The Serpents' Shadows

Chapter 2

ACRONIAN:

The next morning moved extremely quickly, Acronian had woken up promply at 6:30 and waited for the man to wake up and take him to Beacon. It was almost an hour before the old man had gotten up and came downstairs to see Acronian meditating, trying to recall memories.

Both their stomachs rumbled at the same time, "I think that's a sign," said Acronian, "That our stomachs require assistance." And they both laughed. Breakfast was a simple egg and toast breakfast, Acronian had said he didn't want anything fancy. Once the two were finished they left the house and got into a truck that was in the driveway. And sped off to begin Acronian's adventure. An hour of driving past and they could begin to see a very tall, very pointy structure on top of a hill, or was it a mountain?

Acronian pointed to the structure, "That it?" He asked.

The man nodded, "Yes, and I can only take you to the city outside of the academy, after that you are on your own." He told him, "But if you do make it there, which I have no doubts you will, ask to speak to Professor Ozpin. He's the headmaster and he can make the arrangements for your admission since they stopped taking them about a week or two ago. Just, be polite in front of him, wouldn't want to make a bad impression. And keep those bandages on, the people here can be pretty prejudiced towards Faunus sometimes." Acronian nodded his head in understanding. The rest of the drive was in silence.

The city near the Academy was huge, Acronian thought it was familiar. A memory was lodged in his head somewhere about this place, he just had to find it. He thought that if he could find a trigger, like with his swords, he could remember why and when he was here.

The man dropped Acronian at an intersection with directions to Beacon, and he became instantly confused, 'What's a Shamen street?' He thought to himself. He was still thinking hard about the directions when someone tapped his shoulder. Some reflex in Acronian's muscle memory identified it as a danger, and he drew a sword as he grabbed the hand touching him and flipped the unknown person to the ground. His sword pointed at the stranger's face.

"Ow ow ow ow! That hurt!" Came the sound of a small female voice. Acronian regained control of his actions and put his sword away.

He was terribly embarrassed, "Sorry, instincts." He said quietly. He just hurt a girl, and a cute one at that. She was still rubbing her back in pain, she had a dark blue hair color that flowed down to her mid back. She had a thin-ish, not-tanned-but-not-white body covered by a white short cut jacket, black shirt, incredibly dark red pants pants, and a pair of high heel black boots. Pink eyes stared back up at Acronian with curiosity, and pain.

Acronian backed away slowly, people were staring. He reached out a hand and lifted her up when she accepted it. "Sorry..." He said again, still shying away. He didn't think he'd be having to actually talk to people.

The girl reached out a hand and grabbed him again, "Wait," She said, "Are you lost?"

Acronian nodded, still looking away, "Do you know where you're heading?" She asked.

"Beacon," Acronian responded softly, he felt like talking less and less to this mysterious girl, "I was told to talk to a professor Ozpin."

"No need to be a shy guy, I'm actually starting up there next school year. So if you want to talk to the headmaster, I can try and get you there." She held out a greeting hand, "My name's Safire Shor, that's s-a-f-i-r-e-s-h-o-r, not the other way."

Acronian didn't really get a comfortable feeling around her, but he decided that since she was offering him a hand he should take it. At least he didn't have to decipher the list of names the man left him. "Acronian, Acronian Valor." He said when he shook her hand.

Once they were done Safire went and grabbed an umbrella that she must have dropped when Acronian flipped her, "Okay, let's go." Safire said with a smile and started skipping down the street almost in the opposite direction of the academy.

"Uhh," Acronian spoke out loud, "Isn't Beacon that way?" He shrugged and started walking after the blue haired girl. The duo found their way through the maze of streets while Safire talked and gossiped. Acronian just got stares, he was still dressed pretty much in bandages.

"Is everywhere like this?" Acronian asked, interrupting Safire's current talk on how much she liked her pet bunny back at home.

"Huh," She asked, "What do you mean?"

"Don't you see it, everyone's looking at me." His hands were clenched from discomfort.

Safire gave him a laugh, "Silly boy, look at what you're wearing, they're used to battle ready armors, not bandages. That's why they're looking at you, if you wanted incognito status, you should've dressed appropriately."

Acronian mumbled to himself, "I don't have any other clothes."

"What was that?"

"Nothing." They continued on they're way, fifteen minutes later they arrived at an incredibly large landing platform. Airships were everywhere, some were landing, others taking off, and some were being offloaded and loaded, exited and boarded, people were everywhere going about their business.

Safire signaled for Aconian to follow her, and they walked to one of the airships that wasn't doing anything. Safire got in and called out to no one in particular, "Pilot! Take us to Beacon." She flashed a card on a scanner on a wall, and the engine started up.

"Hurry up Acronian! Don't want to miss you're first time to Beacon!" Acronian nodded and jumped up to the rising aircraft. They flew the rest of the way in silence, a stark contrast to the Safire he just met. Acronian sat to her right, so he didn't think she'd seen his eye yet, 'She'll figure it out.' He thought to himself, she was capable of getting him to Beacon.

They landed just a minute later and Safire waved to the pilot, he waved back and took off again, leaving them in a large circular courtyard/landing platform.

"Come on this way, Ozpin is in the center tower, at the top but don't worry, there's an elevator so you don't have to walk, well I mean you CAN walk but I wouldn't recommend it." She continued on as her bubbly self while they walked and Acronian looked around, the place was amazing. Large towers, grand arches, vibrant courtyards, everything was on a massive scale. They walked into a building at the base of the center most tower, it was a lobby.

Safire walked to one of the desks, "Can I help you miss?" Came the chirpy voice of a female holographic receptionist.

"Yes, I have a friend would like to see professor Ozpin please. Is he in?" Safire asked.

The receptionist paused for a moment, "He is in, but he would like to know the reason for wanting to see him."

"It's for enrollment, but it's a little more complicated than that. The headmaster needs to hear this for himself." Safire turns toward Acronian, who is still in the back, near the shadows, "He's got a bit of an amnesia problem."

The receptionist paused again, "He says you may enter, but only your friend."

Safire knew that there was usually no way around Ozpin's words, so although disappointed, directed Acronian to the elevator.

"Good luck." Safire said as the door was closing.

A/N: I know so far it's a bit slow so far but I promise I'll try and get some action into the next chapter.