Chapter 134: Initiation

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishment at threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.

Initiation

Bright and early the next morning, Adam and I were waiting in my grandmother's massive living room, watching the news as we waited for the rest of my family to wake up and come downstairs. Specifically, Adam was watching the news on the massive holographic display, listening to a reporter go on about statistics related to Haven, while I was looking out the window and parsing the signals that filled the sky. Despite the fact that the sun had only just risen, I could sense that Olivia was already getting prepared for her big day—unsurprising, honestly, since worry and excitement had kept her up most of the night. Grandmother was stirring in her bed as well and would undoubtedly be down shortly, given all her files and papers were already stored neatly in her briefcase. The rest of my family would wake up a little later to bid Olivia good luck, though it was up in the air whether or not Indigo would be able to formulate intelligible sounds at six in the morning.

Until then, however, there wasn't much to do but wait. I let Adam sleep after we got back, leaving him to rest and dream and do all that other stuff I generally avoided, and worked through the night within Naraka to get some last minute training done. But now, as the deadline drew near, there was nothing to do except wait, and so I did.

After a few minutes, Adam finished his bowl of cereal and set it down on the floor for Gou to drink from. Autumn circled him, growing into a large, pink-blossomed tree—a cherry tree, sort of, except eyeballs hung from it instead, retina instead of stems. They twitched and rolled in place, flickering towards anything that happened to move, but Adam had gotten used to it and so merely inclined his head and walked past her.

"So," Adam murmured as he came to stand beside me and rest his back against the wall, looking every bit the bodyguard he now officially was. "How are we going to play this one?"

I glanced away from the skyline to look at my friend, quirking an eyebrow.

"You mean if we end up enrolling?" I asked, knowing he was aware of the plan up to that point. Sure enough, he nodded at me.

"Yeah," He said. "If we end up being students, we…Jaune, you and I are way above that."

"Actually, a few days ago you'd have fit right in," I teased. "I've seen a few students around your level."

He scowled slightly at that.

"You know what I mean," He answered.

"I do," I confirmed, smiling easily. "What about it?"

"What about it?" He repeated. "It's a Hunter Academy—they'll want to test our strength. We'll fight Grimm, each other, all that stuff."

"We'll have exams and homework, too," I chuckled. "Don't worry about that, though; I understand you're not prepared for something like that, so I'll help you."

"That's not—" He paused, thinking. "Actually, define help."

"I'll do all the homework," I gestured lazily. "Should only take me a minute or so. Exam-wise, I'll just whisper the answer in your ear with Levant or take control of your pen. I know what your handwriting looks like. Don't worry about it."

He nodded slowly, looking a touch relieved.

"There goes one pain in the ass, at least," He replied, relaxing a touch. "But that's what I meant. If we end up fighting, either of us could crush anyone that gets in our way, but that might draw attention. What do you want me to do?"

I chuckled again.

"Do whatever you feel like doing," I answered. "You're a professional and I trust your judgement."

"Yeah, but…" He sighed. "Playing with kids isn't really my area of expertise."

"Playing with kids?" I laughed. "You sound like an old man. You realize I'm the same age as those 'kids', right?"

"You're too fucking weird to count as a kid," He shrugged as if that was that.

"Fair enough," I smirked. "But honestly, it's probably not that different from what you're used to."

He gave me an admirably skeptical look.

"I…rather doubt that."

"Remember where we are," I chided as I shook my head. "Even beyond the fact that Haven is a school for Hunters, it's a school in Mistral. And like everything else in Mistral, it's pretty much run by the Families. The people who graduate from it will work to protect the Kingdom, of course, but there's more to it than that."

He frowned for a moment before nodding slowly.

"It's about power, isn't it?" He asked, catching on.

"Being a Hunter means getting put on a fast track to power somewhere in Mistral's hierarchy and everyone knows it," I confirmed. "More than that, however, the school itself is all about power. It's a proving ground of sorts; most of the students there get their ways paid by sponsors of some kind and there's often more to it than that. Think of it like…think of them like sports stars. A lot of them get contracts and deals, support for their families, paychecks, all that stuff."

"And I take it this all leads back to the Families?" He guessed.

"Doesn't everything in Mistral?" I asked. "A lot of it's done through proxy businesses, which is why you see a lot of Hunters in commercial and on cereal boxes and stuff—but yeah, if you trace it back far enough, you'll find people in the Families signing the checks. That's part of why the tournaments are such a big deal here—it gives people a chance to see prospective students in action before they start making sales pitches."

"And Haven is where all of them gather," Adam mused, nodding slowly to himself. "I see. And these groups…fight each other?"

"Adam," I chided at once. "We're all friends here—and civilized men and women besides."

He made a sound of understanding.

"Nothing that obvious, of course," He continued. "We just lie, work against each other, make shows of power, and work to gather more."

"Now you get it," I nodded with a smile. "It's more subtle than it sounds, of course—a lot of people probably don't realize that's even what's going on. On the surface, most of it will just seem like fun and games and to a lot of people, that's all it is, but the student's at Haven compete and are set against each other constantly. There are a lot of different factions within the school itself that vie for power and the faculty tends to step back and watch a lot to see how things shake out. It's one of the ways the Families still compete with each other without seeming like they are and gathering power around oneself is a very big deal, by design."

"You're right," He sighed. "This does sound familiar. And I take it we're representing the Roma."

"You got it," I said with a wink. "So don't worry about hiding your strength too much—because here, power is everything. If we become students, the first thing we'll do is establish the pecking order and make our lives easier. Don't hurt anyone too bad, but otherwise, go crazy. Take on an entire team by yourself if you want. It doesn't matter if you draw some attention because as far as anyone that matters is concerned, we're advertising."

"Okay," He smiled slowly. "Yeah, I can work with that. I assume that if any questions arise—"

"Grandmother will tell them to direct them towards someone who gives a fuck," I finished. "All we have to do is keep from doing anything too alarming and that's mostly for me to worry about. For you…just don't do anything that'll get you recognized as Adam Taurus. Is you're Semblance known?"

He shrugged a bit.

"Probably," He replied. "It's a bit noticeable, so it might be best to err on the side of caution. It's not like I'd ever use it on a student, anyway."

I nodded in understanding.

"Shouldn't be an issue with your stats as high as they are now, anyway," I told him. "Everything else…well, between my Glamour and the levels you gained, it should be hard to identify you. So don't worry about it."

"Got it," He answered. "One more thing, though."

"The teams?" I guessed, having thought about it myself.

He nodded.

"From what I understand, Hunters-in-training are separated into teams of four during their initiation," He said. "That's how Raven said it worked at Beacon, at least."

"It's more or less the same here," I told him. "I looked into it a bit—checked past records, did some reconnaissance while you were asleep, that type of thing. I've got a pretty good idea what to expect."

I lifted a hand and a three-dimensional image of the city appeared above it, along with a vast block of the ground beneath it, displaying the tunnels below. They went down almost as far as the buildings above ground went high, set in layers upon layers of reinforced material.

"They call it the Labyrinth," I told him. "It's a series of catacombs beneath the city that the rulers of Mistral used to use to…well, do lots of horrible things to people that annoyed them. Now it's mostly used by Haven and a lot of the passageways are sealed, but there are openings even outside the city, allowing the Grimm inside. There's traps, too, and it's designed to be a maze where people wander until they run into a monster and die horribly, run into a trap and die horribly, or just get lost and die horribly. It's where Haven sends its initiates."

"Sounds fun," Adam answered dryly, lifting a hand to touch his horns. "I assume there's a point to it?"

I nodded.

"From what Grandmother said, there are several different ways in, but all the students are told to head towards the same place. I already scouted it all out, of course" I marked a massive room I'd noticed on one of the lower levels. "Here's where they'll probably put the checkpoint. The tunnels are designed so that the Labyrinth's shape can be changed at any time and entire sections can be locked off entirely, but it doesn't look like anything to worry about and I can take us through the walls if needed. We'll get there first."

"And our teammates?" He asked before catching himself. "If we have to enroll, I mean."

"Whoever arrives next, probably," I shrugged. "I have some friends who'll be enrolling and I can rig the teams if we need to, but it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"I…" Adam frowned for a moment. "I suppose not. Whoever arrives second should be decently strong, right? That's…fine, I guess."

"Glad you agree." I smiled and then raised my voice, dismissing the field of silence I'd established with Levant. "Good morning, sis."

Less than an hour later, we stood at the gates of the ziggurat. Positioned dead in the center of the city, it was a massive, solid structure that had lasted thousands of years and majestic in its own, worn way. Even before it had been an academy for Hunters, it had been the heart of Mistral—or of the place that would eventually become Mistral, at least. Back then, people had lived in the catacombs below, with the only way in or out through the fortress that was now called Haven. Although, in a way, it had still produced hunters—both those that fought Grimm and those who ventured out into the harsh lands around Mistral to bring back supplies.

Eventually, as the population of the city grew, they began to expand the tunnels and eventually crawl to the surface, building a city above the ground. The Hunters, those who protected and provided for the people below, had always ruled the city, but it was then that they first became kings and queens. Thanks to Mistrals geographical position—lava fields to the south, ice to the north, and seas to either side—life had been harsh for the people, but that same harshness had given them at least some respite from the Grimm which had allowed them to grow strong. Having already dug so deeply beneath the city, they were one of the few nations of that time with access to metallurgy and Dust, grasping hold of such resources long before any of the surrounding nations. In time, they'd expanded outwards, using that military power to crush their opponents, bringing what they could back to their homeland. In a time where most nations had been composed of roving hunter-gatherer societies, unable to ever sit down and truly mine the land for resources…Mistral's magic and steel had seized them control of this land. The rest, of course, was history.

And now, here we stood, at the birthplace of the Kingdom. It must have said something that even after thousands of years of war against men and monsters alike, Haven stood strong. We'd gotten in early by design and while Olivia and Grandmother had gone inside, Adam and I waited at the top of the stairs, giving me a chance to look at everyone who came in. I didn't recognize most of the faces, but I committed the names, levels, and titles to memory, observing them one after another. I glanced over backgrounds, gauged capabilities, and scanned each and every one of them with my many senses. Nothing too alarming stood out to me, though I noticed genetic defects here and minor health problems there. Most of the entrants had levels between thirty and forty and I noted anyone who deviated from the norm, but didn't find what I was looking for.

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"Nothing?" Adam grunted under his breath after half an hour of watching students. He and I got our fair share of glances from the students as well as a few greetings, but most seemed to think we were older students keeping an eye on things. We nodded back at greetings and I gave directions when people asked, but most of the students seemed too preoccupied to engage either of us in conversation. It was just as well, I suppose.

"Most of these guys are the freshmen," I answered quietly. "They're all nervous and most of them got here early, just in case. They had to bring all of their luggage, get their paperwork looked over, and now they're trying to find people they know and relax. Most of them probably aren't sure exactly what's going on, but the older students do. Initiations not until tomorrow morning, so most of the older students probably won't arrive until later tonight."

"Then why are we here now, instead of later?" Adam asked after a moment of annoyed silence, to which I shrugged a shoulder and smiled slightly.

"Partially to check out the freshmen," I replied. "This gives me a chance to look them over and see if anyone else stands out. But mostly? Because Emerald and Mercury are freshmen and given who they're working for—"

"She might show up early," Adam finished. "To make sure everything goes smoothly."

I made a small sound of confirmation in the back of my throat as I watched a young woman scale the steps. Just as it was easy to separate the freshman from the older students, it was simple enough to guess who had already made a name for themselves. Even without the higher levels, a number of the students had a confidence to them that said they were sure they were ready. While others nervously wondered if things would be okay, they just walked in feeling certain. It was sort of like what I felt, except that I was completely certain and a little bored.

"That and I want to see if they gravitate towards anyone in particular," I nodded. "She would know that Haven has four man teams, so there might be others."

"Found anyone like that yet?" He asked with a tilt of his head.

"No," I answered, shaking mine. "It might just be Mercury and Emerald, then. Getting two people on a team might be easier to manage then four—students get sorted into pairs before and during initiation and then pairs are made into teams afterwards. With the Labyrinth the way it is…"

I shrugged.

"How are pairs made?" Adam asked. "Is it something she can rig?"

"What kind of question is that?" I rolled my eyes. "You can rig just about anything in Mistral, it's just more difficult to rig some things than others. In this case, though, yeah—it's fairly easy to rig. Students are paired up beforehand according to their capabilities."

"I assume 'capabilities' means 'money,' in this case."

"Money," I nodded. "And deals between the people sponsoring them, of course. In some ways, you could think of it as a low budget version of an arranged marriage—two companies working together might have their respective students team up. In the case of heirs and important figures especially, such deals are seen to have a lot of weight, because teammates are expected to grow close and work together for years. So if two companies put their heirs together, it can often be taken as a sign of a future alliance. In Emerald and Mercury's case, that doesn't really apply, but all she'd need to do was have the companies behind them put down some money, make some announcements, and be done."

Adam nodded slowly, seeming to understand.

"Is that what's going to happen to us?" He asked.

"More or less," I answered. "Grandmother is sponsoring us both and has a lot of power here, so she'll just lay down the law."

"What about the Families?"

"That's a bit more complicated," I sighed. "Traditionally, the heirs of the Families would all be on the same team—that's how it worked with Grandmother's team, at least. There used to be this whole, complex arrangement where the heads would try to have kids of roughly the same age, specifically to renew that alliance regularly, but…well, my mom kind of blew that plan all to hell."

"But you're about the same age as the other heirs," Adam noted.

"Covering a few age brackets is pretty easy when you have eight kids," I shrugged. "But yeah, I've noticed that, too. I'm not really the heir, but I figure there was some talk when I showed up in Mistral—especially since I met pretty much all the heirs my first night. If I was anything like a normal person and my family less dysfunctional, they probably would have arranged something. As it is now, I've got bigger things to worry about."

I paused for a moment to consider it before chuckling.

"Although," I smiled and bumped his shoulder hard enough to jostle him in place. "When you think about it, I guess you and I are part of an alliance ourselves, aren't we? The grandson of Jeanne Roma and the son of Raven Branwen…"

He grunted, sounding annoyed at either the bump or my words.

"Whatever," He said back. "Where are these heirs, then?"

I raised a finger and then dropped it to point down the steps.

"Right over there," I answered. "They arrived just a while ago."

"Oh, hey," A familiar voice shouted. "Look who it is. I heard you were back in town."

Turning my head so he'd know I was looking at him, I smiled at the foursome that was making their way up the stairs. I knew three of them and even without the words floating above his head, I'd have been able to guess the identity of the fourth.

"Kyanos," I said with a nod. "Ulaan, Melania, it's good to see all of you again."

Then I turned towards the last of them, a pale, dark-haired boy with tan clothes.

"And you must be Itri," I smiled, inclining my head slightly. "Kyanos said you were busy the last time I was in town. A shame we didn't get to meet until now."

"I suppose it was," He murmured, looking me up and down. "I saw your performance against Ms. Nikos. It was rather impressive."

"It's kind of you to say so," I smiled a bit wider. "I was starting to feel a bit worried, since no one seemed to recognize me. I guess the people in the stands didn't get enough close-ups for me to be recognized on sight after so much time."

"That must be it," Kyanos nodded with a yawn. "Though you look a little different."

"Time will do that," I chuckled before glancing them over. "You guys look a bit stronger now, too."

The Seventeenth Scourge

LV42

Ulaan Khagan

The Glinting Helm and Driving Spear

LV41

Kyanos Alexandria

Nymph's Shadow

LV38

Melania Delphos

The Arrested Destiny

LV42

Itri Barca

"Thanks," Kyanos replied, smiling before hanging his head in fake exhaustion. "Man, but Gramps can be a slave driver when he wants to be. Well, but I guess I probably can't complain about stuff like that to a Roma, huh?"

"I guess," I answered with a shrug. "My training really wasn't all that bad though."

"I'll take your word for it," He chuckled. "I heard you're going to be in town for a while?"

"Seems that way," I nodded. "I had to leave because of family issues and that's why I'm back now."

"You going to Haven, then?" He asked. "I heard Gramps talk about you, but he didn't say anything about you going here."

"I've given it some thought," I admitted. "I'm just waiting for something to make up my mind, you know?"

"Better make it up fast; initiations tomorrow," The Alexandrian stretched.

"I told Grandmother I'd decide before the end of the day," I nodded before glancing down the stairs. Emerald and Mercury had entered my sights and were slowly walking in the direction of the school, side by side. In response, I slipped my gaze across the city, making use of my vantage point as I searched.

"Any idea what you're looking for?" Kyanos asked as I paused.

"Maybe," I said with a slow nod, focusing completely on the words above the woman that caught my eye. "Yeah, maybe."

?

LV?

Cinder Fall

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