Beacon grew closer until she could no longer see the top of the massive structure from the airship window, eventually they came to a stop on the edge of a cliff and the doors swung down, revealing a neat grey path leading from where they landed into the centre of the school.
The students were too awed to move, even Wynter, she'd only ever dreamed of going here, and was still struggling to accept the reality. That was until a small but cheerful voice came from behind the crowd around the door. "Err, could we get through, please?" A few students paled and immediately moved to the side, others following, creating a path straight through the mass, the blue haired girl smiled politely, slightly shocked by their actions, and led the brunette, who still hadn't left her side, to the door.
After they had left, the rest began to file out slowly, looking for friends who had been on the other ships. Wynter scanned the crowds for the blonde boy, and found him by a dustbin; it wasn't that hard, since he was quite tall, and she pushed her way through to him. "Jaune!" He turned around whilst wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and flashed a goofy grin as she approached.
"Hey! Friendly advice, don't go too near that bin."
"Why not? Don't tell me the great Jaune was air sick?" She put on a face of mock surprise and gasped; he laughed and punched her lightly in the arm as she laughed too. When she calmed down Wynter noticed the blue haired girl was being swarmed by people asking her all sorts of questions, presumably about the incident on board, she also noticed the tall plum girl from the docks bulldozing through towards her with a relieved yet concerned look on her face. Wynter nudged the boy beside her and craned her neck to get a better view.
"What did you do this time?!" The girl towered over everyone, especially her friend who despite standing straight still appeared to be just over half her height. However her intimidating stature was contradicted by her calm and gentle voice, which made Wynter rethink her initial evaluation of the purple haired girl's character.
The shorter girl brought a hand to the back of her neck and grinned, nervously this time, "I uh- kinda sorta pinned a guy to the wall." Jaune's eyes widened and he turned to the blonde beside him; she nodded, confirming that it had happened.
Accompanied with an eye-roll, the plum haired girl spoke again, "And why exactly did you do that?"
"I was defending a friend alright? You think I'm dumb enough to start fights when we haven't even made it to the school yet?" She looked to the floor and her friend's expression softened.
"I'm sorry; I know you're smarter than that." She pulled the shorter one into a hug and the crowd dispersed, most of them moving through the giant double doors that had opened at the far end of the path. Wynter looked to her side expecting to find Jaune, but he had disappeared, she shrugged and joined the stream of students flowing towards a giant assembly hall where the headmaster was due to give a speech.
***
"And all I see is wasted potential." She tightened her grip on Cassepine and furrowed her brows as she glared at the stage at the back of the hall. This Ozpin has underestimated a Thyme if that's what he sees, she would show them, she would prove to everyone that the Thymes were still the best line of hunters there could be.
She had been too lost in her thoughts to listen to the rest of his speech, and it wasn't until people began to talk amongst themselves that she realised it had ended. What do we do now? She wondered, her thoughts were answered when another set of doors opened to her left, revealing a large ballroom, except the wooden floors were littered with sleeping bags.
This was all very unusual to her. Still, she followed the rest of them and found a suitable spot by the window to sit down, a trolley overflowing with bags was then brought in and there was clamour of people trying to retrieve their belongings, she chuckled and dove in, coming back to the surface clutching a green and white backpack, pleased with her speedy victory. She unfastened the straps and grabbed a folded set of clothes, making sure her territory was marked with the bag; she left to find somewhere to change.
When she returned in a tank top and shorts, she realised it was much darker than when she left, and people had begun to settle down with their friends. She copied them and snuggled into the sheets, however she was far too excited to sleep just yet, apparently, so were others. Four girls, including the white haired brat she'd had the pleasure of encountering earlier that day, were arguing about something in the corner, Wynter groaned to herself and turned to face the wall, using the sheet to block out their voices.
Soon, she was fast asleep.
***
The only sound was the rhythmic clanging of the launch pads and the frantic beating of her heart. Due to the large number of students this year, the initiation process had to be done in two groups, and Wynter was in the second. She had been forced to wait almost all morning since a giant Nevermore had attacked members of the first group and destroyed some ruins in the forest, which meant a delay for the rest of them as the staff went to check it out. But now she was here, stood at the cliffs, knees bent as she anticipated her turn.
Suddenly she was airborne, soaring over a sea of treetops; she relished the feeling until she began a rapid descent, taking this as her cue she quickly brought Cassepine from the loop on her belt where it rested. But instead of transforming it into a sword she took out an ammunition pack from her belt and clicked it into place on the shaft, immediately the rest of the wood shifted, revealing a metallic green shotgun. She nodded at the result, pleased to know it still worked as smooth as ever.
Weapon in hand, Wynter leaned forward, accelerating her fall until she had broken through the canopy and was amongst the branches, she pulled her torso back and bent her legs, aiming for a sturdy looking branch below her. Her eyes narrowed in concentration, never taking her sights off of the branch. She was only a few feet from it when something black and covered in feathers rammed into her, knocking her off course so she missed her target completely, her muscles tensed as she forced herself to turn around mid-air. She locked onto the culprit, a Nevermore, "Bloody thing!" She cursed the creature as it shrieked at her, lining its wings up for an attack, she wasn't about to give it chance.
With a furious yell, she aimed Cassepine and fired, there was a bang, a flash, then nothing but feathers. Wynter looked down to see the carcass plummeting towards the ground, much like she was. Frantically she looked around for a branch, a trunk, anything, but none were close enough, she threw Cassepine into her right hand and held the left out in front of her, focusing all her attention on it.
Suddenly, a large vine shot out of the ground far below and climbed towards her, she moved her hand to the side sharply and the vine levelled out, giving her adequate room to land. A soft thud signalled the end of her fall, and she allowed herself to breathe. That had been too close, and all because of a stupid Grimm.
Once her breathing had returned to normal she walked to the edge of the vine and assessed the situation, after half a minute she took the ammunition pack from the barrel of Cassepine and re-clipped it to her belt, the weapon immediately became a staff, and with a twist, a sword. She held her left hand out again and the vine responded, slowly she brought her hand down towards her side, as a result the vine began to travel back to the ground.
She took a running start and jumped, landing perfectly on the slope of the vine she followed it down, her hand still guiding its direction until she was close enough, Wynter then closed her fist and dropped off the twisted end of the vine.
"Whoo!" She danced around on the grass before looking back to her handiwork, "Not bad Wynter, not bad." The blonde turned on her heel and ran deeper into the forest, Cassepine glinting in the afternoon sun.
She hadn't gone far when she heard a noise she swore she'd heard before, and it wasn't until a flash of blue crossed her vision that she remembered. The blue haired one was still in the air, darting between the trees, but she wasn't descending, in fact, her height fluctuated as she continued to fire multiple arrows, no, only two arrows into the bark. Wynter watched in awe as the girl spread her arms, and in her hands appeared two turquoise scythes, she dug one into the trunk of a nearby tree and leaned forward, laughing out loud as she spiralled down to the ground, her plaited hair flowing behind her.
Wynter immediately headed in the direction the girl landed and saw her lay on the grass. She panicked and ran over to the girl, kneeled down and shook her shoulders, the girl's eyes shot open, they were the most beautiful blue Wynter had ever seen, and reminded her of the ocean. A grin was plastered on her face as she sat up, Wynter offered her a hand and pulled her to her feet, their gazes met and the girl waved eagerly. "Hi! My names Teal! Sorry if I scared you back there."
Her smile was contagious and Wynter found herself returning the friendly gesture, "Hello, I'm Wynter, I guess we're partners now, I hope you don't mind." The girl immediately shook her head, her fringe bouncing as she did so, and Wynter chuckled, "Good, shall we go?" Teal's smile widened and she fell in step beside the blonde as they manoeuvred through the dense undergrowth towards the temple.
***
She shook her head with a smile as her friend was launched into the air, whooping and cheering; she never failed to amuse her. Soon enough, it was her turn, and the plum haired girl braced herself.
Her bangs fluttered violently as she flew, it was a pleasant feeling, but she'd much prefer to be on solid ground, so that's where she headed. She was just above the forest when she heard a small whimper from her right, and from the corner of her eye she saw a brunette with short wavy hair who looked scared to death.
Her protective instincts kicked in and she instantly unlatched her weapon from the straps on her back, holding it securely with both hands, she kept her eyes on the girl and fired sideways, sending her towards her fellow student. She flew; or rather fell parallel to the girl for a few moments before speaking in as calm a voice as she could manage.
"Hey," The girl's wide blue eyes met hers and she saw the terror in them, she had to do something to help, "You can trust me, I just need you to hold on okay?" The brunette wrapped her arms around her neck, clinging to her, and she took a deep breath before firing three times in front of them, forcing their speed to slow significantly.
They forced through the nest of leaves and she managed to land on a sturdy branch. The girl hesitantly broke her hold and stood on the branch, back pushed against the trunk so she was as far away from the edge as possible.
She turned to the brunette and their eyes met, she smiled and held out her hand, "So I assume we're a team now right?" The brunette never looked away as she nodded in response. "Right, my names Rain." Her blue eyes lit up and she studied a confused looking Rain before she spoke quietly.
"So you're Teal's friend, she said you were nice like this." Rain was still confused but she smiled brightly, "I'm Navi, I'm glad I have you as a partner." The plum girl nodded and scanned their surroundings, it would be rough, but they could get down quite easily.
She turned to her new partner and offered a hand; instead Navi shook her head and removed two pistols from the straps on her legs that Rain hadn't even noticed. She flipped a switch on each gun and they shifted into long slender daggers, then she twisted the handles, causing them to merge and extend into a dual-edged sword.
Rain took a step back to admire the weapon then asked, "I take it you can make your own way down from here?" A small smile confirmed the answer and Rain smiled back before snapping the handle of her weapon backwards, causing the front to unfold into a huge axe, she shifted the weapon in her grip before nodding to her partner and leaping off the branch.
The two ducked and swerved as they swung from branch to branch down to the ground. They landed simultaneously and paused to catch their breath before they were off again, sprinting through the clearing when Navi audibly gasped, Rain turned and followed her gaze to the far side of the clearing to their left.
A monstrous vine had sprouted from the grass; it reached the top of the trees before swooping back down to just above the forest floor, "What kind of freak weather caused that?!" Rain shrugged and the two admired it for a second before continuing through the clearing.
They had been travelling for a good while before they finally came to another gap in the trees with a small stone circle at the bottom of a steep hill; it looked enough like a temple to convince them that they were in the right place. They ran out of the forest, across the clearing and down the hill, the structure gradually coming into focus as they neared it. They weren't far away when they were brought to a grinding halt, and both girls gasped in horror at the sight.
Grimm, hundreds of them swarming around the temple. And stood on the ruined pillars, was someone Rain had been hoping to see.
But not like this.