From The Elder Tree

Part 1:
''The tale of Dust - how humanity has found and used it to combat against the creatures of Grimm, is something that everyone and their newborn children has known about. But, I’m not here to teach about history, I’m here to tell you a story.''

You see, there are a lot of stories and tales of how humanity found Dust: In Mistral we have the tale of the dragon, in Atlas there’s the myth of the alchemist, while the legend of the World Tree is rather popular in Vale and Vacuo. However, my favorite one is the story about the Dust fairy...

---

The ever soft and gentle glow of the moonlight graced the red forest beneath the sky, illuminated its crimson leaves as they rustled with a breeze.

Another gust blew pass by, taking the old leaves with it - scattering the seeds of a small dandelion just right beneath the large tree.

Carried away from where it grew up, the tiny seeds gently floated to somewhere new, where they will begin a new circle...

"Over here!"

The almost quiet sound of leaves rustling was replaced by the sound of heavy footsteps echoing throughout the forest as a group of men raced down a narrow path.

They all seemed completely out of breath and exhausted, yet continued to race through Forever Fall as fast as their legs allowed them to.

A church soon appeared to their sight from behind the tree, standing still under the moonlight. The building was completely abandoned, with torn ceiling and debris scattered all around it.

The group of men exchanged glances with each other, before their weapon was drew out as they slowly approached it.

Inside, the church was just as torn up as it was outside, with broken pieces of what used to be chairs lying on the floor. A lone podium remained standing at the other end of the building, its marble texture glittered under the moonlight - making it seemingly glowed and brighten up the entire church. A single dandelion seed made its way through the open roof, floating down gently before it eventually landed on top of a young girl with long red hair...

---

The young girl squinted at the ray of sunshine slipped through the small crack between curtains, before she blinked a couple of times to adjust to it. Her bright blue eyes slowly darted to the side, trying to focus on what has just woken her up...

"..."

Surprised and confused was how she felt, however, the redhead girl decided to push herself up from the bed she was lying on - the soft blanket slipped down to the side as she did. The floor was cold to her bare feet, but it helped bringing her to her senses and chased away the drowsiness that linger still. The room she was in was almost empty, saved for the bed and a set of table and chair in the middle of the room: It was painted in white, with the blue curtain covering the only window in it.

"...Hello ?"

Her question was answered with the soft sound of bells chiming coming from a corner: Turned her attention to the source, the young girl spotted the leather corset resting against the wall - the pair of wings attached to it seemingly glittered as light bounced on it. A small smile crossed her lips as she knelt down in front of it, fingers brushing lightly on the rough surface before she picked it up. The familiar weight of the corset was comforting, and the young girl felt at peace after putting it back around her waist - golden ribbon tied into a small bow to secure it.

''Memories of what happened poured back to the girl : The cold air, the panic and screams, a blinding light... Everything was chaotic, everyone was all over the place - be it running to cover or fighting back against the giant Grimms swarming on the airship. She remembered a tight grip on her wrist, followed by a loud explosion not too far away...''

''Just promise me... That you will always keep them, no, keep me by your side...''

"Where's..." The redhead girl turned to see another object just right beside her: A small bracelet, decorated with lace and chains with colorful crystals around it. The bracelet was almost weightless inside the palms of her hands, but at the same time, she felt like something large had just crushed her. Exhaled slowly, she slipped the piece of jewelry around her wrist - watching it as the crystals glowed gently...

Part 2:
"...Ah." The knob turned with a single click, before the white door turned open in front of the young girl. Gulped nervously, she held her hands closely to her chest - thumbs twiddled unconsciously when she stepped outside. The hallway was empty and without a sound saved for her own footsteps didn't help ease the girl's mind even for a little bit, but she continued to make her way through it toward the large door at the opposite end - cautionally glanced from side to side.

The door to outside was much heavier - she noted. It took her a while to struggle and open it, but the young girl was reward with an amazing view of the beautiful courtyard before her: The warm light danced across her skin, tickled her nose with the tiny specks of dust sparkling with the golden beam. A small butterfly fluttered by, its colorful wings flapped gently as the small creature made its way past her - although it flew away as the girl was about to touch it. Turning her gaze away, the redhead girl looked over to the path down in front of to her: From where she was standing, the girl could see a large fountain, with a stone statue in the central of it. The dark material reflected the golden ray, giving the statue a soft glow to it - as well as mesmerized the young girl...

"Welcome to Beacon Academy."

The calm, yet out-of-nowhere welcome startled her, and the girl spun on her heels in a defensive manner with a small gasp: A enormous wall of ice appeared, blocking between her and the stranger before the girl could even register what was going on. Turned down to her hands, the redhead girl noticed one of the crystal on her bracelet was glowing rather brightly, its color slowly vanished from the material before the chunk of crystal turned completely transparent.

"Ahh... I'm s-so sorry! I didn't mean to..." The pair of wings fluttered weakly behind her, but soon spreaded out - allowing her to take off in the air and flew around the ice wall. There she saw a lone man, dressed in dark green suit with a cane by his side:  His grey hair told her that he was a man of age, and his expression was a mixed one to the girl: The man remained unfazed at the wall of ice, yet the way his eyes narrowed behind his glasses as he looked at her told her that the man found her presence rather... interesting.

"I trust that you had a good rest ?" Asked the adult male, resting both hands on top of his cane.

"I... think so ?" Her reply came out as a mere whisper, and it earned a chuckle from him. The man gestured her to come closer with a wave of his hand - and she returned his gesture by gently floated down in front of him, placing her own hand on his as the girl landed down on her feet.

"Let's see..." His thumb lightly pressed on the back of her hand as the man gently turned it over, carefully observe the bracelet she was wearing. His gaze was fixed upon the transparent piece of crystal for a moment, before he looked at the young girl again, "What's your name, young one ?"

"I... um... C-Crystal..." Raised an eyebrow at her reply, the old man gently let go of her hand, "C-Crystal Nelde..." The wall of ice behind them shattered with a large crack, sending forth a chilly wind at every directions around it when the small pieces of ice landed on the ground. However, to him, the ice wall breaking down was the least of his problem: The man was more interested in the cuff around her wrist, or rather, the transparent piece of gem on it.

"Interesting." Crystal perked up at his comment, a bit confused of what he meant by that. However, before she could ask him any more questions, the man already answered one of it, "You seem to have quite a talent with Dust for someone your age, miss Nelde. Being able to fully exhausted Dust like that takes years of practice, and there aren't many people of your age capable of such feats - as far as I'm aware of..."

---

"Ah... Thank you..." She could feel her cheek flushed red at his compliment: It was unusual for her to receive kind words from another person before, let alone an adult...

No one has ever talked to me this much before, except for...

"Ah!" The thought hit her like a train, and Crystal looked up to the man - both her hands curled up into tight fists in front of her chest, "Mister, I came here on airship but there was..."

"I've received the report about it." His hand was already placed on her shoulder to calm the girl down, before he continued, "There was a Grimm attack that led to the ship being crashed not too far away. So far you're the only survivor found."

It hit her like a running train. However, Crystal could only exhale sharply at his words and looked down to her feet: She couldn't remember much when it crashed, but if she somehow survived it, why hasn't anyone else was found ? I can't just be here and do nothing...!

"Crystal." He gave her shoulder a light squeeze, snapping her out of her thoughts, "You are not fully recovered, and Forever Fall isn't a place for you to wander on your own."

"But I..." She protested, only to be cut off by him again.

"Miss Nelde, you are in no condition to go anywhere, both physically and mentally. If you leave now, chances are you will fall prey to the Grimm before you could make it there." His words only further depressed her, but the girl made no attempt to pull away from his grip, "However, you're more than welcome to stay here for as long as you wish, until you are completely back on your toe."

And with that, he let go of her shoulder and turned away from Crystal - heading back to the building beside them. However, just as the old man was about to open the door, he turned to look at her.

"And if you truly want to do something about it, Beacon Academy is the perfect place for you to begin. My name is Ozpin, and I'm the headmaster of the school."

Epilogue (This one for the end v1)
The gentle waves crashed into the golden sand one by one, white foam gently sweeping over the surface and claimed the seashells with it as it returned to the ocean. A gentle breeze made its way past by, lightly messed up a woman's scarlet locks as she looked at the towering tree from afar:

The bright moonlight danced onto of the leaves, seeping through the small gap and bounced off the reflective surface of the large chunks of crystal around the tree. Their glow soon became brighter and brighter, eventually bathed their surrounding in a blinding white light, before they exploded all at once...