Chapter One

"Take Drake and run!"

"No I won't leave you!"

"Please just go!"

"Look Out!"

Drake woke with a start. He had been sitting on a bench lost in thought, and he must have dosed off. Drake let out a low growl. He did not mean to fall asleep. He did not want to fall asleep. Granted, he did not exactly get sleep last night. He had gotten a new punching bag and wanted to break it in. It was broken by sunrise. Still, Drake supposed that it was better to sleep now rather than later.

He stood up and stretched his arms and back. His wings ruffled under his jacket. They felt cramped, probably due to him sleeping with his back against a huge window. Drake turned around to look at the sky. Judging from the sun, he figured that he had been asleep for a few hours. He rustled his wings again, wishing that he could stretch him out to their full length. Of course, Drake knew that was folly. Humans don't exactly regard Faunus like him kindly. And Drake learned very quickly that his batwings unsettled even the most accepting of humans.

"…Saturday's Faunus Civil Right's protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony"

`Drake scowled and turned his head towards the holographic news screen to watch the report. He hated nothing more than the Grimm, but the White Fang were a close second. Of course he understood what they were doing, even the why. Fear was a powerful motivator, one of the few things he learned while at his old school, Flare.

The holograph flickered suddenly, breaking Drake's train of thought. This new image was one of a woman. She had short blonde hair with striking green eyes behind small wireframe glasses. She began her speech,

"Hello and welcome to Beacon! My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

Drake recognized the name. She was the huntress who attempted to apprehend Roman Torchwick a few days earlier.

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy!"

Drake felt a chill run up his spine and looked around. Not much was able to unsettle Drake. He scanned the room and saw nothing out of the ordinary. He thought he saw a bright red light, but when he looked again the light was gone. Drake supposed he just imagined it.

"…with the knowledge and the training to protect our world"

Drake turned back to the holograph in time to watch Glynda disappear. Drake cursed himself. First falling asleep, and then missing most of Glynda's speech. He hasn't even stepped foot onto Beacon's campus and already he was slipping.

"I have to say, if she is representative of the faculty at Beacon, I'm going to like it there!"

Drake heard a voice directly behind him. He glanced behind him to see who was talking. A short boy wearing leather armor with a sword slung on his back walked up on Drake's left. He had short grey hair, and Drake noted a silver strap wrapped around his head that Drake assumed was holding an eye-patch in place.

"Of course, I'm sure they have some good looking male teachers, if that's your thing. I mean, Professor Ozpin is pretty good looking for a dude."

Drake rolled his eyes and looked out the window again. Whoever this kid was, he was annoying. Drake was unsure how this idiot got into Beacon, but it was of no concern. He was not about to waste his breath with someone who would probably drop out their first year.

"Oh don't be like that, batboy."

Drake was taken aback. He got his coat specifically to hide his wings so that he wouldn't get harassed for his Faunus heritage. Drake turned to speak, but stopped before he could get a word out. The kid was facing him fully now, and Drake fully saw the eye-patch. While the straps were silver, the patch itself looked red. However, the more Drake looked at it the more he realized that the patch was not red, but silver with a bright red glow underneath that covered the entire eye-patch.

"You know staring is bad for your health. I mean, I'm not going to hurt you, not intentionally anyways. It's just that my eye tends to give people a bad case of the willies."

Drake blinked and looked away, and noticed that he had the same chill as before. He could not fathom how this stupid little boy was able to figure out that he was a Faunus. He flapped his wings as much as possible under his jacket. They were beginning to get really sore and Drake really needed to get them out in the open. The kid chuckled.

"Normally I try to tell Faunus…Faunia? Faunuses? Whatever. Normally I tell you guys to just be proud and show it, but I'd imagine it would be a bit unwieldy having huge batwings. I did see a cute girl with huge bunny ears, and I thought that would be the most obvious Faunus. Until I saw you, of course."

"I wouldn't exactly say that I'm obvious," Drake curtly replied. He was done with this fool. "Now you are going to tell me two things; who you are and how do you know I'm a Faunus" Drake gave the kid a hard stare. The kid only had a devious smirk, different from his usual manner.

"Oh I call myself Ricochet," said Ricochet, "of course you can call me Ric. I needed a last name in order to get in to Beacon, so I put down Ric O'Chet. Seemed clever at the time, but the admissions people never made the T silent, so it seems redundant now. And as for how I know how batty you are…" Ric's smirk widen into a grin, "I see everything."

Drake took a step back. He knew that Ricochet couldn't actually see everything, but it was said with such finality that Drake could not question it. This guy, whom Drake simply disregarded as an idiot, had completely rendered Drake speechless. Drake simply smirked. Ric was his first teacher at Beacon, whether or not he knew it or not. Underestimating anyone at Beacon was folly. It was like Glynda said, only the most promising of warriors got into Beacon, and assuming that Drake was instantly better than anyone here was arrogant.

"We have arrived at Beacon. Landing in 30 seconds."

Ric turned around, and before walking away said, "Maybe I'll see you later. Just try not to fly off the handle."

Drake thought about following him, but decided against it. Ric might be more than meets the eye, but Drake still found him annoying. He knew he would need to meet other students. Drake just hoped that he found some ones that talked less.

"We have landed at Beacon Academy. Please make your way to the exits."

Drake waited for a moment, and then headed towards the exits. For the first time in years, Drake allowed himself a smile. He might actually enjoy himself at Beacon.