AN: Sup guys. Glad you decided to read this, it fills my heart with great joy and happiness. Just a heads up that there will be probable Yuri at some point ;) And let me know if I'm doing anything wrong with a review, thank you. Anyway, happy reading chaps.

Friends

Ballard stood on the bridge of the airship and looked towards Beacon Academy with eyes full of wonder. It had taken a lot of hard work to get accepted, and the work was only going to get harder from here on out. Ballard sighed, he didn't begrudge the work, you get out what you put in and Ballard planned to get a lot out of his time at Beacon. But he desperately wanted a break.

'Aint no rest for the wicked.' Ballard mumbled to himself.

'Err, excuse me.' A small voice came out of nowhere making Ballard jump. He turned to see a girl looking up at him, she was probably in the same year as him but it was difficult to tell because of her small frame. Ballard hoped she hadn't heard him talking to himself.

'Yes, can I help you at all Miss?' Ballard gave her a friendly smile. The girl was clearly incredibly shy and refused to meet his gaze, or would have if her eyes where visible. She had shoulder length dark red hair that covered the entire left side of her face from view, while a segment of some kind of bone white mask with red stripes covered her right eye. The mask almost looked like the bones of some of the creatures of Grimm. The only part of her face that was easily visible where her lips, which where full and deep red in colour, somehow adding warmth to her otherwise cold appearance. They were twisted into a nervous smile. She wore a black double breasted coat with a large collar and had a belt with two holsters on it, wrapped around a slim waist.

'It's just that, err, well.' Ballard tried to make his smile even warmer, willing the girl on, 'I don't really have any friends and I'm feeling pretty nervous about, well everything. I was hoping if maybe I could just stick with you, it that's all right. I just feel lost on my own and you look friendly.'

Ballard stared at the girl and had to stop himself from laughing in her face. Me? Look friendly? Ballard had spent most of his life being avoided by people because of the way he looked. He was Faunus, which was an instant turn off for a lot of people. Sometimes he thought he was the only person in the world who liked his tail. But that wasn't the only thing wrong with his appearance. His body was covered in tattoos, though in truth they looked more like veins standing out from his skin. They covered his whole body in a swirling pattern, even running onto his face, coming up his neck to his chin then from the back of his head meeting the corners of his eyes and mouth. That on its own wouldn't have been too bad but they gave of a pale blue light. The colour would occasionally change but always returned to the pale blue, and it freaked most people out.

Then Ballard membered the girls mask, she was hiding something too, the mask was disturbing enough it would draw a lot of attention to her, so whatever she was hiding behind it must have been more exceptional than his glowing tattoo's.

He'd stalled too long, 'I'm sorry, that was a stupid request, I just thought…nether mind I'm sorry I bothered you.' The girl began to scamper away like a scared mouse but Ballard quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. He tried to be gentle but could feel the terror coming from the girl. He quickly let go of her arm and she stepped back but didn't run. Ballard tried to smile warmly again.

'Don't you have any friends from Signal, you did come from Signal, right?'

'Y-yeah, I came from signal, but I don't really have any friends.' For a second the girl looked like she would elaborate, but didn't.

'Is that why you came to speak to me? Because I didn't go to Signal?'

The girl nodded. Figures, she probably got bullied for whatever she's hiding behind that mask. Well I know what that feels like.

'Well, I guess I'll have to be your friend then.' Ballard stuck his hand out, 'I'm Gren Ballard, though I prefer to go by Ballard if you don't mind. I really don't like the name Gren.'

The girl smiled and gently took his hand in her small soft palm, 'I'm Eiliyah [EH-LEE-YAH] Granscythe. It's very nice to meet you.' It felt like she genuinely meant it.

The stood in an awkward silence for a moment before Eiliyah quickly asked, 'If you don't like your name why don't you change it? I heard it's pretty easy to do.'

'I thought about it. But my name was given to me by a great man I respect more than anyone else. It wouldn't feel right changing it, so I just go by Ballard instead. I like that part of the name.'

'Was this man you're farther?'

'He might as well have been.' Ballard smiled fondly at the memory. 'Hey look, where almost there.' Ballard pointed towards the rapidly approaching sky dock and the two watched avidly as the airship quickly slowed before docking, causing the airship to shake violently. The two ginned as they were rocked by the movement, grabbing onto the railings and each other to keep steady. As soon as the rocking stopped Eiliyah pulled her hand back, letting go of Ballard's sleeve.

Together they left the airship, passing a blonde kid violently throwing up into a bin. They were in a sea of people and despite Ballard agreeing to help Eiliyah, he had no idea where they were supposed to be going or what they were meant to do. Deciding it was better to wait for the crowd to disperse and then decide he pulled Eiliyah out from the group with him and walked a short distance from the dock and the crowd. Standing slightly awkwardly together they waited for the mass of people to disperse, which didn't take long.

Eiliyah's small voice perked up in the following silence, 'If you didn't study at Signal where did you? Was it in another Academy in Vale, like Sanctum? Or have our come from Atlas, or somewhere else?' She was slightly more confident than before, it reassured Ballard that he was doing the right thing.

'I studied in Vale but I went to a special school.'

'Oh.' Eiliyah coked her head a little as the sound passed her lips and Ballard couldn't help acknowledging how cute she looked, even with the creepy mask.

'Yeah, I only decided I wanted to be a hunter about a year ago so I attended Cram school. I was lucky to get in to Beacon and it was really hard work. But it meant I could come to here so everything worked out perfectly, wouldn't you agree?'

'It only took you a year to pass the first part of training!' Eiliyah stared at him with her mouth making a small o shape.

'Don't look at me like that, it took a hell of a lot of work and I doubt I'm still nowhere near as good as any of the other students here. I bet if you wanted to you could turn me into a pile of broken bones. Hey what's going on over ther-' Ballard was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. He stared wide eyed at the girl who had apparently just sneezed and caused an explosion. He glanced at Eiliyah who was also staring at the girl, the two burst into laughter.

'Come on.' Ballard said, 'Let's go see what trouble we can get into.' He grabbed Eiliyah's arm and started dragging her in a random direction. She happily went along with him, glad to have a friend.