Chapter 1: Awkward Introductions

I wonder what it's gonna be like at Beacon Academy… Summer Rose thought to herself as the airship slowly approached the school in question. Will there be food courts? Exercise gyms? Secret love ne-NO! Why am I even thinking that?

Shaking the thoughts out of her head while pulling her hood further over her head to hide her blush, Summer turned her gaze to the view outside the large glass windows of the airship, marveling at the sight of the city of Vale. Having grown up in a small town further south before moving with her father to Mountain Glenn, a sizable settlement beyond the mountains of the kingdom, she has never been to the big city before now. I can see Patch Island from up here. I hear it's a nice little place. Ooh! Is that Signal Academy? It's bigger than I thought! Why didn't I study there first? Lighthouse is so much smaller. Maybe I should try teaching there when I'm done fighting monsters. Yeah! That's-

At that moment, a hologram of a woman appeared right in front Summer, causing her to jump back with a startled squeak. "Hello, and welcome to Beacon Academy." The woman said. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch." Having recovered from her start, Summer took a look at the woman in the hologram. She couldn't have been older than twenty five, with light blonde hair and a somewhat stern presence to her.

"You are among a privileged few who were selected to attend our prestigious academy." The woman continued, "Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and a future Huntsmen and Huntresses it will be your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world." The hologram then faded, leaving Summer in deep thought.

'Wow, they really make a big deal out of this. I mean, I know it's an important job and all that, but surely there can't be that few Huntsmen out in the world, right? Maybe they're just trying to scare us into working harder. Yeah, that sounds about right. No point making us feel like this is gonna be easy.'

"Seriously?! How are you getting motion sick?" Said someone from behind. Curious, Summer turned around to see what was going on. Near the windows on the other side of the room were two people, a boy and a girl, both with black hair and red eyes. Siblings? The boy was sitting on the floor of the ship, looking a little green in the face, while the girl just looked on incredulously. "It's my first time on an airship, Rae. I didn't think I'd have this problem." The boy replied, and from the sound of his voice, he was just about ready to spew. Uh oh…

Not wanting the room to smell like vomit, Summer quickly rushed over to the boy's aid, grabbing one of the air sickness bags just in case.

"Hey," she called, immediately getting the attention of the black-haired girl, who shot a death glare her way. "What do you want?"

"I er, well uhh, I wanted to help him." Summer said nervously, pointing at the boy.

"Well then you can help by getting lost!" The girl told her, clearly agitated. "Haven't your parents told you to stay out of—

"Raven, shut up." The boy growled, obviously not in the mood. The girl looked at him, surprised, before turning away with a huff. Taking that as a sign to go ahead, Summer stepped forward and knelt down beside him. "Okay, let's try taking deep breaths. In through the nose…" she inhaled deeply through her nose, while the boy did the same, "out through the mouth." She exhaled through her mouth, again with him following her lead. After several repeats of this, the boy's stomach settled down and his face returned to it's normal color. " Thanks, uhh, what's your name again?"

"S-Summer, Summer Rose," Summer stammered, going back to being nervous. The boy then stood up and offered his hand, which she nervously accepted.

"Name's Qrow, Qrow Branwen," the boy said, helping her to her feet before pointing at the girl. "That's my twin sister, Raven." Raven only kept her back to the two of them, not even responding.

"Is she always like this?" Summer whispered, hoping she didn't hear her.

"Nah, she's way worse most of the time," Qrow said a little too loudly with a smirk. Raven immediately whirled around to shoot daggers at both of them, and while Qrow was unaffected, Summer instantly dashed behind him while letting out a slight squeak.

"And what's THAT supposed to mean!?" She asked, her voice dripping with venom.

"It means you have the shortest temper of all time, and that if something even looked at you the wrong way you'd cut it in half." Qrow replied, his grin widening.

"That's not true!"

"Yeah, it is."

"No it isn't!"

"Yeah, it kinda is."

"Uhh, guys?" Summer asked nervously.

"What?" The twins asked, Qrow nonchalantly, Raven angrily.

"Everyone's looking at us." Raven quickly looked around and noticed that she was right; everyone in the area was staring at them. Knowing that her brother could keep arguing with her all day long, she just growled under her breath and spun on her heels.

"I'm going to see if there's any tea on this thing." She grumbled, and stormed off in a huff.

After a few seconds of silence, Summer peeked over Qrow's shoulder to make sure she was gone before stepping out from behind him. "Did you really have to make a scene like that?" She asked, "Yup," Qrow replied, "it was the only way to get her out of here. Anyway, where are you from, Summer?"

"Huh? Oh, uhh, Mountain Glenn. You?"

"Anima."

"Okay, where in Anima? It's a big continent, right?"

"Well, my family likes to travel a lot, so we never stay in one place for very long." He said with a tiny hint of nervousness. Summer picked up on this, but decided not to push any further. At that moment the intercom came online.

Attention students, we are now approaching the Beacon Academy docks. Please gather your belongings and prepare to disembark.

"Oh wow, that was faster than I thought. I'd better call Dad and tell him I made it." She said quickly before taking off, waving goodbye to Qrow who waved back at her. He was nice, a bit weird though, she thought to herself as she took out her scroll and called her father.

Hello?

"Hi Dad."

Summer! Did you make it to Beacon alright?

"We're just about to land now."

Good. I never trusted those airships.

"Dad, I'm fine. How are things going over at Merlot Industries?"

Slow enough. I'm starting to make some progress with my research, but I just don't have enough specimens to work on.

"Well, let's hope it stays that way. I don't want things getting bad over there."

I know, sweetie. Anyway, I'd better get back to work; I'm getting close, I can feel it.

"Alright, Dad. Just don't forget to sleep, okay?"

Ahh, sleep is for the weak.

"Dad!"

Kidding,kidding. Love you, Summer.

"Love you too, dad." As she hung up, there was a juddering which told her that the ship has docked. In a hurry, she rushed to where she left her stuff, grabbed her briefcase and weapon, and made her way to the main hatch, excited about the possible adventures of Beacon Academy.