Chapter 2: The Impossible

Summer Schnee

I dream of ice and snow, the way it drifts up is all I need to know it's infact a dream. I'm not myself, not as I know myself. My armor is thicker, older, no emblems, just black iron and brown furs. My weapons are not my own, two swords that feel alien in my hands, even as I walk with them firmly like it's my millionth mile. I know how to step in my boots, crunching the ice down with each step. I have never done prior. The path is contained by blurred evergreens that bare no life. It smells like the grimm of Mountain Glenn's ruins beyond the river, just outside the new city, my home. I can hear wolves, wind, and a rumble I cannot feel.

And then there is the woman.

"This fairy tale ends in a dragon." She comes to me in nightmares that drown in white petals. She is taller than me, a fur cloak burnt at the ends and a platemail that glows alabaster and blue between the distorted seams of light. I never see her face, obscured by a grim mask of moonstone, colored with hints of red and black slits for eyes, the bottom curved up in tusks like a goliath. Only reminders that she is not a grimm are the silver hairs that spill beyond the mask and the pale skin of her neck. As a little girl she frightened me, now she just annoys me. "It will eat you, little tomb princess."

'Go to Hell!' I learned long ago, in these distorted dreams painted on petals, I cannot speak, not in this borrowed body. Sometimes she understands me anyways, she has the script, I presume.

"Tell me hunter, what will you do then?" I turn to her, she is not there, there is only my tracks. I hate dreams. Growling follows, and when I look back, a meadow that failed to exist prior greets me. It sits before a mountain with a blurred top, a crack between snow smeared evergreens and a hazy smoke sky. Beowolves blacker than any in the waking world growl at me, no masks, and mouths blood red.

"The impossible." I'm not sure if the me I am, or the me I dream I am said it, but the words were permitted and the wolves came running.

"Alright Bucephalus, go park somewhere for now." The chrome bike flared its blue lights as the rudimentary AI received the command and acted. Spinning out of Beacon's pedestrian heavy courtyard, Summer and Azura were left to take the path alone, the long grey stretch between spiral towers. Each stone arrow turned to pins at the top, countless little fountains splattered on both sides of the roads, and spined flying buttresses connected every building on the school grounds.

In the same motion, Summer pulled her fur lined hood down. The connecting helmet telescopically folded away with it and her silver hair could be loosened from the bun that driving restricted it to. The strains drifted down and matched the chrome of her chest plate and arm guards. Her revolver cannon greatsword magnetically locked to her back, duffle bag of essentials tossed over a shoulder. The young Schnee was ready to meet her destiny, her peers, her future rivals and allies. "So~" Azura's sing-songy voice crashed an ursa through Summer's beautifully plotted life plan, "Where we going?"

"I'm going to find Odyssia and scout out the new first years, you can do whatever you want," Summer lectured as she began her trek down Beacon's main path into the school's famous square, "Emphasis on you." Azura might grumble, but it was the best plan for finally escaping their shell and meeting new people. Like, real human people friends, not wild frogs with random assigned names the kid would catch at Signal.

And of course, Azura did grumble. "That means I should come with. I'm a first year, too! Odyssia probably misses me just as much. Think she'll be on our team together, and her brother? It'll be perfect!" The younger sibling's machinations put a smile on their face, one Summer rarely saw, hidden by the constantly flipped up blue cloak and hood. Azura was smaller than Summer, which was refreshing, considering the gods hadn't done Summer many favors in the height department, but not unusual, noting the the two year age difference. The dark color of Azura's black vest and baggy pocket pants made packing easier with all these little pouches and straps, perfect for storing an on the go dust workshop. The most attention grabbing feature of the kid, along with the rather mom-esque blue hair highlights, was their sleeveless pale arms, mostly for the vibrant roses and snowflake dust tattoos that grew from every exposed corner.

"Don't you think you should find someone else to leech onto? You know a new friend?" Summer pressured, not really wanting four more years of babysitting. As they both came closer to the main structure, passed the famed hunter statue, and towards the infamous dragon monument the stone walkway grew busier. Students crowding from either side, most likely new, same as them. These strangers were abound with new possibilities for the both of them.

"Pfft, no that's dumb," Azura retorted with a snort, quick to step in front of Summer, one hand carrying a small suitcase and in the other a rifle spear affectionately named Fortuitous Druid, "Why do you think I skipped my way into Beacon? So me and you can conquer the world and I can kick the whole social anxiety can down the road a little while longer!" Azura kept walking backwards. Summer weighed the pros and cons of watching the kid ram directly into someone.

"Are you sure it's a good idea not to look where you're going?" Summer offered as the only warning, ready to watch a fool walk off a cliff and laugh.

"Are you insulting my squirrel-like situational awareness?" To even start answering that question, Summer would first need to know if 'squirrel-like' counted as a positive attribute for anything, "I am a back walking master!" Azura continued, ignorant of the girl directly in their path. Summer decided to let the chips fall, but watching Azura twirl that spear rifle around, the barrel landing right on the younger sibling's shoulder, pointing out and directly at the faunus stranger, Summer regretted it.

"Watch ou—"

A clang of metal swiping at metal ruptured the air, Fortuitous Druid knocked nearly out of Azura's hands. The faunus girl was apparently more squirrel than Azura, though judging from her black bull horns that wasn't literal. The threat caused one swift reflexive motion, the girl's odd hilted katana unsheathed and having struck back in the same move. Her eyes were hidden by dark sunglasses that matched the black of her suit and seemed to shift with every inch towards red. The end hue matched her long, wavy hair as well as twin shin and arm guards, painted steel scales tied down to bamboo. Summer might have had time to admire the white rose bush design that stretched out from the corners of her top, but judging from the way her palm pressed against the back of her sword handle and the blade point was zeroed in on the aggressor's throat, Summer needed to de-escalate immediately. "Is that how you say hello?!" that faunus asked, accented by some sort of foreign language.

"Summer," Azura was screwed, "Summer!"

"Alright!" Babysitting again. Excalibur was decoupled from the Schnee heiress' back, right hand all she needed to drop that bomb of a sword. One hefty swing from the shoulder, the curved tip cracking the ground. Rather than stabbing, it sent a warning in a shattering ripple. Back off. "You got a problem with my sibling?"

"She tried to stab me? I think my problem is quite justified." The faunus shifted stances for a heftier opponent, both hands on the foreign katana, raised from low stab to center position.

"It's actually just Azura Rose. If you could please stick with that I'd be really, you know, grateful. It's also nice to mee~" the youngest among them started and drifted into an inaudible mumble, happy to hide behind Summer and that blue hood as always. The dumbest thing about this whole confrontation to Summer was that Azura was probably more scared of talking to the faunus than the slightly curved sword she was pointing at them.

"I don't care," she snapped back, knowing Azura couldn't, "back off—"

"Hey kiddos!" A voice, a familiar voice that bordered between unnervingly smooth silk and mocking enthusiasm, interrupted. The voice of Dawn Bella-Long. "Wanna see a magic trick?" Both fighters turned from each other to this interloper, a cat faunus with two smoky blue flames that devoured aura off each hand and amber light in her eyes. Oh no. "Abra-kadabra!" Dawn smashed the two balls together and they burst apart into a flash of light, enough smoke and ash to fill Summer's nose, mouth, eyes, clothes, probably about ten other places she'd discover one by one over the course of the next few showers. This was not a fun magic trick.

"The hell!" Summer choked in the smog, never quite sure if she said it or just coughed incoherently. Hands nabbed her, a strong arm pulling at her collar and giving her a throw. Summer knew better than to fight it, letting herself land comfortably in a courtyard bush, her bag, Excalibur, and Azura landing nearby. "It's been five minutes and I've been in an explosion and a street fight. I blame you entirely, Azura."

"I can accept that," the Rose child uttered, rolling out of the bush and into the dirt.

"To be fair, that hardly counts as a street fight," Dawn interrupted, strutting in to see if her cousins survived the escape. "Now try to hush incase she followed us." Summer opened her mouth to reply, but Dawn raised a fingerless gloved hand for her to stop. The girl looked and dressed like sunlight. Tanned skin from a UV rich life going well with her long, black curly hair highlighted in gold streaks. From her yellow vest, white sports shorts, and dark robe that hugged her single armored shoulder and opposite leg, she dripped of the sky. She always had a cunning smile, amber eyes watching since they were little, cat ears small, but as alert as her mother's. "Sorry, need a sec. I can only make the blue fire when I'm bummed, so," her chest rose and fell, likely cycling out whatever memories let her do the smoke trick on command. "I'm good."

"Dawn, thanks," Summer started awkwardly. The two of them hadn't really kept up much. Talked during family gatherings, but since she left for Beacon a year ago, nothing. Which made the recent news even more...troubling. "I heard what happened with the test. I'm sure it was a mistake." Dawn Bella-Long was the top fighter her last year in Signal, she was talk of the school after getting her own team DAWN. Dawn Bella-Long failed all her first year finals.

"Nah," Dawn replied, brushing the soot off her clothes and gold plated wrist guns. She didn't even flinch, not a wince or a shrug. "I totally bombed it, don't worry." That just made everything another level of strange.

"If you failed, those tests are dumb!" Azura grunted, rolling around dismayed. Their older cousin was always a bit of a distant hero to them, even if Dawn was fairly absent. It tugged out a chuckle, just a little happy glint in her cat eyes.

"Or maybe I just wanted to hang out with you nerds." She winked at the younger sibling, quick to turn on her boot heel, done with the trouble two Rose-Schnee children brought to the world.

"Dawn, wait!" Azura called out, flipping onto their feet with no trouble, "So what do we do now?"

"Probably go to the ballroom with the other first years. Try your best to stay out of trouble and prepare for one hell of an initiation tomorrow." Dawn turned her head back, a grin pulling at her lips and a hand running through her streams of black and gold. "Oh, and welcome to Beacon."

"Summer!" The death grip of toned Amazonian arms made for one hell of a vice, especially if said woman was Odyssia Nikos. "Oh my god, you beautiful little mini-Schnee, I've missed you so much!" Standing at six one out of heels, she passed Summer by nearly a foot. Every bear hug meant being dangled, toes scraping for a floor that did not exist, especially out of her bulked up armor and in simple silk silver pajamas.

"Odyssia, no!" Summer practically choked on the ribbons of fire hair her best friend let loose down to the bra strap. Being anyone's rag doll didn't fly with Summer. She was the same height of the great Weiss Schnee at five five, in heeled boots, and no one made fun of her!

"Odyssia, yes!" the assailant replied, squeezing Summer tighter against her aqua colored nightgown, a perfect match for her eyes. This enthusiasm was expected. The pair had always been inseparable since Summer was first introduced to the six year old kid of her mom's co-worker. She couldn't believe that the awkward kid in the short bowl cut and cargo shorts would end up spending every vacation with the Schnee family, becoming her best companion, not to mention being one of Signal's best huntresses. Though they spent the last three months apart, they never skipped a day without scroll mail. Being able to see her waiting with their peers in Beacons ballroom turned campground with a few extra chandeliers, to see what she was growing into each day, was honestly awesome. Summer smiled, happy to see Odyssia be more and more herself, well would've, if someone put her back down.

"My turn!" Azura proved useful for once, arms outstretched in a size too small beowolf styled T-shirt, blue cotton pajama pants, and of course the hood. Never without the hood. Where else to hide? Odyssia had a weakness for the youngest of their childhood crew, freeing Summer and snatching up the kid.

"It's great to see you, little one!" Azura seemed to enjoy that tight squeeze, giggling as Odyssia pressed them together in one big bear hug. Summer had to admit, the whole scene was a little cute.

"Yo, Summer," a surprisingly soft male voice reverberated from Odyssia's identical twin brother, "Been a while, bud." Odyssia was a giantess, but Rouge Arc maxed out with a few more inches, granted by unblocked testosterone and a primarily protein diet that could not be good for any living creature. His hair was just as fire red as his sister's, though it spread down the side burns all the way to the chin in meticulously trimmed patches. The boy was only a little slovenly in a white tank top that showed off the arms he worked so hard on. Still, Rouge was an alright guy, never as close to Summer as Odyssia, but always cool. He had the same soft blue eyes, wielded only by the gentle souls of the Arc-Nikos family.

"Good to see you, Rouge." Summer happily returned a fist bump as soon as he held out his own. His damn hand seemed twice the size of hers.

"I heard you and sis are planning on getting teamed up? Any room for me?"

"I think I can open a space, seeing as you can bench press an airship," Summer joked, punctuating with a click of her tongue. Neither her mother Weiss, nor her mom Ruby, told her jack-shit about how the selection process was structured aside from it being teams of four and that it was connected to initiation. Weiss claimed there was 'no way to game it.' Tough shit, that just meant gaming it required their combined brilliant minds. "Leaves one opening. Odyssia have you noticed any suitable candidates?"

"Me!" Azura announced, still clutched onto the shorter twin like a sloth finally home among the treetops. Apparently detaching was too much effort, Odyssia didn't fight it even for a second.

"There is the one rabbit faunus from our graduating class. I think her name was Hera Adel?" Odyssia offered. Neither paid much attention to the top incoming students. Half the first years were foreign. Looking over the sea of people, blankets, laid out sleeping bags, and assorted pillows of every color and shape, Summer only recognized a hand full. "I assumed we'd let chips fall where they may."

"Me!" Azura called out again, migrating onto Odyssia's back like a pack. The girl reached behind to pat that messy blue and black hair, but did not address that.

"Is the Hera girl cute?" Rouge asked, earning twin glares. His head recoiled back from the sharp glances, quick to cross his arms for protection. "Oh come on, don't look at me like that. Summer, you have just as much of a vested interest as I do."

"I'm cute!" Azura argued, but no one was listening.

"I mean, he's not wrong," Odyssia defended, tossing her brother a safety net he mistook as victory judging by his confident chuckle. Summer would forgive his insolence for now, but team SOR? was teetering off towards SO?.

"I'm not wrong!" Azura seemed fainter with every interruption.

"Ignoring that," Summer spat, putting her cool hands to her face, thumbs rubbing her two temples for relief, "The only other options I've seen are my cousin Dawn and a bull faunus that while I will admit," Summer paused to swallow her pride, "she's pretty hot. I do not think she'd be very cohesive to our team make up." Also, we may have almost stabbed her.

"Don't spend much time on that, Summer." For as long as Summer knew Odyssia Nikos, she knew her mother, Pyrrha Nikos, and no one walked with a lighter step, not even Knight-Captain Belladonna. "It'll end up surprising you the people you might be teamed with." Despite the fancied appearance, a short, split black dress open at the front to keep the burden of tripping off her armored bronze boots. Combined with a brown leather enforced corset over a black turtleneck, Pyrrha was a fashion bombshell for her age, yet she could always sneak up on Summer. Not even the blood red eyes or matching flat, tailbone length locks of hers ever seemed to impede her ability to shock anyone.

"Mom," Odyssia blurted, not the type to be tricked by anything, "I mean, Professor Nikos, I didn't notice you enter."

"I was here before you, sweetheart," Pyrrha chuckled into her bronze armored hand, a wonder she could survive summer heat in so many layers, "And mom is just fine for now, I don't become your dueling instructor until tomorrow. I just wanted to wish you good luck, and warn against scheming. Tomorrow's partners will be decided by who you see first, not who you've known the longest. If we all got the partners we intended, I would have been on your mother's team, Summer." Considering how her parents met, Summer lucked out with silver eyes instead of red and avoided an even paler complexion.

"So, what you're saying is make sure I see Summer first?" Odyssia quipped, the classic twinkle of a plan growing in her eyes. Scheming came next to breathing, eating, and hunting, on her list of natural fortes. The off-center grin on her otherwise soft features gave Odyssia away.

"No, I'm telling you to stop that," Mrs. Nikos countered, ruffling the more lively red of her daughter's wavy hair. If the metal gauntlet felt cold to the touch, the younger woman didn't seem to mind, slapping away her parent's hand with only a hint of red coloring her cheeks. "Azura, do me a favor tomorrow and keep my kids out of trouble. I think my daughter's tricked your sister into walking them off a cliff."

"Can do, bronze mom!" Azura giggled out as the dueling instructor of Beacon walked toward the other professors. Eyes were already being pulled towards the group, the slight hint about tomorrow garnering unwanted attention.

"Well, looks like everyone knows now, so we ne—"

"Excuse me," a professor called uniform attention from the onlooking audience, a sturdy faunus woman dressed in a mix of a red hued brown and gold. Her eyes looked like little chocolates and rabbit ears popped out between her hair. "My name is Velvet Scarlatina, a professional huntress for just over two decades, and your first year wilderness survival professor. On top of that lovely schedule, I'm in charge of the freshmen dorms here at Beacon. As you all adjust to being away from home, don't be afraid to come see me. I'll be staying on campus for the first two weeks, but my office will always be open afterwards." Summer could tell she was a mother, just had that way of speaking. Gentle, but not without a tight woven authority, inked with the flavor of some foreign land, too. "I will be seeing everyone that passes initiation tomorrow, but before we close up here tonight, I'd like to introduce you to our interim Headmaster, Mr. Arc."

Mr. Arc, Summer knew. He took his position on stage without the same heavy persona as professors Nikos and Scarlatina. He looked quite like he always did with the as much added class as you could really pull out of an unbuttoned ivory jacket, a thin chestplate, and slacks. He was approachable at least, messy blonde hair curled slightly despite attempts to slick it back and the most unfabricated smile Summer had seen on anyone. The emblazoned cane was a bit much.

"First of all, and this might seem a little weird, I mean it is a little weird, but follow me on this," Mr. Arc coughed his punctuation, one hand on the cane the other moving between his mouth and his pocket, "Whenever my kids, I have two of them, they're in your class, too, but I can't get on that. I could gush about them for hours," Odyssia feigned puking, Rouge laughed, and Summer tried hard not to, "but you see, whenever they do something big, you know, I like to tell them. I tell them 'I'm proud of you'. You never really know when someone's going to need that, to remember, well, that they're incredible. Well, I'm here to say that to all of you. I'm proud of you, for passing entrance exams, for getting through your years of Signal or any of the other hunter's junior schools. I'm proud to be up here, and I'm proud of you, for earning the spot with us.

"But, you see, I need to ask something of you now. I need all of you to do the impossible, and let's not pretend it isn't the impossible. I'm asking you all to be heros." His fatherly voice had slowly shifted a little, not completely becoming something else entirely, but hinted at it, serious. "I know that's weird, isn't it? Well, you see, when Headmaster Ozpin left things in Headmaster Branwen's hands, it must have been so impossible, so hopeless. Wasn't easier after he passed and left it in Headmaster Goodwitch's hands. Now, it sure as hell—can I say 'hell'?" Pyrrha shrugged. "Well, it was sure as heck impossible when she retired and gave me the position. I wasn't top of that list, and I wish I could say I wasn't the bottom either. It's impossible for me to lead like those heros. Being a hero though, is by definition breaking that possibility space. So, that's what I'm going to have to ask of you. Break it, sacrifice your pain, your time, maybe even your life. I'm asking you to be huntresses, huntsmen, hunters, each and every one of you. To beat back the darkness till you shatter. So, let's do it. Let's do the impossible, you and I. Let's keep this fire lit a little while longer." By the end, there were no more murmurs, some coughs, maybe a whisper, but mostly nothing but dead air, trapped between grim and hopeful. "Thanks for your time. Sleep well, you'll need your energy."

Headmaster Arc, smiling and swinging his cane, stepped off the stage and brought life back into the room. Everyone was talking, mostly about selection. Professor Nikos spilled some secrets, and her husband stirred the rest up with a, to use his words, weird speech. "Alright, so like I was saying, I got a plan," of course Odyssia did, "Excalibur can still fire a flare, right?"

"Not exactly a flare, but in practice, yes," Summer answered, intrigued already.

"Tomorrow, when we arrive, first thing you do is fire that improvised light show straight up, and I, using my perfect sense of direction, will find you. Barring an indoor maze, that should set us up perfectly." Well, that's… simple. The fox grin of her's felt a little unearned considering the scheme had about two steps. "Sound good?"

"It's doable, don't leave me waiting for long."

"I wouldn't think of it," Odyssia mumbled barely over the natural white noise of forty or so teenagers locked in a single room. "Mind coming with me, I need to go to the bathroom and I'd like to not walk somewhere I shouldn't. Least not without my partner in all things less than reputable." Snatching Summer's hand, the young Schnee gave her a glare of distrust. Odyssia Nikos did not scare this easily. Despite the suspicion, best friend code demanded she go and Summer nodded.

"Guess we're screwed, little one," Rouge's words to Azura were the last clear sounds inside the Beacon ballroom, Odyssia was quick to drag her outside in the open air. Vale's night cooled quickly, the atmosphere outside devoid of the crowds, the body heat, or the noise. It replaced them all with stars and a shattered moon.

"Why are we rushing!? Are you okay?" Summer asked, while trying not to trip on Odyssia's longer strides. The taller girl seemed to ignore this, typing away at her scroll, walking them further and further from the ballroom, the pillared paths of Beacon, and from the bathroom.

"Yeah, I just really hope I'm the first one to catch you tomorrow. Plenty of people would love to be teamed up with the princess of Mountain Glen." The title slid right down Summer's back and made her shudder, she hated it, hated the connotation, hated how often it was used by friends and enemies.

"I'm not the princess of anything—" Odyssia whipped around, she was beaming, the message on her scroll was why. The hand that once tugged at Summer now rested firmly on Odyssia's hip, the other one holding the holographic display. One message.

'Don't read this outloud. Plenty of people want you, so don't fire it straight up, fire it at 45 degrees, directly south. I can eyeball the math, find you, and everyone else? They will be standing by a flare with all the rest, seeing each other. First one, right?'

"Yeah," Summer laughed. Alright, you've earned your damn grin. "Just got to trust your plan, I guess."

They bleed petals. Crimson flowers burst from where I stab the monsters of my dreams. In the sleep realm, I have no semblance, no aura, I do not feel the support of hefty Excalibur in my hands, but I do have steel swords. They cut and the dream wraiths bleed their roses.

I kill many, though not without securing wounds. My back is carved with claws, but I have not died, not yet. When they come I cleave, block then strike. One bites onto my shoulder, I impale his heart. One clutches my arm, so I dispatch his. I have never fought with twin swords before, yet I know how. I will forget when I awake, lest my nightmares be helpful for once.

I don't know how many I kill, how long I fight. Their bodies accept every strike, no resistance to the blade as I open them into blanket segments of pure red, nothing of substance inside their ghostly forms. One comes close, its hand opening me up, the claws slipping between the folding plates of black iron that protect my stomach. My blood is not petals, rivers of copper heat run through the ink fingers of the beast. I am suddenly tired, and I find this funny for a dream. The beast roars, and I gift the point of my right hand into its top jaw, angled right through and between the red firefly eyes.

He does not vanish like a proper grimm, and I just hack at the offending limb. For the first time, the flesh doesn't give, my full body into swing after swing to free the limb. By the time the wrist gives, I cannot walk, two steps and I drop, my knees sinking into the meadow of snow. I feel the heat run past the black paw splitting me and drip onto the melting ice. Cold, dying. I see a wolf watch me from a ridge that did not previously exist, her white fur is matted and cracked by scars. Eyes mismatched in blue and red. She howls. A great beast begins to split the trees. I swear I hear hooves clap behind me. Lightning snaps the sky in two.

I wake up, sweat sticking white petals to my body.

Jaune Arc

"So, collect the artifacts, come back, don't get too hurt, and use your own landing strategy. Anyone need a repeat?" The question was more of a courtesy than anything else. The launchers were already picking off the bottom of the row, dumping students into Emerald Forest. Still, Jaune prefered to walk the line, looking into each and every one of his future students. Felt rude catapulting kids at monsters otherwise.

Rouge was up next, legs loose to absorb the blow. Shirtless as ever, preferring freed muscles, he wore a bronze and leather sleeveless chestplate and an old Mistral styled male hide battle skirt. The style was a little outdated, but so was his weapon, the family blade. Honestly, it was just kinda weird to Jaune, being physically smaller in every way to his kid. Life's funny. "So dad, is landing strategy short for 'figure out how to fall good'?"

"See son, you're already way ahead of me at your age. Good luck." Jaune tapped him gently with the headmaster cane and pressed the button on his scroll. Just like that, gone, fired off into the sea of green, white, black, and red below. Least it was nice and sunny out.

Azura next. "Thanks for letting me in. I promise I won't let you down, yellow Dad." Always saying something weird. Jaune understood the second Schnee child about zero percent. That was fine. Jaune understood how to run a hunting school about as well, still did it.

"I never had a question." A master of dust, even if the kid barely came up past his belly. Lowered down, like a monkey, rifle spear like a mage staff, the metal plate popped another into the great beyond. Odyssia was next, she also kept low, squatted down, eyes on the horizon. She was that way, only ever saw goals, same as her mother. Looked like her, too, almost twins, but Odyssia showed more muscle, carried more armor. The bronze plates went from gauntlet to shoulder, the corset of leather further reinforced compared to Pyrrha's blue accents and the waist cape bared the emblem of a spear and blue seas. "You ready?"

"Yep."

"Give them hell. Love you." Odyssia snorted at that, promoting the button press and sending his second child into the clouds. She'd be fine. Especially given the reinforcements. Summer Schnee. Small, but packing. Her chestplate bore the symbol of Roseland, Snowflake wrapped in roses with a crown. Her sword, the size of her body nearly both in length and width, was glued to her back, limbs shielded in further steel. Jaune was firing a human cannon ball into the reach. "Summer."

"Headmaster Arc." Jaune nodded in approval and Summer pulled up her fur lined hood, a collapsed helmet forming over her face, obscuring her eyes behind an iron plate. Good to go. Another to the void. More followed, new faces like Vermillion who silently bowed and readied herself, old like Dawn who shared a simple 'sup' and snapped on her sunglasses for another summer day. One by one, forty three fighters were dropped. Big class this year. Jaune predicted about thirty-five making it past today without dropping out.

"Everyone's landing safely, no issues," Pyrrha, announced a few seconds after the last one was popped. She kept her eyes locked on her holographic scroll, cycling over student to student, nearly biting her lip hard enough to draw blood. Jaune desperately wished she would stop.

"It's alright," Jaune nodded, preferring to look over the forest's edge, watching the adventures he was dragging out of the kids. Bullets and bravado were already making themselves heard from the far corners, initiation was a great memory. "You can relax, sweetheart."

"You don't need to worry," but it seems like I really should, "I think I'll get on top of Beacon tower, lay down some support fire if anything unusual happens." Jaune's ears went deaf at the screeching noise of Pyrrha's powers. Summoned from the depth of the world's red scars, Pyrrha retrieved her new sniper spear. Nothing would ever make that sound okay in Jaune's mind.

"You know, you'd probably get the same view right here with me." Pyrrha didn't say anything, didn't leave either. She was omitting the pain again. "Is it getting harder?"

"Yes." It was hard to say which number correctly quantified how long they had been together, but regardless of the year, the best thing for them was telling the truth, even if Pyrrha was choking on her honesty. Jaune appreciated it. "I'll feel better at the tower."

"You want me to come?"

"No, the kids need you to be here when they get back." Very true, still sucked. "Don't worry, I love you." She sounded like herself for once, a nice touch.

"Love you, too." Jaune got to watch again, a little more alone, shifting his weight onto the cane, digging it into the soil a bit without thinking. Another generation of warriors were being born into that forest, shepherding them was not exactly what Jaune had in mind when he became Glynda's assistant, much less the secret duties of a headmaster. With him leading the ship, this crew was going to have one hell of a time sailing it.

"Hey boss," the radio on his scroll interrupted the calm of Jaune's meditations with static and Neptune, "Got some bad news. A baby goliath's in the forest, roaming around. I think its looking for its herd." Goliath's lived for damn near ever, partially because the youngest form of those beasts were led by their older brothers and sisters. Question was, where the hell was the herd and why was it anywhere near Vale? It was certainly shaping up to be a very interesting initiation. "Should I take it out back and get rid of it?"

"Think the students could take it?"

"It's pretty small," Jaune could practically hear Neptune lick his lips, very aware he was deciding the fate of children, "it would take some doing, harder or easier than a full grown nevermore depending on how you do it."

"Leave it alone," Jaune answered, taking in one hardy breath, hoping Pyrrha kept up her aim, just in case, "Kill it only if someone's life is in danger. Otherwise, it's time to learn how to fight or to learn how to run."

***Heyo! Hi everyone who's stuck around, I hope you like chapter two and learning some about the new teams and new characters. Next chapters about them but after that we get back to Ruby and Weiss. If you're more interested in what the kids look like and what their semblances are, look up Summer's Vale tag on Tumblr and you'll find them, their bios, my commissioned art, and a few bits of fan art from my dear friends :D

Thanks so much for sticking with me and I really hope you like the kids. Let me know what you think in reviews. Also for anyone who missed my subtly about the Arkos kids, and thinking, "wait but they're identical twins, how can they be-" yeah no, I know, and they are still identical twins.

Thanks so much for the support, both on here and Tumblr, LazyKatze for the amazing edits (on her BIRTHDAY!), for Sha and Kad's fantastic fanart, and Chez's commissioned art. Everyone is awesome! Next week Snow White Knight!