he followed the spin around behind the man, twisting his foot until he was pressing down. Sage pretended to collapse, his knee striking the ground as if the force of Lima's attack had somehow made it through his Semblance—it was the most condescending thing he had ever seen.

"Learn how to turn your god damned Semblance off," Lima raged, slipping his arm up under the man's too-thick neck. "You asshole—"

"It's been sixty years," Sage said as he used his greater physical strength to start wrenching his way free. "If I haven't figured it out by now, it's never going to happen."

Lima gritted his teeth as he fought to keep the bear of a man contained, but despite his advancing age, none of his physical strength had lessened at all in the last decade. There was light at the end of the tunnel, though; the gap was closing the older they both became. Lima was seventeen now, only five months away from adulthood and all the joys that would bring—eventually, he'd be stronger than him, surely. Sage managed to break free of the lock, the mass of meat and muscle the man called a hand wrapped around his wrist—

"Got you," Sage cackled.

"You motherfucker—" Lima cried out.

Sage dragged him off the ground into a circle and then smashed him down onto the dirt. Lima brought forth about twice the amount of aura that he thought was needed, but the impact still rocked him, and he heard his Scroll let out a beep as he dipped beneath the ten percent threshold.

"Another loss, huh?" Sage said, with a laugh, "Lima, you've got to be the world's best loser—why I've never seen someone with so many to his name."

"You cheating bitch." Lima complained.

He dragged himself back to his feet, only barely managing to snatch the water bottle Sage had tossed at his face in time.

"At some point, you gotta stop hugging the enemy and just fight, you know?" Sage said, shaking his head as if beset by a great sadness. "I raised a pussy."

"It was a fucking sleeper hold." Lima cried in dismay.

"Does this look like bedtime, boy?" Sage demanded, "Are we here to fight or have a cuddle?"

Lima just let out an incoherent cry of rage and attacked again.

#

Outer Wall, Argus, Anima.

Sneaking up onto the wall was a favoured past time for just about everyone in Argus; you weren't supposed to, of course, but as long as you kept out of the way and didn't make a nuisance of yourself, the guys on watch would often let it slide. Lima didn't spot any of the ones who would actually run him off, so he thought he was in the clear this time. He made a pillow out of his linked hands and lay back on the wall, almost groaning at finally getting to stop for the day. The old bastard was a slave driver, but he did appreciate the man, despite all their arguing.

The sky was bright with stars, and like always, the shattered moon hung in the sky, a testament to some unfathomable accident in an age long passed. He wondered what could have done it. There had been thousands of tales about it and a thousand more theories that made much more sense, but there was little evidence to support any of them. The most agreed-upon theory was that it was the result of a meteor, while another one had popped up recently that stated it had once been part of Remnant but split off somehow, which made absolutely no sense to him. How would the moon have gotten up into space?

Hell, there were other tales, more eldritch; A ancient dragon Grimm had done it, or the moon itself was the origin of the Grimm. In some stories, it was actually an immense Grimm whose face hid always within the shadow, evicted from the earth by the power of an ancient warrior. Lima wasn't sure that any of them were close to the truth, but you didn't need to know the origin of the Monsters of Grimm to kill them; you just needed a bow, an arrow, and a desire to wipe every last one from the face of Remnant. Coincidentally, he had all three of those things.

He wondered what the world would have been like without them. Would Atlas have conquered the stars? Overcome that no Dust works in space rule? Would people have even learned how to harness the light of their souls? Would they have ever needed to develop the martial skills and machine weapons needed to fight the Grimm off? Would their absence actually set humanity back—because if nothing else, the constant threat of death was a good motivation to grow and quickly. More personal to him, he'd have never met Sage or Midori—which was a thought he flinched back from, considering how much they'd done for him in the aftermath of his mother's death, not meeting them was something he couldn't even imagine.

It had been a big step to leave Midori behind in Mistral. The fact that Sage had come with him had left a veil of guilt in the back of his mind—like he'd taken her dad away from her, even if she, as a grown woman, had never been anything but supportive about the choice. That was one of the points that had put Haven above the other schools as well because he'd be able to go down into the city after class and see her. The fact that Sage would have to stay here in Argus was the icing on the cake, trapped as he was by his job at Sanctum and unable to further inflict the terrors of the P.A System upon him.

"Heh," Lima murmured. "Old bastard."

No more getting his ass kicked every day by the smug asshole—and no more random Huntsman and Huntresses lining up to try their foot at kicking the ass of 'Sage's Protégé.' He'd finally be free to slack off a bit, and then the moment he got his Huntsman License—no more staying inside the walls of Argus, no more sneaking off in the middle of the night to kill shitty Beowolves that got too close. He could head off to Oniyuri and hunt down every single Grimm that dared remain within a week's travel of the dismal place that still haunted his nightmares. Then once he'd wiped that stain from his soul, there was an entire world filled to the brim with the monsters of Grimm—and as much as he'd encourage them to do it, they certainly weren't going to kill themselves.

"Fucking Grimm," Lima mumbled.

#

Sanctum Combat School, Argus, Anima.

"Stop," Lima said, staring at him. "Say what you just said again."

"Something wrong with your hearing, boy?" Sage said, "I applied as the first-year instructor at Haven Academy—that's why I called you in, thought I'd share the good news."

Everybody in the god damned school knew where he was right now because Sage had called him in using the school's P.A system—something that had happened far too many times in the past. Needless to say, the man was the biggest bastard that had ever roamed the face of the planet. Lima took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose in an attempt to realign himself with the crushing weight of the reality that had just been revealed to him.

"You are going to be the first-year combat instructor at Haven Academy," Lima repeated, "As in, Haven Academy, located in Mistral, on the continent of Anima."

"You got it," Sage said, preening. "What a shame that you already applied because now I'll be able to meet all your little friends and tell them about all the embarrassing stories I've been saving up."

Lima very carefully kept his face blank as he considered the piece of incredible fortune that had just fallen into his lap. He'd been inadvisably lazy and put off applying for an academy because he still had a few days to actually handle it, but Sage had been nagging him about it since Friday, so he'd just lied and told the man he'd already applied to Haven, just to get him off his back—destiny was calling, and it was saying 'we are getting the fuck out of Anima.'

"Midori will be there as well, so I can start nagging her into finally making me some grandchildren before I'm dead and buried," Sage said, clapping his hands together in a way that was far too congratulatory. "I can't wait—and I can see that you're just as happy about it as I am."

Motherfucker.

"I hate you with every fibre of my being," Lima managed, "How long were you planning this?"

"More than a month." Sage barked out a laugh, "I wasn't sure I'd get the job, but apparently, they lost a staff member during a routine mission a while back, poor bastard."

Lima stared at him for a long moment, the knowledge that an honoured warrior of humanity had been felled by the Grimm dowsing most of his internal glee at having pulled one over on the man.

"The Grimm got a combat instructor?" Lima said, frowning. "Damn—any idea how that happened?"

"Lionheart—the headmaster at Haven—told me he's been trying to get a straight answer on that since it happened," Sage said, linking his hands together for a moment. "I'm just as curious as to what went down, but it seems like there's nobody who really knows."

"Yeah," Lima said, shaking his head. "Listen—I'll be getting you back for this, you old bastard, mark my words."

"You'll try, you little shit." Sage said, "I hear they've got a great P.A System at Haven Academy—I'm going to give it a real workout."

Lima turned on his heel and strode out of the man's office, listening to the laughter echoing behind him. He needed a plan, and he needed one now; there was no way in hecking balls he was going to Haven if the old bastard was teaching there; he'd been through years of the man's nonsense here at Sanctum already. As much as he wanted to see Midori, he wanted to have a social life and one where Sage wasn't burying it head first in the cement at every opportunity. What did he need to do? He needed to apply for one of the other three schools, obviously, which he was going to go home and do immediately.

It didn't matter which one; ice, sand, or whatever the hell Vale had—he'd heard something about a red sap once; maybe that applied? Either way, any of it was better than four years of Sage being his teacher again. There was very little chance he wouldn't be accepted—it may have sounded arrogant, but he was easily the best fighter in his class—probably a few of the classes if he'd ever bothered to interact with any of them. His non-practical marks wouldn't have mattered either way, but he was sitting pretty in the top five easily for bookwork, and he'd passed all of the exams with good marks, so he was an ideal candidate for becoming a Huntsman.

He strode straight out of Sanctum's front gates. Screw sitting through a bunch of half-assed classes; the school year had mostly ended by now, and all that was left was waiting and revising. A streetcar was drifting on by, and he quickly realised what his biggest issue would be. Transport. All three of the other Academies were on different continents, so he would need to buy passage; money wasn't an issue for him; Sage was pretty well off and tended to throw money at him whenever he asked, so Lima had managed to put a lot of it away for the future—after a childhood of watching his mother desperately try and pull together enough money for them to live on, and the misfortune that had seemed to follow them when it became clear that it was never really enough, he had something of a leaning towards being frugal.

Each of the Academies opened its gates in April, less than a month away now. He would need to buy the tickets quickly because they would be neither cheap nor bountiful. The Sanctum graduates that ended up choosing Atlas Academy would be taking airships to get there. Shade Academy would mean a trip to Atlas as well, and then either a boat or another airship to Vacuo. Beacon would be a series of trains, one of which crossed the ocean between Anima and Sanus. Airships were more expensive, and boat trips could be really, really fucking long, depending on the destination. Fuck Vacuo because the heat was probably awful anyway, which left it as Atlas or Beacon.

Intercontinental travel was always expensive, at least from what he'd heard, although it was supposedly much cheaper when you were a Licensed Hunter. A perk of the job, seeing as you fought to protect everyone else, they rewarded you with a little discount—hard to kill any monsters if you couldn't afford the trip to where they were lurking. There was a subsidy for students, but he would need to fill out some paperwork for that, and he would probably need a signature from his guardian. It baffled him that he could sign up to fight monsters without a guardian's consent, but if he wanted a discount on transport, suddenly, the rules were ironclad. Obviously, the Academies needed a constant influx of new Hunters, given that a lot of them died on the job, so it made sense to ease the way, but still.

He was in a unique position where he couldn't let on to Sage about his impending vanishing act, so he would have to absorb the full cost without the subsidy to his bank account. How much would an Airship to Atlas cost? He would need to go check the airship terminal, he wasn't sure, but he vaguely remembered it being brought up in class once. They'd talked about that subsidy a few weeks ago; what had Professor Dart said? Argus to Atlas was two thousand Lien? Before the subsidy, with it coming down to only a thousand with it. Two thousand was nothing to sneeze at, but he could still just afford it.

Beacon would need three trains, Argus to Mistral, say three hundred Lien? Mistral to Port Line, that was the big one, probably five hundred at least. Then Port Line to Vale would be three hundred, maybe. An estimate of eleven hundred for Vale or two thousand for Atlas. He could tank either of them, but it would be painful either way. He would need to go confirm the prices just to make sure, but was there anything else he had missed? He'd have to look up a bunch of articles about the different academies and see if he couldn't get some idea of what the on-campus living was actually like, and if there were any big differences between them.

Atlas was supposed to be far more regimented and strict about conduct; he'd heard that much. The other schools were less known to him, but he could probably find some kind of online testimonies about them. Academy life was supposed to be about living on campus, which meant no rent or food costs. He would need to pay for equipment, but his spikes were built to be sturdy and recoverable by design, so he wouldn't be replacing them very often.

"Fucking Sage," Lima sighed.

#

Sage's Home, Argus, Anima.

Lima stared at the man across the kitchen table, wondering if he somehow knew. He'd been growing more paranoid every day, and the man had said some things that may have indicated that he was secretly aware of his plan all along. Was Sage waiting until the last minute before pulling the rug out from under him? Had he somehow enrolled him into Haven already? Did he know?

"Stop glaring at me, you little shit," Sage said, "I haven't even done anything to deserve it, at least not today anyway."

Lima went over the man's words with a fine-tooth comb; was it some hidden reference to having already foiled his master plan? No, he couldn't know. He didn't have access to any of the acceptance letters because they had only arrived half an hour ago. Sage didn't have access to Haven's systems yet to check his enrolment either—he would need to be on campus for that.

"Bastard," Lima muttered before shaking his head. "Have you spoken to Midori yet?"

"Last night, actually," Sage said as he scratched at the rough white stubble that covered his chin, "She sounded pretty happy that we were coming back; she said she misses you even—no idea why."

There was a pang of discomfort at the thought of disappointing her, and missing out on being able to see her every day—but he'd made his choice, and it was far too late to turn back now.

"Motherfucker," Lima responded automatically, "It's because I'm the greatest sibling anyone could ever ask for, obviously."

"Midori is far too kind a soul to put up with your crap," Sage said, "You better behave yourself."

Lima stared at the man as if he'd just turned into a King Taijitu.

"My crap?" Lima cried, "You're the one who needs to calm their tits—Midori was probably happy to get a break from your shit these last couple of years."

He'd been off on both prices; the Airship to Argus was actually only eighteen hundred, while the three trains would cost a total of just under thirteen hundred—still if the cost of his freedom was thirteen hundred Lien, then he'd gladly pay it. He'd managed to read through a bunch of forum posts about the different social environments at each academy—and of note was one particular article that had sent Beacon Academy rocketing up to the top of his list. Atlas Academy had been moved down to second place after that, while Shade Academy was a very distant third—unfortunately, Haven Academy hadn't even made the list. This was the only way he was getting out of four years of embarrassment and social destruction—he just needed to keep the façade up, and he would be home free.

"I'd never do anything to make my dear Midori sad," Sage said, with a smile, "You, on the other hand, need to be supervised—too dumb for your own good, really."

"Fuck you," Lima said in disbelief.

"That reminds me," Sage said, snapping his fingers together. "You hear anything from the Invincible Girl? Because there's apparently some confusion about which academy she's headed to—Lionheart asked me about her."

Lima blinked at the question.

"Hell if I know, I think I've spoken to her all of once since we first came here," Lima said, squinting for a moment. "Professor Dart made us do this stupid questionnaire once, and I was supposed to get her to sign a sheet or something? I can't remember if we actually said anything; I might have just waved it in her face—"

"Riveting," Sage said, rolling his eyes. "If you hear anything about it, pass it along, would you?"

"Bastard," Lima grunted. "If I do see her, I'll make sure to tell her how nice the sand is in Vacuo."

#

Outer Wall, Argus, Anima.

Tomorrow was the day, well, tomorrow was the night anyway; at 9:00 PM exactly according to his scroll and the listed timetables for the Argus Limited. It was a four-day journey from Argus to Mistral, with a brief stopover at Wind Path along the way. That meant he should be arriving in Mistral on Wednesday, sometime in the afternoon. He would only have a couple of hours to visit Midori before his next train, but he would have to make do—there was a piercing cry of what could only be a Nevermore from directly southeast, and Lima turned his head to try and locate it amidst the dark. The personnel manning the wall were already on it, however, and he could see the hundreds of dust rounds flicking out into the darkness seconds before a massive spotlight caught the creature just as it was disintegrating.

"Idiot," Lima said, "Imagine attacking the wall head-on."

It wasn't exactly uncommon for flying Grimm to approach the walls, and it was almost always the smaller, younger ones that hadn't learned to avoid the mounted weapon placements. Lima sat back on his hands and stared out into the darkness, but no more Grimm tried their luck. Most of his paranoia had faded as the deadline approached, and Sage took no discernible actions to indicate that he had discovered his nefarious plot. Lima was pretty sure he was in the clear now, which meant that he would have to go through with it all. He wasn't sure he expected it to work out, but the idea of heading off on his own sounded exciting.

It had been four years since Sage had taken him from Mistral to Argus to attend Sanctum. It was almost six years before that when he had first met him. Sage had dragged him up from the remnants of the worst day of his life. He'd given Lima a loving home—and between him and Midori—they'd even managed to pull him most of the way free of the aimless, directionless hate he'd sunk into since his mother's death. Sage had trained him, fed him, clothed him, and had provided everything else in between. Lima would forever be thankful for everything Sage had done for him, and if the man ever called on him for anything, he'd have done it in a heartbeat—but the CCT existed for a reason, and Lima felt that he could be thankful from halfway across the planet because god damn was the man a complete bastard.

Lima turned around and looked out over the city skyline—as one of the largest non-capital cities in the world, Argus was a massive place. Home to something close to twelve million Humans and Faunus, all packed into two thousand square kilometres and hemmed in by defences on all sides—there was even an Atlesian military outpost just out of the city, sitting pretty in the shallows. Yet, from what he'd seen of the pictures, Vale made this place look like a hovel in comparison. Argus was barely under the cutoff for a 'megacity' classification, but Vale absolutely shattered it.

It was home to almost a hundred million people and sprawled over a great deal of the west coast of Sanus. The pictures he'd seen of Beacon Academy and Vale were interesting, and far different from what he'd come to expect of Anima's own architecture. It wasn't even the most populated city in the world either, as that honour went to the combination of Mantle and Atlas. Part of the reason why Argus was even as large as it was, could be placed at the foot of having access to so much trade with Mantle—another shrill cry rent the silence.

"Moving again, huh?" Lima murmured, watching as another Nevermore was torn apart in the crossfire. "I'm going to miss this."

#

Central Train Station, Argus, Anima.

Lima waited impatiently in the queue for the last guy to finish flirting and move the hell out of the way. The woman behind the counter looked strained, and once the loverboy finally flounced away, he stepped up to take his place.

"Hey, missy—that uniform looks great on you and all, but it would look much better off," Lima said, deepening his voice as much as he could. "Wanna hit the bars later?"

The woman gave a startled laugh at his terrible impression of the man whose best efforts to get her number had just been vanquished by her polite but rushed attempt to get him to move on.

"I thought he would never stop trying." She said, "Please tell me you have a ticket?"

Lima tugged it out of his pocket with two fingers before handing it over.

"My trains going to leave soon, so I was about to take drastic measures," Lima admitted, "Guy must have had a sixth sense—he avoided getting kicked up the ass by this much."

"As nice as that would have been to see, it would have dragged the situation out even further," The woman said, shaking her head with a smile, "It doesn't leave until five past nine, so you still have a few minutes—I wouldn't dawdle for too long."

Lima took the ticket back as she finished inspecting it.

"You sure you don't want me to hang around for a bit of a flirt?" Lima said, but the woman just shooed him on with clear amusement. "We could have been great together—"

Lima took her advice and boarded the Argus Limited without delay; there was no way his master plan was going to fall apart because he dicked about on the platform for too long. The train was wide, and the ceiling was at least two stories high; It also had enough cars that they vanished into the tunnel far beyond sight. A member of the train staff pointed him in the direction of his assigned sleeping quarters. When he reached the right car, there was a single thin corridor that ran the length of it, with rooms taking up the right-hand side. Each room had two bunk beds, and he tossed his bags on the top one.

There were private rooms, but they had cost almost twice the amount; they also had all been booked already. There were public cars all down the train as well, so if he wanted to get away from whoever he was boarding with, he would have plenty of options. Lima climbed up onto the top bunk and grinned to himself; he'd done it. Sanctum was closed for the next week or so, and Sage thought he was staying at a friend's house for the night and wouldn't expect him back until Monday afternoon for hand-to-hand practice. By the time he found the note he'd left the man under his pillow, he would be halfway to Mistral.

"I am the smartest man who ever lived." Lima breathed out in happiness, "Fear my brain, for it is mighty."

"Hey, mighty brain," A familiar voice said, "What are you doing here?"

Lima blinked and rolled over to study the girl who had just chucked her things on the bed beneath him.

"Cherrie?" Lima asked, "I thought you were going to Haven?"

"I am," Cherrie said before popping back up to her feet and meeting his eyes. "This is the train to Mistral, you know?"

"I know it is," Lima rolled his eyes, "It takes like three days to get to Mistral; why are you leaving so early?"

"Oh." Cherrie smiled, "I'm going to stay with my older sister—she lives there; we planned out an entire week of things to do."

"Huh—common ground acquired," Lima said, "I've got a sister who lives there as well."

"Really?" Cherrie asked just as the train started to move. "Why are you leaving so early—are you going shopping for dresses too?"

"It's on my list of things to do," Lima said, "I'm actually going to Beacon Academy—this is the first of many trains in my immediate future."

"You're not going to Haven?" Cherrie said, startled. "Why not?"

"They declined my application," Lima said, waving a hand in a 'what can you do' kind of way. "Apparently, I'm just too weak."

"You're lying again," Cherrie said, scrunching her face up. "You were the strongest person in our class."

"I failed all the written tests—twice?" Lima tried. "Apparently, it was the strength of my pencil that was lacking."

"The tests were electronic, so pencil strength had nothing to do with it," Cherrie said, pointing her finger at him in a warning. "Tell me the real reason."

"Sage got the job as the first-year combat instructor at Haven, so I applied for Beacon instead," Lima admitted, "I'm literally fleeing the country in an attempt to find a girlfriend—you're not taking applications, are you?"

"Wow, I thought for sure you'd be coming to Haven," Cherrie said before blinking. "How could I be your girlfriend if you're leaving the country?"

"You're right, of course," Lima said, realising the issue. "I guess we'll have to settle for a brief but memorable fling?"

"Denied," Cherrie said.

"Disappointing," Lima said. "But understandable."

#

Argus Limited, Railway, Anima.

"That's what you get, you old bastard." Lima said with glee, "I told you I'd get you back—have fun teaching at Haven Academy for four years, Idiot."

"You little shit," Sage said, the sound crackling as the signal strength lessened. "I wasn't expecting it either, damn."

Lima laughed.

"It was hard keeping a straight face every time you told me about all the shit you were going to do," Lima admitted, "I almost cracked yesterday when you—"

"That's why you were smirking at breakfast," Sage said in sudden understanding. "I was checking everything in my office in case you'd done something."

"Yep," Lima said, "You're not anywhere near as mad as I thought you'd be—it kind of takes some of the fun out of it, you know?"

"Good, you don't deserve any credit," Sage said, "You better spend your time well, Lima; I didn't spend all these years teaching you just so you could die to some fucking Beowolf—which one did you pick anyway?"

Cherrie stepped into the sleeping quarters, mouth open before she paused as she caught sight of the Scroll in his hand—he waved at her in greeting but kept his eyes on the screen.

"I applied for Beacon," Lima said, "I didn't want to go to a desert or freeze my ass off up in Atlas."

"Atlas isn't that bad—they've got a heating system setup even better than the one here in Argus," Sage reminded him, "I wouldn't have chosen Shade Academy either, though, fuck all that sand."

Lima was in complete agreement.

"Any tips for the young hero setting out on his quest to woo the prettiest maidens in all the land?" Lima asked, waggling his eyebrows at Cherrie. "Before you suggest it, 'wear a condom' doesn't count."

Cherrie narrowed her eyes at him.

"You'll probably need to wear two of them if you ever manage to get a girl into the sack, you sensitive prick," Sage said with another crackling laugh. "Good luck—"

Lima's mouth fell open at the sudden critical hit.

"Fuck you." Lima cried out in an attempt to use sheer volume to reconnect the call. "Idiot. Bastard."

The Scroll beeped, and he stared down at it in disbelief as the line dropped off completely.

"Wow, that was a thing I just witnessed." Cherrie said, giggling, "He really gets under your skin, doesn't he?"

She didn't know the half of it.

#

Midori's Home, Mistral, Anima.

"He didn't," Midori stifling a laugh with her hand. "Lima."

"He did, damn it," Lima complained before clearing his throat. "Hello, students of Sanctum Combat School; it has come to my attention that a student who goes by the name Lima Morta was seen crying over what could only be described as a third-degree boo-boo—if this poor sensitive soul is listening, please hang in there, champ."

Midori fell backward onto the couch, completely descending into giggles at his imitation of the old bastard and the horrors he'd inflicted upon him.

"It's not funny." Lima cried.

"It's super funny." Midori laughed.

"I had people coming up to me for weeks saying 'Hang in there, champ,'" Lima whined, "How did you even survive him raising you?"

Midori managed to recover after a brief struggle with another onset of giggles before she finally replied.

"He didn't do anything like that to me," Midori smiled, "Mum was still around back then, though, so it might have had something to do with it."

Lima just nodded; he'd never met Midori's mother; she had died long before he had even met Sage. They both spoke of her with great fondness, and he couldn't help but think he would have liked the woman had he met her.

"You better brace yourself for four years with him then," Lima said, huffing, "He was talking about bullying you into making him some grandkids before I left."

"Oh god," Midori laughed, "I have that to look forward to, do I? Maybe I'll come to Beacon with you—is thirty too old to become a Huntress?"

Lima grinned at the woman before glancing down at his scroll when it beeped; shit, he was running out of time.

"Trains leaving soon," Lima said, wincing. "It was good seeing you again, Midori; I'll try not to make you wait another four years this time."

Midori pulled him into a hug.

"You can always call me if you want to talk," Midori said, "Beacon has one of the transmit towers like Haven does, right?"

"Yeah," Lima nodded. "I'll make sure I keep in touch, be safe, okay?"

"I should be telling you that," Midori shook her head, "You're the one going off to fight monsters."

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Anima.

The landscape slipped away, framed by the window of the cabin, and he wondered at the mop of red hair he'd seen during the boarding at Mistral and again a few minutes ago when she'd passed by his cabin—it hadn't been Cherrie because she'd reached her destination already. Lima shifted a bit at the reminder of how much she'd cried—while they'd never been particularly close back at Sanctum, they'd been friendly enough. Apparently, the few short days spent in close proximity on the train together had been enough to build a connection between them—something that four years of being in the same class hadn't done.

Still, maybe he'd see her again whenever he came back to visit Sage and Midori in the future. He spotted the same flash of red a few hours later, and this time, he flagged her down before she could get too far away—it was the celebrity girl from Argus that Sage had been asking about. He couldn't for the life of him remember her actual name, and calling her by the lame title she had would mark him as some kind of fanboy, which he certainly was not. It was something starting with 'P', wasn't it?

"Hey, uh—" Lima tried. "Pepper."

Strike one, he assumed, considering the girl continued to stare at him expectantly—her hair was bright red, so it had to be something related to that, right?

"Sorry, I misspoke," Lima said, clearing his throat. "Hey, Pomegranate."

"Pomegranate?" The girl said, startled. "Are you talking to me?"

Oh, her eyes were green, like his, but hers were way darker—it was obvious in hindsight.

"Sorry, I misspoke twice," Lima said without shame. "Hey Pawpaw, how's it hanging? Shouldn't you have been headed towards Haven Academy—it's kind of back that way."

Pawpaw looked entirely bemused at the question.

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos—not Pepper, Pomegranate or Pawpaw," Pyrrha said, "I'm doing well, though, thank you; I applied for and was accepted by Beacon Academy, which I must assume you have done so as well Lima Morta."

Lima winced as she nailed his name on the first try—how the heck did she even know it?

"What the hell is a Pyrrha? How was I supposed to guess that one?" Lima said, entirely indignant. "How do you know my name because we have never spoken before, ever—explain yourself this instant, Pawpaw."

"It was written on the top of the questionnaire you had me fill out in our first year at Sanctum," Pyrrha said, "Although I've heard it many times over the P.A system as well—did you ever get that third-degree boo-boo dealt with?"

"I'm afraid I can't let you reach Beacon Academy alive, Pawpaw," Lima said, staring at her in horror. "You know too much."

Pyrrha laughed.

"Do not worry; I will keep your terrible secret hidden, Lima," Pyrrha promised, smiling now. "Why did you choose Beacon?"

"Sage," Lima said, sighing at the question. "He was moving to Mistral to be the first-year combat instructor at Haven—I decided to escape while I could."

"I had assumed you were related, given everything," Pyrrha said, amused. "I always enjoyed his classes—I'm sorry to ask, but is he your father or grandfather? It wasn't ever very clear."

"We're not actually related; he just took me in when I was little, so he's my guardian," Lima said, rubbing his neck for a moment. "His classes are pretty tame compared to sparring with him at home—honestly, he's kicked my ass so many times by now that whenever I get a cold, I sneeze shoelaces."

Pyrrha shook her head at the terrible joke.

"We were never in the same class, were we?" Pyrrha said, eyeing him in consideration, "I can't recall seeing you participate in any of the voluntary combat simulations either."

"I do more than enough fighting at home to ever bother with signing up for the extracurricular stuff," Lima said, "Pawpaw, you were into all that tournament stuff back in Mistral, weren't you? Why are you jumping continents?"

"I wanted to—take a step back from all the fame." Pyrrha said, a bit hesitant with her answer, "I thought that maybe I could find that by going somewhere else, where not everybody knows me on sight."

"Both of us are running away, huh? Well, go forth and enjoy your relative anonymity, Pawpaw." Lima said before tossing her a wave. "I'm in this cabin, so if you get bored, come find me, and we can hang out."

"I will," Pyrrha said, smiling. "It was nice speaking with you, Lima."

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Ocean.

"I heard them talking about it," Malt whispered.

Lima cracked his eye open, glancing across at the opposite bunk to the guy who was speaking.

"That's impossible, right—we're moving so quickly; how can they even figure out where to go?" Salve said from the bottom bunk. "How many is a 'flock' exactly? Are we talking about two of them?"

"Has anyone ever called two a flock before?" Malt said, frowning. "It's gotta be at least half a dozen, probably more—they did sound pretty worried about it."

"Did they say where they were?" Salve said, voice tight, "If it was a report from Vale, it has to be on the east coast somewhere. Right?"

"He said they were South of Port Line," Malt said, frowning, "So it would be the north-east part of Sanus and exactly where we are headed—keep your voice down, we don't want to scare anybody."

A flock of something off the east coast of Sanus, and possibly crossing into the path of the train—it could be Nevermore, Giant Nevermore, Griffon, Lancers, or any number of flying Grimm. A flock of Nevermore was usually anywhere from twenty to forty; eight to twenty for the Giant variety. Griffon was about the same, from ten to twenty—although flocks of that size were pretty rare unless something was actively drawing them in towards it.

Either way, there was no reason to worry; the trains all came with automated defences, and there was also a pair of Hunters on board for exactly this kind of reason; he'd seen them in the corridor yesterday—Jessie and Wedge—or so they'd introduced themselves as. Even if the Grimm did make a move, he had his equipment in his bag and on hand, so he could be ready to fight in less than a minute—but he doubted it would come to that. Sanus was a big place, and 'south of Port Line' could mean literally anywhere on the east coast.

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Ocean.

By the time the glass from the window settled on the floor of his cabin, Lima was already dragging his bag out of the luggage compartment. The train shuddered again as a series of impacts rang out along the roof, and the tip of what looked like a bone spear stuck out from the ceiling above him. Salve had thrown himself under the bottom bunk, screaming his head off and generally being a primary contributor to the already existing chaos. Lima dragged his cloak on, the green material whipping around in the wind and making it a pain to manage. He hooked his black box quiver of expandable spikes onto the back of his belt and withdrew the solid black bar of his compacted bow. Lima stepped out of the shattered window without waiting, falling for a brief moment before his foot hit the side of the train.

His Semblance crawled outwards on contact, spreading across the exterior shell, and he began walking across it. He cleared the window before moving up towards the roof of the train—Giant Nevermore, two on top of the train and three in the air, possibly more judging from the screeching coming from the other side. He stepped up onto the roof like he was walking up a set of stairs, the world orientating itself before him without issue. The black bar in his hand expanded in an instant, transforming into his bow, and he snatched up one of the black spikes from the box quiver, expanding it with a flick of his wrist before setting it into place. It wasn't an ideal place for him to fight because there was nothing to stop his arrows from continuing on out of his recovery range, just open ocean. Shooting downwards at an angle would allow him to use the roof of the train as a backstop, but he was supposed to be protecting it, not damaging it further.

Lima brought the bow around as one of the Grimm spotted him, the massive thing adjusting its path in response. He waited until it was almost on him and then touched his Semblance—the spike disappeared from his hand with a crack, smashing into the mask of the Nevermore, sending white shards and black feathers scattering around it. The Nevermore fell backwards, rolling into a mess along the roof of the train, and he engaged the gravity dust connection between his quiver and the ammunition he'd just fired—the spike wrenched itself free just before the thing fell out of sight, and he caught it out of the air on its return. Jessie, the Huntress onboard, sprinted across the roof of the train, the tails of her red bandanna fluttering about in the wind.

The Huntsman, Wedge, was right up the front of the train, firing off a barrage of bullets from some kind of light machine gun. One of the Giant Nevermore spread its wings in challenge before unleashing a hail of white-tipped feathers at the train. They landed in a staccato of clanks, each one sinking into the roof of the train as the force of it rent the metal apart. Lima resigned himself to losing a few spikes as he lifted his bow up, taking aim at the creature—the spike vanished from his bow, and the Giant Nevermore tumbled out of the air, trailing feathers. He watched it hit the ocean far below, already turning to smoke as it evaporated, and his spike sank into the ocean, far outside of his range to retrieve it.

Jessie clipped the wings of another with her scimitars, and it spun down towards the water, unable to stay aloft with only a single wing. A flash of red in the corner of his eye drew his gaze as Pyrrha climbed up the side of the train. Lima fired off the third spike, but his aim was slightly off as the creature—having just caught sight of her—attempted to swerve towards Pyrrha at the last moment. Instead of hitting it dead on, the spike tore off its right wing, dragging it into a violent spiral that left it bouncing off the side of the train and out of sight. The frustration at losing another spike was buried beneath the laughter bubbling up inside of him—there was nothing so soothing to the soul than watching humanity's greatest enemy fall.

"Lima," Pyrrha called, the wind working hard to steal away her voice. "Are you—"

Lima watched as she spun beneath the wing of a Giant Nevermore as it attempted to use its bulk to smash her flat against the roof of the train. Its talons caught on the metal and left a trail of sparks behind as it tore the exterior roof of the train to pieces. Pyrrha's sword extended suddenly, and the arc of her swing caught the creature across the beak as its momentum ran out. It reared back with a screech, a trench carved across its mask from the attack, and then Pyrrha leapt backwards as it attempted to snap her up in its beak. Lima started forwards, eyes to the side as another of the Grimm kept even with them, off to one side of the train, watching. Pyrrha landed two more attacks, blinding the Nevermore but not quite shattering the mask enough to dispel it.

Lima sped up as the second Nevermore cut inwards, aiming to attack her just as she went for the killing strike. He intercepted it a moment before it could hit her, the tip of his spike touching the creature's beak—the Giant Nevermore smashed itself flat against his Semblance as he reversed the direction of its movement but left the momentum intact. The already fading remnants of the creature were flung backwards off the train, and Pyrrha wrenched her weapon out of her own victim's mask. It reared back with a screech of agony, unable to see but still fighting on through the half a dozen wounds, the sheer scale of its mask the only thing keeping it going. Pyrrha shielded the blind creature's attempt to swipe at her with its talons, sliding back across the train and leaving him standing there by himself.

Lima lifted his spike up to point at the creature's mask, his bow dangling from his left hand, no longer in use. Pyrrha's weapon shifted, turning from a javelin into a rifle, and then a series of bullets smashed into the creature's mask, bridging the gaps between the earlier damage she'd made—the mask shattered, and the creature fell backwards, suddenly unable to contest the wind with its dead weight. Lima watched it tumble off the back of the train, the massive feathers it left behind scattering around it. Pyrrha straightened up from her crouch, her rifle shifting back into a sword, and Lima turned to look past her towards the front of the train. Jessie and Wedge were already in the process of killing the last of the Grimm. All things accounted for, he'd lost two spikes, and the cut of gravity dust in each of them was gone along with it—that was going to be annoying to replace.

"Lima," Pyrrha said, her mass of red hair whipping about in the wind, her ponytail having broken free of its binding during the fight. "Is that all of them?"

"Yeah," Lima said, smiling. "How awesome was that—uh oh."

Jessie and Wedge were moving towards them, and judging by the look on their faces, it was going to be one of those 'thanks, but you broke the rules' kind of talks. Pyrrha turned to follow his line of sight, spotted them, and Lima used the moment of inattention to make his getaway.

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Ocean.

Salve and Malt were both gone from the cabin when he returned to his room, and he stuffed his cloak away into the bottom of his bag before doing his best to hide the rest of his gear in case the Hunters came looking for him. While he felt a little bit bad about ditching Pyrrha, he was pretty sure she wouldn't get in too much trouble—being the Invincible Girl had to come with some perks. Unfortunately, while the windows had all sealed themselves over with the retractable metal shielding, the holes in the roof left by the evaporating feathers had remained. The constant rush of air passing by the hole left a whistling noise filling the cabin, not terribly loud, but more than enough that it was just impossible to ignore.

"Fucking Grimm," Lima complained.

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He picked his way past the glass on the floor and ascended the ladder to his top bunk before dropping back to lay there. Did the train have a janitor or something? He assumed they had some kind of cleaning staff, so they would probably get to his room eventually. Was he going to have to deal with shitty whistling for another two days? If he did, he might actually go insane and become a serial killer that prowled the trains of Remnant—he'd need a cool nickname, though. A voice spoke up from out in the corridor, several cabins down, but just loud enough to make out some of the words.

"The rail tra—" Pyrrha said before the rest was lost.

The voice drew closer, evidently checking in on the occupants of the rooms to make sure nobody was hurt. The bright red mane of Pyrrha Nikos appeared outside his room, and she stepped inside, glancing around at all the glass—her position only allowed her the chance to see his legs dangling off the side of the bunk.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the heroine of the hour," Lima said, pulling himself up into a seated position to loom over her. "You save any trains lately?"

"The two hunters said thank you for the help," Pyrrha said, scrunching her face up. "But any further actions from unlicensed civilians will have to be reported—I'm supposed to pass that on to anyone else who might need to know."

"You got out of it without a punishment, huh?" Lima wondered, "Is this the true power of the infamous Pawpaw of Mistral?"

Pyrrha looked a bit maligned by the terrible nickname before shaking her head.

"You would have likely gone unpunished as well," Pyrrha said before hesitating a bit. "Lima, when we were fighting up there—you were smiling."

Lima cleared his throat at the words and then laid out a sick beat to set the tone—

"The Grimm brought a war right to our door, but they never knew what they were headed for; the girl with fame, she does deplore," Lima said, flicking his hands out at her. "It's the one the fans all adore, the four-score, Pawpaw, tearing through both beak and claw—she's making sure, the ones I abhor, those giant feathered fucks, are nevermore."

"Oh my god," Pyrrha managed, looking more than a bit embarrassed. "Please stop."

Lima just laughed.

#

Mistral Limited, Port Line, Sanus.

The train crawled into Port Line, wounded and several hours late due to the speed having to be cut back on account of all the damage—so late, in fact, that Lima had less than twenty minutes to board the last train to Vale. Most of the people who'd been on the Mistral Limited followed his example, moving straight on to the Vale Limited, with perhaps twenty-odd ducks whose final destination was, in fact, Port Line itself.

The process of the changeover was far quicker than expected, with clear security checks being missed in order to get everyone moving. Between the late arrival and the fact that having a few hundred traumatised people stewing about in the station might end up drawing in even more Grimm, it was probably for the best. Even so, the Vale Limited wasn't going to leave the station until fifteen past the hour, and once again, he spotted Pyrrha amongst those boarding, although this time, she was right at the front of the queue.

Once he'd finally made it to the front of the line, Lima boarded the train with a sigh—three trains in a row were a hell of a lot longer than a single airship to Atlas would have been. Despite the fun distraction of being able to fight off the Grimm attack, it was a relatively small part of the journey, and now he was going to be trapped inside this metal container for another few days—how much could an airship possibly cost anyway? Maybe he should convince Sage to buy him one so he could come to visit without having to waste eight days of travel time. He could almost imagine it now, soaring through the air with a metal steed at his beck and call, crashing into every Grimm that so much as crossed into his line of sight—his mood lifted in response, and he set off down the train, looking for his cabin.

He hadn't seen Malt or Salve since they'd arrived at the station, but he doubted he'd have been given the same room as them a second time. He just hoped he wasn't going to be put in a cabin with one of the kids who had been crying in line for the last twenty minutes—scared or not, Lima had only just escaped the whistling noise, he didn't want to lose any more sleep. Without a solid connection to the CCT network, he'd been forced to search his scroll for anything that might save him from the boredom—he'd even resorted to playing offline Scrollmonsters, of all things, which left him feeling a little bit ashamed, but typing out cusswords in the calculator app could only hold his attention for so long. Maybe he could hunt down Pyrrha again; if she had it installed, they might be able to do local battle—

#

Vale Limited, Vale, Sanus.

Lima leaned against the window, his cheek smushed against the glass in order to get a good angle of the oncoming city of Vale. He shouldn't have bothered with the extra effort, though, because the moment they passed through the tunnel, the city spread out to the coast like a forest of steel and glass. It just kept on going as far as he could see, and then beyond even that, spilling out into the waterfront—he could even see Patch out past it all, sitting pretty in the ocean, a sprinkling of lights dotting its surface amidst the late afternoon sky.

Mistral was a big place, or so he'd thought, but actually, seeing Vale in person—it was an absolute Goliath of a city, just without the tusks. The train angled back inwards, heading deeper into Vale, and during one of the more winding curves, he caught sight of an immense cliff in the distance. The face of the cliff had been built upon, from the base of it, where a shipping dock was placed, to the very top, where an Airship dock remained. Beacon was supposedly at the top of that cliff, but he couldn't see more than the tip of some massive structure on account of the low angle. A series of thin waterfalls drove straight off the edge of it, the endless streams of water passing down from the mountainous region beyond Beacon Academy and into the mass of water separating it from Vale.

"I am absolutely going base-jumping," Lima murmured, eyes glued to the cliff. "That is massive."

He'd jumped off the wall in Argus a few dozen times, but it wasn't even a fifth of the size of that cliff—even Haven Academy, towering above Mistral Below, didn't have that kind of height. His view of it was swallowed entirely as the buildings rose up, growing taller the closer to the centre they became, to the point where even the raised train tracks couldn't contest them any longer. Lima moved to begin packing up his gear, recovering the stuff he'd strewn about on his side of the room before stuffing them into his bags—the P.A system rang out, and for a small, worrying moment he was sure he'd hear Sage's voice, announcing that it had all been a trick and that he'd actually been hired as the combat instructor for Beacon all along.

"We have arrived at Vale Central Station," The woman's said, "Before disembarking, please ensure you have all of your remaining luggage and personal belongings with you."

Lima gave the room another quick check-over before stepping out into the corridor—it took a bit of maneuvering to actually get his once tightly packed, but now much looser and, as a result, unwieldy bags through the door of his cabin. The train came to a complete stop a moment after he'd finally managed it, and the corridor began to fill with the rest of the passengers, blocking his way forward. He grunted as he fought through the crowd towards the closest doors and then out onto the platform when they finally opened. Lima was left adrift for a moment, not really sure where anything was, considering the entirely unfamiliar city—the Airship up to Beacon wasn't supposed to be running until tomorrow. It would run every hour, on the hour, but he wanted to get up there as soon as possible in case there were things he was supposed to deal with anything else before the exam—a familiar voice called out from behind him.

"Lima," Pyrrha said, "This place—it's so big."

"Did you see the cliff?" Lima said as he turned, "It makes the Argus wall look like a wuss."

Pyrrha's bags were far more carefully packed than his own—and he regretted not doing a better job of his now that he was left to deal with it.

"I did," Pyrrha said, laughing. "Do you have someone coming to meet you?"

"Not a chance," Lima admitted, "I've got a room at some hotel; I just need to figure out where it is—what about you?"

"I'm in the same situation," Pyrrha said, "Although I think I know where it is from here."

"Well, don't let me keep you," Lima said, dropping one of his bags to free up his hand and then offering her a fist bump. "I'm probably going to be on the Airship tomorrow at 9:00 am like the pamphlet told us, but if I don't see you then, I'll see you up at Beacon."

Pyrrha glanced down at his hand for a moment, bemused, before she obliged him—bumping her fist against his own.

"I will be there," Pyrrha said, smiling. "Good luck finding your hotel."

"I don't need luck, Pawpaw," Lima said, "I need directions."

#

North Star Nights, Vale, Sanus.

In the end, he'd found the hotel with the help of a friendly woman who'd been waiting for someone at the station, and after that, he'd set right back out in an attempt to get lost amongst the mess that was Vale. He'd found out pretty quickly that there were probably more people walking around the streets at night than the entire population of Argus—which wasn't exactly a small feat by any measure. The people themselves seemed a little less concerned with one another as well, although he wondered if that was a cultural thing or simply because they were surrounded by so many strangers that it was just about impossible for an individual to hold enough warmth for everyone that met their eyes.

As it was, he spent most of the night just mingling with the masses, checking out the new and interesting storefronts, and making eyes at all the pretty girls that he'd probably never have a chance with—not the worst way to spend a night. He made it back to the hotel around midnight, riding the elevator up to his room, not feeling the slightest bit tired—probably because he'd spent the better part of the last eight days napping in an attempt to make the time pass by quicker. The room even had a double bed, which was at least twice as awesome as the single bunk he'd been forced to endure during the trip over. Seriously, single beds could go straight to the wastelands for all he cared because so long as he could manage it, he was never sleeping in one again. It had probably been something of a space-saving measure for the trains, but still, coming from his own queen-sized bed to a single had been outright traumatizing.

He'd stayed out later than he had intended, but this place was fucking gigantic, to put it bluntly. Lima folded his hands beneath his head and turned his mind to everything he'd seen of Vale—the nightlife was far more vibrant here. Nightclubs with their queues of sleek-dressed occupants spilling out onto the street, theatres with the more wisened demographics tittering at the youngsters passing by. There were brightly lit malls on almost every block, filled with shops of a million types, and twice fold that number of Humans and Faunus browsing through it all—four hours hadn't been nearly enough time for him to see even a sliver of the interesting things he was sure were hidden amongst the mess. Lima was certain he'd be sneaking off down here whenever he could find the time away from classes.

"Provided nothing more interesting is happening up there," Lima murmured to himself, "Maybe I'll forget all about this when I get to Beacon."

Lima let out a jaw-cracking yawn as the events of his exploration finally caught up to him and turned his mind towards preparation for tomorrow. He was pretty sure he was ready for everything—his bags were all marked with his name and would be collected at the Airship terminal by some member of staff. If he passed the entrance exam, they would find their way up to whatever room they assigned to him, and if he failed, they'd be waiting for him to pick up at the terminal. The enrolment package that they'd sent to his scroll had been shy on the details of the exam, but there had been a hell of a lot of waivers for him to sign off on. He wouldn't be covered by the official stuff until he'd actually passed, so that told him the exam was probably going to be dangerous. Danger meant they'd be participating in combat—and combat brought with it a high chance of engaging with Grimm, something he was more than happy to throw himself into.

It was a small reflection of what Sage had told him about how the Huntsman and Huntresses of the kingdom's functioned—each mission you took brought with it the chance of grievous injury and, far more likely, death. Actually, attaining your Hunter's License would come with just as many waivers and a sombre acknowledgement that you might not come back from any of the missions. Training to kill humanity's oldest enemy would be no different because you couldn't learn to fight the Grimm without putting yourself against them and cutting them down.

The message contained within those waivers was crystal clear—you could be killed while training or out in the field; in fact, it was a distinct possibility, and if you had any qualms about it, you weren't really the person for the job. Well, the wording had been a bit more subtle than that, but still, the end result was that you signed the papers, and they weren't liable for anything that happened to you outside of the scope listed within. It might have seemed a bit lopsided at first, but all of the instructors had to sign the exact same waivers, and they were all combat veterans, so they'd dealt with those same conditions since they had graduated. Lima didn't have any real compunctions about signing away his safety like that because if he did fall against the Grimm, then he'd be far too busy fighting the creatures in whatever hell actually existed to deal with any legalities up here.

"What are they going to have us do?" Lima wondered, closing his eyes. "It can't be more written tests—the waivers wouldn't make sense."

They'd already had weeks to look over their applications, and he'd already sent on all of the transcripts already—more written tests wouldn't show them anything new. All that would be left was to see if they could actually keep up, so it would have to be a test of their physical capabilities. Would they put them in a room with a captured Grimm, maybe? That could be fun. There might not be any Grimm involved, though; maybe they would have to fight each other? Huntsman and Huntresses fighting one another was the premier way of testing their skills. Fighting one of the instructors would probably be a better method of discerning their individual skill levels, though, because they could at least account for the skill gap—it would be hard to know how well-matched each student was before seeing them actually fight. Hell, it could be a series of tests that included all of those things, he had no real way of knowing, and there was nothing to be found about it when he'd searched through his scroll—whatever it ended up being, Lima hoped it was exciting.

#

Central Airship Terminal, Vale, Sanus.

The Airship Terminal was far easier to find than the hotel had been, although, with dozens of Airships coming and going from the building, it was pretty much impossible for him to miss it. There were thousands of people in the building already, sitting on benches, waiting in queues, or speaking with the counter staff, and the only real reason they could fit was the sheer size of the interior. A dozen floors, with an open space in the middle, large half-domed sections carved out of every side of the building allowed all of the Airships in and out, the floors marked with individual landing pads. Lima had been let through right away, maybe because he was in full combat gear, his black box quiver noticeable enough as some kind of weapon to anyone that looked to peg him as a Huntsman—but the more reasonable assumption was that his name was written down on some database because the woman scanning their scrolls had known where to direct him before he'd even spoken a word about Beacon Academy.

Either way, he was about half an hour early, and the next scheduled Airship that was making the trip up to the Academy wasn't arriving until ten minutes before the hour. Still, rather than stand around waiting, he made his way to one of the many cafés built into the bottom floor. He lined up for the counter and scanned the room for anything interesting, spotting a small—and very mousy, on account of their very clear Faunus traits—uh, person? Lima couldn't actually tell if it was a boy or a girl. Large brown eyes and a small nose framed by a mess of beige hair and set into what was undeniably a face he would have called pretty. There was a thin sword leaning against his chair, settled inside a leather sheath with a strap that was currently hanging beside it, unbuckled. The androgynous being was cradling a mug that looked far too massive in their rather small hands. The Faunus looked up briefly and made eye contact with him before they straightened at the attention, looking visibly startled.

"What would you like today?" The barista asked.

The question knocked him back to alert, and he placed his order—considering he had plenty of time, he asked to dine in before setting off out of the queue. The Faunus looked up again at his approach, and Lima dropped down into the seat opposite with a smile.

"Beacon, right?" Lima guessed.

"Um—yes, I'm going to Beacon Academy," The Faunus said. "How did you know?"

The voice was soft but just enough for him to recognize that it was, in fact, a boy he was sitting across from.

"You're in the Airship terminal about half an hour before we're heading up," Lima said, nodding. "You are wearing combat gear, and you are also the same age as me—either you're the world's youngest Licensed Huntsman, or you applied for Beacon."

"Oh," The boy managed, "I suppose it was obvious, wasn't it?"

"Lima Morta," Lima said, sliding his hand across the table. "Mind if I sit with you until it's time to go?"

The boy rushed to place his mug down on the table in order to free up his hands and then reached out—god, his hands were tiny.

"It's nice to meet you, Lima; my name is Teak Fawn," Teak said, quickly shaking his hand as if he might snatch it away should he take too long. "You're more than welcome to sit here."

"Thanks," Lima said before sitting back up. "I was up half the night trying to figure out what this exam is supposed to be; you got any idea?"

"I was thinking about it too, but there's not enough information to pinpoint a specific task." Teak said, moving to pick up his mug again, "I think that it's something physical because we would need to sign more waivers if it was another written test."

"Yeah, I had the same thought," Lima said, humming. "They've got all our bookwork anyway; it's probably either fighting some kind of basic Grimm or a spar against an instructor."

"Would they really have us fighting Grimm before we are even enrolled?" Teak said, looking more than a bit nervous at the idea. "I don't think I can even pass something like that."

"You've gotten this far, man," Lima said without judgment, "You'll manage whatever it is they've got planned for us—have some faith in yourself."

"I—right," Teak managed, "I suppose."

Lima was picking up on some definite self-confidence issues, although he didn't know anywhere near enough about the guy to offer any kind of advice or even to know if it would be well received, so he pushed the conversation in a different direction.

"It's all good; we'll find out tomorrow, I suppose," Lima said, clicking his fingers together. "Alright then, what's your tragic backstory?"

"My what?" Teak said, blinking at the phrase. "I—don't think I have one?"

"Nonsense, everybody has a tragic backstory." Lima assured, "You just need to take something and put a little spin on it—here, I'll give you mine first."

Lima cleared his throat and then pushed his fringe upwards with his hand in an attempt to look like all the cool guys from the movies.

"Lima Morta was born in a city called Kuchinashi, but then—the Grimm happened," Lima said, feeling a small pang at his own words. "Lost and alone, he ended up in Mistral Below, where he met a monstrous being that was shaped like a human—my guardian, a man named Sage."

Lima glanced down at the other boy, his fringe still pushed high and half of his face shadowed by his hand.

"Ten long years the boy toiled under the iron rule, and before he knew it, he found himself in Argus, at a school called Sanctum—named solely for the sanctimonious and elitist nature of the pricks who run things in Anima," Lima said, breaking character for a moment to really drive that point home, "Lima applied for Beacon in an attempt to escape his fate, and now he's here—life is suffering, and yet he does not die."

Teak was clearly impressed by the tragedy that was his existence, and Lima let his fringe flop back down.

"You're immortal?" Teak asked.

"Of course I am—it's where my good looks come from," Lima said, beaming. "Now, what's your story, Maple?"

Teak seemed bemused at being misnamed in such a confident way.

"Um, it's Teak, not Maple," Teak managed, "My tragic backstory would be; Teak was born in Vale, his father was a human, and his mother is a Faunus—but it's really just his mother now."

Lima nodded at the words, seeking to encourage him, but he was left with something of a question about whether or not his dad was actually dead or simply gone, like his own father.

"Teak didn't go to a combat school, but he still managed to get a recommendation anyway because he got perfect marks on the NCS," Teak said, hesitating a bit. "He's not immortal at all, but he is really worried about failing the entrance exam."

"A walking tragedy, for sure," Lima said, "I have two questions for you—what the hell is the NCS, and what the hell is the NCS?"

"That's only one question; you just said the same thing twice," Teak said, amused. "The NCS is an acronym for the Non-Combat School Test, which anyone can take before applying for an Academy—if you score above a certain percentage, you'll be shortlisted for an interview with the headmaster."

"I didn't know that was a thing," Lima said, blinking. "So you don't have any kind of combat training?"

"None—well, that's not entirely true," Teak admitted, looking down at the table. "I've had three lessons with one of the instructors of Beacon to give me a basic understanding of what I should be doing, but I'm really not very good yet."

So he was coming into this almost entirely fresh and without the four years of training a combat school would have provided—that explained why he seemed so nervous about everything to come. Maybe it wasn't a self-confidence issue at all; instead, Teak might have been just working under an accurate assessment of his own skills in what would become a dangerous environment.

"You're kind of a badass, huh?" Lima said, impressed. "My written test scores were pretty good, but I doubt I would have been able to coast into Beacon Academy on those alone—just how big is your brain?"

Teak looked a bit flustered at the complimentary comparison between them and seemed to be struggling to lift his gaze back up.

"If you've never been to a combat school before—" Lima said, tilting his head. "Does that mean you're aura isn't unlocked?"

"The instructor unlocked it during our first lesson," Teak admitted, taking a moment to sip at his drink. "I'm still getting the hang of actually directing it—but it's not as hard as I thought it might be."

"You got it," Lima said in agreement, "If it was hard to use, humanity would have died before they ever figured out how to defend themselves—what about your Semblance?"

"I don't really know anything about it," Teak said, fiddling with his mug. "I've heard about them, but it's not really obvious—the instructor said I'd discover it in time."

"They were right; you'll figure it out eventually," Lima said, nodding. "So you're nervous about passing the entrance exam because you're not sure how to fight yet?"

"That's pretty much it," Teak murmured. "Lima—did it take you long to learn?"

Lima glanced up as the barista placed his coffee down on the table and then headed back towards the counter.

"Thanks—to learn how to fight?" Lima wondered, and when Teak nodded, he continued speaking. "Suppose that depends on what you consider fighting to be—I fought a lot as a kid; we were in a pretty rough neighbourhood, so I learned a bit about striking, blocking and evading then."

Teak looked far too interested in something that really wasn't much worth noting.

"If you're talking about more traditional fighting, then I'd say it took about a month or two of instruction to get the basics down, but probably around a year before I had a more rounded skillset," Lima admitted, sipping at his drink. "I was pretty motivated, so practising was all I really did—in your case, I'm certain you'll pick it up just as fast."

"Really?" Teak said, with far too much hope in his voice. "Do you think I can?"

"I'll tell you what," Lima said, giving him an upwards nod. "If we both pass the entrance exam, I'll give you an open invitation to come to find me, and I'll help you practice whenever you feel like it."

"Thank you," Teak said with wide eyes. "That's—that is really, really kind of you."

"Don't worry about it," Lima said, "I'm going to need a regular sparring partner anyway since I left mine back in Argus—so I'm counting on you to pass, Willow."

Teak looked entirely overwhelmed by the words, but the continued misnaming seemed to keep him grounded.

"That's my mother's name," Teak said, alarmed. "You got it wrong again."

"Sorry about that," Lima said with an awkward laugh. "I'll make sure to get your name right from now on—Mahogany."

"You're totally doing that on purpose," Teak accused, but he was smiling now. "You're going to run out of trees eventually."

#

Passenger Airship, Vale, Sanus.

Lima followed Teak onto the Airship, bracing against the incline of the ramp and glancing around with interest as the metal shell swallowed them whole. The interior was entirely unlike the other Airships he'd been in, and because it was a transport for moving large groups of people, there was far more space inside than the eight-seater he'd taken from Mistral to Argus way back when he'd first started at Sanctum. The windows were playing an advertisement for a washing powder, projected straight onto the glass, and the speakers set into the base of it were quiet enough that he couldn't quite make out the words.

Far more interesting were the other occupants who were boarding alongside them, and his eyes darted around, the array of bright and unusual hair colours catching his attention. Lima's own black hair felt dull in comparison to some of them—a boy with a bright green mohawk and a girl with a massive mane of blonde hair stood out amongst them all. He spotted Pyrrha almost immediately; her vibrant red hair and her prodigious height left her towering over just about everyone. There was a final call from the P.A system ensuring that everyone on board was away from the ramp as it closed, and then the moment it had sealed itself shut, the Airship hummed to life.

"Well, we're locked in," Lima said, "No turning back now."

"Right," Teak said before swallowing. "Lima? Do you mind if I stay with you—it's just I don't really know anyone else."

"Did you think I was going to ditch you?" Lima said, bemused. "It's not like I know anyone else here either."

"Sorry," Teak said, "I remember that you said you came from Anima—how long have you been here?"

"In Vale? I only arrived yesterday afternoon," Lima said, "Eight days stuck on a train with no signal was torture—you didn't say where you were from, did you?"

"I'm from Vale; my mother owns a house down by the docks," Teak said. "We've lived there for most of my life, long enough that I can't really remember anywhere else."

"Yeah?" Lima wondered, coming to stand by one of the windows. "You must know the place pretty well."

He turned the news report off to clear the glass and eyed the inner walls of the terminal as they lifted off the ground. A moment later, they were in the open air, rising up as the massive sprawl of Vale fell away from them—Lima smiled at the sight.

"I guess I do," Teak said, smiling a bit. "It's been a while since I've seen the city from an Airship—it's pretty."

"You're not wrong; something about heights always gets me," Lima murmured. "I can't get enough of them, really."

The splash of vibrant red in his peripheral vision cut out as a pair of girls stepped past them to the next window up, talking quietly to themselves—one of them had an odd pattern of black on the side of her face, and when he glanced over, he saw that it was a blonde girl with a series of dark scales patterned across her temple. That made two Faunus amongst the applicants so far—he wondered how different Vale was from Mistral or Argus in that regard. The elitist pricks at Sanctum would have already been making their displeasure known if they'd had a Faunus in their group. The girl beside her was a fair bit shorter, with silver hair trailing down into a ponytail that hung between her shoulders—she seemed happy enough, her smile fixed well in place as she pointed something out to the taller blonde girl.

"Lima?" A familiar voice said from somewhere just behind him. "If you're here, then I suppose that means you found your map."

Lima turned, leaving Teak and Pyrrha to become the second and third points in the small triangle. Teak turned with him, already looking a bit nervous at being approached by a stranger—or perhaps it was the fact that she was at least two heads taller than him.

"Pawpaw," Lima said, "I like your flappy tail-skirt thing—you weren't wearing that on the train."

Pyrrha glanced down at the back of her hip to the piece of cloth in question, looking a bit surprised at the attention drawn to it.

"I didn't have time to put it on," Pyrrha said with a laugh. "But it's been part of my combat attire for a long time—you've never seen it before?"

"The only thing I remember you wearing is the Sanctum uniform," Lima admitted, "As far as I can tell, that was the only piece of clothing you've ever owned."

"I suppose we only ever saw each other in the halls," Pyrrha said, bemused. "You haven't seen any of my fights?"

"The tournament stuff?" Lima wondered, "Nope—Pawpaw, this is Teak, and from what I've heard, he's the strongest Faunus in Vale."

"Really?" Pyrrha said with interest. "It's nice to meet you, Teak; my name is Pyrrha Nikos."

"It's nice to meet you too, Pyrrha," Teak squeaked, "But please don't listen to him; I'm not the strongest at anything—I don't even know how to fight yet."

"Sorry, I meant the smartest Faunus in Vale," Lima said, "He seeks a battle of wits, and should you choose to accept his challenge—"

"Lima," Teak tried, "I'm sorry about him—I'm really not seeking anything."

"Don't worry, Teak," Pyrrha said, laughing now. "I actually spent several days on a train with him—so I know exactly what he's like."

Lima raised an eyebrow at the glare Teak was now firing up at him and did his best to avoid smiling.

"You said you are unaccustomed to fighting," Pyrrha said, "Does that mean you applied through the NCS?"

"Yes, I did," Teak admitted, ducking his head. "I didn't think I would actually be selected, though—so this is all kind of, a lot, I guess."

"He left out the part where he got perfect marks on all the tests," Lima said, jerking his head down towards him. "Teak's going to help me cheat on all the exams in exchange for being his personal bodyguard."

"That's not true either." Teak protested, "He's lying."

Pyrrha's laughter was overtaken as each of the windows suddenly switched broadcast, a blonde woman appearing in each of them, her glasses high on her nose and her narrow eyes glinting in the light.

"Lima," Teak said, "That's the instructor who unlocked my Aura."

"Yeah?" Lima asked.

As far as instructors went, she was an absolute bombshell—maybe he should pretend he needed his own aura unlocked.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon Academy; my name is Glynda Goodwitch." Glynda said, her voice smooth and unrushed, "You are among those who are privileged enough to have been selected to attend this prestigious academy."

Lima turned more fully to face the window before Pyrrha took a step forward, putting herself between him and Teak.

"Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as you all hold the potential to become powerful Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold that peace," Glynda said, glancing around as if she could actually see them and that it wasn't just a prerecorded message. "You have all demonstrated the dedication, knowledge, and character needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the training and skill to protect our world from those who would wish its destruction."

The projection winked out of existence without warning, the message apparently over, and then a tall blonde boy stumbled passed them, looking distinctly ill. He managed to make it to one of the bins barely two meters away from them, and then they were greeted with the sign of him throwing up his breakfast.

"Gross," Lima said, amused. "You alright, man?"

"I've been—hurk—" The boy heaved, "—better."

Lima pulled his string bag around and pulled the thread keeping it closed, snatching up a bottle of water he'd bought at the café earlier. He uncapped the lid and extended his arm, holding it up in front of his face—he took it after only a moment of hesitation.

"Thanks." The boy said, the sheer gratitude in his voice a bit sad, "How long will this flight take again?"

"Ten more minutes?" Lima guessed.

The boy just groaned.

#

Amphitheater, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The amphitheater was an interesting room and not one that Sanctum had really had an equivalent of. They had dojo's for sparring, but most of the combat happened outside, but this was pretty cool—an actual arena, with stands and all. There wasn't too much order to how the students filled in or in how they formed up beneath the stage, but it was high enough and well-lit enough that you could see it from just about anywhere in the room. Atop the stage stood two people; the first was the instructor that had made the announcement on the Airship, Glynda Goodwitch. The second was someone anyone would have recognized, considering just how famous the man was—the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin. It was a bit hard to get a read on the man's age, given his stark white hair, but his face was smooth and without wrinkles, and his eyes were sharp as he surveyed them all.

"I'll keep this brief." Ozpin said, sweeping his gaze across the crowd, "You have all got your own motivations for coming here—for coming to Beacon. To hone your skills, to learn new ones, to find meaning in a purpose that is so integral to the functioning of our society, to dedicate your lives to protecting those who cannot save themselves."

The way the man spoke had an odd quality to it that he'd never really heard before—or perhaps it was the calm, unrushed pace he set as he spoke, delivering the words and hinting at a hidden weight behind them.

"While each of you has unique motivations for being here, I see two commonalities within you all." Ozpin said, "You are all filled with an abundance of wasted energy, and you are all in need of guidance—of direction."

The Faunus girl with the black scales on her temple mumbled something under her breath, and even though he was standing almost directly beside her, he couldn't quite make out what she had said over the general noise of the crowd.

"You assume that time or knowledge will free you of this curse, but I assure you all," Ozpin said, watching them with a sort of muted interest. "Your time here will prove that either of these things alone can only carry you so far—it is up to you to take that first step."

Ozpin remained in place for a long moment, eyes passing over them, looking for something that Lima couldn't begin to guess at—and then he turned, stepping away from the podium without another word.

"Thank you," Glynda said, picking up where the man had left off. "You will all gather in the Ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation exam will begin, so gather your resolve. You are now free to explore the grounds, for those who choose to remain; I will be providing a tour. Consider yourselves dismissed."

Some of the more free-spirited students set off on their own, unwilling to be constrained by the barriers of a guided tour, but Lima stayed where he was, watching Ozpin as the man tapped his cane against the ground in a slow offbeat rhythm. Glynda moved to speak with the man as the students milled about, waiting for her to descend down to where they were waiting.

"Lima?" Teak asked, shifting around a bit. "Why'd you come all the way to Beacon?"

Pyrrha glanced over at him for a moment, something of a secret smile on her lips—she still knew far too much; he should have never allowed her to reach Beacon.

"Why? Don't you want me here?" Lima said, pushing his bottom lip out. "I thought we were friends, Teak—this betrayal, it stings."

Teak held his hands up, his entire body language decrying the words.

"It's not that," Teak tried, "It's just—Argus is so far away, so I was wondering why you chose Beacon when Haven was so much closer."

"My guardian is a total ass," Lima said, crossing his arms. "He's one of the combat instructors at Haven this year, so I decided to run away."

"Oh," Teak said, "Do you not get along with him?"

"They seemed to get along pretty well back at Sanctum," Pyrrha said, still smiling. "Isn't that right, Lima?"

How dare she even hint at it—the absolute balls on this woman.

"Why'd you come here again, Pyrrha?" Lima said, squinting at her. "Too cool for dinky little Haven Academy?"

Pyrrha averted her eyes at the question before scratching at her cheek with a single finger.

#

Ballroom, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"I mean, if they've got beds waiting for us if we pass, they may as well let us sleep in them," Lima complained, "I don't want to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag—this kind of treatment is clearly student abuse."

"It's only for one night," Teak said, "They've even got a lot of padding in them—it's actually pretty nice."

"Who's side are you on?" Lima whined, "I'm going to sue Bestwitch and Beacon—I might even sue Ozpin—"

"Will you two stop making so much noise?" A girl hissed, hands planted on her hips. "People are trying to sleep."

Lima turned to get a visual on her—and found the white-haired girl who'd traumatised Jaune after he'd attempted to shoot his shot.

"What the hell—Teak, look," Lima said, sucking in a surprised breath. "They actually let an old woman into Beacon."

"Lima," Teak managed, "That's not—"

"You're way too old to be a Huntress, ma'am," Lima said, attempting to stand up. "Please, let me escort you back to Vale—"

"Old woman?" The girl squeaked, "I'm only seventeen."

"Ma'am, please don't lie to my face," Lima chastised, "Your hair is all grey—how'd you manage to hide your wrinkles, though?"

"What?" The girl strained. "I don't have any wrinkles—are you trying to start a fight with me?"

"I'm not afraid to hit an old lady, you know?" Lima warned, "You'd best behave yourself, ma'am."

The girl swung her head around to stare at Teak, her gaze demanding some kind of explanation for the current situation—and Teak sunk in on himself, unwilling to meet her eyes.

"What is going on here?" Glynda said, approaching them. "There will be no fighting outside of designated areas and times."

"Bestwitch, I'm so glad that you're here," Lima said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I've discovered an old woman attempting to infiltrate the entrance exam—I believe she's using her Semblance to hide her wrinkles."

The white-haired girl made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, unable to bring herself to even—at this point, he could only hope to drag them all down with him.

"What did you just call me?" Glynda said, startled. "That is not my name."

"It's not? But I've been calling you that all day," Lima said, stunned. "I am so sorry, Excellentwitch—"

Teak groaned into his hands, looking like he wanted nothing more than for the nicely padded sleeping bag to rise up and consume him whole. Glynda looked like she had no idea how to handle the situation she'd stumbled into.

"Her name is Glynda Goodwitch," The white-haired girl hissed, "You absolute buffoon."

"Ma'am, please," Lima said, holding up a hand. "A woman of your obvious age and wisdom should at least try to behave with some decorum."

"That will be enough," Glynda said, reaching up to adjust her glasses. "I know you must be excited, but please try to conserve your energy—you will need it for the exam."

Glynda turned on her heel and strode away without another word, aiming to intercept a pillow fight that had broken out on the other side of the room and leaving the three of them alone once more.

"We haven't even taken the exam yet," The white-haired girl muttered, "Yet you've already made a fool of us both in front of an instructor—what were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking," Lima said with audible triumph. "Now, let that be a lesson to you and be on your way, old crone."

The white-haired girl gave a hiss of frustration before flouncing off into the mess of sleeping bags; hands balled up at her hips.

"Lima," Teak managed, "Do you have any idea who that was?"

"Not even a little bit," Lima admitted, smiling. "But she seems pretty fun."

"That was Weiss Schnee," Teak said, searching his face for something. "You really don't know who that is?"

"Schnee," Lima said, stretching the name out, "That's the dust company, right? She's one of them?"

"Yes, she's the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company," Teak said, sighing. "You really shouldn't have antagonised her."

"I mean, she was looking for an argument, so she probably just wanted someone to yell at to get it out of her system," Lima said, shrugging. "Besides, she was giving you the evil eye for a minute there, even though I was the one being a dickhead."

"That's probably because I'm a Faunus," Teak murmured, "There's some history there, so I can understand why she might not like me."

"The SDC is at war with the White Fang, which is what, a few thousand Faunus at most?" Lima said, shaking his head. "There must be millions of Faunus in Vale, so going around assuming every single one she personally encounters is part of a terrorist group is insane."

"I don't think it's that simple," Teak said, "Whenever I'm near a human that I don't know, I'm always a little bit wary of what might happen, at least at first—I don't mean to be, but I've heard so many stories about the things that have happened in the past."

Lima tilted his head at the words.

"My grandparents lived through some of the really bad stuff, and my father—" Teak trailed off, "The Schnee family has lost people too, so I can understand why she might be wary about the Faunus she comes into contact with—I just wish it wasn't like this."

"Yeah, I hear you," Lima said, "But still, if you can empathize with her, there's no reason she shouldn't be capable of doing it for you as well."

"I guess so," Teak said, glancing over in the direction Weiss had gone. "Maybe we just caught her at a bad time."

Considering she'd approached them, it was more like she had caught them, at a time of her choosing, but the point was more or less correct. Lima slumped back down onto the sleeping bag and let his head hang back so he could stare up at the massive chandelier emerging from the ceiling like some crystal stalactite.

"This is just the beginning, Teak, and after we pass, there will be plenty of time for her to get used to you," Lima said, "Who knows, maybe you'll become friends—and then you can tell her not to go around giving everyone the Evil Eye of White Fang Detection."

"Lima," Teak chastised before hesitating a bit. "Are you really not nervous about the exam at all?"

He considered the question for a moment, wondering if the other boy was seeking some kind of comfort to help bolster him for the unknown future ahead of them.

"You want to know a secret, Teak?" Lima asked.

Teak gave a small, fractional nod in the low light of the room, and Lima tilted his head far enough to make eye contact with him.

"Despite this entirely confident and incredibly handsome exterior, I'm not actually immune to the pressure of everything going on," Lima admitted, "I've just got a bad habit of upping the ante when I'm nervous—you wouldn't believe some of the holes I've dug myself into."

"So you are worried about the exam," Teak asked, turning to look down at his lap. "If you are, then I'm never going to be able to do this."

"Teak, you don't even know what we're doing yet, so how can you be so confident that you can't do it?" Lima said, reaching over to rap his knuckle against the other boy's ankle. "Instead of wasting all your energy worrying about a million different possibilities, come up with a general strategy and refine it as you get more information."

"Can you give me an example?" Teak managed.

"We talked about it earlier; we're probably going to be either fighting an instructor or killing some lame Grimm," Lima said, thinking about it. "That means Beowolves, Boarbatusks, or maybe an Ursa—you know what those are, right?"

"I've read about them, and I know what they look like, but I don't know anything about actually fighting one," Teak said, swallowing. "If it's a test with those, how do I kill them?"

"Destroying the mask or cutting off the head works in ninety-nine percent of cases," Lima said, nodding. "Beowolves are probably the easiest to kill overall—the initial attack is almost always a straightforward lunge, so you just step to the side, and you've got a perfect opportunity to reach its neck."

Teak looked just about ready to start taking down notes.

"Beowolves can only really attack from the front, so getting behind them is a good way to reduce their attacking options to zero," Lima said, "You don't want to block or get locked into any kind of power struggle with a Grimm because most species are way bigger and stronger than we are—evasion always takes priority over everything else, understand?"

"I think so," Teak said, "What about an Ursa?"

"Depends on the size because the young ones are about as large as a fully grown Beowolf, but the older ones are much bigger—the small ones can be treated like Beowolves for the most part," Lima said, "For the bigger ones, you can try either whittling down the mask while playing it safe, or an overhand strike with most of your body weight behind it to cut through its neck."

"Are Boarbatusks the same?" Teak asked.

"Not really," Lima said, shaking his head. "Ignore the mask entirely, and don't bother with the neck—they can't turn well, so get on its flank, and then aim for underneath its belly because there's no bone plating there."

"You know so much already," Teak said, wilting a bit.

"Comparing yourself to others is a complete waste of time, Teak," Lima said, smacking him on the ankle again. "Figure out what you want for yourself, and then work towards it—everyone else can go hang."

"That's hard to do when everyone seems so far ahead," Teak murmured.

"You know what I think the real problem is, with comparing yourself to everyone around you?" Lima said, catching his eye. "It's that you end up modelling everyone else as some perfect, idealised form that isn't even close to reality."

"Like what?" Teak asked.

"A few minutes ago, you thought I existed in a state of perpetual confidence, or like I was some kind of embodiment of the trait," Lima said, amused. "You saw me showing off and thought—wow, Lima is never not confident."

Teak lifted his head at the words, and Lima smiled again.

"You assigned that label of 'confident' to me like some kind of permanent thing, but that's not how people work," Lima said, "I'm just a guy who's confident some of the time, and the rest of the time—well, fake it until you make it, right?"

They sat in silence for a moment as Teak furrowed his brow, and Lima was content to wait for him to process it.

"I think I understand," Teak said, tilting his head a bit. "You're saying my mental model of you is bad, and I'm comparing myself to an idealised version that doesn't really exist."

"Exactly, now scale that idea out to every single person you have ever compared yourself to—a network of thousands of people who you subconsciously view as an idealised form of their most prominent trait," Lima said, holding his palm up in front of him as if he could hold all of them there. "How could you ever be good enough, Teak? There's a person who is better at that thing you're thinking of right now in every direction you look—you've lost the competition before it's even begun."

"That makes a scary amount of sense to me." Teak said, voice quiet, "Nobody is going to reveal that they aren't perfect either, so you only ever see the victories—it's almost like a blind spot."

Lima nodded in agreement before tapping him on the leg one final time to draw his attention back to him.

"So, the answer is pretty easy once you figure it out," Lima said, smiling, "Want to know what it is?"

"Yes," Teak admitted.

"Everyone around you is someone who is just trying to keep their head above the water," Lima said, "Just like you and me, they're just better at hiding it."

#

Ballroom, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima tugged the hood of his cloak down a bit to shield his eyes as he stepped out of the building and into the sunlight. The stream of students heading out was like a line of ants, and though he wasn't too sure about the direction they were supposed to be going, he simply resigned himself to following after the rest. His oath to never sleep in a single bed again was shaken after a night in the sleeping bag because 'well-padded' or not, it was still terrible.

He'd lost sight of Teak back at the locker rooms because they'd apparently been on opposite sides of the room, and trying to find the short boy amongst the mess of taller students was more than a challenge. Lima found himself fingering the space atop his box quiver where the two lost spikes used to be, the gap both interesting because it was new and annoying in that he no longer had the full set. A particularly young-looking girl bumped into him as she attempted not to be swallowed by the mass of bodies.

"Sorry," The girl said, flapping her hand at him in something approaching panic. "That wasn't my fault—oh, I see her."

Before Lima had a chance to respond, she surged forward into a gap and vanished—he saw the tall blonde girl with the massive mane of hair turn and look down with a smile.

"Ren, we're going to be late," A tiny ginger girl cried out. "Why aren't we running?"

A tall boy with a mess of black hair—and a daring lock of pink amongst it—spoke up in response, seeming entirely unrushed.

"Nora," Ren said, "They aren't going to start the exam if none of the students have arrived."

Lima watched the pair for a minute as they had a rather lopsided conversation, marvelling at the offbeat nature in which one spoke with a rapid excitement and the other replied with no sense of haste whatsoever. They passed through the last of the buildings and found themselves in open grass, the unbroken vista ahead of them showcasing a sheer dropoff with a distant forest beyond it. Both Glynda and Ozpin were already there, standing beside a series of square metal platforms that seemed to be buried in the grass. A quick count of them made it clear that there were actually more platforms than students taking the exam—which left him wondering at those who had dropped out rather than going through with the test.

Lima searched the group for a moment, a small spark of unease when he didn't immediately find Teak—he spotted the boy eventually, nestled between Pyrrha and Jaune. Lima's smile came back at that, and he found himself moving towards the platforms alongside the rest of them at Glynda's directions. He stepped up onto it, and a spark of his Semblance gave him a better idea of what he was dealing with as it stretched out in an attempt to affect the object beneath him—some kind of complicated mechanism was directly below the sheet of metal. He couldn't really get a good idea of what it was—he bounced on the balls of his feet for a moment, just to see if it had any give, but it didn't move an inch.

Were they elevators? Or perhaps they had a cut of gravity dust beneath them, and they would float down to the base of the cliff—he couldn't see a counter-rail embedded in the cliff face, which would be needed for such a thing. Either way, it seemed clear enough to him that they would be heading down to the forest for the exam—considering the sheer mass of forestry stretched out further than he could see and far away from the borders of Beacon Academy, there was almost certainly going to be Grimm down there. Ozpin and Glynda continued to speak quietly to one another for a few more minutes as the entire mass of applicants finished placing themselves on the platforms before finally turning to address the students.

"Good morning," Ozpin said before clearing his throat. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, Hunters—today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"I'm sure that many of you have been hearing rumours, from family members or friends, about the formation and assignment of teams." Glynda said, speaking up in turn, "Well, allow us to put an end to your curiosity—each of you will indeed be given teammates today."

Ozpin spoke up once she had finished in a well-rehearsed sequence they had clearly performed before—likely many times, considering they were both long-term members of staff.

"The teams that you form today and the individual teammates will remain with you throughout your entire stay at Beacon." Ozpin said, "Thus, I am sure that you all realise that it is in your best interest to be paired with someone who you can work well with, someone who you can place your trust in."

Ozpin paused for a moment, eyes sliding from one of them to the next—Lima made eye contact with him for a brief moment.

"With that being said." Ozpin said, "The first person that you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years."

There was a wave of alarm from the other students as they digested the news; the short girl in the red cloak looked particularly overwhelmed. Lima wondered at the purpose of the selection being done like that because he doubted it was without reason. Maybe it was some lesson about learning to work alongside anyone, regardless of your differences or backgrounds.

"After you have found your partner, make your way to the Northern end of the forest—but beware, you will encounter opposition along the way," Ozpin said, smiling now, "Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

Lima felt a smile bloom on his own face in response to the words. He wasn't even fully enrolled yet, and he was already getting to fight Grimm—maybe coming to Beacon Academy had been the right choice, after all.

"You will be monitored throughout your journey through the forest and graded based on your showing," Ozpin said, "Keep in mind that our instructors will not intervene under any circumstances."

That was pretty ruthless, but this was a live fire simulation of what the rest of their lives was going to be like—the life of a Huntsman was fraught with danger.

"You will find an abandoned temple containing several relics," Ozpin said, "Each partnered pair must select a single relic to represent them and then return to the top of the cliff with it in your possession; that is your only objective."

"Losing the relic will mean failure, so take care of it," Glynda said in warning, "We will be taking the chosen relics into consideration along with your actions within the forest during the grading phase—so do not choose blithely."

"Now then," Ozpin said, tapping his cane against the grass. "Are there any questions?"

Lima turned his head as Jaune called out from his place on the very first platform.

"Yeah." Jaune said, "Sir? I have a question—"

"Good," Ozpin said, completely ignoring the guy. "Now, make sure you're standing in the centre of the platforms—"

Lima lowered his stance, getting ready just to jump off the cliff to get a head start in the forest because screw taking some lame elevator when he could just—the platform dropped an inch and then surged upwards, sending him into the air at an angle. There was a series of alarmed cries as the entire group was sent hurtling over the edge of the cliff, and he couldn't help but laugh at it all. Teak had actually ended up a lot closer to his platform than he'd realised because the boy's terrified shout caught his ear.

Lima twisted until he was falling backwards, locating Teak's uncontrolled descent a moment later. The boy's arc was a bit higher than his own, and they would have diverged quite a bit without any course correction, so he pushed with his Semblance and shunted himself into an intercept course. Lima caught him around the waist as their two paths crossed and then sent another burst of his Semblance towards straightening out their fall. Lima slowed their fall until they dipped beneath the treeline and then touched down on the grass.

"Thank you." Teak managed, falling to his knees for a moment. "I thought I was going to die."

"Your aura would have taken a pretty bit hit, but I doubt it would have broken completely," Lima said, "Looks like we're partners now—and you thought you were finally rid of me, huh?"

"I wasn't trying to do that at all," Teak said, taking his extended hand. "I couldn't find you after I left the locker rooms—do you think the others are okay?"

"They'll be fine," Lima said, clapping him on the back. "I think I saw Pyrrha save Jaune before he could crash into a tree."

"That's good," Teak breathed. "I thought I—there's a snake."

Lima glanced over in the direction he was looking, squinting a bit in an attempt to actually make it out—it shifted slightly in the grass before slipping back into the mess of roots, and he caught sight of it for just a moment.

"My eyes haven't adjusted to the low light yet, so I couldn't even see it," Lima said, impressed. "I forgot that Faunus have night vision—this is all clear as day for you?"

"Kind of," Teak said, eyeing the spot with some wariness. "Do you think it's gone?"

"This aura stuff is really new to you, isn't it?" Lima said, amused. "You don't have to worry about things like that anymore, you know? A snake won't be able to even bite you now."

"Oh," Teak mumbled, "They're still scary, though."

Lima planted a hand on his shoulder and then steered him to the north, stepping through the trees. Teak kept his eye on the spot where the snake had been for a while longer, but eventually, he turned his attention back forward again. They cut through the mess for a few minutes before the ambient sound of the forest shifted slightly.

"You should get your sword out," Lima said, smiling a bit. "There's a Grimm nearby."

Teak fumbled to unsheath his sword at the words before holding it up in front of him, his eyes flittering about in the not-quite-dark. Lima placed his hand on his shoulder again, keeping him moving as he tried to come to a stop.

"Lima?" Teak said, "I can't see it?"

"It's somewhere over there," Lima said, nodding off to their left. "Can you hear how all of the insects stopped making noise?"

"Shouldn't you get your weapon out?" Teak tried. "I can't—I can see it now."

Lima nodded at the words but made no move to take out a weapon. Instead, he remained where he was, entirely unbothered, as the Beowolf slunk out from between two of the trees and spotted them—its gaze stopped on him for barely a moment before continuing on to Teak, who was radiating so much emotion that Lima probably barely even registered to the thing.

"You already know they're attracted to sources of emotions, negative emotions in particular," Lima said as the creature gave a full-body shiver. "You're panicking, so it's probably going to ignore me until it's done with you—"

"Lima," Teak managed as the Beowolf surged forward. "I don't—"

The thing leapt forwards, claws outstretched, and its jaw already unhinged in preparation—and Lima stepped forward, stomping down onto its back as it passed him by, pinning it to the forest floor. It attempted to turn its head around, but he simply pressed down harder—one of the white spires of bone shattered, and the creature shrieked.

"Come here," Lima said, jerking his head to the space behind it. "Go wide if you are worried about it swiping at you."

Teak stared at the snarling thing with apprehension, but the completely nonchalant way in which he was dealing with the situation seemed to dispel much of the panic. Lima watched as Teak followed his direction—although the shorter boy went behind Lima rather than the open space on the other side. The Beowolf attempted to follow Teak with its head but couldn't manage it and returned to its futile clawing at the dirt.

"Stand behind its right shoulder, so you can see where its neck is unprotected by the spike—right there," Lima said, nodding. "When they're hunched down, it can be hard to slip a strike between the gap without going through a few pieces of bone first—this one kind of broke off already, though."

Lima pressed down harder, and another crack rang out as more of the plating shattered beneath the force of it—Teak visibly flinched at the sound.

"Put your sword against its neck—perfect," Lima said, still unmoved. "That's what you're aiming for, and you're in the best position to hit it from where you are now; go ahead."

"Are you sure?" Teak said. "I don't want to hit you by accident—"

"Teak," Lima said, voice gentle. "Even if you did hit me, you're not going to get through my aura with a single hit—not unless you really are the strongest Faunus in Vale."

The reference to the earlier conversation with Pyrrha and the levity of it seemed to bridge the gap. Teak swept his long, thin sword back over his head and paused for a moment as the Beowolf let out an enraged shriek—and then the sword was buried in the dirt beneath it.

"I'm really not," Teak breathed out.

Lima smiled as the thing stopped moving, and began to evaporate, the curling black smoke drifting upwards around his foot. Teak watched it with a sort of distant, muted interest, like he was watching something he wasn't quite sure he believed was actually happening.

"So, you've got a sword that's capable of killing the monsters of Grimm and more than enough strength to wield it," Lima said, feeling his foot begin to sink into the smoke until it touched down against the ground beneath. "What do you say, partner—want to go kill some more?"

Teak lifted his head from the spot where the Beowolf had once been—and maybe it was just in Lima's head, but he couldn't help but think that the longsword looked just that little bit more steady than before.

#

Clearing, Emerald Forest, Sanus.

"Don't plant yourself in one place," Lima advised, kicking the Beowolf hard enough to send it tumbling backwards and off of Teak's hastily raised sword. "Evasion is always priority one, so be ready to move to the side at every moment—it's going to leap again."

Teak twisted to the side this time, managing to evade the lunge, but his attempt to strike it on the back of the neck shattered the topmost bone spike instead—still, the creature was sent skidding forwards from the force of it, unable to shrug it off entirely.

"This isn't Scrollmonsters, Teak," Lima said, amused. "You don't need to wait for its turn to be over before you can attack again—if it's going to give its back to you for that long, punish it."

Teak surged forwards, but by the time he got there, the thing had already managed to find its feet again—still, the attack crashed into its raised claw and spun the thing over twice before it hit the ground. Teak didn't wait this time, and the tip of his sword carved a shallow line through the dirt as he put all of his weight into an upwards swing that tore the thing's head from its shoulders.

"I love the enthusiasm," Lima said, impressed. "That one must have hurt."

Teak panted for breath—not because it was that physically taxing, but because Lima had noticed the boy holding his breath for most of the short battle. He'd stop doing it on his own eventually, but Lima would warn him about it afterwards—he didn't want to dump too much on him at once.

"My arms hurt," Teak managed once he straightened up. "My hands, too—does it always feel like this?"

"Nah, you're just not used to swinging something heavy around," Lima said, "With enough work, little fights like these won't feel like anything—you just need to make sure you practice every day."

"I will," Teak breathed, "Lima—do you think we're getting close to the temple?"

"Uh—right, the temple," Lima said, glancing up at the sky for a moment. "I'm sure it's right on through here."

Lima completely ignored the look Teak gave him when he turned and started leading him back the way they'd come—and the cry of alarm when he started jogging. In his defence, there had been Grimm, and it was a Huntsman-in-training sworn duty to kill the things—it wasn't his fault that the relics had slipped his mind entirely. Luckily for them, they hadn't gone too far off track, and after a few minutes, he managed to spot the tip of some crumbling stonework above the treeline.

"I can still smell smoke," Teak said, closing his eyes for a moment. "Do you think everyone else is okay?"

"I imagine everyone ran away the moment they noticed it," Lima said, "Hundred Lien says it was the ginger girl with the warhammer—she looks like the type to start a fire."

"I don't think I've seen her yet," Teak admitted, "Weiss had burn dust with her yesterday; maybe it was her?"

"Nah, she doesn't seem like the type to set a forest on fire," Lima said, waving it off. "Then again, maybe Jaune went down in flames again?"

"Lima," Teak chastised before turning back forward. "This must be the temple—but some of the relics are already gone."

"What's a temple doing all the way out here, anyway?" Lima wondered.

"It must have been an abandoned settlement," Teak said, reaching out to place his hand against the stonework. "It looks nothing like modern architecture, and the materials are really basic—it might have been here for thousands of years."

"Yeah?" Lima said, eyeing the crumbling pillars. "Wonder what happened to the people who lived here—although I think I have a pretty good idea."

"I really like this kind of thing, and there's supposed to be an amazing library at Beacon, so I'll look it up later," Teak promised, hand lingering on the stone for a moment longer. "If we end up passing, I mean."

Around the centre of the ruins was a series of pedestals, upon which sat large chess pieces—and like Teak had identified already, most of them were already missing.

"Aha," Lima said as if he'd discovered some great secret. "So that's the reason you came—your giant brain was hungry for knowledge, and so you've come here to feast upon the library."

Lima attempted to measure the size of his head using his fingers and then gave a grave nod at what he'd discovered—Teak pushed him away with both hands outstretched and a flush on his face.

"I have a normal-sized brain, and I don't eat books," Teak said, watching him closely to make sure he didn't try anything else. "Lima—which one should we take?"

A glance around showed him that both Kings were already gone, which was kind of sad—there was a Black Queen left, though, and that was pretty much the strongest piece on the board, right?

"If we can't be treated like the kings we are," Lima said, snatching it up off the pedestal, "Then we'll just have to be queens instead—what do you say, Miss Fawn?"

Teak flinched back from the words—the reaction startling enough that Lima stilled for a moment, suddenly feeling as if he'd just done something terrible without actually knowing what it was. The shorter boy wrenched a smile back on his face, but it wasn't anywhere near as genuine as it had been a moment before.

"It's the best piece left, after all," Teak said, no longer looking directly at him. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Sorry if I upset you just now," Lima said, far more hesitant now. "I really didn't mean anything by that—"

"No," Teak said, shaking his head in a quick movement. "Can we just—if we take too long, we won't pass, right?"

"Right," Lima said, forcing himself to turn away. "We're headed for the cliff—there should be a way up, but if there isn't, I've got us covered."

"Mm," Teak noised. "Thanks."

Lima set off, taking point again, partially because he'd been doing that since they first landed in the forest but mostly because he didn't want to see the strained smile on the other boy's face. Considering everything else that had happened since the test began—being thrown off the cliff, fighting and killing his first Grimm, and then two more after that—somehow, he'd just done more to unsettle Teak with an offhand joke. It had been the 'Miss Fawn' that had caused it because there hadn't been any real reaction before that—maybe that was something Teak dealt with a lot? Lima hadn't actually been able to tell Teak was a boy back at the terminal, not until he'd spoken up, and even that hadn't made it a sure bet. Now, he was even less sure about his assumption than ever—but it seemed pretty clear that Teak hadn't wanted to talk about it, and pushing forward just to sate his own stupid curiosity wasn't something he'd be doing.

"Lima?" Teak said, breaking the silence. "Why did you show me how to kill those Grimm?"

Lima kept his eyes forward as the face of the cliff slowly rose to tower above them.

"I guess there's a bunch of reasons," Lima said, still trying to shake it all off. "The obvious one is that we're partners, which means our fates are tied together for this test—but even if that wasn't the case, I still would have shown you how."

"Even if we weren't partners?" Teak murmured. "Why?"

"Because you were worried about it, and yet you still stuck around for the exam, even when a bunch of people who actually went to a combat school dropped out," Lima said, taking his time with his answer. "Because every single person who takes on the burden of fighting the Grimm deserves a measure of respect—and because, if I showed you how to do it, there would be one more person on Remnant who was capable of killing them."

"That's important to you?" Teak asked.

"There's nothing in the world that's more important to me than wiping out the Grimm," Lima said, touching a finger to the end of one of his spikes. "But as much as I'd want to be the one to personally put each and every one of them down—I'm self-aware enough to realise that I can't do that on my own."