Since the defeat of Salem, RWBY and JNR had a month of rest before being informed that they've been invited to complete advanced level Hunter training at New Beacon, which had been built during the time they were preparing to battle Salem, developed to make sure that the mistakes of the past weren't repeated. Much was still a mystery, but everyone graciously accepted as they'd be able to see each other again.
Ruby entered the front gates and saw the beautiful campus courtyard, spacious enough to fit at least two full villages with flower gardens and fountains all around. Immediately Ruby could see Yang, now equipped with a robotic metal prosthetic arm, and immediately ran to her.
"Yang!" she cried out joyfully. This immediately grabbed Yang's attention.
"Ruby. Long time no see. Like my new righty?" Yang greeted her.
"Cool, it moves like it's your real arm!" Ruby spoke gazing at the many interconnecting mechanisms of the arm.
"Infused with some heavy-duty Dust so it doesn't cave in under the force of my punches no matter how much power I build up. Weiss had it special made for me." Yang beamed.
"She made you something but not me? That's totally unfair." Ruby whined stamping her foot.
"You aren't missing half an arm." Weiss scoffed as she approached them.
"Weiss! You look mature." Ruby stated as she looked Weiss over in her suit-like dress.
"I was always mature, Ruby. Jaune, Ren, and Nora will be along shortly. I haven't seen Blake though." Weiss explained.
At that very moment Blake approached them with Jaune, Nora, and Ren accompanying her. Ruby's face lit up seeing her friends again.
"Nora! It's been too long!" Ruby shouted.
"Ruby. Good to see you're still energetic. You haven't gotten rusty in the month we've been down right?" Nora questioned.
"Not in the slightest." she retorted.
As Ruby and Nora were catching up, Yang scooted to Ren and elbow jabbed his side. "Ya propose yet?" she prodded.
"P-Propose? We've only been dating for a month." Ren stuttered.
"You've known each other long enough that you've pretty much been dating way longer though right? Come on, I'll even be your wingman." Jaune suggested.
"Jaune, Yang, really, it's too soon." Ren argued.
"Hey, when you change your mind, my offer to be your wingman still stands." Jaune winked.
At that moment a tall masculine woman approached them. Her face was covered in bandages so that only her amber eyes and long light blue hair could be seen. She wore a black and red robe that hid all beneath it with black gloves. The sight of her sent chills down the group's spines. As if seeing their fear, she grinned.
"Greetings, Advanced Students. I am Professor Lunescia Brandt. I look forward to working with you for the duration of your stay." she happily greeted them with a slightly deep voice extending her hand to Ruby, who was too afraid to notice.
"Are my bandages frightening you? My apologies. I have scars I'd rather hide than present. I'll see you all at the assembly later this morning." she spoke before walking off.
"Did anybody else feel like every step she took was stepping on your grave…?" Jaune shakily asked, and the others simply nodded.
So at 9am the group gathered in the auditorium with the rest of the students and faculty. Ozpin, unanimously appointed headmaster when New Beacon was built, took the stage turning on the microphone.
"Welcome, students new and returning, to New Beacon. Ah, pardon me… this is New Beacon, so you're all new students regardless of your classification here. I'm glad to see so many familiar faces around. You'll see that we have improved our security policies to hopefully prevent a second Fall of Beacon. Now, before I give you all the typical boring speech, I have a very special guest here to present a project open to all students. Please welcome, Professor Lunescia Brandt." Ozpin spoke.
Applause echoed through the auditorium as the professor took the stage. As soon as she adjusted the height of the stand it went dead silent in the room. It seemed to widen her grin.
"Greetings, students and faculty. I am proud to stand before you and propose the 'Voluntary Parenthood Program' to you. I shall disperse any confusion now by explaining. What I study is the effect of Dust on living creatures such as plant life and mammal organisms, and attempt to find new uses for Dust through experimentation. My most recent discovery I have deemed Daemonia Dust." she spoke as a black box is wheeled on-stage and then opened to reveal a canister of an odd dark grey Dust. Many of the students immediately grew concerned at the sight of it.
"I expected your reaction. I have thoroughly tested its effect on living things, and can assure you that it is absolutely harmless. I first discovered it whilst mixing and matching different Dust combinations when I dropped the vial onto a flowerbed. I expected it to explode, or at the worst kill the flowers. To my surprise… they began to sprout and grow at an unexpected rate. The flowers were more vibrantly colored and were nearly three times as resilient as the normal variety. The Dust was a sort of fertilizer that enhanced the new flowers. So I took some small insectoid specimens and injected them with the Dust, imitating what happened with the plants absorbing it. The injected specimens showed signs of enhanced behavior and endurance. You could normally crush an ant with your pinky… but these newly enhanced ants could withstand your fist crashing down on them. In the interest of keeping them from breeding, I exterminated them in a fire. Then I moved on to small mammals, beginning with a chipmunk and moving my way up the line… until the final, and ultimate test had to be conducted… human beings. I begged and begged the board of directors to allow me to conduct it, and they allowed me only one attempt. I couldn't risk things going awry with a test subject. So I used myself as the first human to be injected with the Dust. I did the same as I had everything else, and injected into my reproductive system. Less than twenty-four hours later I became pregnant with my son, Nigel." she further explained nodding off-stage to a small 7-year-old boy with flat blue hair wearing sneakers, shorts, and a hoodie who then came on stage and stood on an X that was marked.
"My son is the very first Enhanced Human. Physically he is already on par with a grown man twice his size, able to think on the same level and perform tasks normally impossible for his age group. In fact, he is already capable of using his Aura to defend himself." she praised him as she pulled out a magnum handgun cocking it before kneeling and kissing his forehead. This even made the faculty uneasy.
"Mommy will only fire once, sweetie." she calmly told Nigel, and he nodded nervously.
She then stood and took twenty paces from him, turned around, and took careful aim making many of the students look away or get prepared to rush the stage. Thunder roared through the auditorium making almost everyone leap from their skin, and then gaze in shock and awe seeing the bullet stopped dead at Nigel's glowing forehead. Nigel opened his eyes and the bullet fell dead to the floor as Lunescia rubbed her wrist.
"As you can see, he stopped the bullet with no trouble whatsoever. You may be wonder why I'm using such a high caliber gun as well. That is simply to show just how powerful his Aura is compared to that of the average person. This model is designed to pierce straight through, yet it stopped as if I'd thrown a pebble at him. Not only is his Aura stronger… but he himself is strong." she stated as she placed a stone slab on two blocks by Nigel and once she signals him he effortlessly chops through it with his hand wowing even Ozpin.
"An Enhanced Child may be made one of two ways. A single mother that is injected, or an expecting mother who is then injected allowing the fetus to absorb the Daemonia Dust. The resulting child will not only be enhanced, but the mother will also experience and enhancement of their own. I will have signups on the bulletin boards around campus. Oh, and before I forget, there are side effects to being injected. Nothing lethal or technically dangerous… but know that it will indeed be a trial. I will not turn the floor back over to Headmaster Ozpin." she spoke closing her presentation taking a bow with Nigel as the entire student body applauded. Ozpin walked back on stage and cleared his throat.
"Thank you for that wonderful presentation, professor. If you wish to sign up, please do so between classes." he opened, and of course gave the usual boring first day speech.
After the assembly the RWBY team pondered the program on their way to get their things situated in their new dorm room. Ruby appeared to be the most perplexed of the group.
"I think I wanna sign up." Ruby spoke breaking the silence.
"…and have a baby? On your own?" Weiss responded surprised.
"I don't know, it could be fun. Plus, I've kinda always wondered what it'd be like to be called 'mom'." Ruby spoke fantasizing in her head a tinier version of herself speaking the word "momma".
"Trust me Ruby, you wouldn't be able to handle being a parent." Yang argued crushing her fantasy bubble.
"Yeah, and I don't feel like losing sleep because your baby wakes up in the middle of the night crying for milk." Weiss added to the attack.
"What?! Blake, you're with me on this one right?! Being a mom would totally be loads of fun!" Ruby pleaded trying to escape their argument's wrath.
"Well… being a parent would be an opportunity to give a new generation a different upbringing from the one you received." Blake nervously answered trying not to look Ruby in the eyes.
"So we can totally be mom buddies! Come on Blake, sign up with me! Please?!" Ruby begged trying to give Blake the puppy dog look.
Try as she might, Blake couldn't help looking. Ruby's puppy dog look has that "wounded puppy" aspect to it that makes it that much more devastating to see. Blake was trapped now…
"I… guess being mom buddies… doesn't sound too bad…" Blake sighed, and immediately Ruby grasped her hands.
"No takesies-backsies! We're going right now! Future moms, away!" Ruby exclaimed and off she dragged Blake to the signups.
"She totally disregarded our concerns as her friends and roommates." Weiss groaned pinching the bridge of her eyes as Yang simply grinned shaking her head putting her arms behind her head.
"Well, Ruby is Ruby after all. You didn't expect a month to change her did you?" Yang teased Weiss, who then groaned more grabbing Blake's bag and drags it with her prompting Yang to grab Ruby's things and carry them as well.
At the lab many students were gathered including Ruby and Blake. Professor Lunescia was at the front of the room mixing water with the Daemonia Dust.
"Thank you all for coming. The purpose of mixing water with the Dust like so is merely to make it easier to inject you with. Now, I need a volunteer to go first." she addressed them, and Ruby immediately began jumping up and down giddy to go first, prompting another grin from the professor.
"Yes, the spirited one in the back." she spoke and Ruby was at the front in seconds about to explode with excitement.
"Please, change into the gown behind the curtain so we don't stain your clothes with anything." the professor instructed her, and Ruby changed fast into a white patient gown with a flap over her womb for easy access.
"Now what?" Ruby asked eagerly, and the professor got a twinkle in her eye.
"Please, lay on the table. Don't mind the restraints, those are just to make sure you don't struggle causing the needle to snap or something worse to happen." she instructed, and Ruby did just that causing her wrists and ankles to get locked in place as the professor got a syringe full of Daemonia Dust flicking it to get rid of air bubbles.
"If you all came to see something spectacular, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. The procedure is little more than getting a shot." the professor explained as she injected into Ruby prompting a squeal from her.
"It's cold!" Ruby exclaimed with chattering teeth as the professor removed the needle after injective every last drop.
"It will warm to your body temperature soon enough, Ms. Rose. Soon you will feel quite relaxed. This is a common side effect and should wear off by the following morning." Lunescia explained cleaning the needle and then asked for the next volunteer.
It was late afternoon when Ruby and Blake were able to get back to their dorm room where Weiss and Yang were waiting. The beds were already configured into bunks and their things were neatly put away. The room was nice and spacious as well.
"Welcome back, Mom One, Mom Two." Yang teased as Weiss stood up from her bunk.
"Okay, ground rules. When you have those human boom boxes, you're to make extra sure they aren't crying at ungodly hours of the night. You're also in charge of changing them." Weiss practically scolded as Yang chuckled.
"She spent the entire time you were gone raving about how she won't tolerate waking up at 2am because one of your babies starts crying for milk or a diaper change." Yang told them trying not to burst out in laughter prompting Weiss to fixate her gaze on her.
"Oh? So you're volunteering to deal with waking up at insane hours because of your sisters' baby?" Weiss questioned narrowing her eyes at Yang.
"I mean, heck yeah I'll help if I gotta. I'm gonna be an aunt, so may as well act like one, ya know? Ruby's way too childish, so somebody's gotta be the mature one." Yang replied avoiding eye contact as Ruby and Blake climbed onto their bunks after changing into their pajamas.
"You're just as bad! If anything Blake and I are the mature ones." Weiss scolded her as Ruby turned her head to look over at her.
"Weiss… rub my belly…" Ruby spoke tiredly pulling her shirt up to show her stomach.
"Ruby, I'm not rubbing your stomach." Weiss bluntly refused as Blake passed out.
"Why nooooooot?" Ruby whined as Yang giggled a bit.
"I don't want to. I'm not rubbing your stomach." Weiss argued.
"I'll rub your belly." Yang volunteered.
"Noooooo, it has to be Weiss… her hand is soft…" Ruby spoke appearing very tired.
"What? My hand is totally soft." Yang argued offended by her statement.
"Nooooooo… it's all rough from battle… Weiss uses a rapier… so her hand is nice and soft…" Ruby spoke pretty much dozing off leaving Yang steamed.
"Fine. Leave your belly unrubbed. See if I care." Yang retorted getting into her bunk and facing the other way goes to sleep.
"Well… that was settled… in a way." Weiss talked to herself getting under the covers of her bunk going to sleep as well turning out the lights.
End Chapter 01