The adventure begins with Volume 1, Episode 8.
"You are so childish," Weiss sneered in frustration.
Ruby slowly opened her eyes to find a very golden and equally sharp Deathstalker's stinger frozen in place. Just a few invaluable inches from her face, it was a moment in which the young Ruby Rose found herself completely at a loss for words. Letting out a breath that she did not even realize was being held, she looked to her savior.
"Weiss?" she wondered, surprised to see that it was her recently acquired partner who had saved her head from imminent impalement. Their brief time together had suggested that Weiss would be the last person who would help her, much less save her life.
Ruby wasn't complaining.
"And dimwitted. And hyperactive." With some effort she grunted as she removed Myrtenaster from the ice, launching a few stray chips into the air. Ice generated from dust gleamed with a faint blue, distinguishing it from natural ice. Turning to face Ruby, she finished with equal agitation, "And don't even get me started on your fighting style."
But she did take heed in choosing her words and offered Ruby some common ground, "And I suppose I can be a bit..."
It was Ruby's expression of gritted teeth and puppy-kicked eyes that caused the heiress to be just a tad more real with herself. The girl had made a mistake, nothing deliberate.
"...difficult," she begrudgingly admitted. "But if we're going to do this," she offered as she leaned in to speak more softly to her teammate. "We're going to have to do this together."
Seeing that Ruby's expression had reached one of thankfulness and recognition, Weiss smiled. "So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be…"
Straightening her back, she paused to find a word that would not completely fracture her pride. But, as the milliseconds passed, Weiss recognized the futility of the matter and chose to cast aside her pride for what she hoped would be a better future.
"Nicer."
Ruby, thankful that the older girl had sought a peaceful resolution, returned the tone. "I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this," she explained, desperate to show that her intentions were pure. Ruby didn't want to do this alone, and she certainly didn't want to do this with a teammate who didn't like her. Weiss was now her teammate, and she only wanted to get along with the older girl, whose physical beauty and take-charge attitude she couldn't help but admire.
Happy that they had finally reached an understanding, Weiss simply let the girl know, "You're fine." And with her confirmation said, she turned back to the gargantuan mutant that was barely being restrained by her dust powered attack.
Bowing her head, Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. "Normal knees." At last, the future looked bright for her.
Carefully avoiding the creature's claws and equally sharp legs, Weiss found for herself an unarmored and exposed section of the creature's belly. The monster's agitation skyrocketed, as if it somehow knew that the coup de grace was about to be delivered.
"Woah, woah," the tall, dark, and mysterious Blake Belladonna alerted, her usual tone of indifference replaced with concern. "You're not going to do what I think you're going to do."
"Do you have any better ideas?" Weiss asked as she chambered the red dust in her weapon's cylinder. "Killing Grimm is easy if you know where to stab," she attempted to explain with confidence, although the quake in her voice betrayed her. Her heart began to pound against her chest, her palms started to sweat, and her fingertips began to go numb with excitement and fear. "Just because I haven't done it before doesn't mean I can't, um…" she trailed off as she placed her left foot forward. The Deathstalker was very big. And very angry.
Blake began to step back. "Right… your funeral," she quickly agreed.
Taking a deep breath, Weiss decided that she'd show Blake that she could do what was necessary. And she totally didn't care about looking cool while doing it. Squeezing the trigger on Myternaster, Weiss unleashed a red glow that consumed the blade. Her signature snowflake appeared beneath her feet, and she launched herself against the creature at point blank range and almost fled the scene out of sheer horror as the creature let out an agonized shriek.
Heart racing and legs trembling, Weiss held fast. With the combined power of her semblance and dust she managed to dig in. She looked away as she pulled the trigger all the way, firing her weapon and setting the immediate portion of the underbelly on fire. The portion directly opposite Weiss's incision blew open with an echoing splat, allowing for a good portion of the Grimm's intestines, blood, and other undesirable bits of biology to be fired into the sky.
Ruby gawked at the violent display of force. It was rare for one to witness a Deathstalker being disemboweled. She realized that that could have been her if Weiss hadn't avoided the collision with her earlier. Myrtenaster may have looked flimsy, but it would have reduced her to ash.
The Deathstalker, now with a sizable tunnel carved through its body, fell dead at last.
Cringing at the whole ordeal, Weiss pulled her red hot blade out of the corpse and quickly withdrew from the scene as more blood and guts began to spill from the hole, still ablaze. She had set a few trees on fire; she wasn't going to start feeling guilty now about leaving other things in a similar state. All she had to do was keep her food in her stomach, a task that was proving to be more difficult than she had expected. Once the vibrations in her body subsided, and her heart rate calmed, she'd be fine.
"You don't need to kill the beast, just slit its throat," Blake advised to the heiress as she strode past her.
Weiss gave an uninterested grunt in response.
Blake judged that if she approached all of her problems like that, she wouldn't be wearing spotless white for very long.
And so, with the spectacle over and the Grimm's body beginning to wither away into nothingness, Ruby withdrew Crescent Rose and made a quick cut across the Nevermore's feather that had up been holding her down by the cape. As the bulk of it fell to the ground, she took hold of her cape and pulled it up, finally freeing herself. The cape had a sizable hole in its normally uninterrupted, illustrious red; but a few minutes of patchwork would remedy the matter. This wasn't the first time she had played too rough with it.
With her trusty weapon at her side, Ruby managed to repress most of the shock at seeing a Deathstalker just a few feet away from her. Granted, it was as dead as a doorknob and now smoking black as it began the twelve hour process of withering away, but she had never seen one so close before. The creature of Grimm, despite all of its grotesque features, desires to kill, and what currently seemed to be an infinite supply of blood and guts, was oddly fascinating.
Of course, whatever moments of philosophical epiphany that the young Ruby Rose may have experienced were quickly swept aside as Yang ran up to her and threw her arms around her younger sister, pulling her into the air and giving her a proper bear hug.
"I'm so happy you're okay!" she joyfully exclaimed, perfectly content to crush the girl's spine and ironically contradict her words. Family had always been valuable to both girls. The thought of losing her sister was one that the normally fearless Yang Xiao Long preferred not to ponder.
After a few reprimanding words from Yang to Ruby, the two girls soon regrouped with Weiss and Blake; and the four of them were quickly reinforced by Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, a mysteriously calm man with a single strand of pink in his pitch black hair, and a girl with red hair and very pink everything.
They introduced themselves as Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, and the eight engaged in a light conversation.
"Thanks," Ruby murmured to Weiss as the eight of them gathered in front of the chess pieces. "You seem like you're pretty nice," she speculated with an earnest smile.
Ruby deliberately ignored Weiss's actions of using stray leaves to cleanse Myrtenaster of the impure Grimm blood that insisted upon clinging to the blade. Even though she'd just seen much worse, she still considered it to be totally gross.
"I'm sure you have your fits of joy and boundless compassion as well," Weiss offered with a nod and pleasant tone. The girl had her heart in the right place, that much Weiss could see. A good leader with sufficient patience would surely be all that was needed to transform her into a magnificent huntress. And with the way things were going, Weiss was hoping that she could be rewarded with that title. She was a Schnee, after all. They got what they wanted, and no one could stop them.
But her thoughts were interrupted as the Nevermore let loose a savage shriek off in the distance. Weiss held her breath longer than she realized.
Jaune Arc observed with shaking fear, "Um, guys! That thing's circling back. What are we gonna do?"
Weiss had studied for this. She had trained for this. She was ready to fight, claw, and bite for this. So what if her heart was starting to race again. "Look, there's no sense in dilly dallying," she explained as she stepped forward and motioned towards the chess pieces. "Our objective is right in front of us."
"She's right," Ruby recognized. "Our mission is to find an artifact and bring it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."
Weiss could not help but feel a sense of pride, and so she gave the younger girl a nod of acknowledgement. Ruby learned quickly, she optimistically observed.
"Run and live?" Jaune asked himself, recognizing the low risk policy that the plan entailed. "That is an idea I can get behind," he reasoned as he and Ruby approached the chess pieces.
Ruby selected the golden knight, and Jaune selected the golden rook.
Neither had any inkling as to what their supposedly inconsequential decision would have on their futures. But their futures were now cast in stone. And there would be no going back for them or anyone else.
"It's time we left," Ren observed as the eight of them carefully monitored the Nevermore's impending attack. An aggressive creature, the Nevermore, much like all Grimm. It was as bold as it was ferocious. The probability of surviving, even with an eight versus one fight, seemed slim to Ren. Killing the beast would require daring and creativity under great stress.
"Right." Ruby motioned for the others to follow. "Let's go!" she exclaimed as she dashed off.
The others quickly followed, but Yang stood her ground.
It was Blake Belladonna who took notice of her partner's actions and stopped. "What is it?" she asked out of concern. Now was not the time, as Weiss had put ever so formally, to dilly dally.
Yang smiled blissfully, watching her younger sister stop for Weiss, who almost eagerly took Ruby's offer of charging ahead side by side. She faltered, ever so briefly, before accepting; and the two went forward together, not waiting for anyone else to follow.
"Nothing," Yang answered before running after the rest of the group. Besides not dying, Yang wanted her sister to make friends, and it looked like there was already a fierce friendship in the making. And Weiss was coming off as the kind of girl who got things done, the right kind of girl for her sister, she reasoned.
Smiling to herself, Blake immediately followed her partner. Yang would make for an excellent teammate, surely.
The group made haste and soon came upon the ancient ruins of some form of structure that had been built to bridge the land with an implausibly deep ravine. Multiple pathways all led up to the skeletal remains of a watchtower. The impending battle ground was positioned before a cliff that towered a few hundred feet above them.
And at the top of the cliff landed the Nevermore. Giving its wings a fluff, the giant bird unleashed another shriek. It was an aged beast, one that had lived long enough to learn the ways of these creatures. What they lacked in size and strength, they made up for in unexplainable power. These eight had trespassed into its domain, and it would surely see to their removal, by lethal force if necessary.
"I hate birds," Blake muttered below her breath as she and Yang grabbed cover behind a massive stone slab that was conveniently placed before the structure.
"That's the spirit, kitty cat," Yang purred with a chuckle as she readied Ember Celica. But as Blake gave her a freezing glare, she asked, "Whaaat?" Patting her partner on the shoulder, she reasoned, "C'mon, we might die in a few minutes! Just go with it!"
Blake remained unamused as she double checked Gambol Shroud. Fresh magazines were ready to go, but her weapon wasn't designed to take down a massive beast. "I'm not a soldier in the Vale Brigade or a marine in the Vacuo Navy, Yang," she muttered as she stared in awe at the creature. "I'm not equipped to kill the big ones," she confessed.
"Well, I have the utmost confidence that you can keep up if we have to run away screaming," Yang assured her, earning another glare. Shaking her head, she decided that her partner would have to learn to lighten up. She was just thankful that they weren't on Dragonia.
The creature shrieked again, sparking a yelp from her. Okay, so maybe Blake wasn't wrong about the situation.
Ruby and Weiss sought similar cover. As Ruby reloaded Crescent Rose, she asked, "Have you ever killed a Nevermore?" There was hope in her voice. Having someone experienced to guide her sounded like a luxury too good to be real.
Weiss carefully unloaded Myrtenaster and emptied out her dust crystals. Placing the partially used sources of power into her back pouch, she reloaded with fresh, whole dust crystals. "No," she admitted with a shake of her head, much to Ruby's discontent.
Peaking out behind her cover, Weiss quickly looked the beast over. "But I have studied them," she revealed. Recalling countless hours of study, she remembered that its vulnerable areas were the neck, stomach, legs, and back. She would target the back, as it was the largest area of mass.
Weiss quickly withdrew her head as the creature let out another shriek, and she observed Yang's yelp. "Extensively. But I don't think we'll be able to exploit a weak area. If we hit it, we'll have to pierce the armor," she finished, looking Ruby dead in the eye.
Ruby gulped. It was becoming quite apparent to her that her teammate had come to Beacon expecting to seize nothing short of absolute victory. Or at the very least, if all else failed, she would most certainly die trying. Ruby was starting to reconsider that offer to work at Signal with her dad.
Jaune and Pyrrha took cover farther up. They exercised more caution and maintained silence. Although, Pyrrha kept an eye on the boy. There was something about him. Granted, he was practically a cliche for teenage boys, but she found herself drawn to him. Maybe it was the fact that he had brought a sword and shield to a gunfight. Stupidity did tend to draw one's attention. But, Pyrrha decided that these thoughts could wait when they weren't in immediate and mortal danger.
Nora and Ren stuck together and waited. For what, they knew not; but Nora gave her friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. And, despite having a mere pistol in his hand, Ren placed his clenched fist on top. They had been through so much, together. The odds of surviving this? Slim. The odds of surviving this with Nora at his side? Ren decided that they would be fine.
The Nevermore wasted no time in seeking out the trespassers. Taking flight from its position on the North, the mighty beast soared overhead to the South.
A brief, albeit enormous, shadow revealed the bird's plan to the hunters. And they watched in awe as the beast corkscrewed straight up and threw out its wings.
"On cra-" was all Jaune could manage before the eight of them fled from their now exposed pockets of cover and scrambled North towards the ruins.
A storm of feathers struck the ground, but the eight fighters were diligent in their dodging. Although, some were more graceful than others, Jaune noticed as he fell flat on his face, ironically stopping him from running into the razor sharp feather that immediately struck where he would have been, had he not fallen.
A frustrated cry echoed through the air as the creature began to circle around, its next move not yet known to the eight.
"What do we do?!" Yang yelled as they all ran across the dilapidated bridge that connected them to the rest of the ruins.
"We turn the disadvantage into an advantage!" Weiss answered as she quickly analyzed the terrain. No room to maneuver, completely exposed. "It wants us in the open, so we use that against it!"
"A brilliant idea, but how do we execute?!" Blake asked as she and the others exerted themselves in dodging another volley of feathers that came in at a sharper angle.
Weiss took aim at the beast and cycled the cyan dust crystal. "First, we fight back!" She explained as she opened fire, sending a storm of icy streams towards the enemy. It wasn't a complete plan, but it was more than anyone else was offering.
"Good idea!" Pyrrha agreed as she steadied her carbine sights. "Just show the beast that we're not a free meal! Maybe it'll take the hint and leave us!" she offered as she fired.
"Sounds good!" Ruby figured as she started to pelt the bird with her heavy caliber rounds, chambering them with her Crescent Rose's iconic schklikt, klikt!
"Fine with me!" Yang laughed as she started throwing shotgun punches in the bird's general direction.
The others, excluding Jaune, all followed suit. He awkwardly stabbed his sneaker at the ground as he watched.
Growling to itself, the Nevermore continued circling. The prey was not only evading its attempts at removing them, but they were now attacking it, the one who had called this land home for a lifetime. Dealing with these creatures was a dangerous task, one that older Grimm grew to avoid entirely.
Of course, any further thoughts were forgotten when a pink heart grenade went off in its face. Enacting more drastic measures, the creature took a sharp turn and dove in, expanding its wings in an attempt to simply knock the invaders off of their limited movement space.
"DOWN!" Weiss yelled as the bird came in for the strike.
It was at that moment that the extended blades came in handy. Weiss, Blake, Ruby and Jaune all evaded the attack and made precision cuts on the underside of the bird's wings as it came crashing through, toppling over the tower that lay in the center of the ruins. Nora even managed to bring the force of her hammer down in full and clip the very edge of the bird's right wing. Yang threw a punch on the end of the far left wing. The damage was minimal, given the power of the small dust cartridges, but she was Yang Xiao Long, after all.
Needless to say, the creature voiced its unpleasant experience as it flew off.
Switching back to ranged tactics, those who possessed the ability resumed firing on the creature's flank.
"I don't think it's gonna bugger off!" Yang observed as she loaded fresh shells into her weapons. "Anyone got any better plans?!"
As it would happen, plans had been hatched.
Ruby tried to explain, "If we-!"
"Ruby!" Weiss interrupted as she reloaded Myrtenaster. "If we can get you on that thing, can you cut one of its arteries?!"
"What's an arteries?!" Ruby answered her question with a question as she loaded a new mag into Crescent Rose and cycled the bolt action.
Schklikt, klikt!
"Is it like a science-ery?!" she asked with complete seriousness. To be fair, it was a very intense moment. Ruby would have never asked such an idiotic question, but she was under an immense amount of pressure when Weiss asked her.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Weiss planted her right hand firmly on her face and angrily vented. But, as time was of the essence, she just as quickly removed her hand and instead pointed it towards the massive monster that was coming back for another round.
"Just rocket jump when I tell you to, okay?!" she demanded, having sufficiently simplified her plan. "We'll land on its back and kill it there!"
"Um, sure!" Ruby quickly took her position in the middle of the bridge where Weiss pointed to with Myrtenaster. Aiming Crescent Rose at the ground, she awaited the signal.
"What about us?" Blake asked as she loaded a fresh magazine into Gambol Shroud.
"And what about Ruby?!" Yang demanded, shocked and angry. "If you guys kill it in the air, it'll fall!"
"Blake, your weapon's rope feature!" Weiss answered. "It can support a combined weight of three hundred pounds, yes?! I'll need you to stay on the ground to catch us, and Yang's weapons won't be able to penetrate the armor! It has to be Ruby and me alone!"
Yang wanted to argue, and posed to do so, but she could find no flaw in that logic.
"Of course!" Blake answered, but she made no attempt to hide her worry. "But what if something goes wrong?"
Sparing a precious second to stare Yang and Blake in the eye, she mustered her confidence and suppressed her heart. "Then try to save us." Seeing Yang's unsatisfied grimace, she rolled her eyes and amended, "Save Ruby first if you can only grab one."
Yang felt better about that.
"Here it comes!" Nora alerted them, firing off a grenade and breaking the otherwise tender moment.
"Just keep firing! Make it mad! Draw it in!" Weiss commanded as she resumed her attack.
The beast closed in on them, planning to make another attempt to sweep them off the bridge. Despite its power, it was a creature of simple thoughts and weapons. It was predictable, and that made for an exploitable weakness.
"Okay, Ruby! Get ready!" Weiss warned her as she herself braced for what was to come. Cycling light blue dust, she mentally went over the plan one last time. She quickly wiped the sweat off her palms. "Everyone else, stop firing!"
Silence filled the air for just a few seconds, gunshots quickly fading. In those few seconds, the mighty creature of Grimm closed the distance.
Expanding its wings, the bird shrieked.
Clutching her weapon, Ruby shrieked.
Weiss fired a massive bolt of cyan dust at the Nevermore's face. The beast didn't know what to think when some magical substance instantly solidified into a massive chunk of ice that consumed its entire face.
"NOW!" Weiss cried out as she activated her own semblance, forming the iconic snowflake glyph beneath her.
Simultaneously, Crescent Rose went off; and Ruby went up, somersaulting all the way.
Weiss choosing a more direct approach of simply rocketing forward with her semblance.
Blake and Yang watched in awe as Weiss successfully landed on the Nevermore's back, backflipping to her desired spot and promptly used red dust to pierce the monster's hide, digging into the beast like a needle through cloth.
Yang gawked at the sight of Ruby falling back down and using Crescent Rose as an ice axe to anchor herself to the creature's back as it flew past the bridge. Despite the chaos of the moment, she could clearly hear the sickening slice of the blade cutting through the armor and flesh.
The bird began to fly straight up into the air, desperately switching between its wings to claw at its face. Unable to breathe, the Nevermore failed to react to the enemies on its back.
Ruby, firm in her footing, began discharging rounds to propel herself down the bird's back with Crescent Rose's blade lodged snugly in its flesh. White, chunky shards of armor spewed with splotches of blood as she unzipped its flesh.
Weiss, having already hitched her ride, clung on to the creature's back with her right hand and fired Myrtnaster's remaining red dust, although her grip was clumsy with all of the chaos around her. Still, she was able to make a sizable hole in the creature's back.
The others on the ground, however, failed to see the epicness above. But they did find themselves taking a shower in blood. Obeying orders, Blake stood her ground, despite slowly being drenched. Yang, waiting for her sister, politely joined her. Jaune and Pyrrha found themselves with shields that served as umbrellas.
Whether it was from suffocation, blood loss, or motion sickness, the Nevermore ceased its struggling.
And for just a few brief seconds, as everything came to a standstill, Weiss and Ruby looked to each other. Soaked in blood, the two shared a smile of success. Those smiles quickly vanished when Gravity took over.
Ruby clutched her weapon, as it was the only thing keeping her from falling by herself.
Weiss found Myrtenaster lodged in the Nevermore's flesh, the blade cooled and baked into the charred hole. Every second counted, and that blade wasn't going anywhere. She chose to abandon her weapon.
Free to move, she launched herself at Ruby, who was located several meters downwards from her position. Throwing her remaining upper body strength into a hug, she clung to Ruby as the sudden outside force pulled Ruby, and Crescent Rose, away from the Nevermore.
Ruby returned the hug, albeit with a massive scythe in her grasp and an even greater scream in her lungs.
"RUBY!" Yang scrambled to the edge of the bridge, prepared save her sister. Perhaps she could act as a cushion for Ruby, even if that ravine was bottomless. At least she wouldn't have to live without her sister.
Before she could heroically sacrifice herself, they fell within range for Blake. Timing her aim, she fired Gambol Shroud up to the two girls as the massive body of the Nevermore fell past her and into the ravine.
The end blade found its way around the two and conveniently tied around them. With Crescent Rose in one hand, Ruby managed to maintain her hold on Weiss as everything they had ever thought, felt, and done came down to that one moment.
Seeing what physics would do very shortly, Yang rushed to Blake and locked her arms around her waist. "Don't let go!" she pleaded to the girl who now held the two lives in her extended hand. Ruby's life was beyond Yang's grasp now; all she could do was trust in Blake.
The others quickly joined in to assist, adding their weight to the impromptu anchor.
Weiss and Ruby fell past Blake, and the rope quickly went taunt.
Blake lurched forward, but she managed to refrain from going over with them, thanks to everyone's added support.
Ruby stopped screaming, and when Death did not take her, she opened her eyes to see eternal blackness with her own rose petals peppered about and slowly descending. For a moment, she was confused.
"Ahem," Weiss coughed.
Ruby felt her chin resting on someone's shoulder. She appeared to have her arms wrapped around Weiss's platonic, begrudging embrace. Her legs were doing the same thing, and she felt four appendages wrapped around her as well.
The two girls were wrapped around one another quite snuggly.
"Don't let go," a terrified Ruby Rose managed to squeak.
Sighing, Weiss continued to hold Ruby in a deadlock with both arms and legs. It was hardly becoming of a lady, but then again… a dainty, little lady wouldn't be fracturing a Nevermore's spine whilst in flight. "Blake is pulling us up, you kno-"
"I SAID DON'T LET GO!" Ruby shrieked as she somehow managed to tighten her already oxygen-depriving embrace. "I think I just semblanced myself," she pathetically whimpered in shame.
It was through this tightened embrace that Weiss heard the damp squeeze. Looking down, she saw that Ruby's backside was drenched in blood. She could only assume that the same fate had been cast for her clothes as well. It would explain why she was sticky and utterly disgusting.
Barely holding in her lunch, Weiss complied. Spitting out the stray rose petal that had spontaneously appeared from Ruby's semblance, she found herself not even caring at that point.
The two were pulled back onto the bridge by the combined efforts and muscles of Blake, Yang, and the other four. Of course, the two girls were locked in a rather intimate position, albeit covered in blood, and it took a few minutes for the others to untangle Gambol Shroud's rope before the girls could be separated.
But even after the lifesaving weapon was removed, Ruby refused to let go of Weiss. The others spent a few additional minutes prying the utterly terrified Ruby off of the slightly less terrified Weiss.
As the two finally parted and got to their feet, Weiss briefly mourned the loss of her precious Myrtenaster, but she took comfort in knowing that it could easily be replaced with an identical, state-of-the-art model. She also mourned for her ruined combat skirt, an article of clothing that Ruby took great pity on, much to Weiss's surprise. But, that too, could be replaced with ease. Weiss chose to congratulate and thank everyone for their assistance.
Yang laughed the whole way through. Then she scolded her sister for such a foolish move, and then scolded Weiss about endangering her sister's life. Then she rejoiced in their survival and was pushed to tears.
And Blake was the one with the unfortunate shoulder that Yang chose to soak completely.
"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces," Professor Ozpin declared to the assembled audience as the four stood before him. "From this day forward, you will work together as Team Juniper." he declared as the crowd applauded the proud four.
Nora being Nora, she simply could not contain her joy of working alongside Ren and displayed this honest joy by hugging him. Very strongly. The young man was caught off guard and delayed in hugging back immediately.
"Led by Jaune Arc," Ozpin added with a knowing smirk on his face. "Congratulations, young man," he offered with bemused sincerity. He had great hopes for the boy, but would find himself disappointed soon, and with others later.
Despite the boy's total shock and bewilderment, Pyrrha felt happy for her newly declared leader, and she displayed this happiness by giving him a playful punch to the shoulder. Jaune Arc quickly became familiar with the very fine quality of marble that Beacon used for their floors. Pyrrha would quickly become familiar with her leader's lack of resilience.
And the ceremony quickly drew to its end, with one last team of four remaining.
"Finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long."
The four girls stepped up as Team JNPR stepped down. The eyes of the school were upon them, but this was a small crowd for Weiss' tastes.
"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Ruby," Ozpin announced.
The crowd began to clap, but they quickly realized that the leader could be one of two girls. The now quintessential word "Ruby" could be pronounced with the sound of a sharp "R" or silent "W", and the word would sound the same.
"Led by…" Ozpin paused for dramatic effect. His job, while interesting at times, could be very monotonous, and so he waited just a few more agonizing seconds before revealing the leader.
"Weiss Schnee."
The crowd roared with applause, cheer, and the scattered whistle. Her fame, fortune and beauty was well known, mostly due to Schnee Company's advertising; but many were also fans of her music albums.
"To clarify, that's Team WRBY," the professor added with a smirk as he adjusted his glasses. "It looks like this year is going to be a very… interesting year." he commented to himself as all other sounds were consumed by the crowd.
Weiss, out of sheer practice and almost instinct, moved to face the crowd.
And she curtsied.
The crowd exploded with excitement. The real Weiss Schnee was not only sharing the same academy as them, but she was also a leader now. Many held her to be a perfect woman already. Only one other person who had attended Beacon was more famous than Weiss: the kingdom's current queen, Valens the Fourteenth. Even then, she had attended forty years ago.
It was at that moment that Weiss realized that it was more likely her celebrity status, not her recent feat of monster slaying, that was winning her applause.
But that did not matter for now. Weiss had suffered many grievances in her brief existence, and she would be sure to not let any of Destiny's grace go to waste. For now, she would drink in her success. And very soon, she would see to the magnificent future that surely awaited her and her newly acquired teammates.
Weiss Schnee had studied for this. She had trained for this. She was ready to fight, claw, and bite for this.
This moment marked the end of her old life. It was her chance to start anew.
This was the day that Weiss Schnee had waited for.
A/N: FULL cover art by PatinFTW. Go to DEVIANTART and look at his profile! He's awesome!