Chapter Text
The pouring rain made the beaten path slick, which the Huntress quickly came to realize was not at her advantage as she slid away from the Hunter’s attack. Her boots sunk deep into the mud as she pushed against the ground to charge at him; he used the mud to his advantage and easily slid under her fist. She stumbled and hit the ground.
A dark green boot shot into view, and she threw herself out of the way just before it collided with the metal guard over her mouth. She grabbed his leg and yanked him forward, and he finally lost his footing and landed with a glorious splat, speckling his green fauxhawk with brown muck. She launched herself back a few steps and readied the crossbow on her arm.
Flaming arrows shot at the Hunter, but he was out of the way by the time they hit the ground. He sprinted in an arc around the Huntress as she shot arrow after arrow. None of them made contact. Once he reached the other side of her, he leapt into the air and aimed his fists at her. Blades shot out of his brass knuckles.
She stepped to the side just enough for the attack to miss, and then spun around and shoved her heel into the side of his head. He hit the ground and rolled; she shot an arrow surrounded by white mist and charged.
Ice coated his powder blue sleeve, freezing it to the wet grass below. Just as the Huntress was coming in to stomp on his face again, he punched himself free and dodged. Her foot sunk into the mud, rendering her immobile, and he used this to his advantage as he sliced the blades at her. She ducked back; the ends of her stray burgundy hairs floated to the ground. Her free leg swung up and collided with one of his arms, and the brass knuckle on that hand skidded across the path. With her other foot, she kicked up and knocked the other one into the air. He reached for it, but an arrow beat him to it, shooting it into the mud a few feet away.
The Hunter sprinted to grab his weapons, and the Huntress yanked her foot free in time to tackle him to the ground. He rolled and kicked her away, but she grabbed the brass knuckle in reach and threw it far off. Seeing this, he turned to her, aqua glare piercing. They stood and faced each other. She waited for his move.
Instead of making a break for his weapons, he simply shut his eyes and put his fists together. The wind began to whip; her ponytail flew into her eyes, and raindrops stabbed at what little uncovered skin she had.
When the wind finally died down enough for the Huntress to control her hair, four familiar feminine silhouettes surrounded the Hunter. He smirked; she grimaced.
“Oh, shhh-”
On any normal morning in the spring, the loading docks in Vale were not very busy. Business people heading to work or the occasional Huntsman on their way to a mission would tiredly await their ships while sipping their coffee in silence. There was usually hardly a word heard throughout the station.
However, anyone who took the ships to work would know better than to be at the station on the days that the semesters at Beacon Academy began, such as today.
Patton could hardly focus on following his parents as he watched all of the other Hunters and Huntresses in training pass. The echoing of all of the talking almost put his ears in pain with how loud it was, and he struggled to not bump into any strangers. He was already anxious about leaving home for the first time in his life, and all of the overwhelming chaos was not helping.
All that he knew was that he needed to follow the head of bright, blonde hair in a bob and the dark hair with the blue shirt, and he would be okay. That was all he needed to do.
The blonde haired turned back and looked at him. “You’re sure you remembered to pack everything, right?”
“I’m sure, Mom,” Patton replied. “Everything except my shield is in the bags we put in cargo.”
“I still don’t understand why you had to bring your shield on the ship,” the man in the blue shirt grumbled. He shot a grumpy glance back at Patton, who felt his hands go cold at the sight. Faking a smile, he shoved his hands in his pockets.
“A lot of people have been saying we can’t get to our bags until after initiation,” he pointed out, “And the papers we got said that we need our weapons for that. Most of the people here have their weapons, anyway!”
“Well, I don’t think that should be allowed,” the man huffed. “What if there’s a faunus on that ship that’s trying to jack it? I just don’t think it’s very safe.”
Patton remained silent and looked away. He knew better than to argue with his Dad when he said things like that. Cold spread to his thighs.
The three stopped outside of the gate for the ship to Beacon. Patton had to take a deep breath; the place was swarming with people more than anywhere else at the loading docks. It was starting to get a little too overwhelming.
Patton’s parents turned around to face him. When his mother pulled him into a tight hug, she rocked him back and forth, and Patton felt the world get a little easier to handle for a moment.
“You’re going to do great out there,” she said to him, “But if anything happens, if you decide you don’t want to do this anymore, you can always come back.”
Pulling his hands out of his pockets, he wrapped his arms around her. “I know. I’ll miss you.”
She pulled back and tearfully smiled at him. “Don’t forget to call us sometimes, okay?”
“I won’t.”
His mother stepped back, and his father stepped forward, checking that the cloak around Patton’s throat was secure before patting him on the shoulders.
“Well… Do your best,” he said.
They stared at each other for a beat. Patton half expected him to say something else, but no words came. Eventually, he gave him a curt nod with a forced smile. Was he really not going to say anything about it? Was he finally escaping that expectation? Was he finally-?
His father pulled him into a hug and put his lips next to his ear. “Make sure no one knows.”
Patton shivered at the whisper. Nope, it was too good to be true.
When they pulled apart, his father patted him on the shoulders one more time before he and his mother stepped aside to let Patton pass. He gave them a shaky smile and headed to the gate, looking back over and over until they were out of sight.
Once alone and surrounded by strangers, Patton felt his throat close up. This was too overwhelming. Maybe he should turn back. Maybe this was a bad idea.
Regardless of the thoughts swimming in his head, he pressed on. Ahead, he saw a boy with dark hair- for a second, he thought it might be his father, and his heart skipped a beat while relief flooded through him -but then he saw black and red dragon wings on his back, and he realized it was someone else. He pushed through the people to reach him.
“…sucks that Torius graduated already, or else all of us could be in Beacon at once!” the girl next to the winged boy exclaimed. “Wouldn’t that have been awesome?!”
“Oh, yeah, imagine how much all of the professors would love us,” the boy on her other side sarcastically remarked. “Four of us sparring every second of the day, in the halls, breaking into each other’s classes to challenge each other to a duel… I’m sure they’d all appreciate that.”
“Wh- do you guys do that?” the winged boy asked, eyebrows shot up.
The girl laughed, looking at him. “Well, yeah! Why do you think we got suspended so much?”
“You get suspended?! Please, do not include me in these antics! If I ever want to be on the same level as Team BYRD, I need to be present for all of my classes!”
The girl opened her mouth, but her eyes landed on Patton, cutting her off. She beamed; Patton could see huge fangs amongst her teeth.
“Hi, there!” she exclaimed. “Are you coming to Beacon, too?”
The two boys looked at him, and Patton had to take a second to find his voice. “Uh- y-yeah,” he replied.
“Oh, sick! You must be a first year, right?” the girl asked. “So is Roman! Roman, introduce yourself!”
“Well, it seems you’ve already done that for me, Trix,” the winged boy snapped. Regardless, he held his hand out to Patton. “You can call me Roman. The green haired gentleman over there is Anole, my older brother, and this annoying creature is my sister.”
The girl- Trix, Patton assumed -shrugged. “That’s fair.”
Smiling, Patton shook Roman’s hand. “I’m Patton. I’m here alone.”
“No siblings, then? That sounds like an absolute dream,” Roman moaned. “No one to pester you or embarrass you or suspend you-!”
“Oh, you’re just jealous ‘cause we’re stronger than you,” Trix laughed.
“Who ever said that?! Just because you’re a fourth year doesn’t mean you’re stronger than I am!”
“Uh, yeah, it does,” Anole pointed out. “She could kick your sorry butt any day.”
Roman crossed his arms. “Well, maybe she could kick yours…”
“I’m sorry, who won our sparring match yesterday?” Trix asked, smug grin plastered on her face.
They walked onto the airship; Roman’s arguments were lost on Patton’s ears as he looked out of the windows on the walls. They were already kind of high up, and they hadn’t even left the ground yet…
“Well!”
Roman’s sharp reply broke into Patton’s attention, and he turned back to the family.
“If that’s how you feel about it, then I’m not spending this whole ride next to you!” he snapped, wings fluttering.
“Oh? Who’re you gonna sit with? Patton’s the only person outside of the family that you know,” Trix retorted.
“Goodness gracious, we haven’t even left and you two are fighting,” Anole groaned.
“I’ll meet someone! Anyone is better than you.”
Trix rolled her eyes. “Fine, do what you want. In the meantime, we’ll be replacing you with Patton as our new baby brother. Have fun.”
Patton’s eyes lit up as he looked at Trix, but Roman only caught a glance of the scene as he whirled around and marched away.
“…It’s just so slow!” Roman exclaimed, looking at the boy next to him. “You know, if we were allowed to get to Beacon by our own means, I would have been there and back by now. I’m a very fast flier.”
“Uh huh.”
“I am! I once outflew a Nevermore,” he said, turning back to the window. “Beat it by a few minutes to where I was going.”
The boy looked up from his scroll, raising an eyebrow. “A Nevermore? Really?”
“Yes, really!”
He scoffed. “Yeah, right. Must’ve been the slowest Nevermore to exist.”
Roman glared at him. “Oh? You think you could be faster than I, you beast?”
“If anyone’s the beast here, it’s you, faunus,” the boy laughed.
Blood boiling, Roman crossed his arms. “Excuse me, my name is Roman. Not faunus. It’s my species, not my name.”
“And mine’s Virgil,” the boy retorted. “My species is human, if you couldn’t tell by my lack of beasty traits.”
“We are not-”
“Hello, and welcome to Beacon.”
The two turned away from each other to see a hologram of a blonde woman hovering in front of the window.
“Who’s that?” Virgil asked.
“You don’t know?” Roman responded.
“My name is Glynda Goodwitch.”
“Never heard of her.”
“She spoke at orientation!”
“You are among a privileged few who have been selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it.”
Virgil scoffed. “Yeah, no pressure.”
“You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world.”
The hologram flickered and went out; Roman raised an eyebrow at Virgil.
“Seriously? You had no idea who that was?”
Rolling his eyes, Virgil threw his hands in the air, careful to not hit anyone with the long pole in his hands. “I didn’t! Is there a problem with that, Prince Know-It-All?”
Roman spluttered. “It’s Glynda Goodwitch! One of the most acclaimed professors at Beacon? Do you know nothing about the school you’re attending?!”
Virgil went to respond, but the view outside caught his attention; in the distance, the school began to come into view, and his words caught in his throat at the sight.
It was big- much bigger than he had been anticipating. From what Virgil could see, it almost looked like it was bigger that the town he’d come from. The buildings were much taller and grander than anything he’d ever seen. They all looked like they had been built from something straight out of a fantasy book…
“What, have you never seen the school before?” Roman snapped, breaking Virgil out of his trance.
He rolled his eyes. “Listen, man, I live in Mistral,” Virgil stated. “I didn’t make it to orientation, so no, I don’t know as much as I should. Do you have a problem with that?”
“Well, if it’s so far, why not just go to Haven instead of Beacon?” Roman shot back.
Virgil glared, and then he turned around. “I’m not gonna stand here and be criticized by a faunus.” He started to head off, but stopped and shot a glance back. “Good luck at initiation. You’ll need it.”
Smirking at the sound of Roman’s furious stuttering, Virgil headed off into the crowd.
If the campus had been something to stare at on the ship, it was much more impressive up close. When the students had been dropped off, Virgil had walked aimlessly around campus for the better part of the hour they had before their meeting in the amphitheater, just soaking in all of the architecture and beauty. Getting to the amphitheater itself had been an adventure- seeing as he’d never been on campus before, he had absolutely no grasp of the map yet -but after following a few others who seemed to know where they were going, he eventually found himself in the middle of a huge crowd of people.
Virgil swallowed thickly, looking around. Somewhere, in the midst of all of these people, three strangers stood, and by tomorrow night, they would be his teammates that he would room with and spend all of his time with for the next four years. All Virgil could do right now was hope that he wouldn’t let them down.
“Hello.”
Flinching at the voice, Virgil snapped his head to look to his left. A boy stood, dressed in black and blue, adjusting his glasses, and, most importantly, looking directly at him. Virgil raised an eyebrow.
“Uh… hi?”
The boy held out his hand. “It is my understanding that we will be acquiring teammates within the next day or so,” he stated. “I have very little practice in making and keeping friends, so I wanted to get some practice in. You seemed to be the only other person in view without friends as well, and I assumed we could learn from each other. My name is Logan.”
He had to hold back a laugh as he shook Logan’s hand. “Virgil. Little bit of advice, you don’t have to be so tact when you’re befriending someone. Just talk to them.”
Logan took back his hand and wrapped it around his other arm, clutching a dark blue book to his chest. “Oh. Thank you. I will be sure to keep that in mind when meeting my teammates. Although, I am a bit lacking in the communication department…”
“Well, you’re doing alright so far,” Virgil laughed. “It’s something you learn as you go. Have you never had friends before?”
“Only relatives and the children of my parents’ friends,” Logan replied. “Friendship is not my strong suit. It often requires a… broad understanding of emotions, which I don’t have.”
“What, like drama? Tell me about it,” Virgil replied, rolling his eyes. “All of my friends at my old school started talking about romance and stuff, which I just… don’t get, you know?”
Logan nodded, turning towards the front. “Partially.”
There was a dip in the conversation; Logan looked at Virgil.
“Are we considered friends now?”
Virgil laughed. “Yeah, if you want to be.”
A smile formed on Logan’s lips. “I would very much enjoy that.”
Someone cleared their throat into the microphone, and Virgil and Logan looked up to see a man with gray hair standing on stage. Glynda Goodwitch stood behind him in the same pose she had been on the hologram.
“I’ll… keep this brief,” the man said.
“What for?” Virgil muttered.
“You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your lives to the protection of the people.”
Logan leaned over to Virgil. “Is this not common knowledge?” he whispered.
“But I look amongst you,” he continued, “and all I see is wasted energy.”
Virgil scoffed. “Alright, who the heck does this guy think he is?”
“Professor Ozpin, of course,” Logan replied. “The headmaster of Beacon.”
“Oh, cool, so the Man thinks we’re nothing. Great start.”
“You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.”
Logan stopped as Professor Ozpin stepped away from the microphone. “I- I’m sorry, what did he say? What does he mean, ‘knowledge can only carry you so far’? Knowledge is what life is for!”
Glynda took Professor Ozpin’s spot, bringing Logan’s attention back to the stage. “You will gather in the ballroom tonight,” she informed. “Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed.”
Just like that, it was over. Logan and Virgil looked at each other; Logan could tell his eyes were wide, but Virgil simply shrugged and turned towards the door.
“I guess we’re going to the ballroom.”
Shirtless guys everywhere.
Logan didn’t know what he was feeling right now, and it was all very overwhelming. Virgil had left a few minutes ago when he realized he’d grabbed the wrong bag and had to go back to the cargo ship to try to find the right one, so Logan was sitting on his sleeping bag, alone, in his unicorn onesie, surrounded by shirtless boys on every side of him. Some of them were flexing, others were wrestling, all while a good portion of the girls on the other side of the room stared wistfully.
He scanned the room, hoping to find any other boys who may be refraining from showing their bodies off in hopes that he could get some more practice at befriending in; one boy crossing the room also wore a blue onesie, although his appeared to have the icon of Pumpkin Pete on the front rather than match the design of Logan’s. The boy caught the eye of a girl across the room and beamed at her. Logan wondered if he was trying to flirt with someone so early in their educations.
Before he could continue studying the encounter, he felt a presence, and he turned to see a boy in a cat onesie sitting on his knees next to him. The stranger grinned and waved at him.
“Hi!”
Logan blinked. “Hello. Are you trying to learn how to make friends, as well?”
“Huh? Oh, I dunno. I think I kind of already know how. I just wanted to tell you I like your onesie!” the boy replied. “It looks so comfortable! Is it a unicorn?”
He looked him over and paused. “Yes, and it appears yours is a feline of some sort… Are you wearing a cloak underneath your pajamas?”
The boy’s eyes widened, but he shook himself out of the surprise and smiled. “Nah, just the part that goes around my neck. The cape detaches. I don’t like not wearing this part.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Patton!”
“Hello, Patton. I’m Logan.” They shook hands, and the boy- Patton -adjusted his glasses.
“Do you not know how to make friends?” he asked.
Logan flinched. “Is it that obvious?”
“Oh! No, not at all!” Patton quickly corrected. “You just said- it sounded like you’re trying to learn.”
“Ah. It is true that I am… somewhat lacking in the communication department, so to speak,” he replied. “I have been trying to befriend others all day, as an attempt to be prepared for when I meet my teammates tomorrow, but so far, I have only been successful once…”
Patton’s face lit up. “Teammates?”
“Yes, teammates. Are you unaware of the routines of Beacon Academy?”
He paused. “What do you mean?”
Logan stopped. “What do you mean?”
“Can we go back to the teammate thing?” Patton asked, bouncing on his knees. “We get teammates?!”
“Well, yes. I thought it was common knowledge at this point,” Logan responded.
“Oh. I don’t really know much about Beacon, or any combat schools, really,” Patton informed. “I was only in fighting classes growing up. I didn’t go to a school for fighting. It was just an after school program.”
Logan raised his eyebrows. “And you made it into Beacon?”
Tilting his head, Patton frowned. “Is that not normal?”
“Well… I’m unaware. I also didn’t attend a fighting school, per se, but my Father and Stepmother are both well trained. I’ve been training from them my whole life. All of my academics came from them, really. But as far as I know, most people here have been training for years at a school of some sort.”
“Huh…” Patton beamed at him. “Maybe we’re just special!”
Chuckling, Logan shook his head. “Well, we’re no Silver-Eyed Warriors, but perhaps our uncommon backgrounds are enough to make us stand out.”
“What’s a Silver-Eyed Warrior?”
He frowned. “Have you never heard of that?” Logan asked. When Patton shook his head, he furrowed his brow. “It’s a legend my mother used to tell me when I was very little. Nothing more than a fairytale, really. The story goes that those born with silver eyes have a special power that dates way before Huntsmen and Huntresses, and even the Kingdoms of Remnant. It’s powerful enough that even Grimm would run in fear at a single look from them.”
“Whoa…,” Patton breathed. “That’s incredible!”
“Yes, but it’s nothing but a myth. There’s no truth behind it,” Logan corrected. “Logically, even if it was true, it was probably nothing more than a hereditary semblance. They’re rare, but they do exist… Do most people not learn of this legend growing up?”
Patton whined, ignoring Logan’s last question. “Aw… I wish I had silver eyes.”
Logan shot him a glance. “What for? Wouldn’t you rather have a semblance that’s all your own and unique rather than one based on an outdated myth? I thought that was the general consensus.”
All at once, Patton’s positive energy seemed to disappear. His shoulders curled in a bit; the smile dropped from his face. He turned to look at the ground, and a smile seemed to attempt to force its way back.
“Ah… right,” he laughed. “Of course. Um. I think I need to go to bed.”
Logan blinked. “Are you sure? We have much more we can discuss if you don’t wish to talk about semblances.”
“Yeah, I’m- I’m sure. Big day tomorrow and all, gotta have our rest!”
He stood, patting Logan on the shoulder and starting to hurry in a different direction. As he went, he sent him a friendly wave.
“See you in the morning, Logan!”
Slightly deflating, Logan frowned, unable to figure out why Patton had suddenly given him a cold shoulder. “Good night, Patton,” he softly replied.
He sat in silence for a few minutes before taking off his glasses and laying down. Patton did have a point; tomorrow was initiation, and Logan didn’t want to be tired for it.
By the time Virgil came back, Logan was snoring softly.