"Diamond!" Ruby shouts energetically.

"What do you want?" I ask, exasperated.

"We're going to miss the airship to Beacon if you don't get your lazy butt out of bed!" she calls back.

Dear Monty, she is annoying.

I honestly don't understand how someone could stay up till 2:30 in the morning and then proceed to wake up at 8:00 and act that enthusiastic. Unlike her, I don't consume about 7 pounds of sugar every morning, so I'm understandably pretty tired. This is what I get for living with my obnoxious little sister, I guess.

"Diamond!" Ruby cries again in her piercing voice. Why did she have to be so loud?

"Alright, I'm flipping coming. Why don't you go bug Yang instead?" I respond

I hear Ruby's footsteps pounding the floor towards the direction of Yang's room at the other side of the house. I would have felt awful about dumping Ruby on Yang normally, but it is way too early to deal with her enthusiasm today.

I throw away the covers and roll out of bed, then quickly pull out some black jeans and a light blue, elbow length shirt from my closet. I would usually wear some kind of jacket with my symbol printed across the right breast, but Ruby had gotten the brilliant idea to stick a "Got Milk?" patch onto the back of my only clean one. Until I manage to remove it, there is no way I would be wearing that.

Afterward, I step towards the door, where I laid my weapon the night before. It happens to be similarly designed to Ruby's with a few distinct differences. For one, my weapon is styled as a type of malleable sword rather than a clumsy, unwieldy scythe.

When in its rifle form, I have the option to release several sections of blades, which are conjoined by a series of metal cords to create a flexible chain, from the underside of the barrel. If needed, the cords reel in so that the blade segments merge to become an elegant longsword, and the underside component revolves so the barrel of the gun is instead resting on the bottom in order to shift the center of gravity to allow for more balanced swings. Finally, the grip straightens out to become the necessary handle.

I look around my room one last time: the small desk where I kept my gaming console that was now lying in my suitcase, the fist-sized hole in the wall I never bothered to fix after Yang made it when I absolutely destroyed her in some competitive games, the broken lamp that Ruby accidentally cut in half when she was just learning to use her scythe, my E-SportsLive poster that I put on my wall when I first got into video games, and finally the small framed picture of my mother lying on the bedside table. I quickly stuff said picture into my bag. I was going to miss this place.

"If you don't get out here, I will spit in your cereal!" I hear Ruby yell.

And like that, the moment is gone.

I hurriedly fix my hair, grab my bag, and open the door. Once down the hall, I turn left and enter the kitchen. Ruby is already in the process of eagerly devouring her breakfast while Yang sits at the table with her spoon absentmindedly hovering over her bowl. Judging by the bags under Yang's eyes and the sluggish look on her face, I could tell Ruby and I weren't the only ones who stayed up late last night.

"Having fun there Yang?" I gibe.

"Shut up Diamond."

I generally had a good relationship with my sisters, but Yang…well, she could be a bit irritable at times.

"What? Did you stay up admiring your luscious golden hair and forget to sleep?" I say mockingly.

"You know, if I wasn't this tired, you would be so…" her voice cuts off as her eyes slowly creep shut.

"Yang?" Ruby calls warily.

"Yeah...I'll be there in just a minute Rubes…" Yang mutters as her spoon falls out of her hand.

Just to see what happens, I reach up and poke her in the forehead. Her head leans backward a little before tilting forward once more and, as inertia does its job, continues to fall… straight into her cereal bowl. Ruby and I exchange looks before breaking into near hysterical laughter. Zwei quickly jumps into the adjacent seat and licks her face.

"Good boy, Zwei," I remark before glancing over to the still pajamaed Ruby and adding, "And unless you plan on going to school in your sleepwear, you should probably go get dressed. Also, make sure you don't forget your suitcase like you did last time. I'm still not sure how you even managed that."

Ruby nervously chuckles before slowly saying, "The thing is… I haven't exactly started packing yet."

I take a moment to slam my palm into my forehead at the outright stupidity of what I just heard, "So you're telling me," I begin, "That you were rushing me to be ready...and yet you haven't even packed anything?"

Ruby makes guns with her fingers and points them towards me, "Bingo."

I take a deep breath then mutter, "This is going to be one long fucking day..."