Prelude to Order: Shadows

Trailer 2 of 4 for Order of Seasons

Blake Belladonna stood in the rafters of a warehouse in the outskirts of a town on the island of Patch. She looked down and saw Adam Taurus, her old friend and partner. After the Cinder Fall incident, nobody was exactly sure what happened to the White Fang and its higher ups, but it was clear now. They may have lost numbers, but they still had their most powerful members. Observing the situation, she noticed that they were starting to move some of their leftover crates of Dust from when they worked with Roman Torchwick to transportation modules. She moved across the rafters towards one of the nearby entrances. Preparing her blade, she was about to jump down to start fighting whoever she could while placing the charges.  When all of a sudden, on the far side of the warehouse, an explosion opened up a hole in the side of the building, sending several White Fang members flying. Then, out of the smoke screen walked two men. One wore a flowing open black trench coat, hands behind his back, and had a smirk on his face. The second wore a red jacket with brown pants and a combat vest beneath the coat. He held aloft a giant bazooka, but it started morphing into a giant Great Sword. They started walking straight into the warehouse. The White Fang members rushed towards them, and started firing their guns. Then the one with the giant sword raised his arm upwards and started blocking all the bullets at a great speed, and they all fell harmlessly to the ground.

            “Ty my friend,” the one in the black coat spoke up, “go say hello.” Ty smiled, then started hacking and slashing through every single person in his way. Then, all of a sudden, somebody managed to get a bullet on him, and then everybody started blasting him in a circle, enough to kill a man many times over. But as the smoke cleared, Ty stood up with a noticeable amount of aura surrounding him. And he didn’t have a scratch on him. 

“Is that it?” At that point, all the enemies in that vicinity started backing up.  “My turn.” Ty then took his sword and morphed it into a bazooka. He then immediately started blowing up the immediate area. During the chaos, the one in the coat started walking towards Adam. 

 “Adam Taurus. Last standing known leader of the White Fang. Under the will of the people of Remnant, I will see you destroyed.” While saying this, he drew two swords from their sheaths. One was as white as the sun, and the other as black as darkness. Adam simply laughed and snapped his fingers. Almost instantly, another White Fang member appeared out of nowhere, this member sporting a Lion’s tail.

            “Leo, deal with this fool. I will prepare for the transportation of the Dust.”

            “Of course master.” The young Leo said with a sick smile on his face. He lunged forward, having drawn his weapon of choice, a pair of aura knives that he wore like brass knuckles. Moving quickly, he attempted to take out his enemy with quick motions, but his opponent was moving even faster. With a swing of his left hand, he blocked both knives in the air, then with a twirl around his enemy, he sliced his leg so that he fell right down. Leo grasped his leg in pain, he could still walk, but it would hurt for a few weeks. Adam during this time had started taking a service elevator up towards some of the airships on a different level. Then something landed behind him. He turned to see what it was, and had to duck almost instantly as a swinging katana blade had almost taken his head off.

            “Good to see you, Blake.”

            “Wish I could return the sentiment.” Blake responded as she grabbed her sheath and started using her style of dual wield. The two of them clashed on the small elevator platform, then Blake decided to move to a more open space and jumped up to the second floor. Adam followed in suit, continuing their clash for several more blows. Then, all of a sudden, Adam managed to sneak in a shot at Blake with his gun sheath, knocking her off the ledge. She activated the grappling hook part of her sword, and latched to the side. She was about to launch herself back up, when something rushed past her. Looking up, she saw the stranger in the black coat running up the side of the wall with no Dust or equipment to help him. He was just simply running up the side of the wall like it was the normal ground beneath his feet. He got up to the second floor, and began to “fall” from the side of the wall. It was as if when he reached the top of the wall, he fell off like it was a cliff. He then proceeded to dropkick a surprised Adam, which he followed by flipping back to standing upright as if nothing changed. Adam was about to continue his fight with his new opponent, but Blake jumped up to the side of the man in the coat, leaving Adam outnumbered.

            “Well then, as much as I’d love to stay and chat, I’m afraid that this ends here.” He then grabbed his sheath gun, and managed to blast a hole in the ceiling, which in turn caused several Dust containers to start falling to the ground. Adam jumped down, collected Leo, and made his escape into the dark night. Blake turned to run, but then noticed that her new ally was doing something strange. He had his eyes closed, and his arms pointed outwards, two fingers on each hand pointing at the dust containers as if he was trying to focus in on them. Then, all of a sudden, the Dust containers stopped falling down, and began falling sideways. As they hit the wall, they began exploding. Several pieces of shrapnel started flying towards the opposite direction, one of the larger pieces started flying towards Ty. Blake was about to shout a warning to him, but the shrapnel hit him square in the head. As the dust cloud cleared, all that remained was debris, destroyed Dust containers, and a very much more annoyed than hurt Ty.

            “Seriously dude? A little warning next time maybe?” Ty yelled out. Then he saw his friend on his knees, clasping his head. He quickly jumped up to the second floor.

            “What’s wrong with him?” asked Blake.

            “It’s his semblance. He has the ability to manipulate the gravitational pull of himself and objects if he so wishes. He can do it on himself with ease as long as he remains focused for a period of time, but when he uses it on other objects, it strains his body. Use it too much or for too long, he could knock himself out or cause damage to his internal organs.”

            “What? What kind of semblance is that?”

            “It’s one that like most, matches a personality.” The cloaked person said a bit wearily. “I am a man who is able to control my body and emotions, but when I try to control or command things outside my boundaries, then I end up hurting myself. In short, I reach outside my comfort zone, and I fall to pieces.”

            “That’s horrible.” Blake said helping him up. He brushed himself a few times, and seemed to be right back to normal as if nothing happened.

            “I must thank you for your help miss…?"

            “Belladonna. Blake Belladonna.”

            “A pleasure Miss Belladonna. My name is Miles Watson. And this is my friend, Ty “Dante” Boyer.”

            “Dante?”

            “Nickname. Don’t ask.”

            “Well, it’s nice to meet you both. If you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you two do? Are you students at an academy somewhere? Or are you already full fledged Huntsmen?”

            “Ha! That’s a good one!” Ty laughed.

            “We are more vigilantes then official lawmen Miss Belladonna." Miles said as he walked towards Blake.  "Doing what we can in order to protect those who can’t protect themselves."

            “Okay…. that’s literally the definition of a Huntsman or Huntress.”

            “That may be so, however, as we operate outside the law, we are able to move much more freely. Without being bound by the government and without being held back by headmasters or officials, we are able to do what needs to be done quickly and efficiently. So forgive me for saying so Miss Belladonna, but what you do, assuming you are an official Huntress, is not enough. One must take actions into their own hands if they wish to truly make a difference. So for now, I bid you good day. Let’s go Ty.” They turned to go out the entrance they made, but then Miles felt a hand on his shoulder.

            “You know, I once thought like you did. You see, I was once a member of the White Fang myself.” Miles turned around shocked at this revelation. Blake then proceeded to remove her black bow, revealing a pair of cat ears. “I was born into that life, and I believed that all I was doing was helping my people. But when they turned to violence, I believed that I needed to do what I could outside the law. I felt I was already a criminal, so why not play the part, but instead make a difference? But then I realized, I couldn’t do this alone. I couldn’t hide in the shadows, so I decided to become a Huntress, and do what I could to help the world in the light.”

            “You say that Miss Belladonna, but you still operate within the shadows even now. You hide your true self behind an article of clothing. I saw a piece of your fight with Taurus. Your semblance is that of an after image. Something that takes the hit while you hide and prepare for the next step. A most remarkable ability. And yet you treat it as a burden. Why?”

            “It’s not a burden. It’s more of a tool. I’ve learned to walk the path between light and shadow. With my abilities and past creating my shadow, but the light of my friends keeping me alive.”

            “The twilit road to nightfall. That is a road that many have tried to take, and failed to stay on. I have delved in that realm before, and things did not work. I will do what I do best, and stay in shadow.”

            “Let me prove you wrong.”

            “What?”

            “Enroll at Beacon Academy. Become an official Huntsman. Don’t walk the road to twilight. That’s not what I do. I walk the road to dawn. And I know that as a Huntress, I will always do what is the most honorable.”

            “Then hold onto that honor Miss Belladonna. It is not something that many who walk that path still have. As for me, I have lost that honor long ago. This is my life now.”

            “I said let me prove you wrong didn’t I? Go to Beacon, and if you find a new path, then it’s proof you haven’t lost your honor. If you prove me wrong, I will officially quit being a Huntress and join you and your friend as a vigilante. Just please, give this a chance.” Miles thought for a second, and then turned to her.

            “No deal.” He turned to leave and then saw Ty standing right in front of him.

            “I say take the offer.” Ty said not budging.

            “And who said this was your call?”

            “You may be the by default leader of this dynamic duo, but I still have a say in this. First off, I think it’s a great opportunity. It gives us a chance to actually do something legal for once, and it also is an opportunity to prove to the world that we are superior then the next generation of Huntsmen. Also, I’m sick of camping and staying in sooty hotels. I think this is our best chance to get some better housing and some better meals.”

            “It’s always about the first world problems with you isn’t it Dante?”

            “Says the guy who literally said on the way here that he hoped the White Fang had some decent food as opposed to the garbage of a casino.” Miles winced a little bit as Blake failed to stifle a laugh behind them. Clearly embarrassed and upset, he turned to Blake once again.

            “All right then, what do we need to do Miss Belladonna?”

            “Well first, you can drop the Miss and just call me Blake. And second, come with me. I can get you two the official enrollment papers and make a sparkling recommendation for you two to Professor Ozpin. Then, you just have to survive initiation.”

            “That’s it? Fine. We’ll get through this easy.”

            “And then you have to join a four member team with three people who might end up annoying you for at least a year.”

            “Already have experience with that last one, don’t I Ty?”

            “HEY! AT LEAST I’M NOT THE ONE GETTING OWNED BY SOME CAT GIRL!”

            “YOU HELPED HER WITH THAT LAST ONE!” Blake laughed some more as Ty and Miles continued to squabble.

 

 

 

A Fallen Hero in Darkness

A Former Criminal now Enlightened

A Demon Slayer who goes with the Flow

Three working in Shadows

Stand now in the Light

But what is left for those

Who believe they have lost all Hope?

Author's Note

Please Review and Enjoy!

Reviews

[Shep]

what a way to lighten the mood with this chapter. this chapter was very delightful and very insightful. Nicely done and well worth the read. Please be kind and return the love.