OH MY GOD. Fuck. This. Chapter. I started this shit like 5-6 weeks ago and was thinking I'd have it done in a week. First chapters suck. More at the bottom.

"Cyruuus." Came the excited whisper alongside a soft pat on the shoulder; shifting slightly on the bench, Cyrus groggily opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. The sleek white walls and grey accents typical of Atlesian design lined the room, illuminated by the soft teal glow of the light bars embedded in the room's ceiling. Turning his head lazily, he faced the other bench and saw Nicky perched on the window sill, gazing out of the glass panel with a wide and excited grin on her face. "Cyrus, wake up!" She said, a bit louder this time, and looked at him.

"I'm up, I'm… I'm up." Cyrus yawned, slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position and resting his back against the wall at the side of the bench; stretching his arms up, he looked at Nicky again. "What… what time is it?"

"Middle of the morning. We've just arrived at Vale, look!" Nicky replied, a joyful tone in her voice as she gazed out the window in wonder, taking in the picturesque sight of the kingdom's suburbs. The outer reaches of the city were filled with quaint stone and wood buildings, rustic designs that contrasted with the metropolitan inner-city. "It's… so different."

"How so?" Leaning over the sill like his sister, Cyrus watched the scattered structure among the greenery drift by underneath them, thin wisps of butt passing by the window occasionally.

"There's colour."

"There's colour at home too."

"You know what I mean, idiot." Nicky sighed, slumping back into her seat and resting her arms behind her head. "I dunno, it just looks more alive down there. Everything in Atlas is so… clean."

"That's fair." Cyrus responded, sitting back down and reaching for his scroll; sliding open one of the side tabs and pressing an icon showing food. "You hungry?" He asked, absent-mindedly picking out his order from the options available.

"I'll be good with a sandwich or something. You know what I like." Reaching under the bench, she pulled out her bag and unclipped the sheathed greatsword slung on it's side. Bringing the large blade onto her lap, she opened the latches holding the sword in and ran her fingers over the shining metal.

"Alrighty then." Tapping the confirm button, the scroll buzzed in his hand before returning to it's home screen, a small timer in the top-right indicating when the food would be ready. Looking over to Nicky, Cyrus saw her sword out and swept his eyes over it; the blade was easily four feet long, not counting the handle, and thick enough to hide the mechanical components within. Much like his own weapon it followed a fairly simple design in the Atlesian fashion, favouring function over the flamboyancy prominent in other kingdoms.

The mulled mood within the room persisted for a while, a timid silence created by the fact that both siblings were still sleepy and hadn't eaten in hours. After what felt like an eternity, a small light on the panel next to the door lit up, indicating somebody waiting outside; after pressing the button, the simple metal panels slid aside to reveal a young-adult mouse faunus dressed in the airship's staff attire, her brown hair tied in a neat bun. "Good morning, ma'am, sir; your food has arrived!" Turning around to grab one of the plates from the tray beside her, she offered it to Nicky with a beaming smile before turning to serve Cyrus. Once the food was dispensed, she looked down at her scroll and tapped several options, the receipt appearing on his screen. "Sir?"

Snapped out of a temporary stupor Cyrus looked at her and turned away, a clearly flustered expression on his face as he gained his bearings again. "Oh, uh… yeah. Of course, sorry." He stammered, picking up his scroll and entering the necessary credentials to fulfill the transaction. Giving the two of them another smile, the woman turned and exited the room, the door sliding shut behind her.

No sooner after she had left did Nicky give Cyrus a sharp kick in the shin to get his attention, a devilish grin on her face. "Look at yooou, getting all worked up." She teased, the smile growing in intensity. "Never knew faunus girls were your thing."

"I-I… wha?" The sharp stutters matching a wide-eyed look of surprise on his face, cheeks glowing red with embarrassment.

"Oh my…. Oh my word." Nicky laughed, crossing her arms and pulling herself into a ball on her seat as she giggled. "They actually are!"

"I… I don't know what you're talking about!" Cyrus held his chin up and looked to the side, feigning confidence to save face from her teasing.

"Ahh, I was just messing with you Cy." Calming herself down, she leant forward and gave his knee a little nudge. "If it's any consolation, I thought she was pretty cute too." Peeking out the window, she saw the cliffs of Beacon growing closer, the green light of the tower glowing as it reflected the morning sun's light. "Hey, eat up. We're going to be there pretty soon."

Stretching her legs for the first time in hours, Lily slowly picked herself up from her comfortable seat onboard the Vacuan airship, unlike the Atlesian design it favoured larger common rooms as opposed to individual rooms, and the warmer colours of the wood tones and the sandstone accents clearly showed its homeland's influence.

Like the other new students on board she began to make her way off of the vessel, stepping out onto the large landing dock of Beacon academy, the picturesque castle of the school and the iconic emerald CCT tower looming over the wide stone plazas and gardens wrapped around the building.

"So this is Beacon… prettier than the pictures." Gazing at the rich green light from the tower, she slowly began to walk forward with the Vacuan group; like many of them, this was her first time in Vale. Stopping with the group, she turned to look ahead, where a handful of third-year students had stopped them.

One of these students, a tall blonde girl with red-pink highlights, waved her hand up to get the group's attention. "Hi guys! Over here!" Getting down from her tiptoes with an exasperated look on her face, she looked over to one of the other students; a shorter boy dressed in a loose tan shirt and breeches, he lifted the brow of his pith helmet up and coughed harshly in another attempt to gain their attention. Failing that, he unslung the rifle from his back and fired it into the sky, the loud crack of the powerful dust shot silencing the group.

"That's better, thanks Iv." The taller girl said, met with a sharp nod by the boy. Turning once again to face the group, she raised up on her tiptoes and spoke again; "So guys, I know you're all excited to be here, but I just need you to listen up for a minute. Alright?" Sensing she had the attention of the group, she continued on. "My name is Rose and this is Ivory, we're here to show you around and get you to orientation on time! So if you have any questions, feel free to come and ask!" Looking over the group, she then began walking towards Beacon itself. "Come on guys, we're wasting sunlight!"

Walking on with her fellow students, Lily tried to slowly press her way to the front of the group; reaching the two third years, they noticed her and turned around. "Oh hey, can I help?" Rose asked, holding out her hand. "I'm Rose, and you?"

"Lily." Accepting the handshake, Lily slowed down to keep pace with them. "I was just wondering, when do we get our rooms?" Her question was met by raised eyebrows from the both of them.

"'course." Ivory chuckled.

"Er… but, yeah. The airship was too shaky and I was out with friends the night before. So… kind of… yeah, I'm pretty tired." Lily moaned, rubbing her eyes.

"Fair enough." Rose replied, smirking at Ivory. "You're not assigned dorms until tomorrow, once you've formed your team." Lily's response was merely a groan of exhaustion. "Don't worry, you'll have a chance for plenty of sleep before initiation tomorrow. Just hold up until tonight and you should be okay."

The Vacuo group continued on, reaching the first junction of the long central path; turning around, Rose motioned for the group to turn towards the school's cafeteria hall for the start of the orientation. Still in her tired daze, Lily lumbered along with them as she just managed to keep pace.

Overlooking the Vacuo group from one of the grassy knolls was Azura, the silver-haired fox faunus rested on a small blanket place over the grass, using her soft tail to cushion her head from the hard ground. Her loose-fitting robes lightly rippled as the wind brushed them, the light blue fabric embroidered with simple silver patterns that danced as the material moved.

Due to her special circumstances, she had arrived in Vale and gone through the orientation process a while before the other new students, meaning the last couple days had mostly given her time to explore the city and the school. With little to do on the first day of school, she had taken to merely enjoying the summer weather and the buzz as Beacon came to life with the new school year.

Her tranquil rest lasted for a while, until she heard the soft thudding of footsteps on the earthy ground behind her. Opening her eyes and sitting up, she turned to face the pair that had approached her; looking over the both of them, the girl sported a modest tunic dyed in a rich blue and simple brown shorts matching her dirty-blonde hair, the other was a shorter boy wearing a cream-coloured hoody with orange accents alongside a pair of tan cargo pants.

"Hey, do you mind if we joined you?" The boy asked, offering a warm smile at Azura and motioning to his partner at the same time.

Having zoned-out slightly, Azura snapped back to attention and looked around her panickedly; realising they were asking her, she checked the blanket underneath her. "Uhm… sure. I don't really have any space on here though…"

"Don't worry about it, we brought our own. Just wanted some company." The girl laughed, smiling awkwardly before reaching for the backpack she had on; putting it down and pulling out a warm felt sheet, she shook it to it's full size and laid it down next to Azuras. Sitting down on it, the pair turned to Azura and the girl continued. "What's your name?"

"Oh, Azura. Azura Platanam." Azura replied hesitantly, giving a nervous smile and scratching the back of her head. "Y-you?"

Smiling again, a bit more comfortably this time, the girl in blue addressed Azura again. "My name's Skye Kobalt, and my friend here is Patrick Landier." Finishing her sentence, Skye looked slightly taken aback as she noticed him staring daggers at her.

Clearing his throat, he continued to glare at Skye as he spoke. "Yeah, but nobody calls me that. Returning to his more cheerful, warm demeanour, he looked back at Azura and held his hand out. "I go by Jacko, after my middle name."

Azura accepted the handshake timidly, retreating her hand back as quickly as it was extended. "Did you two arrive early as well, then?"

"Yup, got our tour and everything yesterday, so we figured we'd go and see the sights." Jacko started.

"Buuut… this sun is not something to go walking all day in." Skye interjected, looking towards the back end of the Vacuo group in the distance she winced slightly. "I'd hate to be them, having to do orientation in this heat."

"They're from Vacuo… I think." Azura said, quietly. Squinting slightly to see the group better, a benefit of her faunus eyes. "Yeah. They're probably more used to this than we are." She added, softly exhaling in amusement with the notion.

"Sounds about right. We're used to mountains and fog and rain, so this is kinda freaky for us." Jacko laughed, laying down on his side and resting his head on his arm. "Speaking of which, where you from?"

Glancing to Jacko in surprise, she turned her head up and thought for a moment. "Mistral… the outskirts of the kingdom though. It's nice, quieter than Vale though."

Nodding in understanding, Skye nodded her head towards Jacko as she spoke. "Nice. We're from Greenbriar." Noticing the clueless look on Azura's face, Skye furrowed her brow as she thought about it. "Small village, in the mountainy bit at the edge of Vale." Reaching for the massive leather sheath she had put down next to her rucksack, Skype pulled out her colossal sword and rested it on the blanket in front of her. "You have any idea what initiation's gonna be?"

"No." Shaking her head softly, Azura reached for her own bag and pulled out a small packaged roll, taking a quick bite out of it. Before their conversation could continue, the scrolls of all three buzzed as the screens came to life; Skye and Jacko fumbled with the unfamiliar technology, while Azura calmly pulled out the device and flicked it open. On the screen, a formally-dressed blonde woman appeared, looking at the camera.

"Would all first year students make their way to the main plaza, the opening ceremony will be taking place in 30 minutes." Delivering the succinct message, the face on the screen disappeared and the scroll returned to its sleep mode. Standing up, the three of them folded back their blankets and packed their bags again, before beginning to make their way to the plaza.

The large student body piled into Beacon's main hall, the large and circular room lined with ornate decoration all illuminated by the sun's light, dying everything a subtle green tone as it passed through the large emerald panels of Beacon tower. The four main groups mixed between each other, Valian, Vacuan, Mistralian and Atlesian students intermixed partially by active attempts of intergration and partly by the cramped nature of the crowd.

The constant chatter of the crowd drew to a slight mumble and an eventual silence as the same blonde woman from before stepped to the front of the stage, clearing her throat against the microphone before speaking. "Excuse me. If we could have your sole attention, the headmaster would like to say a few words." Stepping back, she opened up the space for another man striding towards the microphone.

Adjusting the microphone to his height and stature, the man rested his pale hand on the cane; with the other, readjusting his small and wirey glasses. Looking over the crowd, he began his speech.

"I… will make this brief." The short statement resonated through the hall, partially by the power of the audio system but more in virtue of his unique and powerful tone.

"Before me stands the future of our world. Or, to be more precise, the security of humanity. The world of Remnant is one shrouded in danger, and horror, and darkness; indeed, it is a harsh and unforgiving place, forever reminding us from the sidelines, beyond the protected borders of our kingdoms, that we are not safe. That we may easily return to the darkness from which we once came."

"That is why we turn to you. Once again, before me stands the future of our world; and you are exactly that, our future. For when you become Huntresses, and Huntsmen, you do not merely become vanquishers of monsters or heroes of justice, but much, much more. You become humanity's guardians, a light against the darkness that seeks to swallow us once more."

"Understand that this is no easy burden, when I look out among you I see nobody who is ready to accept it on their shoulders. Rather, I see eagerness and courage, hope and determination… but I also see recklessness, and foolhardiness. Until you understand the weight of that burden, and all that it entails, then I continue to see nothing but wasted talent."

"In your time here, you will aggregate knowledge and skill, and that will take you far. Yet, it is only with the resolve of that understanding will you be able to meet your true potential. To gain that understanding, you must take your first step towards the meaning of that burden."

Stepping back from the microphone, the man in green turned and walked from the stage, disappearing behind one of the room's many doors. In his place, the young woman stepped up again and spoke.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow, your initiation will begin. Your time until then is free, but be ready for the challenges tomorrow will pose." Looking over the crowd, she pushed up her glasses once more before concluding. "You are dismissed."

A short time after the speech, many of the students had gathered at one of the school's large plazas; between groups of people talking, socialising, resting and even sparring, the lively body of students was buzzing with anticipation for what the next day would bring. One of the smaller groups was a body of six Atlesian students, the Stahl siblings among them; sitting on a couple of the plaza's benches, the group was making small talk to pass the time, conversation otherwise dried up by the sheer amount of time there was to kill.

"So Eisen, how's things going to work with Is? You gonna try and do the long distance thing, or what?" Nicky asked, directing the question at one of the other members of the group, a muscle-bound and dark-skinned boy toying with the stave of his large halberd.

"Yeah, we're gonna try, but we'll see how it goes and if it isn't working, we'll call things off." He replied, accentuating what he said with a resigned shrug.

"Sounds good. I'm holdin' out for you, bud." She replied, giving him a thumbs-up. The short exchange gave way to another uncomfortable silence as nobody really knew what to say, conversation choices mostly exhausted with the slowly dropping sun. Eventually the silence was broken, however not by one of the members of the group but by a third year, the bubbly blonde who had been with the Vacuan group earlier.

"Hey guys! I've just gotten word from the Professor Goodwitch, the sparring courts are open if you want to get some practice before tomorrow." Turning and standing on her tip toes, she looked over towards one of the buildings lining the plaza and pointed at it. "It's in that building over there, the big circular one."

"What do you say?" Nudging Nicky's shoulder, Cyrus stood up and grabbed his folded rifle before slinging it over his back.

"A spar? Between me and you?" Nicky replied, raising her eyebrow.

"Nah, I'd be biting the dust before I knew what hit me." Laughing hesitantly, he smiled and held his hand against the back of his head. "Just thought it'd be a good change of pace."

Nicky pondered the proposal for a moment, before hooking the underside of her claymore with her foot. "Sure, let's go." Kicking the blade up into her hand, she stood up and looked over the group. "Any of you want to come too?" A series of shaking heads provided her answer.

Walking along the neat stone path between the plaza and the sparring courts, Cyrus and Nicky, along with a handful of students made their way to the practice arenas. Side by side, the two siblings walked at a slightly slower pace as their peers, partially because Nicky was focused more on stretching her arms and back while she walked. Using the outstretched arms to block the light of the late afternoon sun shining at them, she looked at Cyrus.

"Hey, you don't really want to fight, do you?" She asked, lowering her arms and returning to her normal pace.

"Was it that obvious?" He replied, giving a half-hearted smile before resting his hands in his pockets. "Nah, just needed to get away for a bit."

"Fair enough, I know you're feeling out of place with those guys, but give 'em time." She gave him a soft punch to the shoulder, and gave him an empathetic smile.

"I've got nothing against them, but they're your friends. Just feels… weird." Sighed Cyrus, looking up at the colossal Beacon tower, the emerald-topped point looming over them from the centre of the school campus.

"Yeaaah, well, you're weird like that." Chuckled Nicky, cracking her fingers and pulling the sheathed great sword from her back, holding it with her hand and resting it under her arm. Reaching the large set of doors between them and the courts, she turned her head to look at him. "You'll just get to watch me kick some ass then." She said, winking and pushing open the door.

The collection of students that had come to join the spars began to spread out within the building's large hall, with seating stands around a number of stages raised off the floor and layered in markings indicating boundaries and positions. Intermingling, the students began to pair off as they found partners. Many of the matches had already been found while Nicky looked for somebody to fight, drying up the pool of potential opponents rather quickly; one of the few left was a tall, slender blonde dressed in worn leather armour emblazoned with gold.

"Should I?" Nicky asked Cyrus, glancing at him to see his response, a brief nod coming in return. "Alright then. Stay here for a minute." Walking over to the resting blonde, Nicky smiled and held out her hand. "Hey, you looking for a spar?"

Snapping out of a slight stupor, the girl looked to face her before hesitantly smiling and accepting the hand. Giving it a firm shake, she sat up. "Marie."

"Nicole." Nicky smiled, stretching and looking over at the courts; noticing a spare one, she motioned Marie to follow and for Cyrus to join them. Once they reached the segregated platform, the two began to take out their weapons and prepare for combat while Cyrus opened his scroll to the referee program, linking with the other two scrolls and bringing their aura values up.

Standing at either side of the court, Marie and Nicky took their stances with their weapons as they began to count down the fight. Tapping the option to begin on his scroll, Cyrus offered a count down. "Five… Four…" They both tensed their muscles. "Three… Two…" Deep breaths came from the combatants. "One… Fight!"

As soon as the word came, Nicky darted off her starting circle in a full sprint, rushing towards Marie and holding her claymore over her shoulder, moving as if the blade was weightless. Marie immediately sprang into action, turning off the safety on her submachine gun and firing short but rapid bursts at the oncoming fighter, stepping back carefully. Reaching her with relatively few hits taken, Nicky twisted her hands like a lever, sending the mighty blade crashing down at Marie, who managed to barely block it with the body of her gun. Regaining her footing, Marie barely had time to recover before having to dodge another wide arch from the blade.

Cyrus jumped in surprise as a hand pressed into his shoulder, looking at the new arrival he found himself face-to-face with the third year from earlier, who he found trying to get a glimpse of the screen on his scroll.

"Who's my sister fighting?" She asked, nodding to the two fighting combatants.

"Uh… yeah? Sorry." He stammered, holding up the thin panel so she could see, the bars sitting roughly equal in depletion.

"My bad, surpised ya." Beaming, the girl held out her hand. "Rose Aurum. You?"

"Oh, uh.. Cyrus. Stahl. Cyrus Stahl." He smiled nervously, tentatively accepting the gesture.

"So that's your sister there too?" Crossing her arms and turning towards the fight. "Bet you my sister will beat the hell outta yours."

"Wouldn't count on it." He answered, also looking back at the fight.

Nicky continued her fairly basic assault; swinging long arcs with her claymore paired with the occasional bash and stab. Marie on the other hand remained on the back-step, slowly retreating back to more easily avoid the hits coming at her; with one particularly wide swing, she found her opening. A jolt ran through her hand as, mid dodge, the submachine gun whirred and transformed into a long hand cannon, before the outer plates extended outwards into arms tipped with lights on all four of the points. Ducking down at Nicky's flank, she swung around and fired the powerful shot at close range, the glowing yellow blast pounding into her abdomen and exploding into small yellow petals.

"See, told ya." Rose laughed, looking at the intense duel with glee.

"Nicky's tired, it's been a long day." Cyrus mumbled, looking perfectly calm despite the hard hit his sister took.

Reeling from the hit, Nicky readied herself again before making another charge at Marie; suddenly, the blonde's eyes glowed yellow and Nicky felt the petals from her shot, now adhered to the side she had been hit on, start to glow white hot. Wincing, she felt the phantom sensation of her skin searing beneath her clothes as the semblance grew hotter and hotter; gritting her teeth, she pushed pass the pain and kept up her charge, ending it with a large thrust that barely grazed Marie's side.

"She's fast." Cyrus said, nodding at Marie.

"Yup, damn right she is." Rose replied, smirking. "Takes after her big sister." She continued, pointing her thumb at her chest boastfully.

Cyrus could only chuckle at the exaggerated self-pride. "Maybe so." Calming himself down though, he spoke again. "…but Nicky's faster."

"You think so? She's fighting like the sword's half her weight."

"Just watch." Cyrus answered, nodding towards the two fighters.

Marie, immediately after Nicky's lunge, dodged and turned to fire another heavy shot at the swordswoman; it would have been a sure hit… if she wasn't now perched on top of her perfectly balanced blade. Nicky grinned down at her as she tipped her balance, the sword springing from its position onto the ground to flatten out mid-air. As she fell, Nicky kicked the handle towards Marie, the blade catching the bewildered blonde's leg and giving enough time for Nicky to slide back into her position.

Knocking herself out of the daze, Marie set the gun in her hand into motion, the gun segments expanding into a hilt as the crossbow arms formed into a short blade, the bastard sword coming to rest in her hand. She was barely finished taking a deep breath before she had to raise the sword to block an incoming strike from Nicky; once again, she had no time to recover before the next one. The swordswoman barraged her with strikes in much tighter motions than before, easily meaning she had two or three many times as many attacks to avoid as before.

On one of the many blocks, instead of a follow-up strike, Nicky's boot crashed into her upper leg and knocked her off balance. Tumbling to the floor, the blonde barely managed to roll and dodge as the long metal spear, a transformation of Nicky's claymore, stabbed down at her. Doing her best to just evade the attacks, Marie tried to use her semblance to at least slow her opponent down; despite the searing pain in her side, however, Nicky kept her onslaught coming.

Transforming to the submachine gun once more, taking the opportunity while Nicky was in a position, mid swing, that she couldn't realistically dodge, she pressed the trigger and hammered shots into the swordswoman's armoured forearms. Dropping the blade, Nicky fell to her knees wincing at the intense pain on her arms; using the moment to regain her composure, Marie hoisted herself up, transforming into the crossbow, and she readied the charged shot at her vulnerable opponent.

"Yeah! Go Marie!" Rose shouted excitedly, holding her arms up in the air.

"Wait for it…" Cyrus whispered, nodding calmly at his sister, still bent over but positioned to be looking at the two spectators. Nicky's eyes widened, almost as if she was questioning him; his reply was wordless, just another nod.

"It's alright, y'know. To admit she lost. Marie was one of the best fighters in her year." Placing a hand on Cyrus' shoulder, she gave him a reassuring look. "She still did well, can't fault her on that."

"…when… did you?" Nicky muttered, vaguely in Cyrus' direction, a quizzical look on her face; much to her annoyance, Cyrus just shrugged. Despite her state, she moved in the blink of an eye, rolling over to her sword, she placed the sole of her boot on the handle of her spear and a soft thud could be heard as the magnets mounted in her boot attached the weapon to her. Rolling backwards, she flung her foot up and deactivated the magnets, hurling the spear towards Marie; at the same time, she shot. The bolt erupted as it connected with the weapon's metal, spectral petals of aura dissipating in the air around the impact.

The spear didn't even hit the ground, grabbing the handle with hands numb from pain, Nicky charged at the shocked Marie, transforming the weapon into its lance form and thrusting it at her chest. The strike sent Marie tumbling to the floor, on Cyrus' scroll the bar dipped below the threshold for a loss.

"That's match." Cyrus called, projecting his voice so that the combatants, both slightly stunned from the intense fight, could actually hear him. Turning towards Rose, he smiled softly. "She still did well, can't fault her on that." Chuckling, he then jogged up to Nicky to help her up.

With her brother's help, Nicky pulled herself up and shivered as he used his full aura to brush the burning petals off her body, the golden flakes vapourising as they came off her form. Taking off her body armour, Nicky laid back and sighed with exhaustion.

"Hey Cy." Mumbling, she propped herself up on her elbows and looked at her boots. "I thought you didn't get time to put the magnetic locks in." She softly waved her foot round, judging the difference in weight she hadn't noticed before.

"Did it a couple nights ago, you were out. I think." Smiling, he helped her up and she wobbled slightly, unsure of her footing.

"Alright." Nodding gently at Cyrus she turned to face Marie, who was being helped up by her sister. "Hey." Getting her attention, Nicky continued. "Nice fight. Your semblance is a bitch though."

A bit taken aback by her comment, Marie looked at her wide-eyed for a moment before smiling back. "Yeah, I've heard that a lot. Good fight though." With that, the two sisters began to walk off, Marie still slightly winded by the finishing blow. Once they had left the area, Nicky slumped down onto a bench near the court, groaning in discomfort.

"Fuck me, that hurt." Flexing her arm and wiggling her fingers, she sighed. "I'm actually numb… it hurt that much."

"Yikes." Cyrus stood away from Nicky, and picked up her weapon; setting it to transform back into it's claymore form, he slid it back into the modest black sheath. Hoisting it over his shoulder and nestling it beneath his rifle, he offered to help her up. "Come on, let's get something to eat. It'll take your mind off your arm." The two siblings smiled at each other, and Cyrus supported her onto her feet; silently, the two made their way out of the courts.

A moderate hum of tired activity hung in the ballroom, as the new students slowly got themselves ready to sleep and tried to settle in the designated sleeping rolls; some students happened to be in a better state than others, as one could only see as Lily slowly staggered to her particular bed for the night and dropped down on it rather unceremoniously, half-asleep by the time she actually made contact.

It didn't take long until a soft voice dragged her from the blissful lulls of sleep, and she opened her eyes wearily to see a silver and blue fox faunus standing above her. "I… uhm. Hi." Smiling nervously, she spoke again, a bit more softly this time as Lily groaned in response. "I think you're in my spot…"

"I am?" With a heavy blink, she propped herself up to look at the label at the foot of the bed. "Shiiiiit." She moaned, looking at the number; it said 3B, she was supposed to be on 3C. Slowly turning over and moving to lift herself up, the faunus interrupted her.

"Don't worry!" She chuckled nervously, putting her things down on 3C. "We'll just swap. Okay?" Flashing Lily a shy smile, her silver eyes held a warm orange tint barely discernable in the dim lighting of the ballroom.

Overcome with discomfort from her awkward position, Lily let out a low groan before allowing her arms to give way, collapsing back onto the soft bed. Speaking into the pillow, she leant her head ever so slightly in the girl's direction. "What's your name?"

"Azura. You?"

"Lily."

"That's a pretty name." Azura spoke softly, focused on the conversation despite her getting the bed ready to lay down, distracted by the distracting task of making the covers accommodate her tail. "I like it."

"Sorry, Azura. I don't do that." Face still in the pillow, the abrupt declaration was barely legible behind it's strong muffling effect. Hearing a noise of confusion from her, Lily mustered the energy to turn onto her side. "With girls, I mean."

Azura gasped in surprise, her pale face running bright red as she blushed. "I-I no I meant - I… uh. It…" Mind racing ahead of her mouth, she eventually stopped to breathe. "I-I just… uh. Meant that it's… a nice name." Laughing anxiously, she began fluffing her own pillow with a good deal more energy than required.

Realising the confusion, Lily half-heartedly raised her hand and gave a lazy thumbs-up. "My bad." Rolling over onto her back, she continued. "The boys back home used to use that one a lot. Learned to just tune it all out now."

"Oh… right. Sorry." Setting the pillow back in place, she reached down to take off the heavy jumper she had on over her pyjama top, a thick and wooly hoodie decorated with star designs. "I… uhm… I wouldn't know about any of that." Giggling hesitantly, she pulled the covers aside and slid in.

"Never had a boyfriend?" Lily asked, awakened slightly by the conversation; her question produced an audible gasp from Azura.

"No!" The blush returning to her face again, she pulled the covers over her and retreated under them slightly; waiting for a moment, she took a breath. "I never really… did, any of that stuff."

"Ah. Fair enough." Resting her arms under her head, Lily threw a few glances around the room. "You know anybody here?"

"No… I never really went to combat school like them." Pausing, she turned towards Lily. "What about you?"

"Can't say I do. I recognise some faces…" Squinting around as she looked, she began to feel the heavy weight of exhaustion on her eyes again. "Most of my friends went to Haven or Shade." The last part elicited a small "Oh." from Azura.

Reaching out her hand, Lily left herself open to any gesture, be it handshake, or a high-five. "You seem alright, Azura. What's say we try and team up? If we get the chance." Taken aback slightly, Azura reached out herself and tentatively accepted the gesture, shaking her hand quickly before pulling it back.

"Sure." She replied, feeling the growing sleepiness herself.

"Sweet." Lily replied, punching her two hands in the air in celebration, but softly and with obvious tire in her movements. Looking over at the clock on the centre of one of the main walls, she began to roughly nestle herself in between the covers and embraced the warm comfort. As if on que, the lights turned out and the room became dark; taking it as an indication, Lily whispered to Azura. "Probably a good time to get to sleep."

"Yeah… we don't want to be exhausted in the morning too." Smiling and nodding to herself, Azura also pulled her blankets up. After a short amount of time, the two girls were completely asleep, the odd giggle and whisper from the room doing nothing to faze the pair.

So… uhm… geeeeeeeeez. Here I am. Well over a month after the previous chapter, which means it's been at least a month longer for this chapter than I had planned…. yikes.

Not much of an excuse really, a lot of things started happening at once and the fic was always the kind of thing I could let slide, which sucks because I really enjoy it, but oh man this first chapter was a drag. I felt the whole time like I was padding it out to get it meaty enough, and I even shoehorned in a fight scene somehow (not that happy with it's implementation and framing tbh) but I am so glad it's over with.

This is the bit I was unsure about, I didn't really know how I would do the pre-initiation, so this chapter was really me just crawling in the dark, figuring it out as I went. On the upside, it's here now! The first hurdle is over and I have a fairly good idea for the rest of the initiation stuff, so I should be okay for 2-3 chapters at least.

I'm going to avoid giving a definite times scale, but I'm going to tentatively put a loose deadline maximum at 3 weeks. Hopefully I have it out before then, but I'm giving myself that goal post to try and manage before I get panicky over unrealistic goals.

Business aside, I hope you really enjoyed the first chapter more than I did writing it! (Haha!)

Thanks for all of you who have been standing by despite the lack of content, knowing there were at least some people interested probably kept me from scrapping this all together. So here's to you!

-Nyx