Alexander Davis

Born to a poor farming family, Alex’s life started out a bit on the hard side.  He did get to play some while he was young, but mostly his family was teaching him several skills he would need to work on the farm.  His father wasn’t there while he was growing up, and despite the man being a rich researcher he didn’t offer any aid to Alex’s mother or the farm.  There were multiple Faunus on the farm that Alex quickly became friends with.  He couldn’t tell the difference between the humans and the Faunus in terms of personality so he didn’t really care if they had animal ears or not.  To him they were just more friends and soon people he would be working with.  However his time on the farm ended when he was at the age of 15 when a Beowolf pack attacked the farm.  The farmers tried to fight back, but they weren’t hunters or huntresses, so they stood little chance.  During the fighting Alex had picked up a shovel with a metal handle and had started to swing it at a Beowolf and actually managed to keep the creature at bay.  It was less combat and more flailing, but Alex had managed to deal a couple of good hits when he finally managed to kill it.  Eventually the farmers had to make a swift escape from the overrun farm, but the one that was keeping the Beowolves away from everyone as they climbed into their vehicles was Alex using a simple shovel.  By the time the survivors had escaped there were only 15 out of 40 workers left, and Alex’s mother was dead.  The farm’s owner declared it a loss and simply left the farm workers to fend for themselves.

While most of the farmers were out of luck, the group of them that went back of the farm several days later to salvage what little was left found some security footage of Alex fighting.  The Faunus that found it gave it to Alex and told him to head for the nearest Academy in hopes they might train him as a hunter, so at least he’ll still have a future.  Thinking it was a good idea; the young man did so and quickly found himself showing the recording to the head instructor of a small combat academy.  The instructor was impressed with the potential this boy had, and asked Alex why he wanted to become a hunter.  Alex’s answer was simple; so no one could suffer the same pain that he and his friends had endured.  Alex was not only accepted into the academy but was also taken in by the head instructor as a son since she was incapable of having children.  Alex studied long and hard, and his combative skills skyrocketed.  Under his foster parent’s instructions Alex forged a ball and chain weapon called Pile Driver that had guns built into it that allowed him to choose which direction to have the ball fly, and it could transform into a short barreled mini gun.  When his soul was awakened Alex found it very appropriate to find that his aura allowed him to control plants.  With such a power he would never forget where he came from, why he fought, and he could show the world that the light of hope could be found in the meekest of places.

Upon graduating from the academy Alex found himself accepted to Beacon, but before heading off his foster parent gave him a special belt that would protect him from magic while complement his aura powers.  Thanks to his ability to control plants the Emerald Forest turned out to be child’s play for him since he could use the forest to enhance his abilities, allowing him to protect and befriend the small group of Faunus he had ran into within the forest.  His actions there earned him the nickname Knight of the Forest, but he wasn’t the team leader.  By fate or luck the team that Alex landed on consisted of three Faunus and himself.  However as the school year went on Alex found he befriended the Academy’s custodian and grounds keeper.  The man was too old to be a hunter anymore, but he was full of knowledge that he was more than willing to pass down to Alex, and the two could almost be called mentor and apprentice.  The years at Beacon were great and after he graduated his team stuck together as they hunted down Grimm together.  They helped several young Hunters and Huntresses learn how to use their power, and the team started to develop a reputation of being some of the best mentors around.

That all came crashing down on his head two years after he graduated.  While on another assignment with his team, Alex found that the abandoned city they were investigating not only had power but there were signs of recent activity.  Upon investigating the 4 of them found a hidden research facility, and it was being led by none other than Alex’s real father, whom now seeing what type of man Alex was becoming he regretted missing it all and promised to make up for it.  Alex’s father had discovered a rare fungus called Cordyceps that he thought to be the key to defeating the Grimm once and for all.  The fungus was actually capable of taking control of a host, like an ant or other type of bug and force them to take it to an environment where it could thrive, where it then killed the host.  It was in a sense a fungus that could mind control, and several scientists believed that if modified and enhanced it could take control of a Grimm and force them away from the human population or even fight amongst themselves before the fungus killed them.  This information however wasn’t made public since everything was only theoretical.  One of Alex’s teammates was a botanist and she wanted to help, but when an explosion suddenly rang out Alex wondered if the Grimm were attacking them, and when the smoke settled Alex found his father dead and the research material gone.  The 4 Hunters followed the faint trail and found that it ended at one of the researchers whom was grinding up the Cordyceps and adding it to rock Dust.  She explained that the hunters and huntresses could handle the Grimm and this research should be used to take care of this world’s real threat; the Faunus.

Enraged at the fact this person was willing to snuff out what could be their world’s best hope because she wanted to use it to control and then kill all Faunus, Alex attacked without thinking by using his power to amplify his Dust usage to burn the researcher with the red dust he was carrying, only to find that his own power had amplified and activated the Cordyceps Dust resulting in it controlling the minds of his Faunus teammates.  The Cordyceps Dust was crude and incomplete so his teammates could fully focus and their cognitive abilities were reduced greatly, but the results were horrifying; all three of Alex’s teammates started to attack him while the researcher ran with the modified Dust.  Because his teammates weren’t at their peak the 3-on-1 was evenly matched, but nothing seemed to help his team regain their senses.  After nearly 10 minutes Alex was at his limit and knew the only way to catch the rogue researcher now was to kill his teammates… and he was forced to do so.  Afterwards Alex managed to catch the researcher and dragged her back to the lab.  The police were on the scene, the rogue researcher was arrested, and top scientists studied the Cordyceps Dust and came to the conclusion that Alex was dreading; the Dust would’ve been harmless on his teammates and even Grimm in its natural state.  It was Alex’s own buffing plant aura that had given the Dust the ability to affect his team’s mind.  They would’ve died anyway, so it a way Alex had put them out of their misery… but he had still ended their lives.  Wanting to prevent and uproar from White Fang over such a thing existing, all the research was destroyed, and all reports were classified and then buried… and one of Beacon’s most promising graduate, Alex, fell to pieces.

The following week Alex didn’t leave his home.  He barely ate or slept, and he couldn’t even bring himself to see his teammates grieving families.  3 of his best friends were now dead because of his own power, because of what earned him the name Knight of the Forest.  What’s more is that because the event was classified, almost no one knew what had happened and thus no one could give Alex the comfort he needed, and he stopped talking to anyone.  Not even Alex’s mentor or foster mother could get him to even talk.  After 2 weeks of this, Alex just vanished and he left all of his belongings behind, including his weapon Pile Driver.  The only thing he took with him was his clothing and the belt his foster mother gave him.  No one saw him for a couple years until he was found in Bellmuse thanks to him being in the crowd of a news feed, working as a custodian for a simple factory.  During those years that several hunters and his foster-parent had been looking for him, Alex hadn’t bothered to hone any of his Hunter skills once.  He lost so much of his skill that he could almost be considered a “never-was” instead of a “has-been.”  He might have forged himself a ball and chain that he called Wrecker, but it hadn’t been used once and it couldn’t even compare to his old weapon.  His use of his aura had become so rusty that it was as if his aura had never been unlocked in the first place… and Alex’s depression hadn’t changed at all.  All the hunters and huntresses that Alex and his team had helped train didn’t even recognize him, and seeing him this way Alex’s foster mother knew that Alex would never take up pile driver again, so she took home with her as a memorial of her ‘lost’ son.

Alex would’ve stayed there if it wasn’t for a certain event.  The factory that he was working in was on the edge of Bellmuse and thus easily attackable by the Grimm.  One day it was attacked by a group of Beowolves.  Even though a group of hunters and huntresses from Syne were coming, the chances of them arriving before someone got hurt were slim.  Unable to simply standby and watch people get hurt, Alex rushed in head first with his weapon Wrecker and started to hold off the Beowolves.  At first he was a bit clumsy during the battle but as it went on his old skills started to return, and he was quickly bringing the Beowolves down.  He didn’t use his aura though, so when several of the Beowolves came at him at once he was almost killed, but was saved by the Hunters and Huntresses from Syne Academy.  As Alex watched them finish off the Beowolves, he felt something awaken within him; the Knight of the Forest was starting to awaken again.  Not long afterwards Alex looked around the Syne campus and noticed that their property could look far better than it did, and applied to become the Academy’s grounds keeper.  He got the job and was making the school look far better than it did before hand, but he was also picking up his old skills again by observing the students and talking with the professors.  Now the big question was could he finally forgive himself for what happened to his team so long ago?

Alex let out a yawn as walked through Syne’s main hall, heading towards the front courtyard.  There were bags under his eyes, thanks to having a rather restless night. That same blasted dream.  Why is it that I can’t get a good night’s rest? he thought as he scratched the back of his neck, attempting to ease a rather annoying itch, but it was one of those really annoying itches that seemed to change locations whenever he scratched it.  When he finally got it he lowered his hand to the chain that was slung over his right shoulder to adjust its position slightly so the iron weight on his back was slightly easier to handle.  Now feeling a little bit more comfortable Alex continued out of the building and into the courtyard, and he quickly had to shield his eyes from the sun.  It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the brightness, but once they had he continued on his way towards his prized flower garden.  It had been there since the building had been opened, but the only flowers that had been growing there were simple rose bushes.  Now under his care there were hundreds of different breeds of flowers ranging from the desert flower moon lily to hydrangeas and even some tropical orchids.  The problem with having so many young couples there was that they all tried to pick his flowers without permission.  However the worst part was when they’d toss some garbage into the flowers and think no one would notice.

Alex was about to slip on a pair of gloves so he didn’t get dirt under his nails as he weeded the garden when he saw a young man with a pair of clippers to pick one of the blue roses Alex had grown himself, and frown.  ”Hey!  Did someone give you permission to take one of my flowers?” Alex’s sudden outburst caused the young man to jump and drop the clippers onto the sidewalk, leaving the blue rose uncut.  ”Dude!  What’s your problem?” the young man asked as he picked his snippers up, and Alex noticed that the man had a large yo-yo strapped to his hip, which was clearly his weapon. Alex frown as he walked over to the kid.  ”My problem is that you didn’t ask me if you could take one of my flowers.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to grow blue roses?” Alex asked in a huff while crossing his arms over his chest.  ”It just would’ve been nice if you had asked.” Alex stated calmly as he held up a Styrofoam cup.  ”I would’ve even offered to transplant the flower into this so it could keep living instead of wilting on you in ‘bout a month.” Alex added, and mentioning that the flower would’ve wilted seemed to make the student calm down slightly.

”Alright, then may I please have that blue rose?” he asked, but had turned his head away as he did so as if asking the Academy’s grounds keeper for a favor was beneath him.  Alex nodded and, using a gardening spade, carefully transferred the flower and some soil into the cup and handed it to the student.  ”Here you go.  By the way, don’t place all your weight onto one leg while your confronting someone.  To defend or attack you’ll first have to transfer some of you weight onto your other leg, and the half a second you’re doing that is all your opponent will need to catch you off guard.  Remember that.” Alex stated as the young man walked away, though he guessed his advice went unheeded.

With a shrug, Alex turned to head towards the nearby shed to get some fresh soil to fill in the hole where the flower had just been.  Sure he wasn’t a professor here, but he still had some wisdom to pass onto the students here.  However as he walked back towards the flower garden he noticed another student looking at his lilacs with interest.  She was younger then the other student that had been here, but just because she was younger didn't mean that she didn't deserve respect.  "Something on your mind?" Alex asked her as he knelt down to fill in the hole with fresh soil.  "How did you manage to get these flowers so healthy?  I never could manage it.  I have what you'd call a brown thumb." she responded, and Alex smiled warmly.  "Well, it's a matter of daily water, but not too much or you could drown the plants.  Also some fertilizer and occasionally trimming off dead limbs.  I could teach you some stuff if you'd like." Alex offered, and the young woman beamed.  "Ready?  You'd do that?" "Of course!  You'll pick it up in no time to boot.  This hobby has a way of growing on ya." Alex responded, and the pun took the girl by surprise that she busted out laughing.