"Oh, I'm so happy my baby sister made it into Beacon," Yang said while pulling Ruby into an inescapable hug. Ruby sputtered, sick of getting a face full of her older sister's cleavage every time she felt especially proud of her. Thankfully, Yang soon released her.

Noticing the amazing view beyond the see-through sides of the ship, Ruby walked over. As she did, she noticed a blonde boy running off to somewhere, face green and looking as though he had just vomited and was doing everything he could to keep it in his mouth to find a trash can or something related to that.

After taking in the view, she decided to return to Yang, but the ship lurched sideways and she was sent sliding backwards. She knew she was going to hit the ground, hard, but there was nothing she could do about it. But it seemed someone else could. Instead of being greeted by a hard floor, soft hands clasped around her arms and pushed her back upright. She turned around to see who it was. Her savior wore a black and white outfit, had long raven hair, amber eyes, and, strangely, wore a bow on her head. Ruby was almost mesmerized by her.

"Thanks, uh…" Ruby said, realizing she didn't yet know the girl's name.

"Blake."

"Oh. Uh… thanks Blake."

"You're welcome."

"I'm Ruby by the way."

"Ruby? Pretty name."

"Thanks." Ruby paused as if trying to figure out what to say next. "So… uh… Why are going to Beacon?"

This question seemed to end Blake's simple answers and actually make her think. "The world's a dark place - believe me, I know this firsthand. So, I wanna try to do something about it. You?"

"Just wanna help people," Ruby replied.

"That's noble, I guess. A little naive though."

"Naive?"

"It sounds simple enough to do, but that's far from the truth."

"Well that's our job, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Still though, it's much easier said than done," Blake resigned.

"Don't doubt it. Anyways-" Ruby was cut off by a news broadcast. It explained her fight with Roman and how he escaped. When it was over, Blake was almost in awe.

"That was you?"

"Yep."

Blake could hardly believe it. Ruby - a cheery girl who she had to doubt would harm a fly - held her own against a major criminal, and might've even won had his escape not shown up. "Wow. I have to doubt I could've pulled that off."

"Guess Ozpin was right to put me here early then."

Blake couldn't believe her ears - both sets of them. "Early?"

"Yeah. I was supposed to be at Signal for two more years. Instead, here I am."

Okay… she could understand someone like herself mayyybe holding off Roman, but Ruby - someone who was two whole years younger than her… That was beyond surprising. Beyond surprising.

Realizing her thoughts led her to stare off into space, she snapped out of it and looked to the small, happy girl in front of her. Vaguely recalling Ruby's last statement, she spoke up. "All the better - for the both of us."

"And Yang."

"Yang?" Blake asked.

"Older sister. Since I was supposed to be at Signal this year while she was supposed to be here, we were supposed to be separated for the first time in… basically forever. But, that changed."

Blake could already sense the 'big sister drama' that was going to ensue. Of course, she would never say anything even related to that, so she just told Ruby, "I guess you were right. Probably is better for you two to be here at the same time."

"Mhm."

The Bullhead landed, and everyone started rushing out. Yang found Ruby in the chaos, grabbed her, and ran along with everyone else. Once they were in a semi-calm area, Ruby spoke to Yang. "So… Whaddya wanna do?"

"Well, uh, I've got some friends and their coming over here right now and gottagoseeya."

Yang's friends got her out of there almost as fast as they arrived, leaving Ruby beyond disoriented. She fell, but once again, it wasn't the ground that stopped her fall… it was a luggage cart. When Ruby looked up and opened her eyes, she saw a very angry-looking white-haired girl wearing a combat skirt yelling at her, though she couldn't yet make out the words. They all ran together. When she finally regained her hearing and focus, she heard "-have any idea the damage you could've caused?"

Ruby reached around and tried to get up, but the only places within her reach were covered by the girl's luggage. Still, she tried to push herself up, but before her hand even touched the girl's things, she heard, "Give me that!" and it was torn out of her hands.

"This is dust, mined and purified from the Schnee quarry."

"Uhh…."

"Are you brain dead? Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!" While saying this, she waved a vial containing the dust in front of Ruby's face. It got in her nose and eyes, causing the former to give a sensation that she needed to sneeze and the latter to burn. This, combined with the fact that she was still half dazed, made her groan unintelligibly like before, which seemed to only infuriate the snow-haired girl. "Are you even listening to me? What do you have to say for yourself?"

The dust, still being waved into Ruby's face, resulted in her sneezing. A fireball erupted around the both of them, causing the vial to go flying off to a location that neither cared about.

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

Ruby cowered down, trying to make herself as small as possible and not daring to look the witch in the eyes. "I'm really really sorry."

"Ugh! You complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

"Well, I… uh… I…"

"This isn't your ordinary practice school, you know. It's not just training and sparring. We're here to fight monsters, so watch where you're going!"

"Look, I said I was sorry, princess."

"It's heiress, actually."

That voice… Ruby recognized it, but only when she looked over to see none other than Blake Belladonna that she remembered exactly who it belonged to.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

This comment seemed to shoot Weiss' ego through the roof. "Finally, some recognition."

"The same company-" Blake almost growled that part, "-known for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

Weiss' face was one of utter outrage. "Wha… How dare you… Ugh!" With that said, she stormed off.

Ruby looked to her now-two-time savior. "Thanks."

"No problem. People like that need to be put in their place. What started that, anyways?"

"Yang took off with her friends who spun me around like a million times in a second. Fell into her luggage cart."

"Wouldn't want to see what would've happened if you'd actually broken something."

"Probably gotten thrown off the cliff," Ruby stated, almost matter-of-fact-ly

"I guess we both need to make a note to stay off her bad side."

"No kidding. Anyways, what were we supposed to do when we got here? Yang ran off, and she's the only one I knew that knew what was going on."

"Uhh… Ozpin's supposed to give a speech, then we meet in the ballroom with our sleeping bags and just sleep there for the night I guess. I think we're just supposed to roam around and check things out in our free time."

"Sounds-"

Ruby was interrupted by Goodwitch's voice echoing through the school. "Will all students report to the courtyard at this time."

"Guess you were right." Blake nodded in reply.

After a few minutes of walking, the two were at the entrance to the courtyard. The doors - like pretty much everything else in the school - were massively oversized and overbearing. The two walked through said doors. Apparently, almost everyone in the school had beat them there, and it looked like finding a spot that wouldn't result in the duo being crammed into a crowd or being stuck at the very back was going to be almost impossible. However, Yang was - for the first time in a while - Ruby's savior. Ruby heard her voice and looked over to her. "Ruby. C'mere. I saved you a spot." Ruby immediately rushed over, Blake in tow.

"So, how's your day been?" Yang asked her younger sister. Then she saw Blake and said, "There's my answer then." It was said in cheery sort of way.

"Think again, sis. Blake's been about the only good thing that happened today."

"Bad day already?"

"Well, you and your friends ditched me and sent me in a tailspin, so I fell into this really mean girl's things, then she started screaming at me and waving dust around, and I sneezed and literally exploded and then-" To Ruby's horror, Weiss was revealed to have been standing behind Yang, probably having heard all of her conversation. She looked as though she was going to scream at Ruby again, but Blake simply stepped forward and put her arm out to block the siblings,then approached Weiss. The two had a brief exchange of words which Yang nor Ruby could hear, but the end result was satisfying. Not even a minute later, Weiss was sent running off somewhere, and Blake walked back to the two, her face blank as ever.

"Was that her?" Yang asked. Ruby simply nodded.

"Good riddance, then. Anyways, you wanna continue your story?"

"Oh. Yeah. So, I literally exploded in front of the school, and that got her even more mad, but then Blake here came over and chased her off."

"...And you thought it was going to be hard to make friends."

"Guess I was wrong there."

Before any of them had the chance to say another word, the loud sound (basically the same as the one that had ordered the courtyard) echoed around. It was a man clearing his throat this time. "I'll… Keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge - to hone your craft and acquire new when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose. Direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

This left the crowd with an odd feeling, though none of them could pinpoint exactly what it was. They didn't exactly have much time either, because Glynda approached the microphone and said, "You will gather tonight in the ballroom. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

The noise of the crowd picked up once again, with people talking about all kinds of random things. Yang, talkative as ever, decided to speak to Blake this team, finding it odd that she hadn't said a word. "So Blake, thanks for helping Ruby out back there."

Blake simply shrugged. "What else was I supposed to do? Besides, people like that witch need to be put in their place."

"Makes sense. I saw here for about two seconds, and she just gave me the urge to send her sailing into a wall."

"Ruby and I both probably wanted to."

"Yeah. Seems like you two are getting along pretty well."

"Surprisingly, yes."

"Soooo… Know anything about this initiation process?"

"I wish. Just hope I get a team that isn't full of morons or racist halfwits." The manner in which she said it indicated bad memories or something of that sort were resurfacing. She talked as though she was speaking from experience, not wanting to relive something from her past. For the few that knew her secret - or rather both (the one which she currently concealed and the one involving her past) - the reasons as to why she acted this were blatantly clear. For now though, those reasons needed to remain a mystery to her newfound friends.

"Don't we all…"

This little bit of darkness was lit up when Ruby cut into their conversation. "You guys know where this ballroom is?"

"Probably where everyone else is gonna be going later?" Yang suggested, though she phrased it as a question. It seemed she was just as unsure about its location as her younger sister was.

"Alright. What do we do for now then?"

"Whatever we want, I guess."

"Okay. Any ideas?"

"I've got some things I've gotta take care of. I'll meet up will you guys later," Blake said, walking off before any questions could be asked.

The ballroom was packed almost to the brim. Sleeping bags littered the floor, and it was going to be miracle if everyone didn't get stepped on at one point or another. Ruby and Yang were now in their pajamas (the former's consisting of a black tanktop and pants with rose petals and the latter's consisting of a yellow one and some black short shorts). After getting everything they needed set up (sleeping bags and pillows, etc.), Ruby decided to start writing a letter back to her friends at Signal. Yang asked what she was doing, so she told her.

Right as she was putting the finishing touches on her letter, Yang mysteriously got up, claiming she needed to talk to someone. Once her letter was done, she looked around. She spotted Blake sitting up against a wall reading a book. Yang being gone, she figured she had nothing else to do besides go talk to her raven-haired companion.

She got up and sat down beside Blake. "Hey. Whatcha reading?"

"Hm?" It seemed Blake hadn't even noticed her there.

"Your book. What's it about?"

"It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control of his body."

"Sounds interesting."

"So far, it is. I'm only a couple pages into it though."

"Can I read it too?"

Blake was surprised by this request, but definitely wasn't going to say no. Blake had found so many brainless morons who just wanted to fight everyone or do some random, over the top things. Blake, on the other hand, had an appreciation for the simpler things in life. It seemed rare to find anyone who shared views like hers and that she actually enjoyed being around. As soon as she'd accepted Ruby's request, Ruby moved close enough to her to actually read the book, which also happened to leave not even an inch of room between the two. This didn't bother either of them, though, and they read well into the night, their only major interruption being Yang walking back to her sleeping bag with a red mark on her face, muttering "Ice Queen" as she walked past the two.

Later on in the night, Blake noticed a small noise right beside her. She looked over to see Ruby's eyes closed and her head on Blake's shoulder. Blake wasn't even going to ask how or why she just fell asleep right there, but it didn't bother her. The end of her reading time only came as a result of her eyes not letting her see straight. She couldn't really even think right, either - not that she was going to need to. As soon as she ensured she had saved her page, her eyes seemed physically impossible to keep open, so she, like Ruby, just fell asleep right there.

AN: ...aaaannnd done. Thanks for reading. This is going to (hopefully) end up being a long story. I'm going for a 'one new chapter per week' setup, but we'll see how that ends up in the future. In any case, believe it or not, this is my first actual fanfic that I've bothered to put anywhere online, and one of the only ones I've ever bothered to write. Reviews will be highly appreciated, be them suggestions, praise, or criticism. Now, in the words of the great Monty Oum, keep moving forward.