Hey lads and lasses! Dust here with a bit of a spinoff story I've got going on now. For those of you who read the most notorious of my works so far, RWBY: Stolen Innocence, I think you know what this may be. If you haven't, you're not going to understand what I'm about to explain.

Towards the very end of SI, Neo revealed that after Roman turned himself in as part of a plea bargain with the Huntsmen and the Atlesian Military, Ozpin was able to pull some strings and reduce his sentence. Also, in a surprising twist, he also allowed her to enroll into Beacon Academy just in time for the new year. That's what this story is going to be about. It's going to start sometime between the week-long timeskip in the final chapter so sit back, strap in if you're reading this in your car or on a plane, relax, and enjoy.

P.S: Also, big shoutout to dfinkel70 for the development of the members of Neo's team, who we'll be meeting shortly. He helped come up with them, so in a way, these are his characters I'll be writing about. I hope I do them justice.

A pair of mismatched eyes looked out over the bay with a hint of nervousness behind them. She had felt like this before: when she was first brought to her new home, during her first job with Roman, even working up the courage to bring that information from nine months ago to the very place the airship she was on was headed. She had learned to call it home for nearly a year since the events that took place and finally ended a few months prior to today, but the castle in the distance almost felt...alien to her.

"Neo?"

She turned to face the girl calling her name. Bright silver eyes looked into her nervous brown and pink ones. "Kinda nervous for your first day, huh?" Ruby asked. Neo nodded shakily, not resorting to reaching for her voicebox to speak her answer. Ruby carefully got up, taking care of the bundle in her arms that held her days-old son, a byproduct of a nightmare she was far past letting control her. "Look, I was in the same boat as you last year. You're going to a new school and you have no idea what's going to happen and nobody knows who you are. I'm completely terrified myself." she chuckled. "I've got a baby now and no idea what a second year at Beacon after what we all just went through is going to be like, but I'm still going to face it head-on and try my best. What about you?"

Neo mulled over the advice before another few perked up.

"Hey, look! There it is!"

"It's alot shinier than I expected."

"Woah, it's huge!"

They all exclaimed as they got their first looks at Beacon Academy, the illustrious castle-like structure that the Huntsman and Huntresses of tomorrow spent years honing their craft in to protect and serve the people of Remnant. Neo had seen it countless times from heights like this, but it still was a sight to behold as alot of prospective students ready to study here were already realizing.

Another sound ended their attention towards the windows and to a series of holographic projectors at the center of the passenger area of the ferry that were spread out periodically across the length of the floor. Another familiar face to Neo and some certain individuals on the ferry along with her appeared upon them. "Good afternoon everyone. My name is Professor Glynda Goodwitch, the dean of Beacon Academy. The facility you will be landing at momentarily has trained heroes and heroines for generations to keep the last lines of humanity's defense safe, and we only accept the best of the best. We sincerely hope that you are it." she explained, punctuating the explaination by adjusting her glasses on her nose. "All first year students will meet in the auditorium of the main building, while second through fourth years shall await their orientation until tomorrow. They may go to the boarding offices for information on where they will be staying for the next year."

"Where we'll be staying?" Ruby thought aloud. "Don't we have a dorm already?"

"I talked to Coco already. Turns out upperclassmen get an upgrade! Yang said cheerfully as she burst in out of nowhere and bringing Neo and Ruby into a sudden hug, startling her nephew as the sound of a baby's crying echoed throughout the cabin, a few annoyed murmurs coming from the crowd, only to be relieved as the ship met the docking bay that allowed the passengers to file out and into the main path that lead to Beacon Academy from the landing pads. As Neo and the Rose-Xiao Long sisters stepped out, they noticed a group of other ferries letting off other passengers, the docking bay at the one behind their ferry showcasing the familiar sight of a certain knight with his head in a trashcan, retching from the airsickness. Only this time, a redheaded Spartan woman was behind him, trying to soothe him by rubbing his back as he threw up his breakfast into the can.

"Vomit Boy lives up to his name again!" Yang chuckled as she waved them over once Jaune was certain he finished. They both gave huge smiles as they ran over to meet them.

"Ruby! Yang! Aren't you two a sight for sore eyes!" Pyrrha smiled as she gave them both a warm hug, the champion being extra careful not to crush tiny baby Thorn as she hugged the younger of the two.

"You brought Thorn along with you?" Jaune asked.

"Of course I did! Ozpin said it wouldn't be wise to separate us since he was just born a few days ago, so he's going to set something up to make sure he's watched after while we're here!" Rube explained, tickling his feet and illiciting a tiny giggle from the infant.

"Well, that's very generous of him." Pyrrha noted, before realizing there was a third person she hadn't greeted. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm sorry, Neo! I didn't see you there!"

The near-mute waived off the notion that she had been offended, reaching for her voicebox on the tip of her parasol and bringing it up to her throat. "It's nice to see you again too, Pyrrha." she nodded. "Even if it's only been three days since we last saw each other."

"I bet you're excited to experience your first year here, huh?" Jaune asked, the ice cream-themed freshman nodding to answer. "Well good luck during initiation!"

"We'd love to stay and chat, Neo, but you've got an orientation meeting to go to." Ruby noted, pointing to the large clock on Ozpin's tower.

"Yeah, we don't want you late on your first day." Yang encouraged. "Besides, we gotta go find our new pad anyway."

"Wait, where am I supposed to go?" Neo asked.

"You know where the auditorium is, silly!" Ruby giggled. "I know you're still nervous, but this first day is easy. You just listen to what Professor Ozpin has to say, then go to bed in the ballroom. Tomorrow's when the work begins!" she finished as she turned to face the others. "So where's everybody else?"

"Ren texted me during the flight over. Weiss, Blake, Nora and him are already at the dorm offices." Jaune answered.

"Then let's go meet up! Good luck, Neo!" Yang cheered as she and the rest waived their friend goodbye. Neo gave a slight wave back as her smile faded. She looked forlorn at the monolithic tower in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she took her first step to changing who she was and become a Huntress.

"Here goes nothing." she thought as she looked around, not noticing as she bumped into something hard in front of her than knocked her onto her behind. Looking up, she noticed a literal wall of a man in front of her with what appeared to be a giant metal column slung over his back. He wore a light purple windbreaker over a bulletproof vest with what appeared to be an unprimed rocket slung onto it. He turned to face her with narrowed eyes that matched the color of his jacket.

"Did you just bump into me?" he asked in a low, intimidating voice. Neo could only look up at him in complete shock, unable to even try and apologize as she was unsure what he was about to do. What ended up occuring next completely baffled her.

"Oh, well, I have to say I'm really sorry! I shouldn't have stopped in the middle of a path like that. Are you okay?"

Neo couldn't believe he suddenly went from one of the toughest looking people she had seen to such an apologetic person. She nodded as she took his outstretched, baseball mitt-sized hand, and was nearly shot back to her feet by a strong pull upwards.

"Well, once again, I'm really sorr-"

"HEY MAVE!"

A shrill male voice coming from a much more scrawny boy half the giant's size, wearing a long trench coat over a royal blue shirt, grabbed both of their attention. "You just gonna stand there and hold hands with some little girl, or are you gonna follow me to wherever the hell we're supposed to be headed?"

"Um, how am I supposed to follow you if you don't know where we're even headed, Percy?" the giant called Mave asked back.

Percy took a moment to think of his answer before responding with a simple expletive. "Well, fuck." he grumbled before turning to the multi-colored haired girl his friend was with. "You, you know where we're supposed to be going?"

Neo simply nodded and pointed straight ahead at the path. Without even so much as a thank you, the much ruder boy called Percy began walking in that direction.

"I apologize. He can tend to be...lacking in the manners department sometimes." Mave chuckled as he walked off behind him, Neo still by his side. "...You're a quiet girl. May I ask who you are?" he asked. With a snap of her fingers, Neo then motioned for the giant to check his pocket. He reached in, fumbling with a folded piece of paper he was confused with how it ended up in there. Upon opening it, he got his answer in cursive writing: "Neo Politan. It's nice to meet you too."

"Mave! You and your new lady friend better hurry up!" Percy called as the two picked up the pace from their leisurely stroll to a quicker walking speed as they made their way to the auditorium.