Chapter 1: The Shining Beacon
Listig watched from atop one of the courtyard's connected columns as the airships touched down. As the waves of students streamed into the courtyard, he scanned for some of the year's oddballs. He saw Lila, who despite the warm weather was wearing several silk… ponchos, he guessed; a boy with numerous animal appendages who stayed clear of the crowd; another boy with gloves and combat boots, trailing behind a girl with white hair and a large number of suitcases; a boy with green hair and an eyepatch covering his left eye. Listig's attention returned to the boy with the gloves, who was now holding back a girl with alternating black and white hair from tackling the white haired girl.
A smile appeared on Listig's face as he snapped a picture of the girl. He was really looking forward to the rest of the year.
Garen had been looking out for her, but he was still caught slightly off-guard. Blanc had dropped down from the branches of the nearest tree and dashed at Weiss, arms outstretched.
"Weiss-y!" she cried.
Weiss staggered backwards, her face turning a bright shade of red.
Garen intercepted Blanc and lifted her by the back of her shirt.
"Blanc, what're you trying to do to the Ice Queen?" he asked.
Said Queen uttered a weak "Hey!", but she was still too flustered by the younger girl's alteration of her name being shouted out to the world to do much else.
Blanc struggled, trying to free herself. "I'm obviously trying to hug my older sister! C'mon, Garen! I haven't seen her in two weeks!"
Garen considered releasing his hostage before lifting her up higher.
"Last I checked, she's only your half-sister. And two weeks isn't even that long. Weiss, it's your call," he added upon seeing the white haired girl had recovered. She waved her hand dismissively.
"Let her do what she wants," she said.
Garen dropped Blanc, who immediately enveloped Weiss in a hug.
"I missed you, Weiss-y!"
Weiss rolled her eyes, but she smiled and hugged her younger sister back.
"I missed you too, Blanc," she said.
Garen grinned and backed up a few steps, then made a heart with his hands and framed the scene in front of him with it.
"It's so cute! I ship it!" he said, effectively embarrassing both sisters.
"Garen! Don't try to spread rumors on the first day!" yelled Weiss, her face a deep crimson. Blanc nodded next to her, her face a similar color.
Garen made an innocent face and said, "I'm not trying to spread any rumors, Weiss." He raised his voice. "All I'm saying is that you two sisters make the cutest couple!"
Weiss puffed up her cheeks and was about to tell him off when a girl in a red cape fell onto her numerous suitcases. Seeing an opening, Garen ran off, dragging a surprised Blanc behind him.
The source of her anger gone, the Schnee heiress turned it upon the disoriented girl that had scattered her belongings.
"What are you doing?!"
Slaine walked into the auditorium and groaned; it was extremely full. He glanced around, trying to find some place where the crown was thinner, or gone altogether. He was sorely disappointed. His tail twitching, he settled for a spot next to a girl with black hair and a bow on top. She smelled oddly of cats to Slaine, and he frowned when he realized what the bow covered.
"Are you ashamed?" he asked.
The girl turned to him, a confused look on her face.
"Excuse me?"
Slaine flicked his tail in annoyance; he hated repeating himself. He nodded at her bow.
"Are you ashamed?"
The girl's bow twitched. It was a slight movement, but Slaine noticed it.
"I don't know what you're asking. Ashamed of what, wearing a bow?"
He shrugged.
"If you wanna word it that way," he said.
Before the girl could say anything, he lowered his voice enough that only they could hear.
"But since you seem to not understand, I'll word it differently. Are you so ashamed of who you are that you have to pretend to be someone else?"
The catgirl feigned ignorance, but Slaine sensed her alarm.
"I still don't know what you mean. Why would I pretend to be someone I'm not?"
Slaine replied genuinely.
"I dunno. Why would you?"
He turned away from the girl, who stared at him as if he had insulted her.
"... How did you know?" she asked after a few moments.
From across the auditorium, Slaine noticed a boy with dark rings around his eyes, like a raccoon, briefly turn towards them before delving back into a conversation with someone who Slaine couldn't see. Half-turning towards the faunus girl, he said, "You smell like cats, and your bow twitches. Anyone could tell if they paid attention."
The raven-haired girl looked rather disgruntled by that information, which made Slaine laugh.
"Oh, right," he said. "I forget my manners. My name's Slaine Messer. And yours?"
She opened her mouth to reply, but just that then a gray-haired man in a green suit walked onstage. He used a cane, but he seemed to have no need of it, as his stride was smooth and unhitched. Slaine recognized him as the headmaster, Professor Ozpin.
After walking to the microphone, he took a moment to gaze out over the assembled students, than said, "I'll… keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have 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." With that, he walked off the stage, leaving most of the students to frown and murmur to each other.
A blonde woman whom Slaine remembered was named Glynda Goodwitch stepped up to the microphone and said something about the ballroom, but Slaine wasn't paying much attention; he was attempting to memorize the appearance of all the faunus that he could see. It wasn't really a difficult task, as there weren't many faunus in sight. The cat girl next to him, a very small girl who appeared to have slitted pupils, though he couldn't be sure from this far away. There was also the guys with the eye rings, though he could just be in desperate need of a nap, and a girl whose muscles reminded Slaine of a Beringel, though the small ears on her head said otherwise. These people were the only faunus he could see, but Slaine knew there were more; he noticed the smell of rabbit and a few other in the air.
Turning to the raven-haired girl, he said, "So I'll assume that since you're not introducing yourself I can call you whatever I want. Right, Cat?"
She glared at him with golden eyes, much like his own. "My name is Blake, not Cat," she said.
Slaine turned and took a step to follow the throng of students flowing out of the auditorium. Looking back at Blake, he said, "Are you sure? I like Cat better." With that, he joined the crowd, though he attempted to get as far away from other people as possible. Blake stood glaring at him, imagining how she might get away with shaving his tail.
Tōmei again read the short description. Black, red-tipped hair, pale, probably small for her age, most likely has red clothing, and silver eyes. Well, that's what it said without all of the motherly comments. Chuckling silently, Tōmei looked around the ballroom for girls matching the description. Some of them fit parts of it, but none had silver eyes.
Sighing, he was about to put the note away when he heard a loud, cheery "Hellooo!". He looked towards the source, a busty blonde in an orange top and black shorts, waving at a raven-haired girl and dragging a small, pale girl behind her. Tōmei couldn't see her eyes, but she fit the description perfectly, save for the red clothing. He began walking towards them and strained to hear their conversation.
"I'm Ruby, though you can just call me Crater… Actually, you can just call me Ruby."
The awkward forces released by that were enough to stop Tōmei in his tracks.
'Oum,' he thought. 'She's somehow even worse than Master Summer.'
"Your book, does it have a name?" asked Ruby.
"Well… I-it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body," was the reply. Tōmei snorted; she might as well have told them the title of the book. The Man With Two Souls was one of his personal favorites.
The black-haired girl asked, "And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"
Ruby said, "Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books… Someone who fought for what's right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!"
"That's... very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."
"Well, that's why we're here! To make it better "
The blonde hugged Ruby into the air, saying, "Oh, I am so proud of my baby sister!"
Tōmei recalled Summer mentioning that Ruby had a half-sister named Yang. He wouldn't have guessed that this was her, though.
Ruby and Yang were now fighting, each one attempting to subdue the other. Tōmei saw this as a chance to approach them, but before he could, a white-haired girl with blue eyes stomped up to them.
"What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?"
Ruby and Yang stopped, the former's leg trapped in her sister's grip. Tōmei glanced around and saw that no one seemed to have any plans of going to sleep yet. He looked at Ruby and considered going up to the small group around her, but he didn't even have a way to start a conversation with the pale girl.
Sighing, he turned around and walked back to his bedroll. He had just barely gotten into it when the ballroom's lights went out. Several people gave startled yelps and Tōmei almost jumped out of his bedroll. After calming down, he took off his eye patch. Resisting the urge to scratch at where it had been, he silently cursed the dark for several minutes and briefly considered how he was going to bring up Master Summer to Ruby, but decided to leave thoughts like that for until after breakfast the next morning.
Winzig watched the new students stream out of the auditorium and into the cafeteria. She flicked her tail in annoyance at the lack of enthusiasm in the crowd. It was the day when they got to prove themselves and join their teams! They should be excited and raring to go! Instead, they were yawning and stumbling along, looking about ready to fall asleep again.
"Your expression is too open, kitty. If any of them saw you, they'd know you disapprove," said someone behind her.
The red-haired teacher didn't bother looking at the man; he wasn't worth turning around for. "Good. They should be much more energetic than they are right now. Your first day doesn't exactly happen multiple times."
"True enough, but do remember that they just woke up. And besides, it's not as if they're all sleep-walking. Look at her, for example," the man said, pointing at a girl with orange hair, who was quite literally running circles around as guy. The other students seemed annoyed by her, but the guy she appeared amused.
"I wish they'd all be like that," said Winzig.
The man stroked her tail, causing her to jump and turn around to glare at him. He smiled at her and waved. "Hello, kitty cat," he said.
The faunus grabbed her tail and held it close to her, angry at being touched by him so casually. "What do you want, Listig?" she asked.
"I was just saying hi to a fellow teacher is all. Are you ready for the start of the year?"
Winzig continued to glare at her fellow redhead, but he was unaffected. "Yes, I'm ready for the year. I've been ready for a while, unlike you."
The man waved away the comment. "Shipping class doesn't need that much preparation, and you took care of the combat class before I had a chance to get started. Besides, I've been doing other things."
"Like what? Buying your "special books", as you call them?"
"That, and trying to find a place that sells good Dust cigarettes. Since Dust Till Dawn closed, it's been impossible to find high-quality ones," Listig pulled out a box of those very cigarettes, as well as a lighter. After lighting one laced with blue Dust, he took a long drag and said, "Good stuff, right there."
Winzig wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I can't honestly believe that Ozpin let you teach here."
"Oh, don't be like that. You know you're happy to share a class with me."
"Unless the definition of the word happy has recently changed to mean the exact opposite, no, I am not happy about it."
The red-haired man waggled his Dust cigarette at her, saying, "You know, you really need to learn how to loosen up, kitty. It's not gonna be fun, teaching with you, unless you learn how to have fun."
The faunus' eye began twitching. "Please get that away from me, Listig. You know I can't stand tobacco smoke."
Listig considered it for a second, then said, "Fine. Teasing you in the morning isn't as fun anyways. You haven't had any catnip yet." He strode past Winzig and towards the students, yelling out a greeting to them.
'I really hope he gets fired,' the short woman thought.
Aiko groaned along with the girl in the red cape. 'Why, why? I don't know these people, how can I work with them?'
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."
Aiko stared at Beacon's headmaster in horror. Next to her, an orange-haired girl leaned over to the boy in green. "See? I told you!"
Ozpin continued, apparently unaware of the stress he was causing some of his students. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"
Aiko wanted to ask how Ozpin could be so cruel, but she knew he was bending the rules already by allowing her to enter Beacon with her weapons; she couldn't imagine her comment would be appreciated. She jumped as one of the students to her left was suddenly launched into the air, the tile under him acting as a springboard. His terrified yell made some of the students smile.
Slowly, more and more of the students were launched. Quickly opening the large wooden box on her back, Aiko pulled out a kyoketsu shoge on a rope. She closed the box and braced herself for takeoff. As the guy with the small mohawk next to her was launched away, Aiko glanced at Ozpin and noticed what seemed to be a glint of happiness in his eyes.
'He's happy? Why is he hap- oh…' Realization set in at the same time that the tile she was standing on launched her towards the sky. She screamed without hearing it, wondering how the council would let a man who enjoys launching students off cliffs and into monster-filled forests be the headmaster of Beacon.
End of Chapter 1.
Author's Note: Chapter 1 of A Rusty Bagel! Weird name, I know. Couldn't come up with anything better. Anyways, tell me what you think, please! This chapter is a bit short compared to the first chapter of The Icarus Syndicate (which you should read along with this story; they're connected), but I tried, ok? Again, slow update warning.