Chapter One: Beacon
The night was cold and dark, rain had begun to drop from the sky and wind blew heavily through the forest, causing the trees to lean and sway back and forth.
Two women were running frantically along a trail, one of them gripping the wrist of the other, beckoning her to keep up at all costs. Their clothes had become ripped and tattered from running through the forest.
Shots of dust rounds began to wiz past them and they struggled to dodge the hail of gunfire.
They came up to an abandoned shack, as they were entering, a dust round struck the older of the two women in the shoulder, her aura being broken in the process. She cried out in pain and quickly closed the door behind her.
The older woman clutched her shoulder, now bleeding profusely, and looked the younger girl in the eyes, "honey, you have to hide, I'll hold them off till Oscar's agent gets here."
The younger girl began to cry and plead with the older woman, "please Mom, you can't, you'll die…" her voice trailed off as her tears became a flood upon her cheeks.
"Baby, don't cry, I'll be fine, just go hide, it'll all be over soon," the older woman said while trying in vain to hide the pain and lie in her voice.
The younger girl whipped away her tears and hugged her mother. She got up and ran into the adjacent room and hid in a closet. As she did this, her mother stood and drew her weapon, a collapsible double bladed sword, from her back.
She turned and opened the door, stepped out of the house and closed the door calmly behind her. She was greeted by four rather imposing men dressed in suits and holding automatic rifles and a young woman with beautiful black hair.
The young woman approached the older woman, "Kai Armina, or shall I call you Summer?"
"What do you want with me?" Kai asked as she readied herself for battle.
"Well you see, my associates and I have been looking for a Maiden for quite some time and we've finally found one, so if you would be kind enough to drop the weapon and surrender, we can get this over with quickly… You and your daughter need not suffer," the woman said.
When she heard that last phrase, Kai's eyes lit up and she began to levitate herself, wind beginning to swirl around her and lightning struck the ground. The four men and woman stood their ground and looked unfazed by the spectacular power Maidens held.
The four men opened fire, but all their shots were blocked by the maiden, who then shot out a massive gust of wind with a wave of her arm, knocking the four gunmen off their feet. However, as she was occupied with them, Kai didn't notice the woman circling around behind her.
She drew a gun from the inside of her jacket and shot Kai in the back, causing her to let out a loud cry of pain drop to the ground in shock.
Kai's daughter heard this and rushed out of her hiding place to see what had happened. Through a broken window, she watched in horror as the woman placed a white glove on her hand and walked up to her mother, who was struggling to lift herself from the ground.
"Since you wouldn't cooperate we must do this the hard way," the woman said as she extended the palm of her hand towards Kai's face. As she did this a strange grim like creature appeared from the glove the woman was wearing.
"You'll never have the maiden's power," Kai said with pain in her voice as she knocked the woman's gloved hand away.
Possessing no strength to continue the fight Kai stabbed herself in the belly with her own sword, and keeled over to the ground.
As she lay dying she mumbled some inaudible words upon her last breath and the maidens power shot from her body and into the old house where it entered the body of her daughter.
"NO!" Kai's daughter yelled as she busted out of the front door of the shack and ran to her dead mother. She gripped her mother's lifeless body in an affectionate embrace, her tears increasing.
"Come along little girl, wouldn't want you to end up like your mother, now would we?" The woman stated rhetorically with a smug look on her face.
As she said this the girl stood up from her deceased mother's body, the sadness and sorrow in her eyes having turned to rage.
The woman seeing that the maiden's daughter was going to fight as well ordered her associates to incapacitate her.
The rage in the girl's body built up and she let out a blood curling scream, causing her five opponents to take a step back in fear.
Fire manifested itself in her hands and she burned the four men alive and lit up several trees behind them, their screams were terrifying to the woman, but pleasing to the girl.
The woman's legs buckled under the weight of the fear that had come over her, for some reason she was found herself afraid of this young girl, this novice. She pleaded and begged for her life, but to no avail.
"Evil… this world is nothing but evil, and I will cleanse it of every remnant… starting with you," the girl said as she lit the woman aflame and left the scene, she could hear her screaming as she walked away and it brought her much pleasure.
She stopped for a moment and picked up her mother's sword and laid her body in a more comfortable position, then continued on her way.
A little while later, a man approached the scene, his long black hair and green tailcoat blowing in the wind. Upon seeing the destruction, a concerned look came over his face as he rushed to see if there were any survivors, the fire had begun to subside, only scared earth and burned embers of trees and the shack remained of the scenery.
He checked the burnt corpses, but there was nothing left, they began to turn to ash as soon as he touched them. It was then that he noticed the one unburnt body in the group, he looked on in horror as he knew it was Kai… Summer. He ran to the body and checked for a pulse, there was none. The man stood from the body and pulled out his scroll to make a call.
A voice came from the other side of the call, the person sounded distraught and spoke frantically, "Ren, what's the status of Summer and her daughter?"
"Summer… Kai is gone, dead, her attackers are too and her daughter is missing," Ren replied.
"Damn… I'm sending a Bullhead to you now, we'll recover Kai, make sure she gets a proper burial," the man said in frustration.
"Professor Pine, sir, I could try and pursue her daughter," Ren stated.
"No, just get back here, we have no idea where she could've gone, if anything she'll come here… hopefully," Professor Pine said with a quiet tone.
"Yes sir," Ren replied and then hung up his scroll and looked down at the dead maiden.
5 years later…
Four teenage girls were speeding down the highway in the City of Vale, in their convertible sports car, their hair whipping in the wind as they dodged in and out of traffic. They turned off the highway and slowed to a more respectable speed for the city streets.
After driving for a few city blocks they turned into a lively suburb and up to a beautiful two story house, the walls were painted a pale golden color, with white trim along the windows and patio. One of the girls leaped out of the car, her long blonde hair and golden tailcoat trailing behind her in the air revealing her curvy and semi-muscular 5'7" figure hugged by her formfitting black pants and t-shirt, when she landed she slung her backpack over her shoulder.
"Thanks for the ride guys, I'll 'see' you later," she said to the other three girls as she walked to her house.
"No problem Alyssa, and congrats again on getting into Beacon, I hope you have fun up there," one of the girls said.
"Yeah, and don't be a stranger, call us sometime," another one of the girls called out.
"I'll be sure to," Allyssa stated as she walked backwards and waved as her friends drove off. She turned, pulled out a key to her house and quickly raced up the three steps to her front patio and unlocked the door.
"Alyssa is that you," the voice of a woman called out from the back of the house as the front door creaked open and then shut.
Alyssa's black tipped cat ears perked in surprise and she jumped slightly, "Yeah mom, it's me," she replied as dropped her backpack on the front-room couch and walked to the back yard.
Alyssa walked through her house, the interior being a clean white color with carpet to match. She had to walk through her kitchen to get to the backyard of her house. Her kitchen was filled with fine stainless steel appliances, well-crafted wooden shelves and drawers, and solid granite counter tops. The sliding glass door to the back door was wide open, while the screen door remained shut to keep bugs out.
Her back yard was big, large enough for parties, many of which had been thrown there, both with and without her parents knowing. There wasn't much in it though, aside from a simple bench next to the back door and a flower garden it was empty.
Alyssa noticed her brother Cerin and his friend Li Ren about to spar, with her mother Yang watching to make sure they didn't go overboard. As Alyssa opened the screen door and stepped outside she heard the high-pitched voice of a young girl.
"Alyssa!" the girl exclaimed as she ran up to the teenage Faunus girl and hugged her with all her might.
"Hey there Pyrrha," Alyssa replied with a happy yet surprised tone while ruffling the little girl's orange and black hair. She half way expected Li to be here, as he and her brother Cerin were close friends, but she was a bit surprised to see Pyrrha, especially without her mother Nora.
"Hey mom, how's it going, and what's Pyrrha doing here without Nora, they're normally inseparable," Alyssa asked.
"Huh, oh, I'm fine, and Nora had to go out of town for the day, just a quick hunt, she asked me to watch Pyrrha and Li until Ren got off work," Yang replied.
"Hey sis!" Cerin called out with a wave and a smile.
"Hey bro, how's your day been," she replied.
"It's been cool, hey you wanna 'watch' me beat the lights out of Li here?" Cerin said.
"You forget who won our last bout," Li retorted, "also, hello Alyssa," he added.
Alyssa giggled at the two boys, "sure I'll 'watch' your fight, and hello Li".
Cerin was Alyssa's younger brother of four years, but you couldn't tell they were siblings. Alyssa is the perfect likeness to their mother Yang, except for the cat ears, while Cerin looked like a young male version of their other mother Blake, however he possessed Yang's lilac eyes. Li, was the spitting image of his father Lei, even in choice of clothing, preferring tailcoats and dress pants as opposed to normal "everyday clothing", except for his eyes, he possessed his mother's in that respect, and the highlight in his hair was orange rather than pink, he had the exact opposite hair of his little sister, whom held traits of both her parents.
"All right boys, remember the rules, Cerin, no paralysis strikes, and no dust for either of you," Yang stated, both boys nodded in agreement.
Alyssa and Pyrrha sat on the bench next to the door to the back yard as Yang signaled the start of the fight.
Cerin and Li began circling each other, Cerin's baggy black and blue clothing and Li's fine red tail coat being blown by a light gust of wind.
Li hopped back and forth on the balls of his feet with his nightstick pistols raised and in melee mode, his long-braided hair bouncing around with his movements, while Cerin held his hands in their armored gloves near his waist and shuffled his feet from time to time while feinting sudden movements at Li trying to get him to react.
Li threw the true first attack, a quick kick to Cerin's head, a blow that Cerin quickly dodged with a quick lean backwards.
Cerin struck next, connecting with a quick punch to Li's chest, knocking him slightly off balance and causing him to fall back slightly.
Li regained his balance and closed the distance to Cerin, the two traded, blocked and dodged each other's blows for a few moments, lowering each other's Aura levels.
Li got in a nice strike to Cerin's face with his weapon, staggering him, and knocking him to the ground. Cerin quickly regained his composure, his eyes turning from lilac to bright red, and his fists began to ignite and glow with pure aura energy.
He delivered the final blow, a feinted right hook followed by a powerful uppercut with his left, the force of the punch was amplified by Cerin's semblance which allowed him to shoot his aura into an opponent and shatter theirs.
Li was knocked off his feet by the powerful blow and Yang called the fight.
"And that's the match, the winner is Cerin Xiao Long!" Yang exclaimed, as Cerin started flexing and showing off as he did after a win, especially one against Li.
As Cerin continued to show off, now holding his arms straight up over his head with his fists clenched and running in place, Li tackled him and put him in a head lock, the two began to awkwardly scrap on the ground and Yang tried her best to break them up. Seeing this debacle made Alyssa and Pyrrha sit in silence for a moment and then break into laughter.
Alyssa enjoyed 'watching' her brother fight even if she couldn't see him in action, she was born blind, possessing milk white irises and pupils. Even though she couldn't see the world the way everyone else could, she never let it get her down. She was very optimistic growing up, wanting to be a huntress like her parents, but it was uncertain if she would be able to. Her semblance manifested itself later than most, usually a child's semblance would show at somewhere between six and eight years old, but it was possible, albeit rare to develop or discover your semblance later in life, the chances of developing a semblance drop drastically after someone's ninth birthday. Alyssa didn't get hers until she turned twelve, in fact her younger brother got his semblance before her. When she got her semblance, she found she could project her aura and sense where objects were in the world around her, allowing her to move around and act as if she weren't blind, she also found out from her parents and others that her eyes turned red when it was active. Another aspect of her semblance is that it is partially active all the time, giving her a limited range she could sense things around her at. Getting her semblance was one of the happiest days of her young life, she would no longer be the helpless blind girl and she could live her dream. Her parents Blake and Yang had a huge weight hanging over them lifted that day as well, the moment they found out the details of Alyssa's semblance they broke into tears of joy. They began training her to fight shortly after and she developed a style similar to Yang's, but more defensive and patient, she also incorporated significantly more kicking in her style of fighting. Alyssa has come a long way since then and is now regarded as one of the best fighters in the entire Kingdom, along with her cousin Bianca. However, despite becoming incredibly strong, the prospect of becoming the 'helpless blind girl' again constantly hangs over her shoulders every day.
Two woman, Weiss, and her daughter Bianca were standing in the yard out back of their home, a beautiful rustic looking house on the isle of patch, the same house where her wife Ruby and sister-in-law Yang grew up. Weiss was wearing an outfit like the one her sister Winter wore in her days as an Atlas specialist, however she still sported the same off-center ponytail she did in her youth. Bianca was dressed in athleticwear, a red sports bra, white and red sweat pants with athletic shoes to match. At the edge of their yard was a line of trees that wrapped around the house and its land, the sun had begun to descend behind this tree line, except for a space cut through the forest for a dirt road that led from the front of the house to the main road into town. The back yard was relatively flat, there was a small slope leading down to a wooden shed big enough to be used as a workshop or bike garage.
Weiss, was standing behind Bianca with her arms crossed watching and evaluating her. "1… 2… 3… 4…" she said.
Bianca, stood in a combat ready stance, a saber pointing forward in front of her and another held next to her head in line with her left eye. Every time Weiss said a number, Bianca did a different strike in the air with her weapon, 1, a thrust with the outward pointed saber, 2, a downward slash with the saber held next to her head, 3, a quick flip of the wrist and a diagonal strike with the first weapon, 4, a dual thrust with both weapons, one straight out, the other over her head.
Bianca was visibly tired, breathing heavily and sweating quite a bit, having been training for a couple of hours, despite this, she looked unfazed. She wiped the sweat off her brow, pushed her white and red hair out of her face and got back into her stance ready for another repetition of the strikes.
"Still hard at work I see," a voice called out from behind them, it was Bianca's mother Ruby.
She was walking up to the pair, carrying a tray with a couple of glasses and pitcher of ice water on it, she had on a simple red hooded coat with black pants and shoes and a red and black striped shirt under the jacket. Since her time at Beacon Ruby had let her hair grow out slightly, it now hung down slightly past her shoulders, she had also grown slightly taller, now being about two inches taller than Weiss who stood at a modest 5'4", a fact that Ruby teases her about from time to time.
Bianca flipped her around sabers in her hands, sheathed them, and walked up to her mother Ruby and quickly downed the glass of water she handed her, "thanks mom," she said.
"No problem sweetie, your saber skills have really improved since the tournament," Ruby stated.
"Yes, they have, but she's still got work to do, she missed at least four opportunities to end the final match, and she can't rely on her scythe all the time," Weiss interjected.
To the untrained eye and fighters who didn't know her, Bianca looked like a master with both forms of her weapon, but to someone who fought and trained with her, they knew her skills with the scythe far outweighed her skills with the saber. Earlier in the year Bianca competed in the annual Vale Regional Combat Tournament, where she was a favorite to win her third straight title in the event. She advanced all the way to the final round, defeating all her opponents, but only gaining a significant upper hand on them once she shifted her weapon into scythe mode. When she got to the final round, she fought her cousin Alyssa, whom she had sparred with multiple times before, and fought in the semi-finals of the previous year's tournament. Alyssa knew Bianca's fighting style and her tendencies in combat and due to her semblance, she predicted most of Bianca's moves before she could make them. Not once during the fight did Alyssa give her cousin the chance to switch her weapon to scythe mode. She took advantage of all the miss-steps and mistakes Bianca made and upset the two-time reigning champion, not even Bianca's semblance, her amazing speed, could win her the fight. Even though she lost, Bianca doesn't feel any animosity towards her cousin over the fight, they are family after all, however she does hold the loss against herself heavily.
"Honey, must you be so hard on the girl, even I'm not as good with Crescent Rose's sniper as I am with the scythe," Ruby stated.
Weiss crossed her arms and looked at Ruby prepared to give a retort, probably starting with 'Ruby you dolt', but before she could say anything she was cut off by Bianca. "Mom, she's right, Summer and Winter aren't the same type of weapon as Crescent Rose. Yes, they can form a scythe, but it's not two parts of the same weapon, it's two separate weapons that become one, and I need to master both if I am to become a better fighter."
Ruby looked at her daughter with a bit of surprise in her eyes, this look quickly changed to one of agreement as she ruffled Bianca's hair, "that's my girl, always hard at work trying to get better at everything she does, just like her parents."
Bianca smiled at her mother's words, but her smile held back a sort of nervousness and fear she kept from her parents. Being the daughter of two of the greatest huntresses to graduate from Beacon Academy came with some unwanted attention and expectations. From the very beginning she was expected to carry on in her family's footsteps and become a huntress, which is something she wanted to do regardless, but she was expected to be the best at everything by outsiders. Her parents never intentionally held their accomplishments above Bianca's head as an expectation, but it was place there by others in her life, her friends, teachers, and critics all compared her to her mothers, she struggled to keep up with this image. People who knew her parents pointed out that even though she possessed the same semblance she wasn't as fast as Ruby or as good with a scythe and that she wasn't as even close to Weiss' skill with a blade. She kept training and training to improve her skills and they showed in back to back Vale tournament victories, and her critics seemed to die down… that is until she lost to her cousin the next year. When she lost to her cousin, people started to say that Ruby and Weiss would've never lost to a blind opponent, even to one as skilled as Alyssa, they just wouldn't let up. Bianca thought of attending a different huntsmen academy to try and escape her critics, but after getting approved for entry into all four she thought it over for a while and ultimately decided to face them and attend Beacon Academy. Even though she's decided to face her critics, she still has a feeling in her gut that she isn't good enough and won't be able to live up to her parents' legacy.
"You two should finish up here, it's getting late and we have to get up early tomorrow, we're meeting my sister and her family before Bianca heads off to Beacon," Ruby said as she started to walk back towards the house.
Weiss struck herself in the forehead with her palm, "oh, that's right, I completely forgot. Bianca dear that's enough for today, run inside and wash up, I'll start working on dinner."
"No need for that babe, I ordered us a pizza," Ruby stated as she pulled out her scroll to check the time, "it should be here in around ten minutes."
"Yay, Pizza!" Bianca exclaimed with excitement. Pizza was her favorite food, after cookies of course, "What kind did you get?"
"Just a normal pepperoni pizza," Ruby stated.
"Oh, thanks honey, that was thoughtful of yo… Wait a minute," Weiss got a suspicious look on her face and placed her hands on her hips, "where did you order the pizza from?"
"Toni Tigre's, it's the only place that delivers," Ruby replied. Toni Tigre's is a relatively newly opened pizza shop on the island of patch, having done so about six months ago, they had heard good things about the establishment, but never ordered from there until now.
Weiss squinted at her wife, her suspicions beginning to be confirmed, "uh-huh, you didn't just order a pizza, did you?"
Ruby put her hands behind her back and started to sway back and forth, attempting to act innocent, "maybe."
Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and clinched her eyes shut, "you got the giant chocolate-chip cookie too, didn't you?"
"Okay fine, you got me," Ruby said with a hand raised in the air and a joking smile on her face. When Bianca heard that her eyes began to sparkle with anticipation and excitement.
A smile came over Weiss' face and she began to giggle lightly, "I swear, in the twenty-five years I've known you, you haven't changed a bit."
"And that's why you love me," Ruby said playfully as she began to walk back to the house.
"Ugh, you're such a dolt," Weiss said jokingly.
The three of them entered their home from the back yard, the interior matched the rustic exterior, about the most modern looking items inside were the television set and kitchen appliances. Ruby walked into the kitchen to set the table for dinner, while Weiss sat on their couch and grabbed a book she had been reading, 'A Man with Two Souls' her sister-in-law Blake recommended it to her recently when she was looking for a good book to read. Bianca headed upstairs to wash up and change into some fresh clothes.
The pizza guy arrived shortly after Bianca finished getting ready, a little longer than expected, but they did live pretty for from the main town of Signal. As expected the order included a large pepperoni pizza and a pizza-sized chocolate-chip cookie. Ruby paid and tipped the delivery boy and sent him on his way after he gave her the pizza and cookie.
Bianca carried the two items to their kitchen table and the three of them dug into the food. After eating dinner, which included about ten minutes of Bianca and Ruby ogling over the giant cookie while eating the main course, the three women relaxed for the rest of the evening and then headed off to bed.
The next morning Ruby, Weiss, and Bianca got ready to leave for Vale, Ruby and Weiss threw on outfits similar to what they were wearing the day before, while Bianca put on a red and black combat skirt and corset with a white long sleeve blouse underneath, she also put on some black and red leggings that extended three quarters of the way up her thigh, red and black lace boots, and a white hooded cloak, her cloak was pinned on her right shoulder by a pin that was a combination of the Schnee family glyph and Ruby's rose, and she arranged her hair into a simple pony tail that hung off the left side of her head and onto her shoulder.
The trip from their home to the city of Vale wasn't incredibly long, about ten to fifteen minutes to drive to the airship docks in the town of Signal from their house and then about another two hours by airship from there to the mainland.
When they arrived at the airship docks in the City of Vale, the three of them were greeted by Yang, Blake, Alyssa, and Cerin. Yang and Cerin had big smiles on their faces and were both waving at their family and motioning for them to hurry over.
Yang had on her 'don't give a shit' outfit with the sleeves rolled up showing off both her real and robotic arm.
Cerin was wearing his typical outfit, an unzipped black short sleeve jacket over top of a long sleeve blue t-shirt, black cargo shorts, tall white socks, black and blue skate shoes, and white hand and wrist wraps.
Alyssa and Blake were leaning up against Yang's large bright yellow SUV, both had a similar look to them, arms crossed and a slight smile on their faces, happy to see their family again. Alyssa had on her usual outfit, the golden tail coat over the top of her formfitting black shirt and pants with her gray and gold combat boots and vambraces on as well.
Blake had on an outfit that was similar to her 'intruder' outfit she wore in her youth, the main difference was that the coat covered her midriff and it didn't have as large a collar.
Yang ran over to Ruby, Weiss, and Bianca and gripped all of them in a huge bear hug, "I'm so happy to see you guys, it's been far too long since we last saw each other."
"Nice to see you too Auntie Yang," Bianca struggled to say under the immense pressure of Yang's hug.
"Yang. Can't. Breath. Need. Air." Ruby pleaded.
"Oh crap," Yang released the three women from her grip. "Sorry, sometimes I forget my own strength," she said.
"I'll say," Weiss said, sounding a bit annoyed while straightening out her clothes. "Besides, it's not like we haven't seen each other in years, we literally saw each other two weeks ago."
"That's two weeks too long Ice Queen," Yang retorted with a smile.
As the four of them continued to talk, Blake, Cerin, and Alyssa walked up behind them. As they were walking up, Bianca couldn't help notice something was different about her Aunt Blake. She inspected her for a moment, unsure what was different, then it hit her. Her eyes widened in surprise, Blake's once long and beautiful black hair had been chopped down to a medium bob. Bianca was in a bit of shock, of all the pictures of her family she had seen, only her mother Ruby wore her hair short in them.
"Bianca, you ok?" Blake asked with a tilt of her head.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I was just a bit surprised to see that you had cut your hair. Why would you cut it?" Bianca replied.
"I felt it was time for a change, that's all," Blake stated.
"Relax B, it came as a shock to us too," Alyssa cut in while pointing to herself and Cerin.
"Yeah, it is quite a sho…" Bianca was cut off by a sudden screech from behind her.
"Oh my god! Blake, what happened to your hair!" Both Ruby and Weiss exclaimed in surprise.
"Ugh, I'm starting to regret this already," Blake said while pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Mom, it'll be fine," Alyssa said reassuringly.
"Come on guys, don't act like that, I think it looks purr-fect," said Yang with a sly grin on her face. Her comment caused everyone except Blake and Cerin to simultaneously face-palm, Blake blushed and rolled her eyes at her wife's pun, all the while Cerin struggled to hold back his laughter.
"If we're done freaking out about my hair, we need to go drop Cerin off at Coastal before he's late," Blake said.
"Right, come on everyone, we can catch-up in the car," Yang added.
The seven of them piled into Yang's SUV and they headed off to the upper-class district where Coastal Academy Combat School was located. Coastal was one of three combat schools located within the city of Vale itself, along with Central, located in the residential district, and Industrial, located in the industrial district. While not as well-known as Signal Academy, Coastal was one of the top combat schools within the Kingdom of Vale, routinely sending many of its students to the four huntsman academies.
They arrived at Coastal after a thirty or so minute drive through the city. Many students and teachers were heading inside the school through the front entrance. The entrance-way looked like the face of an ancient temple or acropolis, the white marble pillars towered above the people walking inside. Atop the pillars was a triangular stone carved mural, depicting ancient warriors clad head to toe in armor battling the Grimm, other than the entrance way, the rest of the building appeared to be modern looking. To each side of the entrance were the two-story building wings, each with two rows of six windows each, one row for each story. At the end of each wing was a structure that had a similar shape to the entrance way, these were also two stories tall and had two rows of three windows each.
Yang pulled up to the front of the school and Cerin let himself out of the car. He waived back at his family members and they waved back. After waving good-bye, he ran over to his friend Li who was standing in front of one of the large pillars waiting for him.
After dropping Cerin off, Yang drove the rest of them back over to the airship docks where the transport to Beacon would soon arrive.
"All right, looks like the transport is here already," Yang says as she parks her car.
The six women get out of Yang's SUV, Bianca and Alyssa grab their things from the back of it and the six women walk over to the large airship.
Ruby looks to her daughter, "do you have everything sweetie?"
Bianca begins talking to herself, patting herself down and going through her suitcase and backpack, "let's see… clothes, magazines, dust, Summer and Winter, pens, pencils, paper…" she rummages around in her back pack for a few more moments to see if she forgot about anything, "Yup, got everything."
"What about you Alyssa, you forget anything," Ruby inquired.
"Nope, made sure I had all my stuff packed this morning," she replied.
They walk over to the entrance ramp, Bianca Alyssa, and Blake exchange hugs and kisses with Ruby Weiss, and Yang, and then board the transport to Beacon. Blake is a professor at Beacon Academy, she has been for quite some time now. Since she lives within the city of Vale and not on campus at Beacon she would normally take one of the Bullhead transports owned by the school, but today she decided to ride in the transport ship with her daughter and niece.
As the ship was about to take off, two men, one clad in black and dark gray, the other in light gray and blue, sprinted past Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, almost knocking them over.
"Wait!" the man clad in black called out. The two of them barely made it onto the ship before it left.
"Dammit Cyrus, when I say we should leave early, we should leave early," the man in gray said to the man in black while trying to catch his breath.
"Hey, Lucas bro, chill, we made it didn't we", Cyrus said nonchalantly to the man in gray, while also trying to catch his breath.
Ruby, Weiss, and Yang regained their composure from almost being knocked over, they are a bit annoyed at the event, but they don't let it get to them as they see their daughters off to Beacon.
"Have fun!" Ruby shouts.
"Be safe!" Weiss calls out.
"And don't forget to call every once and a while!" Yang yells as the ship takes off. "Oh, I almost forgot… Don't forget to start your year off with a Yang!"
Weiss shoots Yang a slightly disgusted look, "Really?" is all she can muster to say.
"I'm on fire today!" Yang exclaims as she pumps her robotic fist into the air.
Ruby lets out a soft sigh as small tears drop from her glistening silver eyes. She leans against Weiss and nuzzles her head into her shoulder and neck, while Weiss places her arm around Ruby's waist, she has also begun to tear up a bit. Yang stands next to them with her hands on her hips and a slight smile on her face, her beautiful lilac eyes tearing up as well.
Cyrus and Lucas regained their breath and head over to some nearby benches to relax for the short trip to Beacon, as they walk, they pass Bianca, Alyssa, and Blake. Bianca takes notice of the two men. Cyrus was tall, almost a full foot taller than her petite 5'3" self and had a muscular frame with broad shoulders. He wore a Silver breast plate over top of a white collared shirt. Over the top of both his shirt and armor was a long black unbuttoned trench coat, it extended down to just above his ankles. He also had on a pair of dark gray cargo pants and armored black combat boots and strapped to his back was a two-handed broadsword. His black hair was neat and slicked back, his face didn't seem to match his physique though, it had a soft oval shape rather than a hard and chiseled one. His eyes however were the most noticeable thing about him, they were silver, just like her own.
Lucas was slightly shorter than Cyrus, no more than two or three inches, he had more of an athletic build, nowhere near as muscular as Cyrus was, his shoulders were still fairly broad and squared. Lucas wore a partially unzipped gray track jacket with blue stripes, over top a simple white t-shirt, he also had on a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of gray and white canvas shoes and he had what appeared to be a katana and tanto hanging from his black leather belt. His gray hair was pretty messy, and hung down about half way down his neck, his face was similar in shape to Cyrus', but it was just ever so slightly pointier at the chin. Lucas' eyes were a vibrant blue color. Both had a similar symbol on their clothing, a small disc with what looked to be sharp rays of light coming from it, Cyrus' was in white and on his back, partially covered by his sword, while Lucas' was in blue and in full view, resting on his shoulder.
They walked past the three women and sat at the benches they were heading for, all the while Bianca continued to watch them.
"What you looking at B?" Alyssa says teasingly while poking Bianca with her elbow, startling her and causing her to let out an audible "eeep!"
"N-nothing," Bianca says as she blushes.
"Don't lie I know you were checking out those boys over there," Alyssa says as she gives a slight point with her head toward Cyrus and Lucas.
This motion had caught the attention of Lucas who was slightly slouching in his seat near the window of the transport. Alyssa sensed his attention had shifted to her and her cousin and gave him a flirtatious wink. He disregarded her motion and turned his attention away from the blonde faunus. This rejection caused Alyssa's shoulders and cat ears to sink down to an almost saddened state.
Bianca had looked away from the two boys in embarrassment when Alyssa called out her gawking at them, when she looked back however, her silver eyes met Cyrus'. At first neither really notices, but when they do after only a moment, they look away from each other quickly, both blushing slightly.
Alyssa and Bianca then got this weird feeling like they were being watched, they turned and noticed Blake giving the two of them a 'death stare'.
"I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no.", she said. This caused Alyssa's posture to sink deeper and Bianca to blush a bit more.
As the transport neared Beacon, a hologram of a man with long black hair arranged into a pony tail with a noticeably pink highlight in it appeared, he was dressed in a fine green tail coat and white pants. He began to speak as the riders of the ship gathered around to hear what he had to say.
"Hello and welcome to Beacon Academy, my name is Lie Ren. You are among the few people chosen to attend our prestigious academy. You have shown great skill at your local combat schools and now it is our turn here to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world."
"Wow, I think that's the longest I've ever heard him speak," Blake said with a smirk.
The hologram of Ren fades away as the transport begins to dock at Beacon and let the new students off. Cyrus and Lucas are among the first off, while Blake, Alyssa, and Bianca are among the last.
When she steps off the transport and onto the airship docks, Bianca is taken aback by the beautiful sight in front of her. Beacon Academy, the pictures she had seen didn't do it any justice, it's towering spires made it look like a castle out of the fairy tales she had read as a child.