Salutations. This is your captain speaking. I would like to take the time to welcome you to Royal Blue, and send out my hope that you'll find something you enjoy in my words.

I do not own Final Fantasy XV or RWBY, as you have guessed.

Chapter 1: Dandelion

"Woah, this is so different from Insomnia. Look at all of the decorations! And balloons! I love balloons!" that was Promptia, wide eyes and beaming smile, her chocobo-fluff hair sticking up at odd angles due to the sea breeze. She was looking around the city in childlike wonder as the group of four made their way from the docks.

"Well, Vale is certainly a touch more… lively than home." the cool reply came from Ignis, his arms crossed as he surveyed their surroundings, seemingly unimpressed by Vale's attempt to appear welcoming to the newcomers from the four other kingdoms.

Noctis felt slightly sick, looking at all of the nauseatingly bright colors and excessive decorations for the Vytal Festival through sleep-addled eyes. "It's way too early in the morning for all this. Everything's so bright."

"What, are the bright colors too much for your delicate eyes, Princess?" teased Gladio, leaning over to shove his friend to the side. Noctis smiled, regaining her footing to lightly punch Gladio's arm. "We aren't staying very long, just until the Tournament is over. Once we kick some ass we can go back to our dark vampire city and you can go get hitched."

Noctis groaned, "Ugh, don't remind me."

"I hope all of you will remember that we aren't just here to show off our martial prowess. We were sent to improve relations with the other kingdoms, as you know. I trust none of you will do anything to jeopardize that goal." Ignis said, looking at each of them until they chose to break eye contact.

"Yeah, but we can still kick ass, right?" Promptia asked, bouncing on her toes. While the other three looked slightly out-of-place in this new (sickeningly cheery) environment, Promptia looked right at home. "We'll leave all of that ambassador stuff to you, Iggy."

"It's probably for the best." Ignis replied, "Goodness knows the three of you would manage to start wars with the four other kingdoms represented here. And that's without trying. I shudder to think of the consequences were any of you to actually try for diplomacy."

Noctis was quick to retort, "Surely I'm not that bad, Specs. I was trained in this just as much as you were."

"I seem to recall a certain princess napping through said training, when she wasn't otherwise occupied." said Ignis.

Gladio smirked. "He's got you there, highness. You never were much for any sort of training. Or any sort of social interaction to begin with."

"Ha ha." Noctis replied, raising a hand to shade her eyes from the sunlight, "Laugh it up."

"So, this is great and all, but where are we supposed to be going?" Promptia asked, finally tired of looking at everything.

"I believe our first destination is Beacon Academy, where we are to report to the Headmaster." Ignis answered automatically.

Gladio stretched out his arms, "His name was… Ozpin, right?"

"Man, I could go back to sleep." Noctis punctuated the sentence with a yawn.

"Unfortunately, we still have much we have to get done today. And before you ask, yes, they all require your presence. Being royalty affords you a higher, more important status than the rest of us." said Ignis.

Gladio added, "You may not act like it, but you are a Princess, even if you are a whiny one."

"Hey, I'm not whiny!" under her friends stare, she eventually stuttered out a correction, "Okay, fine, I'm a bit whiny when I'm woken up early, but I'm not really that bad. Right, Ignis?"

"I suppose you've gotten… minutely better since our childhood." Ignis said. Promptia and Gladio both began laughing as Noctis tried to find words to argue with her advisor and only managed to make a few unintelligible noises that were very unbecoming of the Princess of Lucis.

Promptia chuckled at Noctis's inability to find words, commenting, "When Mama Ignis agrees that you're whiny, you know that you can't argue."

"I- Promptia! Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Noctis sputtered, finally able to form words again even if they weren't entirely coherent.

The blonde girl shrugged, "I'm sorry, Noct, but they're not wrong."

"You are all traitors." Noctis muttered under her breath, crossing her arms, "I thought you guys were supposed to be loyal to me or whatever."

"We are, Noct. But our job is to guide you and serve you. So that means we are obligated to be honest when it comes to things like this." Gladio replied. Noctis sighed, shaking her head in defeat. Sometimes, there was no use arguing when all three of them agreed on something, her being royal or not. Ignis and Gladio had known her much too long to really show proper respect (not that Noctis wanted them to in the first place, at least most of the time), and Promptia had always shown her plenty of disrespect, ever since they'd become friends in high school. It was just her way, and Noctis would honestly never change it.

"Hey, are you the kids from Lucis?" asked a feminine voice from behind them. The group turned to see another group about their age, the girl who'd spoken a fashionable brunette with sunglasses obscuring her eye color. Next to her was a boy with russet hair and unsettling white eyes, a petite girl with brown hair and rabbit's ears, and a boy who towered over all of them but Gladio.

Noctis was the one who answered, "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Ozpin asked us to escort you to Beacon to make sure you didn't get lost on the way to the airships or anything." the brunette with the shades said, "I'm Coco, by the way, leader of team CFVY. We're upperclassmen in Beacon."

Noctis shot a glance at Ignis, giving him a grin when Coco said their team name. He rolled his eyes at Noct, before they both returned their attention to the Beacon students.

"Well, uh, thanks. Lead on." Noctis said, aware that she sounded awkward and not at all like the self-assured future monarch she was.

Ignis interrupted before they began to set off,"You'll have to forgive her highness for her lack of manners, it has been a tiring journey. This is Princess Noctis Lucis Caelum. I am Ignis, and this is Gladio and Promptia."

As they began walking, Noctis sent a smile to Ignis in thanks- she could always rely on Ignis to catch her when she neglected her proper royal manners.

The brunette faunus walked closest to the four from Lucis, beginning to start a conversation and introducing herself as Velvet and the two boys as Yatsuhashi and Fox. Yatsuhashi seemed to be the quiet type, opting to stay beside Velvet like some sort of silent bodyguard. The two made a comical pair, their differing heights becoming very apparent. Fox kept plenty of space between himself and the others, preferring to remain silent.

It didn't take long for the group of eight to make it to the airships that would take them to Beacon. Coco got them tickets, and they quickly boarded. Before long, they'd arrived at the school- a majestic affair with a pristine courtyard. It teemed with life, students from all four combat schools walking around the grounds. As it got closer to the tournament, more people would begin to arrive.

"So what is your headmaster like?" asked Gladio as they began making their way through the courtyard.

"Oh, he's… pretty interesting, I guess, as far as Headmasters go. He's a bit crazy, but I suppose that comes with the territory. Hunting dark monsters all your life and sending kids off to die young tends to have that effect on people." Coco answered. "But he's definitely a good man."

Gladio nodded understanding.

"Well, I suppose we'll find out when we meet the man, in any case." Ignis commented as they entered the building. The air conditioning was a welcome change from the late summer heat outside. Coco led them to an elevator.

"The office is up on the top floor. I trust you can figure out an elevator on your own." the brunette said, her and her team leaving them. The remaining four filed into the elevator, Promptia pressing the button for the top floor. On the way up, she began humming the chocobo song, to the instant dismay of her three companions, who recognized the tune immediately.

"What?" Promptia demanded, "It's stuck in my head."

Noctis grunted, "We've noticed, Prom."

The elevator dinged, signaling their arrival. The door slid open, revealing a circular office with huge windows. The Headmaster sat at a half-circle desk with gears running underneath. Gears were a common decoration in the mostly grey room. The sunlight shined in from above, where a huge blue-tinted glass could be seen through an expanse of turning gears. The man himself had grey hair and coffee colored eyes. He wore a black and green suit, a cup of what everyone assumed was coffee resting on the table beside him.

"Good morning. You are the team from Lucis, correct?" Headmaster Ozpin said, continuing when the group nodded assent, "Ah, Princess Noctis, is it? It's a pleasure to meet you. And who might your companions be?"

Noctis started, "Oh, sorry. Um, this is Ignis, Gladiolus, and Promptia. It's nice to meet you, sir."

The raven haired girl didn't need to look at her friends to know that they were all hiding grins at her lack of social mannerisms. She nudged the nearest to her, Promptia, with her foot, and promised to get revenge on the others at a later date in her head.

"First: accommodations. This is a map of the school grounds. This building over here is where the guests from other schools are being housed- your room is on the 3rd floor, room 313. Normally we'd display your team name upon the door, but as your country does not share the system the other kingdoms do, you would not have one. For the purposes of the tournament, you shall need one, but that can wait for now. All the dates that you shall need to know and other such paper-shuffling awaits you in your room." Ozpin paused here, leaning back in his chair,"I recommend that the four of you exercise caution during your stay. The political climate is beginning to become… less than desireable between the kingdoms. I fear that soon- well, I wouldn't worry overmuch about it all. You four are young, with little need to stress over an old man's pessimism."

There was a strange light in the Headmaster's eyes- a weariness and a heavy weight of age upon his soul. He wore a sort of contemplative expression, the kind of a mind trying to delve into the future and predict an uncertain outcome. It was soon gone, as Ozpin sighed, sitting up a little straighter. The four young adults exchanged confused glances, seeking answers from each other. None had any answer to give aside from a shrug and a shake of the head.

"If you have any questions, any at all, feel free to contact me or any other staff member." Ozpin said, taking a sip of coffee.

"Of course. Thank you, sir." Noctis said, a little stiffly as she tried to keep some grace about her, "Is there anything else?"

Ozpin shook his head, "No, not right now. I suppose you must all be tired from your journey, and eager to explore all this new city has to offer. I wouldn't want to keep you from getting into trouble, after all."

"Uh… Aren't you supposed to be encouraging us not to get into trouble…?" Promptia paused, looking to her friends, "Just me? Okay. That's cool, too."

The Headmaster smiled fondly, "Go on. I look forward to seeing what you shall do with your time here in Vale. I suspect the Kingdom of Lucis will no longer allow itself to go ignored by the world at large."

The four bowed slightly, Promptia a little belatedly. With that, the three silently made their way to the elevator and departed for the ground floor, Ignis having grabbed the map that had been provided by Ozpin.

"So, does anyone else think that was really weird, or is it just me?" asked Promptia as soon as the elevator began to move.

Ignis replied at once, "Oh, without a doubt. There were several strange things about that encounter… and I have a few suspicions. Not all is as well as it seems in Vale. We may have decided to come at a most inopportune moment."

"Yeah." Gladio commented, "Something's definitely not right."

"He seemed really worried about something to me. And really tired… like beyond exhausted." Promptia added quietly, almost unsure of herself.

Noctis nodded, taking on a thoughtful expression, "I suppose we'll find out what that is all about while we are here. But I think he might be willing to help us with the other kingdoms, so that's good."

"But if there's to be trouble on the horizon on the international scale, the other kingdoms will not want to risk themselves to help us fight back against Niflheim, if they know what the Headmaster seems to know. This is going to be more difficult than anticipated." Ignis said as the elevator door opened, allowing them to exit and begin to make their way to their building.

"Do you think he'll let us come up with our team name?" asked Promptia, seeming to let the previous worry and contemplation roll off her shoulders, "We could be something really awesome, like… like… like the Chocobros!"

The other three looked the the petite blonde with bemused expressions.

It was Gladio who spoke for them, "The Chocobros? What kind of stupid team name is that?"

"Hey, it's not stupid!" Promptia yelped, "You're just jealous of my originality. It's decided: we are the Chocobros from now on."

Ignis fought back a smile, "My apologies, but I do not seem to remember any of us agreeing to such a… ridiculous name for ourselves. Besides, I believe the Headmaster was planning to create one himself- one that actually follows the conventional naming pattern for the combat schools of the four main kingdoms."

Promptia's pout was very pronounced, like a child denied a sweet. Noctis covered her grin with a hand, exchanging an amused glance with Gladio and Ignis.

"So what's the rule then?" Gladio asked the other male as they drew their attention away from Promptia.

"Traditionally, the team names are created by combining the first initials of the members, starting with the leader, into a form that either spells out a word or could if you added another few letters in between. Normally the word will have something to do with a color, but there are some cases that can be different." Ignis explained.

"So we'd start with 'N', for Noctis, cause the princess is probably the leader." Promptia said, beginning to think. She began muttering words under her breath, attempting to find some way to combine their names into something appealing.

After a few moments, Promptia let out a frustrated huff, "I don't know! That naming system is stupid! How am I supposed to make a cool word out of a N, a G, an I, and a P?"

"And I'm sure the Headmasters would love to hear your complaint." Gladio said dryly, flicking the back of Promptia's head. She yelped, ducking down and straightening her hair.

"TAG!" came a loud, overly-perky voice, "You're it, Ren!"

The four Lucians turned at the voice, seeing a orange-haired girl fall from a tree beside a boy peacefully reading a book in the shade provided by the tree. The boy didn't react for several long moments, almost as if he'd ignored the occurrence altogether.

Promptia laughed, turning to the others, "Guys, I've just realized- we've never played tag or anything together!"

"But that's a game for kids." Gladio remarked, "We're all adults- or, at least, most of us are."

"Hey!"

Noctis, however, appeared to be considering the idea, "I don't know, it sounds fun. It would be just like old times, huh, Specs? Remember that pillow fort we made when dad went on that trip to- oh, I forgot where."

"Atlas, if I remember right." Ignis commented. "It was a shame we couldn't convince anyone to attempt to invade- but, I suppose, they only recognized that our defenses were impassable and decided that they would rather save their energy for something a little more possible."

Promptia's eyes went wide, "You guys made a pillow fort?! That's so awesome! Man, we've got to do that sometime during the trip! It's like- a requirement! And-"

Suddenly Promptia stopped dead in her tracks. The others stopped as well, looking to Promptia to answer their unspoken question. After several seconds of silence, Promptia's gaze snapped to Ignis.

"Wait, did I hear that right? You, Ignis, built a pillow fort with Noct?! But you're- you're so… you! Dignified and- and adult-y!" Promptia yelled, her hands making wild motions in the air.

Ignis appeared highly amused by this reaction, "Yes, well I was a child, once."

Gladio sniggered, "Are you sure? I seem to remember a little mite of a thing walking around in a clean suit and carrying a notebook in his hands. You were never a child- just a mini-adult."

"Ignis was totally a little kid! We played all the time!" Noctis protested, "I remember this one time we went roller-skating through the citadel in the middle of the night and accidently broke that one creepy bust that he always said judged him whenever he walked by. Now that I think of it, you may not have run into that one on accident."

Gladio and Promptia's jaws dropped a little more with every word from the princess's mouth as Noctis continued, "Oh! There was also that time we kicked the cooks out of the kitchen on royal order and made a lot of desserts for dad's birthday! It was such a mess when we were done- I had a little accident involving a blender and my cookies ended up a little burnt, but Ignis's were all so good! Hey, and what about that prank we played on Cor and Clarus? We thought we were going to get in so much trouble when we got caught, but Ignis told them we were getting practice for covert missions we might undertake later- because if we could sneak up on them, we could sneak up on anyone! I'm not sure if they believed us but they laughed and we didn't get in trouble so I didn't question it too much. Ignis was always pretty good at getting us out of trouble."

"I wouldn't have had to so often if you hadn't been so insistent upon getting us in trouble in the first place." Ignis replied, "And I rather hoped you would keep these stories to yourself, highness, as they tend to undermine my reputation."

Promptia and Gladio literally had no words, attempting to form some sort of response but failing to make any sort of coherent sound. Sometimes they forgot that Ignis and Noctis had grown up together and were very close, with how professional they tended to act (well, Ignis tended to act).

Noctis giggled, before saying, "You can try to act like you were dragged into all of that, but you had just as much fun as I did, Specs."

"As your advisor, I could hardly let you indulge in these acts of idiocy unsupervised." Ignis replied without missing a beat. The Princess's giggles turned to full-out laughter as she slung an arm around Ignis's shoulders, though the angle was slightly awkward as he was taller than her by a significant amount.

Gladio finally found his words again, managing to say, "Seriously, Iggy doing all of that with you? I could see any of that coming from you, but not Ignis. He was always a stickler for rules."

The princess waved a hand in Gladio's direction, "You just don't know Iggy if you think that. He just likes everyone to think that so no one suspects him. It's easier to take people by surprise that way, or to shift the blame to someone like… say, Promptia."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Promptia demanded. "I wouldn't do any of- okay, maybe I would, but Ignis wouldn't try to blame me for something like that, because he wouldn't do it in the first place, right?... Right?"

Ignis only smiled, his silence on the matter just as- if not more- telling than actual words.

"Well, if you don't believe us, just ask your dad, Gladio. I'm sure he has plenty of horror stories about our childhood years." Noctis said. "We were such little terrors."

Ignis snorted, "You were a little terror, you mean. I was simply roped into every one of your mad schemes to ensure that none of them ended horribly wrong."

"We made such a good team, huh, Specs?" Noct said fondly. Their childhood years had been quite fun, and it was always nice to remember them- or, at least, the carefree moments she spent with Ignis. There were moments she'd like to forget, to, but this was no time to think of them, when the sun was shining and she was surrounded by friends and laughter.

"I suppose we made quite the efficient duo." Ignis acknowledged. A grin promising trouble that she'd had since her youth grew on Noctis's face with an infectious kind of ferocity.

Thank you for your time.

Before you go, do any of you happen to have any ideas as to what their team name should be? I'd appreciate all the help I can get, as I've had little luck so far.