Ezra Bridger was in his room on the Ghost, meditating.
...
Then, he was in a black void. In that void with him was...
"Master Yoda?" The boy asked. The tiny green Jedi smiled and gave that strange little laugh.
"Been a while, it has, hmm?" Yoda asked, and Ezra sat down in lotus-position, looking confused. "Become strong in the Force, you have."
"Um... Thanks?"
"Hmm... Concerned, I have become, Padawan Bridger." Yoda frowned, looking sympathetic. And... Sad. "Fear that you are nearing the Dark Side, I do." Ezra's blue eyes widened.
"What?! No, no! I want to become a Jedi! I want to help people! I have only the best intentions?"
"Terrible things, with the best intentions, have been done." An image of a smiling young man appeared, only to be replaced by a familiar, black, skull-like mask. Ezra stared in horror.
"I'm nothing like him! Please, you've got to-"
"Know where your heart lies, I do." Yoda gave a small smile. "Know what can be done to help, I also do."
"What?"
"Need to find the light, you do. For you, fortunate, that know I do of one who may teach you."
"Wait, what about Kanan? I can't leave him and the crew, now!"
"Best for the Force and the galaxy, what must be done is. Kanan Jarrus will understand this, and as for your friends, learn to forgive, they will."
"... Who is this teacher?"
"A simple soul, this young one has. Teach you to tread upon the path of light, she will. And, if the path of the Jedi is not yours, teach you a new way to help others, she will."
"I'll do it, if that's what you think is best... I guess you'll have to tell me where to find her."
"Necessary, that is not."
"What? Why?"
"Many uses, the Force has..." Yoda gave a small smirk. "Find your new teacher, upon waking, you will."
"O-okay... How will I recognize her?"
"Silver eyes."
Then, everything went black.
/\/\/\/\
Ezra woke up with a groan, opening his blue eyes, only to find a pair of silver eyes staring into them.
"Yay!" A young girl in a red hood smiled brightly, leaning over him as he laid on something hard. "You're not dead!" Ezra sat up, his eyes widening as he looked at his new environment. He had never seen so much green in his life... "Are you a hobo?"
"A what?" Ezra asked. The girl placed her hands on her hips.
"Well, you're sleeping on a bench in the middle of a park at ten-'o-clock in the evening. Either you're a hobo, or you're the bravest boy I've ever met... Or maybe both." As the girl pondered this, Ezra analyzed her.
The girl wore a mixture of red and black, her cloak swirling with the wind. Her hair was short, and dark red. Her eyes were a piercing silver, and she seemed to be only fifteen.
Ezra's age.
"No way." Ezra whispered. "Yoda, you have GOT to be kidding me..." Ezra looked up to find the girl's silver eyes (along with the rest of her face) only two inches from his, and he fell of the bench. "AH!" Ezra looked up, rubbing the back of his head and glaring. "Will you stop doing that, already?!"
"Stop what?" The girl asked. "I'm just trying to figure out what you're doing out here all alone, Blue. It's dangerous, out here."
"Dangerous?" Ezra asked. "And the name's not Blue. It's-" The boy paused, then shook out of his funk and extended a hand. "It's Ezra. Ezra Bridger." The girl shook his hand.
"Ruby Rose." She smiled, then frowned slightly. "You don't know how dangerous it is, these days? With the White Fang attacking humans, it's a bad idea to be out here, alone..." Ruby's silver eyes fell to the light-saber at Ezra's belt, and they widened. "Ooh! You're a Huntsman-in-training!"
"A what now?" Ezra asked, then tried to recover. "Oh, yeah! I'm a Huntsman-in-training!"
"Cool! I'm a Huntress-in-training! What's your weapon?" Ruby asked. Ezra slowly pulled out his light-saber and activated it, Ruby's eyes lighting up.
"It's also a stun-gun."
"So awesome... Wanna see mine?" Ruby didn't wait for a reply. She removed a huge, red object from her back and activated a mechanism that turned it into a huge...
"Scythe?!" Ezra asked. Ruby nodded excitedly, hoisting the weapon onto her shoulder.
"It's also a fully-customizable, high impact-velocity sniper-rifle!" Ruby beamed. Ezra found himself smiling at her enthusiasm.
"Wow."
"Well, I'm heading to a Dust shop to buy some rounds for Crescent Rose, and maybe some weapons magazines... You wanna come with?"
"Uh... Sure?"
"Great!" Ruby put her scythe away and grabbed Ezra's arm, dragging him along with her. "So, what combat-school do you go to?"
"Uh... I'm home-schooled."
"Neat! I go to Signal. That's where I forged Crescent Rose!"
She made that thing?!
"I made my weapon, too."
"Cool! Can you tell me about the design? I love weapons!"
"Heh... Sure."
/\/\/\/\
Kanan Jarrus knocked on Ezra's door, frowning.
"Ezra?" The Jedi asked. "Ezra, I don't think it's healthy for you to be messing with that Silth Holocron... Ezra?" Kanan reached out in the Force, sensing the Holocron, but no... "EZRA?!"
/\/\/\/\
In the Dust shop.
"Ooh!" Ruby put her headphones away and grabbed some earbuds. "Listen to this!"
"Wait, what?" Ezra asked. Ruby shoved an earbud in his ear. "What kind of music is this?!"
He'd grown up with the Imperial March and occasionally parade music in Capital City.
"The best kind!" Ruby smiled, grabbing a weapon's magazine as she listened to music with the other earbud. Ezra slowly grinned.
"Not bad." Then, Ezra frowned as he sensed something...
"Alright, kids! Hands in the air!" Someone shouted. The two teens turned to see a man in black and red holding a sword at them.
"Wait. Are you..?" Ruby frowned. "Robbing us?"
"Yes!" The man grew frustrated. Ruby smirked.
"Oh..." Ruby pulled her her and Ezra's earbuds out, then spun around and kicked the man to the front of the shop. Ezra's eyes widened.
"Nice!"
"Freeze!" Another man ran over, raising a gun. He ended up getting kicked through a window by Ruby, Ezra jumping out after her.
Both teens looked up and smirked, activating their weapons.
"Okay..." The leader of the robbery, Roman Torchwick, frowned. Then, he looked at his goons. "Get them!"
/\/\/\/\
The fight lasted around thirty seconds (maybe twenty), and all of the goons were knocked out cold.
Roman Torchwick, cigar in his mouth, stepped over one of the downed men and scowled.
"You were worth every cent. Truly, you were." The man looked up, dropping his cigar and crushing it with his cane. "Well, Red, Blue, we can all say this has been quite an eventful evening, and as much as I'd like to stick around..." Torchwick raised his cane, aiming it at the teens, revealing it to also be a gun. "I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
Torchwick fired, but Ezra stepped between Ruby and the blast, using his light-saber to deflect the blast and send it veering right so it couldn't hurt anyone.
Roman ran for the nearest building with a ladder, and Ruby and Ezra looked back to the Shopkeeper.
"You alright if we go after him?" Ruby asked. The man nodded.
"Uh-huh." At that, Ruby and Ezra ran after Torchwick.
/\/\/\/\
Ezra Force-jumped while Ruby used her sniper-rifle's recoil, both of them landing on the same rooftop where Torchwick stood.
"Hey!" Ruby shouted. The thief paused, then growled.
"Persistent." That's when an airship, a Bullhead, rose in front of him. Ruby and Ezra were windblown by the powerful engines. Torchwick climbed onto the ship and laughed. "End of the line, kids!" He threw a shard of Fire-Dust at their feet and fired.
Ezra deflected the blast, then picked up the Dust and threw it at the ship, firing his own gun at it.
The Dust exploded, knocking the ship aside.
"You are so cool!" Ruby exclaimed, smiling at Ezra. The boy blushed, rubbing the back of his neck and laughing nervously at her praise.
Maybe having Ruby as his teacher (though she wouldn't know this) wouldn't be so bad.
Then, a woman in red took Torchwick's place, her hands, eyes, and clothing glowing with fire.
That's when someone came to the children's aid.
/\/\/\/\
Ruby and Ezra looked down in shame as the Huntress who had come to their rescue, Professor Glynda Goodwitch, scolded them.
"I hope that you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly. You both put yourselves and others in great danger."
"They started it!" Ruby exclaimed. Ezra gestured for her to not talk back to the woman.
He'd seen Hera when she was angry. He knew what was coming.
"If it were up to me, you'd both be sent home..." Goodwitch paused. "With pats on the back..." She noticed Ezra and Ruby looking up with smiles. "And slaps on the wrists!" She brought her riding crop down on the metal table, and Ruby and Ezra recoiled.
"EEP!"
"AH!"
"But..." Goodwitch sighed. "There is someone here who would like to meet you." A man stepped out of the shadows, smiling as he held a mug of coffee, a cane, and a tray of cookies.
Professor Ozpin.
"Ruby Rose." He began, then looked at her carefully. "You have silver eyes." Ruby didn't know what to think.
"Uh..."
"And who might this young man be?" The grey-haired headmaster turned to Ezra expectantly. Ruby nudged him, saying it was alright.
"My name's Ezra." Ezra stated. "Ezra Bridger." Ozpin seemed to consider the name, then Goodwitch walked over with a scroll.
It had footage of the fights on it.
How'd they get that?
"So, where did you learn to do this?" The headmaster gestured to the scroll with his head.
"I'm homeschooled." Ezra replied. "My, uh, uncle is a Huntsman. He taught me." Ruby was more timid.
"S-Signal Academy."
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" The headmaster asked, surprised. Ruby nodded.
"Well, one teacher in particular." She admitted. The headmaster seemed to understand.
"I see." Ozpin set the plate of cookies down. Ruby and Ezra each took one and exchanged glances. Ruby began wolfing cookies down, Ezra just eating one. He wasn't too sure about this. "It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow..." Ruby looked up and mumbled something through a mouthful of food. Seeing everyone's faces (Ezra snickering), Ruby swallowed.
"Sorry... That's my Uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal! I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all like-" Ruby made a few karate poses and noises. Ezra raised an eyebrow, frowning.
This girl was the teacher with a simple soul? A person who could teach him not to stray from the path of light?
"So I've noticed." Ozpin set his coffee down. He seemed more focused on interrogating Ruby than Ezra, which was fine by him. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?" Ruby grew serious.
"I want to be a Huntress."
"You want to slay monsters?"
Wait, what?! Who said anything about monsters?!
"Yeah." Ruby replied, then started talking nonstop. "I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress. I'm trying to become a Huntress because I wanna to help people. Our parents always taught us to help others-" Ezra's eyes widened slightly at that. "So I though: oh, I might as well make a career out of it. I mean, the police are okay, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and GOSH, you know?!" Everyone looked at Ruby, and she settled down, blushing.
"And what about you?" Ozpin looked at Ezra. "Why do you want to become a Huntsman?" Ezra paused. How would he answer? Then...
"All my life, I've seen people stand aside and do nothing as others get away with terrible things. I used to accept that that's the way things work, and you have to live a life of fear to survive... Then, I decided that that's not a life worth living." Ezra looked up, determined. "If we only care about ourselves, our lives mean nothing. I want to fight back against those who think that they can get away with what they've done, and I want to help people who can't help themselves. If being a Huntsman can get me there, then I'll do whatever it takes." All eyes were wide as Ezra finished his little speech.
Ezra had meant every word.
"Do you know who I am?" Ozpin asked, and Ezra shook his head. Ruby was able to answer.
"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon."
"Hello." Ozpin smiled. Ezra waved, and Ruby beamed.
"Nice to meet'cha."
"You want to come to my school?" Ozpin asked. Ezra paused for a moment, then nodded.
"More than anything." Ruby agreed. Ozpin looked at Goodwitch, who scoffed and looked away, before looking back at Ezra and Ruby.
"Well... Okay."
"Wait, what?!" Ezra asked. Ruby's eyes widened.
/\/\/\/\
Ruby bounced around excitedly as she and Ezra walked down the dark street, the girl unable to contain her excitement as they went.
"We're going to Beacon! We're going to Beacon! We're going to Beacon!" Ruby kept exclaiming. Ezra laughed and shook his head. "So, where's your house? I can walk you there before I head home. My dad will be so angry..."
"Uh..." Ezra rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "What was it that you called me, earlier?"
"A hobo?"
"Yeah, that... I don't actually have a house."
"Wait, what? Then, what about all that stuff you said about your uncle and training to be a Huntsman?"
"Well, that was a while ago... I'm on my own, now. I'll stay where I can until we head to Beacon."
"Ezra, that's two weeks away. And with the White Fang attacking humans, it's not safe for you out here."
"Who are the White Fang?"
"How have you never heard of them?! ... It doesn't matter. The White Fang is a Faunus organization that was once peaceful, but in the last five years, they've turned terrorist. Now, they want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet... Don't let that make you afraid of Faunus. Most are really nice. I even have a few friends who are Faunus."
"Okay..." What's a Faunus? Then, Ezra noticed a sign that said something about a Vytal Festival.
There were images of people standing together, hands held.
Some of the people were different. They had extra ears, a tail, or something else like that.
They must be Faunus.
"Yeah... Well, if you're staying out here, we should at least exchange scroll numbers. I would be able to come if you need any help."
"Uh..."
"You don't have a scroll, do you?"
"Nope."
"That's it." Ruby grabbed Ezra's arm and started dragging him with her. Ezra freaked.
"What are you doing?!"
"You're staying with me until we head to Beacon, and I'm getting you a scroll. No arguments."
"But-"
"NO ARGUMENTS!"
"Y-yes, ma'am."
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS! Will Ezra manage to defeat the darkness inside of him? Will he ever tell Ruby the truth? What will his life at Beacon be like? What will the Ghost Crew do? I own nothing! Please read, review, check out my other stories, etc. Thanks!