RWBY: Team HELL

Chapter 3: The Safe Haven

Lucio sat anxiously in the grand hall of the prestigious academy, awaiting the arrival of his new friend and- possibly-his future teammate. She sounded so sure on the phone that she would be there, but considering how Cassum reacted to the mere idea of her entering Haven Academy sent him into cardiac arrest. Maybe he caught her before she left and grounded her for the rest of eternity.

Or maybe she changed her mind last second and didn't tell him because she was too embarrassed or ashamed to tell him.

No. No. She was so excited to be given the opportunity to come. Harlow made sure she had a spot at initiation, Headmaster Lionheart would be expecting her to be there. If she didn't show, then Harlow would kill him.

"She's coming...she's going to show up." He mumbled to himself.

"Who's coming? Your sister? Mom?"

Lucio jumped at the sudden voice. Sitting beside him was a white haired fanus girl with a big, bushy purple stripped tail. She was grinning widely. "Lemme guess? Girlfriend coming to watch her man win a spot at Haven? How cute!"

"Uh, no. A friend of mine who's enrolling is coming. At least-she should be, " Lucio narrowed his eyes, "do I...know you from somewhere?"

She shrugged, still smiling. "I dunno, but know that you mention it, you look familiar too. You go to Sanctum?"

"Yeah, I-" Lucio's eyes widened, turning back to the girl in surprise, "aren't you the girl that tagged the entire left side of the school?"

She threw her head back, howling with laughter. "Y-yeah! That-Pfft! That was the best! Haha!"

"I can't believe you actually did that! All in one night for that matter!"

She chuckled. "Yeah, it's fucking hilarious! You shoulda seen the headmaster's face!"

Lucio shook his head in confusion. "Wait a minute, how are you here? How did you make it in? You're in the same year as me and they should've suspended you." He said, moving closer to her.

"Well, let's just say The Cowardly Little LionHeart offered me a deal to keep my out of juvie for destruction of property and assault of many, many police officers."

Lucio shook his head as the girl started laughing again, walking away from him as the staff prepared from Headmaster Lionheart's speech to the new students. He was surprised that so many people were here, considering what happened at Beacon just three months ago.

The Vytal festival was an absolute disaster, and the Fall of Beacon was just a travesty. An event that Lucio had the misfortune of seeing and doing nothing about it. So many dead students...so many dead people...

He was pretty sure-along with everyone else-that no one would want to send their child to die under the negligent eye of the academy's notoriously cowardly headmaster.

But, here he was, in a room of around four hundred people, ready to spend the next four years training to fight monsters.

Fighting monsters, not people. That's how it should be.

The sound of the microphone's feedback brought him out of his troubling thoughts. The students gathered together staring up at the balcony, Lucio joining them in their watching. He caught Harlow's attention, waving at him with a big smile. Harlow simply nodded back. He stepped up to the Mic, checking it again. "Alright, everyone. Quiet down." He said in his monotone voice.

"Geez, what's up with him?"

"Is he half asleep or something?"

Lucio chuckled. 'good ol' Harlow. Always gettimg the crowd going one way or another.'

"I would like to present your headmaster this day forward, Head Master Leonard Lionheart."

The crowd clapped as the grisled man stepped away from the podium and out came Haven's headmaster for about 20 years. Leo Lionheart was a known wuss, to say the least. He was the headmaster who was supposedly afraid of his own shadow. A lot of people didn't like him because of his cowardly nature-not to mention he was a faunus in Mistral, a place that didn't exactly favor the faunus all that much. His scaredy cat nature came to light when the feedback from the mic made him jump in fear, almost falling over.

There was a collective groan from the audience as he quickly composed himself. "A-ahem! Ah...Greetings everyone. I would like to take a moment to thank you all for being here, what with the incident at Beacon mere months ago. Not many people are willing to take up the mantle of a huntsmen, so it is with great appreciation that I welcome you to Haven Academy."

The audience clapped, but not everyone seemed so happy to be there.

"I won't keep you here long. Instead of waiting, this year we will be holding initiation today rather than tomorrow morning, so I do hope you all cane prepared. Professor Clemente and the others will asscort you to the lockers to store your other items and then they will take you over to a very remote location where you will be tested on your skills and strategy. There, we will be monitoring you from a distance to see what you can really do."

Lucio's chest tightened. He was usually so confident of his skills, but this wasn't like Sanctum. He couldn't just do fancy tricks and crack jokes. He had to prove to them that he belonged at Haven-that he was ready to take on the mantle of a huntsmen.

He was ready.

"I won't keep you any longer. Professor Clemente and Professor White will escort you to the locker area. You have ten minutes to get your things together. Thank you and good luck."

The crowd clapped, quickly filing out of the hall and across the courtyard, heading off to prepare for the journey ahead.

"Harlow, wait!"

Harlow stopped halfway down the steps at the sound of the cowardly headmaster's voice.

"What is it?" He asked, stepping up a bit.

"The silver eyed girl, is she here? Did you see her?" He asked, somewhat distressed.

The grisled man shook his head. "Not yet. Lucio said she would be here, and he's not one to exaggerate or lie."

Lionheart nodded, still uneasy. "You have a point. I'll take your word for it."

"Don't worry too much. Once we get her settled in, we can teach her how to use her powers. We can gain the upper hand."

That got Lionheart to smile, reassured of their plan.
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Luico sighed as he sat himself down on a bench.

She wasn't coming.

He hadn't seen her in the hall, she didn't appear during the speech.

She wasn't coming and Harlow was going to kick his ass for leading him on to false hope. Although, he wasn't so sure why him and the headmaster were so dead set on getting Aurora to join Haven.

'Are you sure she's coming?' He had asked, pushing for a straight and quick answer.

' She told me herself. Well, she texted me. Why? Is something up?' The young man questioned.

Harlow didn't answer. He just shook his head and walked back upstairs, as of it wasn't important.

Oh boy, he was screwed once Harlow got a hold of him.

"I shouldn't have gotten so worked up. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up, now-"

"Lucio?"

His head perked up and his eyes widened. Standing there, in a very awkward stance was his guest of honor.

"Hey! You actually came!" He shot up and enveloped her in a big hug. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"

Aurora gently pushed him away, sighing. "It's a bit of a long story...do you mind showing me how to open this locker?"

Lucio smiled. "Yeah. And you can tell me that story while you're at it."