After the Fall

by E. C. Myers

  “There’s a right way to take it? Don’t worry, Fox. I don’t take offense easily,” Coco said.

  “Then I think this could work,” Fox said.

  “I was just thinking that. All right. Shall we?”

  Fox nodded.

  The headmaster’s next set of instructions had been:

  After you’ve partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene.

  You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately.

  “Let’s find that temple,” Fox said. “You lead the way.”

  He and Coco headed off together.

  Velvet had the perfect weapon in mind to help her land in one piece. She had surreptitiously preprogrammed her camera, Anesidora, with a photo of a smiling Vega Bleu, a classmate back at Pharos Combat School who had gone on to Atlas Academy.

  She was glad she had, because her camera would have been much trickier to program while tumbling through the air. Now it was a simple matter to call up Vega’s weapon, a pair of arm-mounted grappling hooks.

  As Velvet broke through the treetops, she grabbed the controls of the weapons, accurately reproduced with hard-light using special—and especially expensive—Dust from the Schnee Dust Company. She experienced only the briefest moment of disorientation before her Semblance allowed her to mimic Vega’s moves.

  And just like that she was firing one grappling hook, swinging on the razor-sharp wire, firing the other hook, releasing the first and retracting it, and so on, swinging effortlessly through the forest like a monkey, or at least precisely like Vega would have. Velvet wondered if her old friend was going through initiation at Atlas right now, and what that was like.

  Grappling from tree to tree, Velvet gradually dropped closer to the ground. She kept swinging. A few times she caught a glimpse of dark creatures sniffing around below. She glanced behind her and saw branches breaking and foliage shaking as some of them began following her. Through the leaves she spotted a pack of Boarbatusks, and they spotted her. They gave chase.

  So that was about to become her next problem. She picked up speed, trying to stay ahead of them.

  But now she had something else to deal with. Her hard-light weapons only lasted for a limited time, and her time had run out; the grapple lines faded away while she was still a hundred feet above the ground.

  She found herself plummeting again, but she managed to twist around and grab hold of a thick branch as she fell. The bough snapped, barely slowing her down, but she held on to it.

  She clutched the makeshift staff in front of her and managed to use it to bounce off a trunk that she otherwise would have smacked into headfirst. Her Aura absorbed some of the blow. Jarred by the impact, she dropped straight down the side of the tree, crashing through more branches that broke her momentum. Her Aura continued to protect her from breaking any bones in the process, and she used the branch to push herself away from the tree and out to avoid hitting any more, but now she was falling backward, legs swinging, arms flailing, hoping she could grab hold of something before she hit the ground.

  Velvet screamed.

  Yatsuhashi felt bad that he and his fellow students were inadvertently destroying the forest, but not bad enough that he let it hold him back.

  He drew Fulcrum and swung the sword hard from right to left, twisting his body and using the momentum to start spinning. “Hyaaaah!” he cried.

  He held the blade out, flat side up, using it to slice his way through the trees as he spiraled downward. Not so much a leaf on the wind as a helicopter seed, the kind he’d loved dropping from heights as a child.

  The forest whirled around him. He burst into a clearing with a flurry of twigs and leaves. He focused on a sturdy tree in his path, seeing it loom larger in flashes as he continued spinning. He tensed his muscles, and at the right moment he flipped the sword around and plunged it into the trunk, blade side down.

  “Sorry!” Yatsuhashi mumbled to the tree.

  The sword embedded itself to the hilt in the tree and then slid downward. He grunted as he held on, planting his feet against the trunk to slow his momentum further. The wrapped sword hilt grew warm, then hot, then burning under his gloved hands.

  He hit the ground hard enough to rattle his teeth and staggered backward, somehow maintaining his balance, even while still dizzy from spinning. When he yanked Fulcrum from the trunk, the tree split in two and fell on either side of him. It screamed.

  Yatsuhashi shook his head. Trees didn’t scream. Then he looked up and saw a girl falling. He dropped his sword and ran toward her. Leaped into the air. Caught her.

  “I’ve got you,” he said.

  He landed with her in his arms, more gracefully this time. It was the Faunus with the pretty rabbit ears. He flashed her a goofy smile. She scowled and looked away, shielding her eyes.

  “Put me down.” She struggled and pushed herself out of his arms. She opened the box behind her and pulled out a camera.

  “You’re welcome?” Yatsuhashi said.

  She cast her glance downward, rabbit ears drooping over her eyes. Then she sighed and looked up. “Thanks.”

  “So … I guess we’re partners?” Yatsuhashi said. He suddenly felt shy.

  “This is all a mistake,” she said.

  Yatsuhashi walked back to the split tree and picked up Fulcrum. He checked it for damage. He knew where every scratch and ding on the blade had come from. He found the new one, a tiny dimple near the hilt that he would forever associate with today’s initiation.

  “But those are the rules,” Yatsuhashi said.

  “This isn’t going to work,” she replied.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Because I’m a Faunus, and you’re—”

  “What?” Yatsuhashi narrowed his eyes. She was looking at him the way people so often did, like she was scared of him, towering above her. His shoulders tightened, and he pressed his arms against his sides, as if he could make himself smaller somehow. Less intimidating.

  “You’re from Mistral,” she said.

  Yatsuhashi blinked. “So?”

  “Your people don’t tend to like my people,” she said quietly. She folded her arms against her chest and turned away from him. For her the gesture worked, and she seemed to shrink a little.

  “I’m—” Yatsuhashi began. At the sound of his voice, the girl tensed. He lowered his tone as much as he could. “It’s clear that people from Mistral have hurt you before. I’m sorry that you had to experience that.”

  Her shoulders tensed, but she peeked over her shoulder at him.

  “I would never mistreat you because you’re a Faunus, or for any other reason. It’s not who I am or who my mother raised me to be. And if I ever slip up and make a stupid joke or say something insensitive, you have full permission to punch me … so I can know how to be better.”

  The girl looked back over her shoulder at him, uncrossing her arms.

  “Can we start over?” He offered his hand.

  She nodded, ears bobbing up and down, and turned to face him.

  “I am Yatsuhashi Daichi,” he said.

  She looked up at him—way up—and smiled a little. “Velvet Scarlatina.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” they both said at the same time.

  “So if we’re partners, I guess there’s something you need to know,” Velvet said.

  “What is it?”

  “There was a pack of Boarbatusks on my tail.”

  Yatsuhashi couldn’t help but check. Faunus typically only had one animal feature, but if she said she had a tail—

  She blushed, covering her rear. “Excuse you! It was a figure of speech!”

  “Oh. Guess t
hat means I’ve earned my first punch.”

  Three Boarbatusks suddenly burst into the clearing in front of Yatsuhashi. Their large, curved white tusks and bone masks with four red eyes looked eerie in the dim light filtering through the tree canopy.

  “Later, though.” Yatsuhashi slowly brought his sword around. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

  A bright light flashed. Momentarily stunned, when the spots in front of his eyes disappeared, he saw Velvet holding a camera.

  “What was that for?” he asked.

  Velvet pressed something on her camera and a minute later she was holding a glowing, transparent copy of his sword. Yatsu stared, dumbfounded.

  “Don’t worry.” Velvet smirked. “I’ll protect you.”

  “Check out that cave,” Coco said.

  Fox tilted his head questioningly.

  “Right. Well, it has all these drawings around the entrance of stick people attacking a big scorpion,” she said.

  “So it’s a Death Stalker den. Only an idiot would go in there,” Fox said.

  “Yeah. It just looks interesting.”

  “I’m more interested in finding the temple.”

  “The temple should be just up ahead,” Coco said as she climbed out into a clearing.

  Fox marched forward. It really was hard to tell that he was blind. Coco watched him carefully, and even when he stumbled on a rock or a root, he quickly adjusted to maintain his balance without missing a beat; you had to be looking to even notice the misstep. Coco envied Fox’s complete awareness of his body and how it moved in his environment.

  “Four people just left that area, in a hurry. Heading back to the cliff,” Fox said.

  “How do you know that?” Coco asked.

  “I can detect other people’s minds, just an impression of their consciousness. And—” Fox shook his head and fell silent again.

  “Like when you can feel someone watching you?” Coco asked.

  “Sure,” Fox said. He found it exhausting, carrying on a conversation, speaking out loud. But it seemed like it was probably necessary for them to bond a little bit. They were supposed to be partners for the next four years, but it would be better if they were friends, too. And they still had to face together whatever was at this temple of Ozpin’s.

  “Is this it?” Coco asked when they arrived.

  Fox waited patiently.

  “Oh, sorry.” Coco walked toward the small ruin, Fox following. “It’s circular, with six pillars supporting a ring of stones above us. Careful, there are two steps up. Okay, we’re standing in the middle now. Around us are twenty short pedestals with small stone tablets on them.”

  Coco walked to one of them. “It’s etched like a playing card. This one is the Joker.”

  Coco moved around the temple, examining the other tablets. “Here’s the King of Hearts. Queen of Hearts. Ace of Spades … some cards are missing, so our other classmates must have grabbed them.”

  She tried to hide her annoyance, but Fox picked up that she was really bothered that they were already behind.

  “You like being first,” he said.

  “And best.”

  He nodded. “Those aren’t always the same thing, or mutually compatible. But maybe we can still beat the others back if we hurry.”

  Coco folded her arms. “Pick a card, any card.”

  “Me?” Fox asked.

  “Go for it.”

  Fox turned in a slow circle and then walked purposefully toward a pedestal.

  “Um. That one’s empty,” Coco said. “Try a little to your left.”

  Fox adjusted his course and reached out to take the stone card: King of Hearts.

  “All right, let’s go,” she said.

  Fox tucked the card into a pouch at his belt. Then he held up a hand. “We have incoming.” He pointed behind Coco.

  Two people were heading toward them fast with a spinning black-and-white ball chasing them. Velvet Scarlatina, whom Coco remembered from Pharos Combat School, and Yatsuhashi Daichi, who generally walked softly and carried a big sword. Only now he was running, waving his sword to get their attention, and shouting a warning.

  “I guess we should help them,” Fox said.

  “I guess we should.”

  Coco calmly strode to the top of the temple steps and flicked open her Gatling gun. Then she opened fire on the rolling Boarbatusk. Yatsuhashi and Velvet veered out of the way while her bullets rained past them. As the rounds penetrated the Grimm’s tough hide, she used her Semblance to boost the volatility of the Dust inside the bullets to blow them up—and tear the creature apart from the inside out.

  On her application to Beacon, Coco had named her Semblance “Hype.” Her three favorite things in life were fashion, explosions, and killing Grimm, and Beacon allowed her to combine all three.

  “Nice hustle, Coco,” Fox said. “But heads up.”

  Coco threw herself back as the Boarbatusk’s decapitated head crashed into the ring of stones above her and then onto the temple steps.

  “How did you know—” She was cut off as one of the pillars fell to the side. She was getting an idea of how abandoned temples became temple ruins.

  The Boarbatusk’s head rolled down the steps, and as the red glow in its four eyes dimmed, it evaporated into black smoke.

  Velvet looked up at Coco as she hefted her Gatling gun.

  “Thanks for the assist,” Yatsuhashi said, approaching the temple.

  “Sure,” Coco said. “But why didn’t you just smack that thing with your sword to knock it out of its spin?”

  Yatsuhashi rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t think of that. But hey, I did defeat two other ones before. Big ones.” He spread his arms wide to demonstrate.

  Velvet put a hand on her hip and cleared her throat.

  “Velvet got a few of them, too,” Yatsuhashi said.

  Coco stared at Velvet. She didn’t even have a weapon. How did she—

  Suddenly Yatsuhashi looked past Coco and assumed a fighting stance, sword at the ready. “More company.”

  Coco turned and saw four Ursai, large bearlike Grimm armored in bony plates.

  “I’ll hold them off while you get the relic,” he called to Velvet.

  “But I can help!” she said.

  “We don’t have to fight all of them. All we have to do is get a relic to the top of the cliff.”

  “Is that all?” she said. She supposed he had a good point, though. She raced toward the temple, vowing to return to back him up as soon as she had one of the relics. The guy in red with the arm blades sprinted past her, on the way to help Yatsuhashi. Coco remained at the temple, her massive gun locked and loaded on the arriving Grimm.

  “Thank you for helping us,” Velvet told Coco. “But we totally had that Boarbatusk where we wanted it.”

  “We just didn’t want to miss all the fun,” Coco said. “I know you, don’t I? From Pharos?”

  “Velvet Scarlatina. I saw you around, but we never spoke.”

  “I wish we had,” Coco said. “I’m Coco Adel.”

  Velvet figured she would just grab the first relic she saw, but when she realized they were all stone tablets fashioned after a deck of cards, she figured it must mean something. She had dabbled in fortune-telling when she was younger, and of the remaining cards, the only one that didn’t make her nervous was the Queen of Hearts. She tucked it into Anesidora’s box where she stored empty holographic plates. It was a perfect fit.

  But while she was busy doing that, Yatsuhashi and Fox had retreated, joining Coco and Velvet inside the temple—which was now surrounded by eight Ursai.

  “Can anyone fly?” Coco asked.

  No such luck.

  “Then it looks like we’ll have to fight our way out.” Coco grinned and held up her gun.

  “It’s only eight against four. I like those odds,” Fox said.

  “I don’t believe in luck,” Yatsuhashi said. He looked at Velvet. “Got any ranged weapons?”

  Coco looked at the box
Velvet carried, wondering what was inside.

  Velvet shook her head. “What if we attack them one at a time from in here?”

  “I’m almost out of bullets,” Coco said.

  “We could attack them in turn,” Yatsuhashi said.

  “Dart out, strike, and return?” Fox said.

  “That would take all night, and more Grimm will keep coming,” Coco said. “I have a better idea.”

  Velvet hated Coco’s idea, but at least it had worked.

  It was only later, when the four of them were assembled in the amphitheater watching replay footage from initiation, that they realized how outrageous Coco’s plan had been. They watched her open fire with her gun to clear a path through the ring of Ursai—by blowing one of them into pieces—so Yatsuhashi and Fox could charge through first. Instead of trying to cut or stab the Grimm that lunged for him, Yatsuhashi used his sword to knock it out of the way, while Fox sliced through the creature in his path with his tonfa blades. Velvet stayed in the middle while Coco brought up the rear with covering gunfire, preventing the Ursai from closing the gap and attacking them from behind.

  It was fast, and it was dangerous. It also played well for the crowd.

  Velvet knew that she had been keeping track of where all the Ursai were for the team. Her voice was still hoarse from shouting warnings and directions to the others while she fired off a hard-light gun to keep any remaining Grimm off their flank. But on video, it looked like her three classmates were protecting her the whole way to the stairs leading up the cliffs. More than one Beacon student commented on that—and her ears.

  So while Professor Ozpin announced and named the new four-person teams, Velvet was looking down and feeling sorry for herself … until she heard her name.

  “Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina, Yatsuhashi Daichi,” Professor Ozpin droned.

  Each of them looked up as their faces and names appeared on the screens and rearranged themselves.

  “The four of you retrieved the suit of hearts. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CFVY, led by Coco Adel.”