Initiation Part 2

"So that's the temple," Rindel wondered aloud. It had taken him a little while to find the place as Ursas, Beowolves, and even an alpha or two crossed paths with him. None lasted very long and each never managed to touch him once. Along the way, he never encountered anyone, so he was still partnerless. Not that he minded, as Ozpin probably already planned this out.

The temple was quite small, with pillars surrounding walls fallen to disrepair. Vines and wildlife grew along the stones, claiming it as its own. Rindel frowned slightly when he saw what the relics were. Stood in a semicircle, were chess pieces of both white and black. Some were already gone, leaving behind empty pedestals.

Walking towards the pedestals, he looked over the remaining pieces. Knights, rooks, a king, and a pawn. Lightly picking up the black pawn, he narrowed his eyes as he recalled past memories.

"YOU'RE NOTHING MORE THAN A PAWN MEANT TO SERVE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!"

His grip tightened for a moment before relaxing and placing it back down. Choosing the black king instead, he pocketed it and returned back to the trees. Seeing as there were a few more pieces to collect and he had plenty of time to spare, Rindel decided to stick around and see who else would finish the initiation. Sitting up in the branches, he waited.

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"...What is he doing?" Glynda asked slightly annoyed as she watched Rindel casually relax in the tree.

"It seems Mister White has taken an interest in who will be joining him in completing the initiation," Ozpin replied, watching the monitor in his hands. "Seems as if the last pair has been formed. Though Ms. Schnee looks less than enthused about her partner."

"That's an understatement. Based on her background and desire to be the most elite, I don't believe she would be happy being anyone's partner, let alone Ms. Rose," Glynda responded with arms crossed. "For being average in nearly all subjects, Mister White has an impressive sense of direction and ability to reach the relics so soon," Glynda stated, hoping to provoke suspicion in Ozpin.

"Oh no, that's not it Glynda. Mister White already knew where the temple was," Ozpin replied while sipping from his mug.

"What to do you mean?"

Continuing to sip his mug, he said, "Did you notice that when launched, he scanned the forest briefly before focusing on landing? He even steered his body in a specific direction to best provide him a means to reach the relics."

Pausing to think for a moment, she responded, "So, you believe he thought of this plan in the few moments after you explained the rules of initiation?"

"Without a doubt," the headmaster said.

"Still, why would he want to see who else passes initiation?" Glynda stated while narrowing her eyes at the screen. Rindel was sitting with his back against the tree, completely still and relaxed. What caught her attention though was the fact that the Grimm weren't attracted to him in any way.

"Perhaps he is curious," he stated, watching the movements of all the students.

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It was only a few moments before two people began entering the ruins. Both were familiar, gaining his attention. He observed the blonde lilac-eyed girl and the one with a bow pick up the white knight pieces. "It seems like Blake and Yang made it. I wonder where the others are." he thought to himself.

That's when everything became chaos.

It started with a loud girly scream that echoed from above. Glancing towards the sky, a giant Nevermore flew with Ruby and Weiss hanging on by the talon.

"How in the world…" The thought was interrupted when Ruby suddenly let go and began plummeting through the sky. Rindel didn't know whether she was being stupid or brave. All he knew was she was going to fall headfirst if something didn't happen

Should he intervene? Tensing up in preparation, he watched to see if anything would happen. By happenstance, Jaune flew from out of nowhere, knocking into Ruby, resulting in both of them crashing into a nearby tree.

Before he could relax, the roar of a Grimm bellowed from the forest. A large Ursa came crashing into the scene, with Nora riding it like it was some kind of bull. The massive Grimm literally perished from exhaustion from the looks of it. "What is happening?!" he thought.

Next, a rumble signaled the chase of a Deathstalker. A red-head was running with a scorpion Grimm on her tail. Trees fell from the Deathstalker's strikes as the girl evaded with grace.

Unable to handle the chaos surrounding her, Yang's eyes flashed red with anger as she shouted, "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just CHILL out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"

Ruby couldn't hold to that promise as she tugged on her sister's sleeve and pointed up towards the sky. "Umm… Yang?"

Looking to where Ruby was pointing, Rindel saw Weiss still hanging onto the talon of the Nevermore.

Weiss yelled from above, "How could you leave me?!"

"I said jump!" Ruby responded

"She's gonna fall," said Blake in monotone.

"She'll be fine," Ruby assured her.

"She's falling," Ren chimed in.

"Time for me to intervene I suppose," Rindel thought. Making his way to the top of the tree, he crouched and jumped, intercepting Weiss midfall. All the others could see was a blur as he saved Weiss.

"Are you fine," Rindel asked Weiss.

"Rindel? Where did you come from?" Weiss responded.

"I just happened to be nearby looking for the relics when I noticed you falling from the sky. I decided catching you would be preferable to you crash landing," he explained.

"Oh... Um, c-can you put me down now?" Weiss hid a blush noticing that he was still holding her.

"Sorry about that," he said while putting her down.

"Rindel?" Everyone said save Weiss.

"Glad to see you guys are alright," he responded.

"Wait, where's your partner?" Yang pointed out.

"Oh, I don't have one. I couldn't find one on my way here. But that doesn't really matter as there is a Deathstalker coming towards us."

The red-head finally reached them, diving in front of them to avoid the scorpion's claws. The Deathstalker closed in, only a few meters away from them.

"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang said sarcastically.

"Not if I can help it!" sounding a battle cry, Ruby rushed off in a burst of petals, charging at the Grimm with reckless abandon.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang cautioned.

Ignoring her sister, Ruby fired Crescent Rose, meeting head-on with the Deathstalker. Ruby tried to slash at the scorpion only to be knocked back with its bone plated claws.

"D-do-don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby assured as she got up slowly. Turning back to the Deathstalker again, she shoots it in the school with a round of dust bullets. Seeing as no damage was taken, she started to run off, only for the Nevermore to pin her down with sharpened feathers.

"Ruby! Get out of there!" Yang panicked as she tried to run to her sister's aid but was forced to stop as the Nevermore's feathers blocked her path.

Struggling in vain to free herself, she yelled, "I'm trying!" As she pulled harder to get the feather off her cloak, the Deathstalker crept up and raised its glowing stinger. Ruby closed her eyes, raising her arms helplessly in an attempt to shield her from what was to come.

"Ruby!"

Two blurs of white race past Yang and reached the stinger just as the stinger was about to pierce Ruby. Ruby first heard the sound of metal clashing against something before feeling the cold of ice.

"You are SO childish!" Weiss said.

Opening her eyes, Ruby noticed a sword blocking the stinger encased in ice. Lowering her arms, she stared at her saviors.

"Weiss…?" she said.

Continuing to reprimand her, Weiss said, "And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit… difficult… but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be… nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby said.

"You're fine," Weiss said while walking away.

"Are you two fine?" said a voice next to them. Both of them turned to see Rindel with his Lost Requiem covered in ice, blocking the Grimm's golden stinger.

"Rindel?" they both said.

"What? I didn't even see you. How did you get here so fast?" Weiss asked in surprise. How could she have not seen him when he blocked the stinger?

With an expressionless face, he replied, "I just ran to help Ruby when I saw the Death Stalker attacking her. Though, it looks like you did just fine on your own," not caring that his hand was completely frozen in Weiss's ice.

"How did he block that? When I used Crescent Rose I barely stopped it from tearing me in half," Ruby wondered.

Still trapped by the ice, Rindel asked, "If you don't mind, could you unfreeze my hand please."

Weiss hurriedly melted the ice, freeing Rindel while saying, "Y-yeah. Give me a moment."

Yang rushed to Ruby and gave a bone-crushing hug. "I'm so happy you're okay!"

Breaking their moment, Jaune said, "Guys That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?"

"There's no need to fight them. The objective was to collect a relic and return back to the Cliffs," Rindel answered calmly.

"Run and live, that's an idea I can get behind!" Jaune said.

Ruby went over to the temple and picked up a gold knight identical to the one Yang picked out while Jaune chose the gold rook.

Ren called out to the group in warning, "It's time we left." The Death Stalker was close to freeing itself, cracking the ice that held him.

"Right. Let's go!" Ruby said, leading everyone forward with the Nevermore flying above. Rindel remained behind for a bit, thinking, "Well this will be interesting," before joining the group.

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A/N: Updated and revised a few things. Been busy with moving this week. Had a chapter already written so I thought I would post it.

Thanks for reading!