REVIEW RESPONSES:

ALEKSEIKOSHEVOY: Yep, this fic is back. I hope you will enjoy what this story will be bringing out, because there's plenty of interesting ideas I have bumbling in my head for this fic and it'll be fun to see how they wil turn out.

GUEST: Well... you'll see later, :).

CHAPTER 2: THE INITIATION

"...Artyom? Artyom! Wake up…!"

Artyom floated in between consciousness and unconsciousness, but he could definitely make out Khan's voice in this black ether. He stirred, groaning and tingling as his blood flowed through his vessels again and his limbs woke up. God, what the hell happened, and why was he so nauseous?

"...Artyom… my voice… follow my…"

"K-Khan," Artyom muttered, his voice low and hoarse―although, it sounded higher than he remembered.

"You're alive… is good… how are you feeling…?"

Artyom took deep, quick breaths as he began coughing profusely. His skin was starting to feel the chilly fingers of the cockpit's air, his back was beginning to move against the stiff seat, and he was struggling to open his eyes; his head was dizzy and he had a strong, indescribable urge to throw up. Hell, Artyom swore there was smoke slightly burning his nostrils.

"Khan," Artyom coughed out, "what the hell happened…?"

"I am not quite sure; we are in a forest right now, but where exactly on Earth we are is currently a mystery to me."

And then the memories started coming back to him in full force—right in his stomach. "Oh god, I think I'm going to throw up… I did not expect the transposer to be nauseating…!"

"Before you do that, wear these sunglasses first; they'll protect your eyes from the sunlight until they have time to adjust."

Artyom felt a pair of lenses brushing his palm and fingers as he wiped the morning glory away from his eyes with his free hand. He blinked several times, the faint and blurry consoles and cramped walls of the cockpit finally becoming clear to him; however, the consoles looked dead, and he was now certain that he was smelling smoke. Right, the Reds.

"W-What's the damage," Artyom murmured, opening up the sunglasses and slipping them onto his face. He coughed again, this time feeling the contents of his stomach about to burgeon. "Um, actually, let me do this first…!"

Artyom struggled to throw off the seatbelts that had chained him down, but with Khan's help he flew out of the cockpit and threw himself onto the ground below. Artyom vomited, his stomach pain finally giving way to relief, and it did not take long for him to finish up. He was breathing heavily, staring upon his own mess when he realized he was staring at green grass.

Artyom shot up and spun around to look at his surroundings. Though his eyes burned at first―and he was forced to raise his hand over them slightly―he found himself staring upon a most beautiful sight: towering brown trunks and lively green, unkempt hair―all towering him in what appeared to be a clearing. Tall and fair, these strange trunks stood like proud people as their slender brown arms stretched several feet across the air, their flowers and leaves blooming in complex, yet elegant branches as thick vines hung low from them. Artyom looked down where he vomited and, though slightly marred by his disgusting puke, greenest grass numbering in the innumerable crowded around his boots. An excitement enrapturing him, Artyom tried to look at the sky, and though his eyes burned even more in spite of his sunglasses—he found himself privy to the bluest, crispest sky he had ever seen; wispy clouds of all shapes and sizes billowed lazily throughout the sky with naught a care in the world.

To top it all off, Artyom took the deepest breath he could muster before exhaling slowly; the air was sweet and fresh as it passed through his mouth. Birds and insects sung amidst the canopies as a cool breeze began licking both his cheeks and any bare skin that was exposed, either by design or tears in his uniform.

Artyom could not help but laugh. "Khan, look! Trees! A-And grass! A-And the sky, it's blue! It's goddamn blue!"

There was a dirt mound that caught his eye; Artyom tottered over to the mound and kneeled down on the grass. He spotted thousands– no, tens of thousands of tiny, black, six-legged insects scurrying over and beneath dead leaves and green blades. Artyom found himself entranced by the sight of their organized lines weaving back and fro through the grass and back into a hole dug into the peak of the mound. Artyom looked up and saw the Worldline Transposer, but what attracted his gaze more was a bed of flowers sprouting not too far from its legs. He scrambled to them and marveled at their beautiful petals―flowers he only saw in anatomical diagrams on aged and dusty botanical books.

"Enjoying the beauty of nature, I see?"

Artyom shot up and turned to meet Khan face-to-face with a smile. "Yes! Look at this! I've never seen so much life in one spot, much less than for kilometers around!"

"I agree," Khan said, nodding. "I myself had not experienced such things since before the war; it is rather… surreal to marvel at living trees and green grass once more."

"Why, Khan? Why was the old world destroyed?" Artyom muttered, his voice suddenly cracking and his eyes burning as a deep sadness took hold of him; he could not bring himself to face Khan like this. "W-Why would anyone bring death to such– to such beauty…? I don't understand."

Artyom, a few tears finally rolling down his cheek, felt Khan touching his shoulder. "I have to come to learn that the things humanity does are not always rational, Artyom. The political climate of the time was tumultuous, and the major powers of those days had their reasons to be distrustful of each other."

"Distrustful enough that they forever forsake the futures of billions over some petty greed or misplaced hatred?" Artyom growled, his sadness contorting into anger―though whether that anger was directed at the major powers or himself he was not sure. "Why did the leaders of those powers chose to damn humanity to nuclear fire?"

"That, I am afraid, is a story worthy of multiple sittings―and, though I do not mean this as a negative judgement on your character, it is something you may know the answer to already. For now, let us recuperate and gather our senses; we still have a mission to do."

"Yes," Artyom said, his voice now low. "Sorry for the tangent."

"No need to apologize, it is normal; you have lived in the Metro for your whole life, so it is understandable that you reacted the way you did."

Alright, focus—they were here to change fate. Wiping away some of the tears from his eyes, Artyom took a deep breath, removed his backpack and sat down on the grass along with it. He procured his journal and took out the manila folder tucked between its pages; Artyom popped it open and began reading the mission briefing just as Khan kneeled down next to him and peered over his shoulder.

"Okay," Artyom said, "we should still be in Russia―Siberia to be specific―somewhere in a forest near the one of the major cities. Khan, can you confirm if we're at our destination?"

Khan hummed and stroked his beard, glancing around the trees, but his eyes widened. "To my knowledge, these trees are not native to Siberia. In fact, now that I think about it," he went over to the flowers and inspected them, "hmm, strange, I do not recognize these flowers as native to Siberia either. The air is also surprisingly warm for the Siberian climate, although it may be possible we have traveled back in the middle of summer."

"So assuming we're in Siberia, how can you explain the apparently non-native flora, then?"

"I cannot, and that is what troubles me."

Artyom pursed his lips. "What if we got knocked off course? The Reds did use explosives to try and kill us."

"It is not an unreasonable thought," Khan said, pointing at the Worldline Transposer. Artyom followed Khan's finger and saw that there was peeling metal, burnt and blackened, around a dark hole, which seemed to occasionally flash, underneath the smooth corner of the capsule; he swore he saw tens of dents on the transposer's entire right side. "I am not sure what system was damaged during their attack, but I can be reasonably certain that we will not be making any course corrections anytime soon―lest we risk our lives in doing so."

"I just hope we weren't knocked off too far from our destination." Artyom stood up, putting the manila folder away in his journal―of which, he put back in his backpack―and hoisted the straps of his backpack onto his shoulders. "We should try to find a city, or town, or any sign of civilization, really. Maybe we'll be able to discern where we are right now in the world―and, hopefully, find out if we're in the right worldline."

Khan nodded. "I agree. Let us hope civilization is not too far off, Artyom, for you seem to be weak."

"Yeah, I am," Artyom said, nodding as he realized his body felt sluggish and heavy. "You said something about g-forces, right? I don't think I was completely prepared for that…"

"I think you will live, but let a doctor confirm that―if there are still doctors in this worldline."

Not wanting to think about the implications, Artyom performed an equipment check on his gear: a full pack of syrettes, bandages, gauzes, and other first aid; his VSV, still in good condition and unjammed; his customized Shambler―of which it was outfitted with an extended barrel, a bayonet, and reflex sight―a bit dirty, but seemingly unscathed otherwise; his trusty revolver, which he still needed to clean and hasn't gotten around to it yet, but still serviceable enough; five magazines for his VSV―which isn't much, but it'll have to do―thirty-six slug shells, and four clips for his revolver; three incendiary grenades―he used up all of his normal grenades during the battle at D6 and was too busy scrounging around corpses to replace his magazines and shells at the time―his rusty but still razor-sharp trench knife; his still-functional headlamp and universal charger; his bullet lighter; and his gas mask and thirty minutes worth of filters, though he cannot imagine he will need them going forward. Alright, he was prepared to fight off anything that may attack him or Khan, but considering they were probably in 2009 right now the most they will have to worry about will be food, water, and shelter.

"Ready, Khan?" Artyom said, turning to him.

Khan nodded back as he slung his Kalash. "Let's go. We should try to find a river and follow it downstream, it is likely to lead us to a town or village. Can you walk on your own?"

"Yeah, I think I can."

Just as they were about to depart, a girlish scream shattered the serene calm of the forest. A flock of birds were spooked and flew off over the duo as Artyom and Khan glanced around their surroundings, trying to listen for where the scream came from―but it became drowned out by the distant roars of gun reports and snarling beasts. A chill went down Artyom's spine as he found himself unslinging his Shambler.

"Someone's in trouble," Artyom murmured. "There's gunfire too. I take it that gunfire is unusual in the old world?"

Khan nodded. "Unless we had landed near Crimea or a known active warzone, then yes, hearing gunfire near civilization would be considered unusual. It also seems like we might have beasts to contend with."

"Were there beasts as terrible as the ones back in the old world?"

"Yes, but the most I thought we had to worry about were bears―and not the kind roaming on the surface―in consideration of our destination's geography. These snarls though―I have never heard any beast native to Siberia making such noises that I know of."

Artyom swallowed. "I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this."

"I must concur," Khan said, also unholstering his Kalash. " I think it would be best to tread carefully from now on. Whoever that person was, her screams might have attracted undue attention."

Artyom and Khan began their excursion into the forest, though their footsteps were light and their eyes were scanning their flanks for the rustling of bushes or the peering of heads. Twigs and stiff leaves crunched beneath their boots―the songs of birds and insects the only mere solace of music―their guns shouldered and sights lined up at the trees, waiting for something dangerous to pass through them. Artyom furrowed his brows as he strained his ear for anything, but there was nothing; it was simply them and the melodies of nature's instruments. Artyom glanced at Khan and he shot it back; there were still gun reports and the occasional howling and snarling, but whoever screamed was likely no more by this point.

There was rustling. Artyom and Khan shouldered their guns, placed fingers over triggers, and lined their sights at the direction of the disturbance. If Artyom strained his ears hard enough, he could just faintly make out a series of leaves crunching in quick succession―which grew louder by the minute. Artyom shot a glance at Khan and he shot one back. He pulled a hand away from the magazine of his Kalash and pointed two of his fingers towards Artyom's flank, then he took position a few meters beside him. Artyom took slow, deep breaths as he felt his heart beating.

Something was coming, and neither of them trusted those sounds.

Artyom and Khan fully planted themselves in place and had their guns trained upon the approaching noise, now certain the direction was approaching their flank. The crunches grew louder, the tension becoming tenser, and the adrenaline coursed faster. Artyom and Khan finally placed their fingers on the triggers; the slightest movement and the guns will sound off, eliminating the potential threat whilst alerting any nearby hostile of their position.

But then the crunching became accompanied by gasping―and it sounded unusually feminine. Artyom froze as he found himself slightly lowering his gun―Khan, meanwhile, still kept his gun trained on the oncoming noise―to listen at the crunching.

"...Yang, is that you?!"

Hold on, was that–

A crimson blur burst out of the woodwork and struck Artyom; he tumbled backwards onto the ground along with the blur. Khan ran towards Artyom and trained his gun upon the intruder lying beside Artyom.

"Shit," Artyom growled, rubbing his stinging forehead, "Khan, you there…?"

"Huh, interesting," Artyom heard Khan murmuring. "It seems we have received a guest."

"What do you mean by that…?"

When he pushed himself up to his feet, Artyom felt his palm pressing against a hard and metallic surface. A glance, then Artyom pulled his hand away as his eyes widened at the mechanized, futuristic-looking scythe that was lying upon the ground. Their intruder groaned, and when Artyom turned his gaze at them he found himself gawking upon the sight.

It was a young girl. Artyom wasn't sure how old she was exactly―she might have been fifteen, but Artyom had his doubts―but her pale skin and strange facial features reminded Artyom of a Chinese person―which was reminiscent of his trip to Chinatown once―only, this girl did not seem to be completely Chinese. Actually, while her facial features were reminiscent of a Chinese girl, her eyes seemed more Western than not; she also seemed a bit boyish for a girl despite her long and coarse black hair, which was full of bangs and had crimson streaks at the ends. The other odd thing about her was the, well, flamboyant outfit she was dressed in: a black corset, trimmed with crimson, was wrapped around her torso and her lower body wore a pair of slender cargo pants, which was also black with crimson trimmings; her feet were adorned with thick black boots, also trimmed with crimson; and a crimson cape with a hood lied strewn and crumpled beneath her back. What was more surprising was that the girl reminded Artyom of Little Red Riding Hood from the old European fairy tales; he was not sure what was more surprising: the ridiculous and flamboyant outfit the girl wore, or the fact that Red Riding Hood came up as the first thought when he saw her for the first time.

"Ow, my head," the girl moaned. "What were you doing standing there like that, Yang…?"

As soon as she raised herself from the ground, Artyom found himself staring into the girl's eyes. Those Western eyes of disputable origin, set upon that young and pale half-Asian face, were silver—an eye color Artyom had never seen before. He could not help but become entranced by such a strange and fascinating color. For a moment, Artyom thought the girl was staring back at him—back into his very soul.

"...Y-Your eyes, t-they're silver," Artyom found himself murmuring.

"Um, e-excuse me?" Ruby stammered, unable to tear her stare away from the blue-eyed boy. "Err, I don't speak Atlesian, but I get the feeling you're staring at my eyes…"

Ruby could not help but blush at the way the boy was staring at her. Okay, if he really was looking at her eyes, she'll have to admit, her eyes were pretty rare―but she didn't think people would be that interested in people with silver eyes! Still, it looks like Ruby was mistaken in believing that the two souls she had seen fifty meters ago was Yang and her partner.

Before she ran into the boy and his older companion, Ruby had spent an uncountable amount of time desperately searching this forest—that is, she didn't keep track of how long she was looking—for Yang. She was very lucky that no one else had landed near her—she would also count her lucky stars that she had not encountered any Grimm so far—otherwise, she would have ended up spending the next four years in Beacon with that person. At least if Ruby saw Yang first, she would get to spend her school career with her as a teammate; she shuddered at the thought of spending those years with three other people she did not know well.

While she had been dashing between tree trunks and leaping over ditches, there had been a girlish scream that was soon drowned out by gunfire and Grimm snarls. At first, Ruby thought Yang had been fighting off Grimm—she was pretty sure the girlish scream belonged to a different person entirely—but she recognized the gunfire to be coming from a light machine gun and a battle rifle, which was disappointing. However, at that moment, she delved into her aura sight and spotted the presence of two souls about fifty meters from her current position. Ruby had gotten excited, assumed those souls was her sister and perhaps her partner first, and darted through the forest in a mad dash to reunite with Yang. In hindsight, she probably should have looked at the souls' auras again just to be sure that one of them was Yang's; now, admittedly, her aura sight wasn't very good at distinguishing individual souls, but she can generally tell if a soul's aura belonged to Yang since her aura always felt more bombastic and open compared to other people's auras—which should have tipped Ruby off if she had been paying attention to how their auras felt—so, as the saying goes—Ruby just made an ass out of herself.

When she crashed into one of them and recovered, Ruby found herself staring into the bright-blue eyes of some Atlesian boy—and not a bad-looking boy too—who, by the way, was staring back at her. There was an older man—Ruby couldn't tell if he was from Mistral or Atlas—who was gazing at her way, but unlike the boy he wasn't being weird about it. Thank god for that, at least. Ruby blinked as the world around her darkened for a moment; she can clearly see the boy and man's souls burning brightly in the darkness, but she only saw an aura emanating from man. That's weird, why doesn't the boy have an aura, and what were these guys doing here? Ruby didn't know much about the Emerald Forest, but she was pretty sure it extended beyond to the Countrylands and at least a few towns and villages, so maybe she just happened to stumble upon a pair of Countrylanders who had lost their way and ended up wandering here, near the academy.

"Artyom," the older man said, this time in coarse Valic, looking at the Atlesian boy; in his hands was a dirty and ugly-looking assault rifle of some design Ruby had only seen in the history books. "I think you've stared at this young lady long enough."

The boy blinked and stared at the old man at first, then as if realization washed over him he looked at Ruby and shook his head. "Um, I-I'm sorry, Ma'am," he said, his Valic thick with Atlesian, "I-I didn't think silver eyes were possible in humans…"

Yep, the boy was definitely from Atlas. Ruby still smiled at him, nonetheless. "It's okay, you'd be surprised about how much people note that I have silver eyes."

It was then that a terrible realization struck Ruby. "Oh crap," Ruby gasped, "is my baby okay?!"

Ruby caught a glimpse of Crescent Rose a meter away from her and she pounced on it, pulling it up from the dirty ground. Her eyes darted all over the shaft, scope, magazine, and blade-head for any visible damage, but apart from dirt it seemed that Crescent Rose was alright. Whew, that was a close one!

"Oh thank god Crescent Rose is fine," Ruby said, embracing her weapon. "It's gonna take more than a fall to take you apart!"

"Um, e-excuse me, 'Crescent Rose?'"

Ruby froze and looked at the boy, who was now standing up while holding what looked like a jury-rigged shotgun… firearm in his hands―Ruby was only able to identify the thing as a shotgun because the clamps in its exposed chamber were holding blue shells. She swallowed, embarrassment making her tingle as her throat found it difficult to utter a response.

"Err, y-yeah," Ruby choked, "um, that's the name of my huntsman weapon. Y'know, I-I love weapons of all kinds―firearms, swords, polearms, artillery guns, you name it―so, err, yeah, just makin' sure my Crescent Rose wasn't too damaged, 'cause I'd rather it get broken by a Grimm than by a stupid fall… is all…"

The boy stared at her, apparently speechless, but fortunately the older man stepped in to speak. "Pardon us, young lady, but would you kindly point us in the direction of the nearest settlement? You see, my friend and I have lost our way and we currently are need in of supplies and medical attention for my friend."

Oh, they were lost and need medical attention? Oh dear. "Yeah, um, about that," Ruby said, wincing. "You guys kinda wandered into school property that you really shouldn't be on right now, 'cause, uh, we're on the first day of Initiation Week and things are really, really dangerous right now, especially for your younger friend there―since he doesn't have any aura and all…"

The boy―Artyom, Ruby was assuming―exchanged glances with the old man, which confused Ruby for a minute. Okay, so they didn't know they were trespassing on school property even though their scrolls would have alerted them they were nearing a restricted area―although, now that she thought about it, Ruby didn't see any scrolls on their persons―which was weird, but they seemed more confused at something else. Don't tell her they don't even know what aura is…

"We are on school property?" the older man finally hummed after his moment with Artyom. "Our apologies, we had no idea we were trespassing. That being said, is it alright if you can lead us out of this forest and into the school? While my friend and I are capable of defending ourselves we are not wholly familiar with the local wildlife in this region."

"Yeah, I can lead you out of the forest." Now, Ruby tilted her head at the old man's mention of the local wildlife; she raised an eyebrow. "Um, if you're curious about the local wildlife, it's just deer, elk, turtles, owls, squirrels, chipmunks and other critters native to Eastern Sanus, really. Obviously, the only dangerous animals to watch out for are the Grimm―and there's supposed to be plenty of them roaming around in the Emerald Forest."

Again, both the older man and Artyom exchanged glances with each other―but this time they both started speaking Atlesian to each other– well, what sounded like Atlesian, anyway. All that Ruby knew about Atlesian was that it is the standardized variety of Solitatum, and it has a couple regional dialects: Einsamkeit, Izolyatsia, Samotnia, and several more that she was sure they existed but wasn't sure what they were called. If Weiss was here, she would probably know what they were saying since Ruby had heard her speaking Solitatum, but Ruby was kind of hoping she would not run into her here.

A moment of discussion later, and the older man turned to her with a confused expression. "Young lady, I am afraid that my friend and I are not familiar with these 'Grimm' creatures that you speak of. Tell me, are they the beasts you and your classmates are currently fighting?"

Wait, what? Ruby blinked and could not help but stare at the older man and Artyom. They didn't know what Grimm were?

Before Ruby could speak, a deafening roar boomed from behind them all. She gazed at the direction of the roar―Artyom swung around with his jury-rigged shotgun, looking terrified by the noise, while the older man was also looking at the roar's direction―and peered into her aura sight; there was nothing around them in a fifty-meter radius, which meant that whatever roared was somewhat far away from them. Unfortunately, that was how far her aura sight can see―which was not that far.

When Ruby's sight returned to reality, she saw flocks of birds flying over their heads―opposite the direction of the roar. A swallow and she tried to see again; Ruby gasped as a soul dashed towards them in less than a fifth of a second. As soon as her normal sight returned, a tall woman adorned in bronze plate and armed with a round shield and spear-rifle burst out of the woodwork and planted her feet in front of the three.

"Wait a minute," Ruby said, her eyes widening, "you're the Spartan. Pyrrha, right?"

Pyrrha, her flowing hair deep red and her eyes green, nodded as she caught her breath. "Yes, that's me," she said, her Valic unaccented and natural. "And I believe you're the girl who caused a dust explosion the other day?"

"Uh, yeah," Ruby chuckled awkwardly, "that was an accident. Uh listen, we got civilians that wandered in here, and uh, yeah…" She was not that good with the talking thing, was she?

"Oh no, that's bad." Pyrrha peered over her shoulder, presumably to peer into her aura sight; she gasped. "There's a massive Grimm that'll be coming here in less than ten seconds! We have to move, now!"

Ruby gawked at her. "Wait, what kind of Grimm?"

"A deathstalker, and it's a scorpion!" Pyrrha turned to Artyom and his companion. "You two, run ahead of us! She and I will cover your escape!"

"Wait, we're gonna fight that thing here?!" This clearing was not a good place to fight a scorpion deathstalker here, especially since it'll just swat away the trees around it with its huge pincers.

"Just long enough so that these civilians can get to a safe distance! I don't sense any other Grimm nearby, so they should be safe for now!"

Ruby turned to Artyom and companion. "Run, you two! Get out of here! We'll catch up, just go!"

Luckily they both got the memo immediately and they spun around and sprinted into the forest. Ruby spun around herself, transformed Crescent Rose into firearm mode, and took aim at the direction Pyrrha was aiming with her automatic rifle. Fifty meters out, a great and empty dread oozed towards them with a vengeance. Ruby swallowed, ignoring the fear bubbling inside her, and pulled the trigger.

Artyom ran―he ran faster than he had ever ran in his life. He did not look back, did not want to look back, did not dared to look back. First was that strange girl spouting strange things like "Grimm," "aura," and "Eastern Sanus," then a terrible roar had pierced the air and struck terror into Artyom's heart; in all of his years in the Metro, he had never heard any mutant bellowing such a roar like that.

There were gun reports bellowing behind him and Khan, which was joined by the roar of the beast. Artyom's heart was beating and his lungs were burning as his legs were pushing; his gaze was stuck in front of the trees and bushes that flew by.

"H-How much further?!" Artyom shouted.

"They did not say, I am afraid," Khan said, his voice not quite a shout but still loud enough for Artyom to hear. "Though, judging by that grassy plain beyond that rim of trees, I suppose that is where we will meet up with our allies."

As soon as Khan finished, Artyom burst out of the woods and into an open plains. There was another forest stretching for kilometers on the other side in the horizon, but the plains itself seemed to stretch farther beyond to their right than to their left―of which lied a peculiar stone ruin. The mossy, decrepit construction reminded Artyom of Stonehenge, except it seemed to have served as the base of a great tower once in a previous age; when Artyom squinted, he saw there were people congregated at the ruin.

Another roar tore apart the air like thunder. Artyom and Khan spun around just to see the strange girl and the armored woman also bursting out of the woods, the latter firing back with her automatic rifle―hold on, wasn't that rifle a spear before, and was its muzzle flash a deeper crimson than typical of muzzle flashes he had seen?―while the former ran up to the confounded Artyom.

"Hey, you guys alright?" she gasped, catching her breath.

Artyom nodded. "Yeah, my friend and I are. Um, I don't think we've been properly acquainted."

"Oh, well," the girl stammered, shooting a sheepish smile at him, "err, in that case, the name's Ruby. I, uh, believe your friend over there called you 'Artyom?'"

Another nod. "Yeah, that's my name. My friend's name is Khan, by the way."

"Cool." Ruby glanced back at the armored woman, still firing into the woods, and apparently, in Artyom's eyes, stared at the direction of the gunfire when her eyes became wide. "Oh shit. Um, Artyom," Ruby, her gaze still fixated, pointed at the ruins, "there's people in that temple over there who are like us; you guys should head over there and–"

The trees were torn from their roots as something exploded out of the woods. Artyom was forced to behold the monstrosity of that thing: it was like a spiderbug, except it was scurrying in broad daylight, it was as big as an entire apartment building, and it looked more like a scorpion from the old insect encyclopedias than the spiderbugs he was familiar with; it was heavily-armored with bone-white chitin, its flesh underneath was a deathly black, and its myriad of golden, crimson-trimmed eyes glared hatefully at Artyom and everyone around him; its pincers snapped, eager to rend into human flesh, and its giant stinger, almost as large as a car, looked tense and poised.

Artyom found himself frozen on the spot, a primal fear he rarely felt coursing through his veins. "Oh my god, I-I never seen a monster like that before…"

"Hey, chin-up Artyom!" Ruby shouted as she brought her unusually-large sniper rifle―wait, wasn't that a giant scythe a few minutes ago?―up against the creature. "No time to get scared, you'll just encourage it!"

"H-How are you going to kill that thing?!"

"Don't you worry," Ruby said, shooting a grin at him, "Pyrrha and I are huntsmen– Well, technically we're huntsmen-in-training, but that's besides the point–"

The spiderbug bellowed, its deafening roar hurting Artyom's ears, and scuttled towards the four. The armored woman bolted, shield and spear―okay, Artyom swore that spear was a rifle a few minutes ago too―forward in front of her, and flipped over one of its snapping pincers.

Ruby gritted her teeth. "Crap! Hey, you guys run while we deal with this!"

"Let's go, lad," Khan said as he turned the other way, dashing towards the temple, "we are not equipped to deal with the likes of these creatures."

Artyom swallowed and nodded, then he took off after Khan. As sniper rifle reports and angry bellows crack the air like thunder, Artyom spotted several of the students taking up positions around the front of the temple. One of them, a muscular woman―Artyom thought she was Japanese, again, based on his experiences in Chinatown―dressed in a strange combination of Renaissance plate armor and a modern battledress, threw herself on top of a large mossy stone and plopped down a machine gun while another, a tall girl who wore a stalker's uniform, dropped a knee near her and aimed down the scope of what looked like an old-world battle rifle, only its barrel was longer than typical and it was equipped with an unusually-thick bayonet. Another one, a boy who was dressed in thick gear that almost reminded him of a Nazi stalker, also dropped a knee next to her and took aim with his modern-looking assault rifle with what appeared to be an underbarrel grenade launcher.

"Covering fire!" screamed the muscular woman, her strange accent thick and her machine gun barking deep-crimson tracers at the spiderbug.

A young Chinese man, followed by a short European girl with a grenade launcher, sprinted down towards the spiderbug, his strange dual submachine guns blazing. The girl laughed maniacally as she brought her gun up and lobbed grenades and peppered the beast with airbursts.

The stalker girl waved Artyom and Khan over as the others' weapons began their gun reports. "I ain't never seen you guys 'round Beacon before; you stalkers or something? You look the part."

"No, we are travelers," Khan said. "We hope that you can provide protection until the school can send extraction."

The stalker girl hummed as she took aim. "Travelers, huh? You guys picked a bad time to be travelin' near Beacon Academy, then. By the time extraction gets here the professors probably'll call off the Initiation and have us restart tomorrow."

"Has our intrusion caused that much of a disruption in this school's schedule?"

"Hell if I know, but I get the feelin' Beacon don't really expect to have people wanderin' in this here forest while Initiation Week's going on, much less people without aura like your friend over there," the girl said, glancing at Artyom. "Wouldn't be surprised if this did get called off, now that would kinda suck."

A bow-wearing girl planted herself between the stalker girl and boy and brought up a pistol with a sword sticking out of its chamber―a design that both confounded and intrigued Artyom.

The muscular woman, overhearing conversation despite the rattles of her machine gun fire, glanced at Artyom and Khan. "You two civvies, right? Don't worry, as long as you guys stay with us, you two are gonna make it out of this alive."

Artyom and Khan stood slightly behind the firing line and watched, to their amazement, Ruby, the armored woman, and the Chinese man dancing and weaving around the spiderbug, slicing and shooting and stabbing its chitin with superhuman grace and finesse. Unfortunately, the supporting fire from the firing line was limited due to the three engaging the spiderbug in close quarters, and the European girl's airbursts were not close enough for its pressure waves to deal real damage to its internals.

The spiderbug hissed, then it leaped and spun around in the blink of an eye, swapping away Ruby, the armored woman, and the Chinese man with its pincers like flies; they were all thrown around the beast like dolls. Artyom heard the European girl crying out "Ren!" while he gasped at the sight of the unholy creature scuttling towards the downed Ruby.

"Shit," the muscular woman growled, "if we only had mortars, this thing would be toast by now!"

"Ruby?!"

A woman shouted from behind. When Artyom turned, he saw an athletic-looking blonde woman with strange gauntlets adorning her wrists; her expression was one of fear―an emotion he found himself sharing with her.

She bolted from her spot―Artyom felt the air waves smothering him―and dashed towards the scene, screaming, "Don't worry Ruby, I'm coming to get you!"

Alas, another terrible roar pierced the air; it was the shriek of another horrible beast whose ugly head reared from over the horizon. Artyom gawked at a great bird the size of an old-world jet airliner, whose feathers were a deathly black and its face was adorned by a bone-white mask eerily reminiscent of the spiderbug. It soared over the sky like a harbinger of death, and its hateful glare fell upon the spiderbug and its assailants.

The ginormous bird screeched, its beak opened like a gaping maw, then it slowed itself into a hover. At first, Artyom was curious as to what the bird was planning to do, but a glance at the others throwing themselves on the ground and he did not hesitate to follow them.

"Take cover!" cried the muscular woman.

Unfortunately, Artyom saw the blonde woman still dashing down the plains as the bird flapped its wings and unleashed a hail of giant feathers upon the earth. The sight of a thousand feathers, their razor-sharp pins glinting through the sunlight, froze Artyom on the spot; tens of giant feathers struck the plains like shotgun pellets on a dart board as the ruins shuddered from their great force. He peered through his hands to see the blonde woman slip just as a giant feather, joined by its siblings, planted itself in front of her. Oh god, if the mutants of the Metro were bad enough, these creatures were literal nightmares out of one's fevered dreams―concoctions of evil itself. Artyom had never quite seen creatures in his life, much less ones with strikingly-similar colors, and he hoped he will never have to fight them again after this.

Artyom heard the blonde woman screaming, fear screeching in her voice. "Ruby!"

When he was reasonably certain the barrage was over, Artyom scrambled up just to see barely, between the giant feathers, the spiderbug slowly prowling upon Ruby for the killing blow. The muscular woman and the others got up from their lying positions and returned fire upon the beast, but the small-arms fire merely scratched its chitin and left shallow wounds on its exposed flesh, and the European woman still had trouble firing her grenades at the monstrosity without incurring friendly fire on the armored woman and Chinese man―who were still getting up from that spin attack. Artyom looked up and saw that the gigantic bird was circling around them, preparing for another pass. He swallowed, but he could not find it in himself to break his gaze away; Artyom could not just lie here while a young girl was about to die a horrible death… but, the giant bird was patrolling the skies while the spiderbug was bigger than any living creature that he knew of―much less virtually impervious to small-arms fire―so how the hell can he do this?

His body answered by lurching forward, snatching his Shambler, and senselessly sprinting down the plains with a war cry.

The muscular woman cried out to him, "Whoa whoa whoa, the helldo you think you're doing, man?! You don't got any aura, you're gonna get yourself killed!" but her cries fell on deaf ears as Artyom ran towards the spiderbug and Ruby―as if his stepfather was about to be eaten alive by nosalises.

Ow, Ruby was not expecting the deathstalker to swipe her, Pyrrha, and that tall Mistrali guy like that all at once. Then again, older Grimm tend to be more intelligent than their younger counterparts, so it made sense in hindsight.

Ruby scrambled up to her feet as tracers and bullets flew over her head and slammed into the chitin and flesh of the scorpion deathstalker. A glance between the Grimm's flanks and she saw that Pyrrha and Mistrali boy were still trying to get up from the swipe; up above was another older Grimm―an eagle nevermore, its screech piercing the sky as it soared for another pass.

Another glance behind and she saw Yang, finally―but she was scrambling up to her feet as she screamed, "Behind you!"

Ruby propelled herself and flipped into the air as the scorpion deathstalker's pincer clamped down just where she stood. Landing on the ground, Ruby lined up Crescent Rose's sights upon the elder Grimm's face and fired 12.7 mm rounds. They penetrated and cracked the chitin―one round completely perforated one of its eyes―but the deathstalker screeched loudly at her and raised its stinger.

There were shotgun reports behind Ruby and one of the scorpion deathstalker's eyes exploded and it screeched. Ruby glanced behind and saw Artyom of all people recklessly charging the elder Grimm, legs fueled by adrenaline and intent driven by fearless abandon, blasting his jury-rigged shotgun.

Ruby gawked at him. "A-Artyom!? W-What are you doing, you're going to get yourself killed!"

"Go! Get out of here while this thing's distracted!" Artyom shouted, planting himself in front of Ruby. Does… does he not realize the grave danger he just put himself in?

Ruby stammered. "Err, Artyom, a-as much as I appreciate the effort―I hope you realize I have aura and you don't."

"You keep saying that I don't have aura while Khan does; what's 'aura?'"

"Wait," Ruby said, swearing this was the weirdest day she had, "you don't know what 'aura' is–"

The scorpion deathstalker roared and threw one of its pincers towards Artyom in the blink of an eye, faster than he could react. Ruby threw herself at Artyom and shoved him away as the pincer clamped down on her waist.

Oh man, this was gonna hurt.

Artyom backed away―unable to tear his gaze away from the spiderbug slamming Ruby twice onto the ground with enough force to throw up plumes of dirt before throwing her body away like trash―and shouldered his Shambler, its barrel barking harder and faster than it ever had in its entire service with its owner. He heard the blonde woman screaming, but Artyom rolled away as the stinger slammed right next to him and erupted into a plume of dust. The blonde woman blinked right in front of the spiderbug's face and fired buckshot with her gauntlets, screaming bloody murder, but the monstrosity swatted her away like a fly and scuttled towards Artyom for the kill it should've gotten earlier.

Just as the spiderbug's stinger eclipsed the sun, several airbursts and machine gun fire from the ruins made the beast shy away just for a moment as both the Chinese man and the armored woman danced all around the thing once again. The spiderbug howled and tried to swat away its assailants, but it was more than enough for Artyom to pull out his lighter and incendiary grenade, light the fuse, and hurl it grenade onto the beast. Both the armored woman and Chinese man leaped away as the cocktail exploded on the spiderbug's body and the flames ate away at its chitin; it screeched and hissed, smashing its pincers on the ground as it shook around in some vain attempt to put the fire out.

But it will not be so easily deterred by mere fire. The spiderbug set all of its eyes upon Artyom with burning hatred and scuttled towards him, pincers pinching and stinger itching. Artyom fired more slugs upon the spiderbug as both the armored woman and Chinese man joined his side with the reports of their guns, but as he went to reload his Shambler once again his hand stuck into empty pockets. Artyom rolled out of the way just as the beast's stinger barely slammed into the ground he was once on and he tried to back away―but the spiderbug's legs proved to be faster than Artyom's own.

The armored woman shouted to him, "Hey, we'll keep this deathstalker distracted while you run! When I tell you to run, run, okay?!"

Artyom nodded as he scrambled up to his feet.

She glanced at the Chinese man and he nodded back, then he leaped towards the spiderbug, SMGs shrieking like insect wings.

"Alright," she screamed, "run!"

A screech from the flying bird and Artyom threw himself on the ground as the earth shuddered from another thousand feathers piercing her skin. When he looked up, he saw the armored woman and Chinese man both lying stomach-first on the ground, both separated from him; he spotted the spiderbug angrily looming over him. Shit.

Artyom glanced at the ruin and figured he could make a run for it, but one look on that stinger and he was not confident he could outrun it. Artyom could dash underneath its body, but what if it was intelligent enough to simply slam itself against the ground? God, they were right, what the hell was he thinking when he ran after Ruby?! If he was going to leave this alive he'll have a dead girl on his conscience–

A crimson blur blinked in front of Artyom and deflected the oncoming stinger with its scythe; the blur leaped backwards, landed in front of him, and fired a powerful round into its face that left a cracking dent on its forehead. The spiderbug hissed as it collapsed on the ground, but its mandibles were still moving.

When Artyom turned to meet his savior, he gasped.

Okay, that hurt a lot, but at least she can still walk and her aura was still doing good. She was hoping that bullet would have penetrated the scorpion deathstalker's forehead, but eh, it was at the right angle for a deflection. At least it looked disoriented for now.

Ruby kept Crescent Rose's blade-head in front of her as she glanced over her shoulder at the lying Artyom. "Hey, you okay dude?"

Artyom nodded, but his gasp and wide eyes said otherwise. "Y-You're alive, but―but h-how…?"

"You really don't know what aura is?" Ruby winced at him. "I really don't mean this to be a jerk, but you're kinda as bad as Jaune– err, never mind, you don't know who he is."

Ruby saw both Pyrrha and the Mistrali boy finally joining her flanks, the barrels of their huntsman weapons lined up at the scorpion deathstalker. Yang―finally, at least Ruby was reunited with her, although she doubted she was gonna be partnered with her―also appeared beside her.

"You alright, Rubes?" Yang said, reloading Ember Celica with another strip of 4-gauge buckshot shells. "I know your aura's still good and all, but I'm not jealous of that headache you're having right now."

Ruby shook her head despite the stinging. "Nah, don't worry, I'll live. We just gotta get Artyom and Khan out of here before the Grimm kill them."

"Never seen him and his friend around. Are they students?"

"Actually, I think they're travelers who got lost."

Yang winced. "Oh." She glanced at Artyom. "Yeah, you and your friend over there really shouldn't be here; you're, uh, technically committing a crime by trespassing school property."

"Let's worry about the legal consequences later," Pyrrha said, facing the scorpion deathstalker. "For now, we need to get these civilians out of the Emerald Forest and into Beacon."

"The eagle nevermore's going around for another pass," the Mistrali boy said, pointing at the elder Grimm soaring around the sky above them. "We can't move fast without getting skewered by its feathers."

"Yes, and our allies at the ruins can't get a clear shot at the scorpion deathstalker since we're in their line of fire." Pyrrha hummed, eyebrows furrowed.

Yang glanced at them both. "So, what's the plan then? Maybe we could wait until that fire Ruby's friend over here melts away all that armor."

"We don't have the luxury of time, I'm afraid," Pyrrha said. "That eagle nevermore's denying the area around us and the longer we stay here fighting this deathstalker, the higher the chance this civilian here is going to die. At least if we could tie up the scorpion deathstalker somehow, we could simply outrun those feathers with our friend in tow and not worry about it chasing after us."

Ruby glanced at the deathstalker and her eyes widened. "Err, guys, I think the scorpion deathstalker's finally getting its bearings…!"

They all witnessed the deathstalker picking itself up as it screeched at them, its pincers and stingers pulled back. Everyone but Artyom fell into a combat stance, weapons primed and battle plans plotted. The scorpion deathstalker screeched once more―its bed of flames likening it to a demonic creature from Hell―and began scuttling towards them.

Pyrrha screamed, "Here it comes!"

"Artyom, get behind me!" Ruby shouted, planting herself in front of Artyom.

Just as everyone braced for impact, shards of ice sprouted all around the legs, pincers, and stinger of the scorpion deathstalker. Trapped in its icy prison, the deathstalker screeched and hissed in a vain attempt to break itself free of its confines, the burning cocktail that was splattered on its chitin now starting to spread all over its body, but alas it was not to be.

For now.

Artyom found himself staring at the spiderbug's icy chains; what… what man-made manner could produce such huge ice? A glance at Ruby and her companions and he was surprised to see them just as shocked. He tried to catch his breath, but each attempt to calm himself down was only met with a deeper and quicker breaths and a faster heart rate. God, just where on Earth was he?

"You know, Ruby," a cold and familiar voice spoke behind them all, sending chills down Artyom's spine, "taking on a scorpion deathstalker is something even experienced huntsmen have trouble doing alone, much less mere huntsmen-in-training. Be glad you had the support of various huntsmen-in-training to help you."

When Artyom turned around, he was met with a young woman dressed in a rather elegant set of plate armor, her face shielded with a knightly helmet of some sort. The metal it was forged from was some kind of shining steel that sparkled underneath the sunlight―Artyom swore he saw the sparkles, anyway―and the armor conformed to the young woman's proportions extremely well. There was a strangely-designed sword in her hand, which looked like a rapier from an old sword-fighting manual Artyom was extremely fortunate to get his hands on once, that she holstered into its scabbard before she removed her helmet to reveal the icy-blue eyes and snowy hair, tied into a bun, of a youth-faced girl. God, how many of these students here had such exotic eye and hair colors?

"Oh, it's you, Weiss." Artyom saw the frown upon Ruby's face as she turned to face the woman. "Well, um, thanks for the save, I guess…"

The woman shook her head. "Just doing my job as a huntsman, which I expect as much from you and everyone else here."

The armored woman, Pyrrha as she seemed to be known as, hung her weapon over her shoulder. "Weiss Schnee, we meet again―and just at the nick of time, too."

"Pyrrha Nikos, a pleasure to meet you again as well," Weiss nodded at her. "A bit dangerous to take on a scorpion deathstalker and an eagle nevermore at the same time, no?"

"Well, battles doesn't always go one's way." Pyrrha shrugged. "Besides, we have civilians here that apparently wandered into the Emerald Forest and we must get them out of here before they get killed."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, then she turned to Artyom―who picked himself up and stood upright. "I don't recognize you. Who is he, Pyrrha?"

"Uh, his name's Artyom," Ruby said instead. "He and a friend of his named Khan look like travelers who must've wandered in here."

"That's preposterous," Weiss sighed. "Did they really not heed the 'No Trespassing' message they should've gotten?"

Ruby winced. "Yeah, err, that's the problem―I don't see scrolls anywhere on their person."

"Oh you got to be kidding me." Weiss turned to Artyom with a stern gaze. "You, what are you and your friend doing here trespassing on school ground? This forest is off-limits to people who are either not enrolled in Beacon or are not working here."

Artyom shrugged, though shied away from the woman's gaze. "I-I had no idea this forest was the property of this, erm, 'Beacon.' We are travelers who, uh, just merely lost their way."

"Do you really think I would believe that lie?" Weiss rolled her eyes. "No matter. Once we take you back to the Beacon, you and your friend are going to have a meeting with the headmaster and probably face charges for unauthorized trespassing on huntsman academy grounds without explicit written permission by its presiding headmaster."

"Hey, why don't you chill out, Ice Princess?" It was the blonde woman who said that as she approached her, arms crossed. "You don't know if these guys are criminals or not, so why don't you give them the benefit of the doubt?"
Weiss shook her head. "I didn't claim they were bandits, don't be so presumptuous. All I am saying is that we turn them both in to Headmaster Ozpin and let him deal with this matter, that is all."

"God, you're so infuriating with that high-and-mighty attitude," Yang growled, and Artyom swore he saw her eyes flashing crimson before it became purple.

Ruby, luckily, stepped in between Yang and Weiss. "Guys, guys! Why don't we get Artyom out of here first, take the relics, and then head back to the cliffs as soon as possible before we all get killed by the Grimm?"

"Yeah, I agree," Pyrrha said, nodding as she looked at Ruby. "You'll take our civilian friend to the ruins there while Weiss and I cover our flanks; our allies there should be providing fire should the scorpion deathstalker break out of its confines earlier than expected. That sound good?"

Yang looked at her. "What do I and Mistrali Boy do, then?"

"You two will accompany her to the ruins. Weiss and I are the most experienced in this group, so we should go last."

"Alright, makes sense," Yang said, shrugging before turning to Ruby. "Yo, ready to go, Ruby?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I am. Artyom, what about you?"

Artyom nodded as well, albeit his breaths were deep and his hands were shaky. "L-Let's just get out of here." He slung his useless Shambler for his VSV.

"Right!"

As the rest of the group prepared to move out―the spiderbug screeching as it struggled to break away from the ice and the giant bird shrieking as it circled around once more―Artyom could not help but wonder what the hell he had gotten himself into.

Yeah, we're kind of going into some big AU territory, mostly worldbuilding I did on my own for RWBY, considering it's not terribly elaborated upon. Don't worry, we're still kind of following the canon plot―sort of―which will probably be changed completely at the end of the first book―which is the Battle of Beacon (yes, this entire book will cover Volumes 1-3).

Other than that, hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving on this side of the US. Consider this a Thanksgiving gift, because updates shouldn't be coming out this fast. Let me know what you all think of the current narrative Remnants of Mankind is pushing, and I don't mind seeing people here trying to speculate how this will all connect and play out, ;).

Until then, fare thee well, dear reader.

-Sda.