I'd like to welcome the new readers and old alike to a Fan-Fiction epic in the making. This is the story of an OC based team that is attending Beacon roughly 20 years after the fall. This story diverts after the end of Volume 3, the actual writing began in the middle of Volume 4 and is yet ongoing. I hope you enjoy the story and lore that OrganoidZero and I have dreamed up.

Side Note: This is a trailer for the main character Neela (Jaeger) Xiao Long. We had already written a chapter or so and a concept for a later chapter when I asked by cocreator if we should do trailers for each character. Both of us agreed that it would be a cool thing to do, and I think they turned out pretty well, especially when you consider that I wanted to present the characters without giving away too much about their pasts.

From Shadows…

Neela Jaeger smiled up at both of her parents as they sat around the fire, the snow slowly drifting around them as winter was coming to an end. Her mother laughed, a beautiful sound that always brought a smile to Neela's face. Her father rubbed her head, messing up her short pixie cut teal hair and she brushed it out of her face. She was full of warmth and happiness. They were safe from the humans and she exhaled a sigh, pleased with life as it was. As she inhaled the cold air assaulted her lungs, tearing through her body in a violent, ruthless manner, and she found herself gasping desperately for another breath.

Then she opened her eyes…

Panic set in as she still found herself unable to draw another breath, the winter cold burned her body as she woke up suddenly in a pile of snow. It drifted in at a steady rate through the roof of the collapsing wooden shack, battered and destroyed from the battle. Her chest heaved, eyes wide as she shifted around, unable to find a suitable position to try and stand up from. The snow was unforgiving, her body hurt, and she wondered what would be causing such pain. Maybe she would die here, just as her parents had the night before. The memories flooded back to her. They were around the fire. Everything after that was a blur.

The men came, her parents told her that they were from Atlas and that no matter what they said to try and convince her, she shouldn't go with them willingly. Her body had shaken as the men stormed in, grabbing everyone and everything in sight, and destroying it. The automatons crushed their buildings and put out their fire. They burned down the woods and took captive who they could. And who they couldn't, they killed. The cold air battered her lungs. They couldn't take her parents. She almost wished they had.

She remembered screaming, telling the men to let them be, that they weren't hurting anyone, but they told her that she was wrong. They told her that the White Fang had been hurting people for a long time and that they had to be stopped. Her father stepped in, fighting off some of the men, he told her and her mother to run as fast as they could. Before they had made it far though, Neela heard the gunshots, and she turned back. She had never seen her father bleed before. Yet there he was, lying on the ground, blood pouring from the multiple bullet holes in his chest. She screamed again. She needed to find the others.

Her mother tried to pull her back, but she had managed to escape her grasp, sprinting to her father and throwing herself on top of his corpse, the blood and tears soaking her as the men turned their sights towards her. Evil men with evil faces and robots that didn't care about their lives, sent by a higher authority that didn't care whether or not they lived or died. She wept, and the weeping became sobs, and her sobs filled the forest. Her mother yelled for her again, but Neela could not hear her over the sound of her heart thrashing against her chest, wishing desperately to free itself and bring her father back somehow.

She flinched as the gunshots rang out, sure that her own end had come just as swiftly as her father's and in a small way, she was relieved to be free of her pain. Her body would soon embrace her icy fate, and she would die. She found comfort in the fact, though she knew that she shouldn't. She closed her eyes tight, waiting to wake up on the other side, but she had been damned by the militants once more. Her eyes opened and she watched as her mother fell, standing above her and protecting her.

"Please," Her mother's calm and loving voice came, drawing her last breath. She trembled in fear, pain, and horror. "Run." Neela found her feet, a state of shock gripped her body and she swayed slightly as she tried to take everything in, nausea rising up through her and she fell back onto her chest. Her mother's voice repeated itself without end, softly in her ear. Please. Run. She knew there was nothing she could do for them now, and in a sudden rush of awareness of the gravity of the situation, Neela found her feet and ran as fast as she could from the soldiers, until a rocket took the ground from beneath her, throwing her through a window and sending the debris toppling on top of her. This was the end.

Neela tried to move her body again but found that a sizeable bit of debris was crushing her leg. It was broken to be sure, but whether or not it could be salvaged was another matter. She began to feel dizzy, her body was shivering now and she had no hope of escape or survival. The best she could hope for at this point was a quick death, and she would be returned to her mother and father. The young girl sobbed, realizing that she had nothing left and that nobody had returned to look for her. She wanted them to be wrong about the humans, but the White Fang had been right all along. Humans were not to be trusted.

"Now that Adam's dead, we should look for survivors. Over here!" Came a shout that couldn't have been more than 20 feet from the hut. In her delirious state, she thought that maybe she had imagined it and that the cold was purely toying with her before consuming what little life she had left. "What happened here?" No, it had to be real. They sounded so close and so real.

"H- H- Help m- m- me…" She called out between chattering teeth. She was weak, and it was hardly audible, but Neela found a renewed strength as thoughts and dreams filled her with hope. If she could live, perhaps she could avenge her parents, and the humans would pay once and for all. All of them.

"What did you find Yang?" Asked a second voice. They had to be real! Neela pulled at her leg, desperate to pull it out. She pulled her hand back to find it covered in blood, the wood doing more damage now by shredding her skin apart as she yanked wildly. She seethed in pain, getting her leg halfway out, relieved at the fact that it didn't look as bad as she had originally thought. She pulled herself to her feet despite the pain, her White Fang armor was destroyed, revealing her tank top beneath, which was where she was losing most of her body heat. She dragged her herself to the broken window, leaning against the wall as the pain tried to take her down.

"Help m- me." She tried again. It was just as weak as before.

"You weren't kidding, that new General has something against the White Fang," Yang replied. Pain shot up Neela's leg and she fell to the ground, deciding to try and call out once more before succumbing to her injuries. "We'll have to document everything for Ironwood and Winter, this was never supposed to happen."

"Help Me." It came out soft and quiet, and she knew that there was no way that they heard her.

"Did you hear that?" The other voice asked. Neela sat back up, her eyes wide. Somehow the other woman had heard her and was coming closer. Neela pulled herself up using the window sill and came face to face with a woman who couldn't have been any older than 22. She was human as far as Neela could tell, with black hair and yellow eyes, a large black bow rested atop her head. "Are you okay? Be careful, the glass is sharp." Neela turned away.

"You brought that army here didn't you?" she asked. Neela moved away slowly as the woman looked at her.

"No, we didn't. We tried to stop them, but by the time we got here, it was too late," the woman explained. Yang stopped next to her.

"What did you find Blake?" Yang asked. Neela looked the second one over, they were both humans. Neela tripped backward over some of the smashed wall from before that she had been trapped under as Blake attempted to make her way in.

"Stay back!" Neela yelled at her.

"I want to help," Blake explained. Neela shook her head, on the verge of tears, her lungs in massive amounts of pain from the cold air that surrounded her. Blake placed her hand against the wall and it shifted, attempting to take part of the roof with it. Yang smashed through and quickly reached her cybernetic arm up, keeping the supporting cross beam in place.

"Liar! Why would a human want to help 'filthy Faunus' like me!?" Neela screamed at them. Yang glanced back at Blake who reached up, feeling her bow. She gave a slight smile as she pulled the ribbon, revealing her ears. Neela looked up at Blake, relief sweeping over her as she tried standing. She stopped short as she looked Yang over one last time. "What about her?"

"Yang?" Blake asked. Blake looked at Yang as she held her hand out towards Neela from the opening in the wall. "What's your name?" Neela never once took her eyes off of Yang.

"Neela… Neela Jaeger, but that doesn't answer my question!" The girl yelled.

"Blake," Yang grunted. Blake looked back at Neela.

"Neela, listen! You need to come with me now! I want to help, we both do! But this building is falling and we can't help you if you're dead! Please come with me," Blake pled. Neela shook her head.

"She's not a Faunus is she?" Neela asked again.

"You're right, she's not. She's human, my wife in fact," Blake told her with a smile. Blake seemed to beam with pride and it helped soften Neela slightly, the girl's nerves relaxing as she dropped her guard. "She would never do anything to hurt you."

"Please, Neela. We don't want you to die," Yang said. Neela stared at Yang long and hard before finding her feet. Her pulse pounded in her ears, confused by what was happening. Yang had to be lying, right? They both had to be. Faunus and humans can't get along. Tears filled Neela's eyes as she was overcome with confusion.

"Why do you care?" she asked them.

"So what if you have cat ears, or a tail, or maybe even fangs," Yang said still struggling with keeping the building up. "Everyone deserves to be loved the same." Neela stumbled slightly as she took a step back to find her footing. This human… was it possible that some of them could be like this? She didn't want to be scared anymore, but her parents had taught her not to trust them.

"Neela," Blake called again snapping her out of it. "We'll keep you safe." Neela looked across the hut at Blake who looked genuinely concerned, her hand still held out towards the small girl. We'll keep you safe. That was all she wanted at this point. Safety. Neela broke into tears as she ran through the building, not completely convinced that Yang wouldn't drop it on her and she leapt into Blake's arms as Blake swept her out. Yang gave a final shove as she dove out and it crashed down behind her.

"Where are your parents?" Yang asked as she pushed herself up out of the snow. Neela continued to cry into Blake's chest, unable to hear Yang over her wailing. Blake pulled her in closer and looked at Yang, shaking her head. Blake could tell that this girl was alone. She had been there once before herself. Neela's breathing slowed as she remembered Blake's words. We'll keep you safe.

6 Months Later

Neela leaned against the door of the kitchen, doing her best to listen in on what was being said between Blake, Yang, and Taiyang, hoping that it was something a little more interesting than last time when all they talked about was Zwei, Ruby and Yang's dog that he took care of for them. Yang and Blake had bought his house after he retired and he had opted to move to a smaller place in the city of Vale. It was all pretty boring if anyone asked her. But for the last several months, Yang and Blake had been looking for someone to adopt Neela, and she crossed her fingers that perhaps that was why Taiyang had come over. Maybe he had news for them in regards to her adoption.

The idea excited her and nauseated her all at the same time. Hopefully, they were both Faunus! She tried to imagine her family, she would have a mother that was caring and stern, but more loving than anyone she had ever met before! And her father would help her train and become even stronger than she already was! They'd laugh together and they'd have fun together, and sometimes they'd probably even get in trouble with mom! Neela closed her eyes and imagined that kind of family. She gasped hard as she stepped back from the door, her body shaking.

Horror filled her, and she hoped that Taiyang hadn't found anyone to adopt her because as she closed her eyes, she saw Yang and Blake. She already had that, she already had the kind of love that she was looking for, but for some reason, it took her until this very moment to see it. She remembered when they took her back to Vale after they saved her from the building and brought her to the hospital to be taken care of. Blake hadn't left her bedside once during the week that it took her to recover, and scolded her when she tried to push herself too hard after they let her leave. They brought her back to Patch, allowing her to live with them until they found somebody else that would be able to take care of her, and in the middle of the night when she had nightmares of her parents dying, Blake would let her crawl into bed with them.

Yang had broken down her walls faster than she could believe. Neela tried for a while after they returned to the island to hate Yang, but Yang wouldn't let her. A week after they had brought her home, Yang had bought her a bow, remembering that Neela had mentioned she was practicing archery when she was still with the White Fang. It was the nicest thing that a human had ever done for her, and every day after Yang returned from being out on a mission, she would train with Neela. Neela's eyes filled with tears as she thought about having fun with Blake and Yang. That was everything. That's what she wanted forever. After they brought me home, she thought. This was her home!

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Taiyang asked. It was the first thing that Neela caught as she returned to the moment and pressed against the door again.

"Yes. It's the only option we have, and it's the best one for Neela. She'll be happier this way," Yang told her father. Neela's heart stopped in her chest and she threw the door open, slamming into the kitchen.

"Neela?" Blake asked standing up from her chair. "Neela, what's wrong?"

"I don't want to leave!" Neela screamed at them. "I want to stay with you and Yang forever! This is my home, I'm at home here!" Blake walked over to Neela, kneeling on the floor as Yang joined them. Neela threw herself at Yang and sobbed. "I don't want to leave… Please let me stay!"

"Neela," Yang spoke, pulling her away from her body. She wiped the tears from Neela's eyes and looked into them. "What did you hear?"

"You told Taiyang that it was the only option and that I'd be happier," Neela managed between catching her breath. Blake smiled as tears filled her eyes and it filled Neela with a momentary confusion.

"Neela, I'm going to give up being a Huntress so that I can be with you during the day and you won't have to keep juggling between Tai watching you when we both work. We want you to have a safe place to come home to. Yang and I don't want you to leave either, we want you to stay with us. You make both of us very happy, and we want nothing more than for you to become our daughter," Blake told her. Neela gasped and smiled, sobbing again, but this time they were tears of joy as she threw her arms over both of them. These were her parents, she saw that now and she loved them as much as she had her birth parents. She was filled with a warmth that she hadn't known since that night when she sat around the fire with her mother and father, only now she had new parents, and they were just as amazing as the ones she had before. She'd grow with Blake and Yang, but she'd never forget her mom and dad. "Come on. I have something to show you."

"What?" Neela asked as Blake picked her up and carried her towards the spare bedroom.

"We know you like staying in the treehouse because it feels like you're back at the camp, I can relate. But it'll start getting cold again soon and we figured you might want to stay where it's a bit warmer," Blake explained. They opened the door, a small bed sat along one wall, posters of Grimm covering the ceiling. Her bow and quiver sat on top of a short dresser across the room.

"Is this?" Neela asked, a hesitation and excitement in her voice.

"Yes Neela," Yang replied from behind them. "Your very own room."

" I have my own room!?" Neela had asked, she looked up at Blake with a twinkle in her hawk eyes, they were wide and filled with wonder.

"This room is just for you Neela. No more tents. No more hiding. No more running. This is the place you can go to feel safe. This is where you'll stay Neela. We love you." Neela looked at Yang and then back at Blake, tears streaming down her face as she grabbed both of them and held them close. This was Neela's family. She was a Xiao Long now, and it made her happier than she had ever been. This was what love was supposed to feel like, and Neela liked the feeling a lot.

"I love you too!" She yelled out. It was the first time she had ever told them that.

She would never stop telling them that.

…With a Touch of my Hand, I'll Turn Your Life to Gold.

This is where Neela's story begins…

As I said before, I hope that you all enjoyed the first trailer. We'll see you back here next week for the second trailer - Ilia.

A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.