I know what people think when they see me. They only see the limp, the walking staff and the silver hair. They never see the danger I am. They only see weakness.

It was Omar who taught me to use that mistake and make it an advantage. Omar, who created me piece by piece from the moment I was born. Maybe even before then. He never explained though, whether the war I was fighting for him was supposed to save Remnant...

Or destroy it.

"Hello, welcome to Vale." A friendly voice said as I walked off the transporter towards the academy's illustrious archway.

I flinched and put both hands on my walking staff, leaning most of my weight on it.

"Oh, um, hello." I said sheepishly. I put a hand on the edge of my hood to keep it forward and took comfort from the fact that no one could yet see me.

Why did I think this was a good idea again?

"My name is Elise. What's yours?"

I was both annoyed and confused by the pushy voice so I turn to look at this tiny lovely little girl with big brown eyes and long blonde hair. I actually had to look down at her.

She had a friendly look on her perfectly proportioned face and I had to crack a smile at her. "Dahlia. Pleasure to meet you."

I kept one hand on my staff and shook her surprisingly strong hand.

"This is my first year here. I just came from Signal Academy. Where are you from?" She said falling in step with my limping gait. "Somewhere else." I murmured turning to look at the sprawling mass of Beacon Academy. "Somewhere else?" She said skeptically.

I nodded grinning a little bit. See, I could make friends.

I was looking at the little Elise, and not at who was in front of me.

"Ow! Hey!" A loud angry male voice howled at me. I blanched and as I looked up, my hood fell off. "I-I'm so s-sorry." I stuttered, flinching from the rage in his face.

I had apparently crushed his giant foot and smacked his face with my walking staff on accident.

"I'm gonna make you sorry, old maid."

I winced at the reference to my appearance. When my hood fell off, the silver waterfall of my hair had fallen down my back.

With my hair, my limp, my walking staff, and my black cloak most assumed that I was an old woman. Not a girl of nineteen. "Take it back, Martris. She didn't mean any harm. You're just so huge, she couldn't get around you." Elise said menacingly. She bristled at Martris' attempt to bully a new girl who obviously couldn't defend herself.

"Relax Elise. It was my fault." I whispered.

The big guy, whom I noticed had a battle-axe bigger than myself on his back, glared at me. "I'll be looking for you, Grandma. Watch your back." He said before walking off with his groupies.

I could make enemies too.

"Hey, don't worry about Martris. I tangled with him at Signal. He won't mess with you when I'm around."

Bewildered I looked at her. "Why are you helping me?"

Her smile was full of understanding. "Because you look how I felt my first day of school."

I gave her a watery smile. "Sick and terrified?"

"Exactly, c'mon. Let's beat the crowd."

At least I'm not that guy. There was a lanky blonde guy standing outside of the transporter looking embarrassed. Apparently, he didn't handle motion sickness well. Now he was labeled vomit boy. Poor kid.

Elise and I were walking under the main bridge, admiring the architecture and the array of lush plants around us when there was a small explosion above us in the main courtyard. Elise wanted to charge in and see what was going on, but my better sense told me to hold on. Not my business whatever it was.

There was some yelling and whining and angry noises. They were high feminine voices.

Definitely not my business.

"This place is enormous! I mean, look at that tower! We are gonna be in such good shape in a few days just from getting to classes!" Elise said pointing up at the tallest tower further away from the school than others.

The view from there must be incredible.

I began to formulate a plan to get up to the top. It involved some amazing acrobatics that made me grin.

We walked for a long time, becoming cautious friends as we did. I learned a lot from her. The hour seemed to fly by without us. Elise had stopped to study a section of roses when I heard footsteps and echoing voices.

I turned and looked at the two people walking our way. They were deep in discussion about nicknames. Apparently, vomit boy had found the girl who had caused the explosion earlier

He was pretty handsome and I could sense a deep shyness in him that he covered with feigned confidence.

He wore white shoulder armor and a matching white breastplate over a black hoodie that was in need of a good cleaning and red metal forearm armor. His jeans were dirty and ripped tucked into black leather boots. At his hip was an old longsword in a scuffed sheath. I smiled as he spoke animatedly with the young girl at his side.

She was nothing like I had experienced before. Though to be fair, my experience with other people was rather limited.

She was beautiful in a way I had never seen. I had thought little Elise was the most gorgeous girl on the planet with her long blonde hair and curvy body.

The girl in the red hood though was different.

Her skin was pale as snow, her choppy red hair so dark it was almost black and her eyes were a peculiar shade of silver, a little darker than my own starlight colored hair.

She wore a fascinating costume. A long high collar black and red sleeve blouse under a black and red corset and a thigh length black battle skirt with layers of red beneath the black. Her belt contained sniper bullets, an ammo case and a metal rose buckle crest that definitely caught my attention. Her leggings were black and she wore black and red combat boots on her feet. The final touch was the calf length red riding hood that was pinned to her shoulders by two tiny steel crosses.

I wondered at the crest, knowing that I'd seen it before… somewhere...

The weapon magnetized across her lower back made my blood run cold.

Such a beautiful, delicate girl with such a deadly, evil weapon.

Before my eyes, she whirled her red scythe off her back and into its battle mode. I looked for the danger, immediately dropping into a battle stance as well. Pain shot through my right leg and I was prepared to fight.

Then I realized that she was just showing the boy her weapon. The way it unfolded without a sound showed how much care she put into it. Even Omar's scythe sometimes clicked quietly if he forgot to oil it.

Elise was looking with interest at the weapon I knew almost as well as my own.

The girl cocked the sniper rifle in it. Omar hadn't had that. The thought made me smile.

The boy popped the shield on his arm out clumsily and drew his sword. His grip was all wrong and my eyes narrowed as I studied him. How had he gotten into this particular battle school? Even I had been thoroughly tested before being accepted and my 'friend' had pulled a few strings to get me in because of my age. Vomit Boy's shield clicked accidentally out of his hands and Elise laughed.

I nudged her to keep her quiet.

Then Elise began tugging me towards the main entry hall. "C'mon Dally; we are going to be late for Professor Ozpin's speech!" I groaned and hurried to keep up with her. My leg began to ache fiercely. "Don't call me that." She gave me a wicked look that told me that I had just earned my first nickname.

I thought of the two people I had studied. I'd find out more about them soon.

The room was positively crowded and I drew my hood back over my head as I limped through the throng of people. Elise had disappeared after we got in. I was pretty sure she had seen someone she knew.

My senses were almost overloaded from the amount of people. My extra sense was pressed and battered with a million different people's feelings and Auras. I was practiced at protecting myself though and moments later, the pressed of feelings passed. My shields were reinforced and the room's feelings were a vague blur around my mind.

I looked for Elise but it seemed that she wouldn't be able to find me before the speech began. I was alright though. I wanted to hear what the Headmaster had to say without having to control my face.

"Ruby, look I saved you a spot!" I heard a bright voice shout.

I saw the girl with the red hood leave the blonde boy for a girl who was probably the most stunning creature I had ever seen.

I took a few moments to appreciate the voluptuous figure and the glorious long, thick blonde hair. Her outfit left little to the imagination. She wore an orange scarf tucked around her neck, a short light brown leather jacket that ended above her elbows and above her bellybutton and was buttoned just below her breasts. A yellow half shirt was under her jacket with a sigil that looked like a flaming heart on her left breast. It didn't take much to know that those were her finest features.

Around her hips was a belt skirt thing that matched her half jacket. It was a belt in the front and a pleated skirt thing in the back. On the pleat that rested on her right thigh was that burning yellow heart tooled into the light brown leather. An uneven length of white cloth hung from below the skirt to where the lower end of the diagonal hem touched the back of her right knee. Beneath the belt-skirt and clothe, she wore very short black shorts that showed off her powerful legs. Her knee height light brown leather combat boots were over dark orange socks. The sock on the right was rolled down to the edge of the boot while the one on her left leg was rolled up above her knee onto her creamy pale thigh. Around the top of her left boot a gray scarf thing.

She stood with he hands on her hips, leaning on her right leg, all confident and lovely. I took notice of her black leather fingerless gloves and the hammered gold wristlets on both her wrists. I didn't notice any obvious weapons, but I knew she was armed. I caught a glimpse of flashing lilac purple eyes and felt the heat rise in my cheeks. Why were all these people so beautiful?

The girl in the red hood, Ruby, spoke angrily to the blonde girl. I smiled. They sounded like sisters even though they looked nothing alike.

The thought brought sad memories in its wake.

I saw trouble coming in for the two girls in the form of an ethereal looking young woman in white. She had an angry aristocratic step. "You!" I heard her say. Ruby leapt into the blonde girl's arms. The girl in white wasn't hard to identify. I had been forced to memorize her entire family many moons before. I knew Weiss Schnee instantly.

Her beauty lay in a different direction than Ruby's or the blonde girl. Weiss looked like falling snow. Her very long pure white hair was done into a long ponytail off-centered to the right, accented with little black spikes in the bun, almost like a little crown. Her choppy bangs rested against darkened white eyebrows. Her skin matched Ruby's for its whiteness but unlike Ruby's attire that made her skin even paler; Weiss' accents of color were few and striking. Her white jacket was long with the snowflake emblem of the Schnee family tooled in silver across her back. The inside of her jackets stiff collar was as red as Ruby's cloak. Her dress was pale white-blue, with a little black fan on the front collar of the dress from her undershirt. It rested against the pale expanse of her chest and accentuated her slender form. Her layered skirts ended above her knees, with the pattern of falling snowflakes stitched into the hem. Her boots were white leather with a high stacked heel and red insides.

Around her tiny waist was a satin ribbon tied tight. On it was a little white pouch that rested on the small of her lower back.

Her beauty was a cold kind. She wore a black necklace that gently touched her prominent collarbones before resting against her sternum above the black fan undershirt.

Her ice blue eyes pinned Ruby to the floor while she sternly spoke to her. Ruby sounding pitifully apologetic climbed out of the blonde girl's arms.

Weiss' arm shot straight out holding a pamphlet saying 'Dust for Dummies and other Inadequate Individuals'. How rude. Her wide sleeves were also stitched lovingly with snowflake patterns.

My eyes observed the rapier at her hip. She must have had a magnetic strip around her waist to attach her weapon to. Its tip was needle sharp and I could scarcely make out the glyphs etched into the silver metal. It was very finely made.

It would be a treat to see her fight.

Her beauty was a cold kind, but I sensed a very deep hurt inside her. I could almost see it in her face. Especially when I saw the scar that ran down through her left eye.

Ruby took the pamphlet and the blonde girl ran a hand through her shiny hair while making a comment. Then Ruby extended her hand to Weiss who stared coldly at her.

I could feel the sarcasm coming from Weiss from where I stood.

Weiss threw a thumb at the blonde boy that Ruby had been speaking to.

Then a man cleared his throat on stage.

My full attention was on the handsome, older man who wore black spectacles perched on his thin nose. Professor Ozpin.

A fine-looking man with tousled silver gray hair, thin black eyebrows, dark brown eyes, and narrow, aristocratic features in an unbuttoned dark, dark green suit jacket over a dark, dark green buttoned vest over a forest green undershirt, long dark, dark green pants and black trouser shoes. A forest green scarf was tucked tightly around his neck with a small purple cross emblem on it.

"I'll keep this brief." He said pushing those spectacles up.

"You have traveled here today, in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

He looked around the room.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose. Direction."

I raised my eyebrows at this statement. A blunt way of saying what I had been thinking since I got here though it reminded me uncomfortably of the way my father spoke to his new trainees.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

I was momentarily distracted from Professor Ozpin's speech as the blonde girl moved her hands through her hair again. Ruby looked fiercely thoughtful and Weiss looked determined.

The riveting man walked away from the microphone slowly. He turned and looked into the audience for a moment and nearly caught my eye. I looked down as quickly as I could and stayed that way till I was sure he was off the stage.

Huntress Goodwitch stepped up to the microphone and informed us that we would all be sleeping in the ballroom that night and that the next day our initiation would begin.

Her last words before dismissing us were "Be ready."

And I felt a chill go down my spine.

Was I ready for this?

Everyone gathered in the large ballroom to sleep. There was much fighting over spots but I was perfectly content to hide in the darkest corner, the furthest from the large glass paned windows. Some were embarrassed to find that there was very little separation of boys and girls.

I didn't particularly care either way but it was interesting to see the interactions going on. I stayed in my corner on my sleeping mat cuddling with my pillow and observed.

I will ask again, why are all these people so beautiful?

I caught sight of Jaune, the blonde boy who Ruby had befriended and who had thrown up on the ship, walking around in long light blue footie pajamas with blue bunny slippers on. It made me giggle a little to see Yang's reaction to him.

Yang Xiao Long, the beautiful blonde girl from before. Ruby's older sister.

Ruby, who was writing something and throwing pillows after every one of Yang's comments. She looked disgruntled and unhappy as she laid on her back and stared pensively at the ceiling.

You and me both.

Was I unhappy? I couldn't tell. Feelings were still so foreign to me. I had only recently been allowed to have and express emotions of my own. Emotions themselves are confusing and highly irrational. I certainly wasn't happy. I was too afraid and alone to be happy. But I made it. I was in Beacon Academy where I could learn to live in the outside world.

I could learn to live as something other than a monster.

My dark thoughts were disrupted when Yang dragged Ruby up and over to a bookcase along the wall, to see a person that I couldn't see. I saw two pale, lithe legs daintily curled up and the hem of a gray dressing robe. My Scroll buzzed and I smiled seeing that the old bastard had thought of me.

Bastard: You got on the ship, right?

There had been a long while when I hadn't been sure if I was going to get on the airship to bring me here. Even after I passed the tests and was accepted, I hadn't been sure if I could come to this amazing school.

I responded to him with a quick affirmative and then shifted my attention back to the room.

There was a conversation but I was distracted by Elise who had finally found me and a tall boy who looked remarkably similar to her.

"Dally! Finally! I've been looking everywhere for you!" She cried, grabbing the boy's wrist and dragging him over to where I sat against the wall.

I smiled at her. She actually looked happy to see me." Hello Ely." I murmured. She practically beamed.

"Elin, meet Dahlia. Dahlia, this is my twin brother Elin." I used the wall to stand up. I wore a long silk thin strap black modest night gown yet I suddenly felt so exposed. I reached out my hand and he grabbed it and kissed my knuckles. His smile was small and gentle. "Charmed." He said in a breathy tenor. Elise was smiling enormously.

I could easily see the resemblance they had. But I could also see the differences. Elise was short, curvy and strong with delicate features, big, dark brown eyes and that long straight blonde hair.

Elin was tall, willowy and slender with his sister's delicate face and the same straight hair only his was a little darker than hers and his eyes were a lighter woodier brown.

He had a rather feminine quality to him. Maybe it was he was too beautiful to be called manly and his face was incredibly androgynous. I smiled shyly at him and the three of us talked till someone called Elise's name.

They both said goodnight and left and I was feeling a little lighter. Two friends. I was on a roll.

I was about to slide back down onto my mat when I caught sight of a painfully familiar figure. The person Yang and Ruby were talking to.

Blake Belladonna.

Someone I hadn't seen in at least four years.

Images assaulted me as I tried to configure her into my equation. Images of pain and death and most of all of Adam.

The last time I had seen her, she had walked off with him. Choosing to believe him over me.

She hadn't looked back.

I looked at her for a while as Ruby and Yang talked to her and fought. Even the arrival of Weiss hadn't distracted me.

She had grown up some. There were near invisible lines of sorrow on her face and inside her, I sensed something broken deep within Blake. Something so painful she couldn't bear to face it.

She was still reading which made me happy. Blake loved books. They were her way of escaping.

Her tawny amber eyes held amusement and annoyance in equal measure as she looked at the three girls in front of her. She didn't look my way and for that I was thankful.

I would meet with Blake when I was ready to face our past and see if our relationship could be mended.

She reached for the candles she had been reading by and blew them out.

My leg ached fiercely and I forced myself not to fall onto my mat. Instead, I carefully knelt onto it and gracefully face planted into my fluffy gray pillow.

I pulled my blanket up over my shoulder and reached for Orchid. Just touching my weapon gave me comfort. The warm metal that was silver, but did not shine, met my fingertips and I was then able to roll onto my back and close my eyes.

Maybe eventually I would even be able to sleep.