Chapter One

Emiya Shirou sucked in a breath, trying to calm himself down. Nothing was wrong. He had prepared for since the fire, and now he was finally close to accomplishing his dream. To become a Huntsman. And not only that. He had skipped two years because... because that had happened. Everything was good. Great, even. He still couldn't really believe he had been drafted into Beacon so easily, but it had happened. He hadn't even got into Signal, though he had been aiming for that school. So of course it was kind of unbelievable. Almost unthinkable.

And yet, here he was. On his way to Beacon in a thin, big metal tomb that was too fast for his own comfort. Shirou wasn't no idiot, even though there had been plenty of people at his old school that thought differently. He knew the airship was as safe as it was ever going to be, and even if it broke for whatever reason, he was probably going to survive. Maybe not without a scratch on him, but he would be alive anyway. Yet it was useless. No matter how much he chewed on that on his head, every time he looked out of the window and into the clouds at eye level and below them, he felt an irrational sense of fear. Not sickness, just fear. He was taking pains to hide his discomfort because he didn't want his future companions to dismiss him out of hand but that didn't meant he wasn't feeling it.

It was probably because of that.

Yes, that.

But he didn't really want to think about it. To his adoptive father, it had been probably the happiest memory of his life, but he couldn't stand even thinking about it. There had been people who couldn't save others, and then there had been him, who couldn't save them. He saw many people disappearing meaninglessly while he alone, who had nothing, survived. So to him, it was only a reminder of own selfishness. He clenched his hands into fists, and tried to think about anything else. He couldn't possibly pass the initiation if he kept running himself ragged in his own thoughts before the examination even began. Calm. He had to be calm.

"...A protest against the discrimination of the Faunus turned violent when the White Fang, a previously peaceful group, appeared." Shirou gritted his teeth. He hated it; he hated that such an amount of people refused to accept the Faunus and wanted nothing more that to cast them out. They had fought alongside them, and, most importantly, were living beings just like them, and yet...

Of course, that they were discriminated didn't surprise him. Humans found reasons to hate each other based on their beliefs, gender, skin color and other such things so of course that there would be many more of them against humans which were part animal. He didn't like it all, but that's how humanity worked. He knew that well. Humans bleed, died, suffered and the majority didn't care. That was what the fire had taught him.

But that didn't matter, because he was going to change how things worked. But not change like the White Fang wanted. No, they were hurting other people for the sake of their own goals. Their mission was good, but their methods were horrible. An ending in which not everybody was happy wasn't acceptable for him. It was a simple as that.

The airship finally landed a few minutes later. Shirou let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding. Here. He was here, and the examination wouldn't be too far away. He was prepared for it. He hadn't been trained since birth, and his weapon wasn't anything special, but he was prepared. The teacher said that, the headmaster said that and the very fact that they were willing to having him here meant something. There was no reason to worry, to not believe in himself.

Telling himself that, he stood up and headed for the door. On his way, he looked around at his comrades, the people he would live with during his time at Beacon. There wasn't really anybody who looked remarkable, at first glance, for any reason or another. A blond boy darted past him, making choking noises. Oh. Well, that one was remarkable, that was for sure, but for all the wrong reasons. He followed behind the boy, and watched as he bend down and puked on a nearby trashcan.

"Do you need help?" Shirou asked, a bit hesitantly. He wanted nothing more that to help people, but some people could be offended by the very thought that they needed help. He had know some people like that before, back at his old academy. The blond boy looked up at him.

"No, no." he rather quickly answered. "I'm fine."

He didn't look fine at all; that much was obvious to him, and to anybody who looked at his face. He was a little green, and looked ready to puke again any second now.

"If you say so... But well, if you ever need help or just somebody to talk to, you can count of me. My name is Emiya..." he bit his lip. This wasn't Japan. "I meant, my name is Shirou Emiya."

"O-oh, I'm Jaune Arc. Thanks, dude. But don't worry. I don't need no help. Motion sickness is more common that you would realize, you know? And there's nothing else going on." That was... a rather suspicious denial, but well. He would let the boy go at his own pace. It would be better for the boy's peace of mind.

"Sure." Shirou replied, and turned away. "Well, see you at Beacon, Jaune."

"See ya." he replied, and a moment later puked again.

"Are... Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"No, no, I'm fine. You don't need to baby me, dude. We didn't even know each other a minute ago, so cut it off."

"Okay, Okay."

"Eh... Shirou, I didn't mean for it to sound so..."

"I know; don't worry. It doesn't brother me and, besides, I'm used to it."

"...See you later, Shirou."

"See you later, Jaune." he replied back, and walked away with a small smile on his face. He had helped that boy a little. It wasn't much, but it was something.

On his way to the academy, he saw a small girl laying down on the floor. She was dressed in a black blouse and skirt with red trimmings, and had a crimson cloak. She looked like the Little Red Riding Hood, in a way. More or less. She was looking up at the sky with an complicated expression, somewhat tired. That was all he needed to know to approach her. If she needed help, he would be there to give it. He didn't spare a second thought to possibly being late for the welcome ceremony; such things were only secondary, at best.

"Hey." he said, and held out his hand towards the girl. "What's going on?"

She took his hand, and he hauled her to her feet.

"A bad day, that's what going on." she sighed. "I hope it gets better."

"Is there something I can help you with?"

"Maybe." she said, her hands on her waist. "Are you a lady killer? Because then you might convince this Weiss girl to stop yelling at me."

"Sorry." he said. Weiss. He knew that name, of course. The heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. There was hardly anybody who hadn't heard that name. A corporation, a franchise. And quite possibly, a corrupt organization. Something he would have to take down once he completed his training as a Huntsman. "I'm afraid I've never been good at that kind of thing. Still, maybe I could do something about it. What's exactly the problem this girl has with you?"

"Uh... I tripped, knocked her luggage down, which were cases full of Dust and she started yelling at me. Then I sneezed, and stuff exploded, and, well, she got this look in her eye. You know, like she wanted to strangle me. She looked like... well, prim and proper, all lady like. Dressed in white."

"Okay." he nodded. "I see what I can do if I find her. So, just avoid her if you see her or something. Don't think she's gonna cause you trouble, too. She couldn't be that petty."

"I hope so." The girl-of his age, or maybe less- said, her arms crossed at her chest, looking down with a frown. A moment later, her face brightened and she almost jumped. She extended her hand towards him, a bright smile on her cute little face. "Oh, oh, sorry, I almost forgot. Name's Ruby Rose. What about you?"

"I'm Emi-Shirou Emiya." he said.

"Cool. And, hey, can I ask you something more?"

"Sure. What's is it?"

"I'm kind of lost." she sheepishly admitted. "My sister was supposed to show me around, but she just kind of ran off, so... I don't even know where I'm going."

"Okay, follow me." he answered, and started walking. There were no students in his view, so they were probably going to arrive a little late, but well, whatever.

"So..." Ruby said, after about a minute of silently walking. "I've got this."

Then she took out a mechanical scythe, that made a lot of noise and startled him. Just a little. Once he got past the initial impulse of going for his weapon, he could see that this girl's weapon, whatever the name might be, was a work of art. He couldn't have possibly made something like that. True to be told, he wasn't even decent at that kind of thing. The only reason he had managed to craft his own weapon was because of Structural Analysis, some knowledge about the process and, honestly, quite a bit of luck.

"Wow." he whistled; it seemed the only appropriate reaction. "That's awesome."

"And it only gets even more." she said, her pride clearly showing in the twinkle of her eyes. He felt himself smiling at that. "Because it's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle."

"..Wait, what? Seriously?"

"Seriously." she replied, frowning a bit. "Want to see it?"

"I don't think the faculty would appreciate you blowing something out in your first day. Something else aside from Grimm, anyway." he replied. "But is not like I don't believe it. Just... I mean, well, you got a sniper rifle on your scythe. I think you've gone a little bit overboard."

"Maybe." she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "So what have you got, Shirou?"

"I've..." he said, and took off his weapon. It was a mechanical sword. ", this."

"What does it do?"

"Apart for, you know, being a sword, it has got boosters here, on the side," he side, touching the sides of the sword above the handle. "to increase my mobility and, of course, attack power. I could give you a demonstration, but I think we will definitively be late if I do, so... let's save it for another time."

"Yeah, okay."

They soon got to the main hall. They were not late, but just barely. The headmaster -he knew that man was the headmaster, since he had came to see him after that happened- and his secretary, or something, were already on the atrium. He remember the woman for a hologram at the airship. She had said her name was Glynda Goodwitch. When they came, Ruby got called by a blond woman, probably her sister, and they went their separate ways. He stayed at the back, with his back against a pillar and looked forward towards the atrium. It started soon enough.

"I kept this brief." headmaster Ozpin said into the microphone, and his voice echoed all over the room. "You have come here in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you're finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But when I look among you, all I see is wasted energy for lack of purpose, a direction."

Shirou gritted his teeth. Lack of purpose, direction. Like hell. He knew it was only a talk to psych them up, but it still bothered him. It bothered him a lot.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but it your time at this school you will come to know that knowledge will only get you so far. It's up to you to take the first step." Shirou noticed then, that, for some reason, the headmaster had been looking directly at Ruby when he said that. Uh. Well, he could ask her later about it, or something. The headmaster turned, and started walking away. The woman stepped up.

"You will gather at the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You can go now."