"I like your ears!"

"Huh?" I looked up from the booklet I was reading and found a strange girl with long black hair that turned white as it got longer. It took me an extra second to notice the white and black wolf tail behind her. "Oh, thanks, I guess. I get them from my mother. The hair is from my mom." I started twisting a strand of my bright gold hair around my finger. I've always been proud of my hair, as weird as it might sound, I liked showing it off.

Now that I had a better looked at her, the strange girl was actually kind of cute. She was wearing a black gothic lolita outfit with pink and red rose patterns. It looked like something my aunt would wear.

She seemed a little scatterbrained and nervous. I stood up from the bench and flashed her a smile to try and put her at ease. I extended by my hand towards her. "I'm Hua. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"OH! Right, how rude of me. I'm Rosette. Um, mind if I sit here?"

"Sure." It shouldn't be a problem. These booths were made for up to four people, so there is still plenty of space left over for Val.

"Great!" Rosette took her place right across from me at the same time I sat back down. "Sorry, I'm just very nervous. I'm not from around here, and since I don't know anyone, I thought I should try and make new friends. I noticed that you were reading a welcome booklet from Haven, so I figured a fellow huntress in training and possible classmate was a nice start! I am surprised there aren't more of us here. I thought this train would be packeted with students heading towards Haven."

"All the other students are probably already at Haven. If the schedule is right, the welcome ceremony for the potential first-year student was earlier today. We'll be lucky if we make it before they close the gates. More than likely we'll have to rent a hotel room and then make a mad dash to the school before sunrise. From there we'll have to hope we can complete our registration in time to make it to the entrance exam." While I was trying to stay calm, I noticed that my left ear was twitching, and at some point, I must've extended my retractable claws. Saying all of that out loud made me realize again how embarrassing this whole situation was. Goddess, I could already imagine the look in my moms' faces if I got sent back home without even getting a chance to participate in the entrance exam.

"WHAT!" Rosette paled, and her voice started to quiver. "B-but how? I'm sure I had the dates right. I don't understand how this could've happened!" I wince a little as she started to pull her hair. "Oh man, I don't even have enough money left over to make the trip back home. What am I going to do?"

That was a surprise. The government paid for everything, including basic toiletries and meals, for the students, so it wasn't uncommon for those whose income was less than ideal to become students. However, I didn't think that someone would take the chance and make this a one-way trip. This girl must either be a bonafide idiot or an extremely talented fighter if she was that sure that she could pass the entrance exam. I felt sorry for this girl. We are both in the same boat after all. Even if the only reason why I was in the same boat as her was because of-

"They didn't have any strawberry smoothies, but they did have soft served ice cream!" Speak of the devil. "So I thought- Oh. Hello!" Finally noticing Rosette, Val set down the ice cream cones in the table and sat down next to me. "I'm Vasilisa, but most people just call me Val." She extended her hand towards the quirky goth.

"I'm Rosette. I like your hair!"

"Oh, thanks! My dad helped me dye it. Your hair is pretty cool too!" Val has short black hair with dyed pink tips. Last year it used to be much longer, but she kept cutting because she tried to dye her hair by herself, and kept messing it up. Eventually, Val just gave up and asked Ren to help her do it. When I asked why she didn't just ask her parents for help from the start, she said it was because she wanted it to be a surprise.

"Thanks! So, are you going to Haven too?"

"Yeah! Hua and I applied together. We've been friends since like forever. Our parents are actually old friends. They even went to hunter's school together."

"Oh really? Where did they go to school?"

"Beacon, they were actually-"

"NO WAY!" The other famous jumped up straight from her seat and got a couple of nasty looks from some of the people sitting near us. Both Val and I sweatdropped.

She put her hands over her mouth and muttered a 'sorry' before sitting back down. "Your parents went to Beacon?The Beacon? Just like team RWBY, the heroes of the God Wars?"

Oh no, Val had that look in her eyes. I just hoped she didn't mess with the poor girl too much. "I take it you are a fan?"

The Faunus nodded furiously. "Ever since I was a little girl I heard stories about them. My favorite is Ruby. They say that she could kill Grimm just by looking at them! I mean, I know most of the stories are probably just exaggerations, but I like them all the same. I actually based my weapon off of hers. I hope that someday I can be half the huntress she is, and maybe one day I can even meet her in person. Can you imagine? ME! Meeting the Ruby Rose!"

"Oh, I certainly can."

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking out loud." Val leaned into the table. "So, just how big of a fan are you? Do you have posters of Ruby Rose in your room? Pajamas? Did you use to pretend to be her when you were younger? Give me all the juicy details."

I resisted the urged to facepalm before I signaled for Val to move so I could get up. "Well, I've been sitting here for the past three hours. I need to go stretch my legs."

"Right, don't get lost or else, we might have to leave you behind!"

I smiled at Val's little joke and made took the chance to make my exit. As I made my way to the other end of the train I noticed the occasional human give me the side eye. As always I tried to ignore them as much as I could, but sometimes it was hard not to let things like this get to me.

I wonder if it's going to be that in Haven? Would my fellow huntsmen in training be more open-minded? Would they even care that I was a Faunus? Would I be able to make new friends in Haven? Over on another booth, I saw a young boy with his parents. I felt a string pull at my heart. It was strange, the entire reason why I was going to Haven was to get a little distance from my moms and here I was, already feeling homesick.

*Thud*

My thoughts were interrupted as I bumped into someone. I heard a yelp and felt as the person I crashed into was pushed away from me. While I remained standing the other person had been pushed down by the impact of our collision. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to just crash into you like that. I just wasn't paying attention to where I was going." I offered my hand to help the person I had just knocked down on the ground and realized that she was a beautiful black hair girl around my age with dark eyes. Her outfit was also almost entirely black. Unlike Rosette, who had plenty of blue integrated into her outfit and had a sort of perky goth look, this other girl instead had more of a punk vibe going.

She looked at my hand like it was a snake and then looked back at me with a stare that was pure steel and spite. "Watch where you are walking next time." She ignored my stretched hand and got up all on her own, giving one last snide look before turning on her heels. "My name is Sierra. You'll do well to remember it. Next time I might not let something like this slide, be careful who you bump into."

Well, that was rude. I mean, I guess I was rude first, but still. Not wanting anything else to do with that girl, I turned around and started walking in the opposite direction she was headed.

Before heading back to Val and Rosette, I decided to get myself some pink lemonade and maybe a sandwich to eat. I had to skip out on breakfast in the morning. And that was, once again, Val's fault.

I found the food court and ordered my food before sitting down in a bar stool. I made sure to order extra for Val and Rosette. Just like me, Val hadn't eaten anything this morning, and Rosette looked like the type of person who skips meals she can't afford.

My ears twitched as they picked up some sort of commotion coming from the other cart. I sighed and engaged my aura. I had to be ready for anything. Before I even stood up, there was loud banging as the door was slammed open. My claws were already out.

"Everyone put your hands where we can see them and stay where you are. We'll be coming around to collect all your valuables."

Oh, they were just some bandits. I smirked. Well, this was a good way to pass the time. Plus, I might gain some sort of leniency if the headmaster found out I helped stop a train robbery.

I launched myself a the closest bandit, using some of the fire and ice dust infused inside my body to create air pressure and give me a small speed boost. I was able to close the gap between us before the poor idiot could even flinch. My fist connected with his face, the combination of the momentum I built up, with my own strength, and a small red dust explosion originating from my bare knuckles was enough to send the poor idiot flying across the room and knocking him unconscious.

I gave them a predatory smile, showing them my teeth, and tilted my head to the side. "Who's next?" While I was beating the shit out of the bandits, the civilians in this cart took it as the cue to run away. That was good. I wouldn't have to hold back as much if it came to it.

An idiot to my left took that his cue and charged me, but a roundhouse kick to the face and a generous amount of red dust made sure he wasn't getting up any time soon. Another two bandits used the opening the second guy created. I slammed my open palm on the chest of the closest bandit, and sent out a wave of cold, freezing him from the neck down. I moved off the out of his friend's charged unleashed a flurry of claw attacks, quickly depleting his aura, before knocking him out with another kick to the face.

"OOF!" Fuck, I had been too distracted to notice another, much bigger, bandit, as he came up behind and by the time I noticed him he already had me in a bear hug. The pressure he was putting on my aura was too much, and I felt at least one of my rib break. Tapping into the reserve of lightning dust that was infused inside my body I unleashed a wave of high voltage electricity emanating from my body, turning myself into a human stun gun. It took at least fifteen seconds before he loosened his grip on me enough to allow me to slip away.

This wasn't good. I was already panting, and this guy was still up. At this rate, I'll to bust out my semblance soon. I clutched my fists. If I couldn't even deal with a bunch of third-rate thieves without using that, then how could I be expected to fight Grimm?

"AHHHH!" In frustration, I went to for his head, planning to end this with a quick kick and a nasty combo of fire and lightning dust. Before the attack could connect with its intended target, the large man managed to catch my foot in his hand. The blast of fire and lightning still went off with a large boom, but his aura was still up. Shit that wasn't enough.

Before I could process what was happening, he started swinging me around like a rag doll, smashing me up against the walls and floor of the train, and against furniture. After fifth or sixth hit I started to feel dizzy. And then, he dropped. Or more like he was forced to drop me. Still seeing spots I had to blink a couple of times and force my mind to focus, but when it did, and I looked up, I saw the rude girl from before. Her face was filled with pure unbridled rage. Several threads of silver like string were wrapped around hands, and at the other end of those threads was the bandit captain. The threads were digging into his flesh. It looked like his aura was straining to keep the threads from turning him to minced meat.

Sierra pulled the threads harder as they began to bite into the man's skin, drawing blood. He struggled to reach for something in his coat pocket. Sierra tugged hard at the strings again, and whatever was in his hand fell out and hit the floor before rolling over before stopping at a wall near me. Turned to look at it and my eyes widen. It was an unnaturally dark red fire dust crystal. And it was cracked.

I barely managed to get up as my muscles ached and my lunged burned. Before I even took more than a single step, I felt as if I was hit by a trailer truck. There was a deafening ringing in my ears, and my skin felt as if it was boiling.

And then I was falling. Oh, gods, I was going to die. My aura was depleted. I was falling too fast. I hadn't even been a week since I left home together with Val, and I was already going to die. I was a disappointment. Moms, I'm so sorry. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, bracing myself for the impact.

Suddenly I felt somebody wrap their arm around me and push their body up against mine. "Hold on!"

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around their waist before even opening my eyes. And when I did, I thought that maybe I was hallucinating. "Sierra!?"

The black hair girl waited until we broke through the crowns of the trees below us before extending her free hand upwards. At once several thin silver like threads shot out from her hand and wrapped themselves around various branches and tree trunks. She quickly wrapped the strings around her hand to get better leverage and gritted her teeth as we started to slow down. I heard a pop as Sierra winced in pain before we finally came to a complete stop and were left hanging, no more than two feet above the ground.

"You can let go of me now."

"Oh! Right. Sorry." I let go of her waist and landed perfectly on the ground. Had I imagined it, or had I seen a blush on her face?

Without even a word the threads freed themselves from the branches that helped stop our fall, and the Goth girl landed on the ground gracefully. Now that I was this close to her, I noticed that the threads were coming from underneath her well-kept nails, one thread per finger. As soon as she landed, they began to retreat back under her fingernails. Was that her weapon or her semblance? Maybe both?

"It'll be dark soon. We should find shelter while we still have daylight. But we should keep close to the tracks, in the morning we can follow them to Mistral." She began to move away from the spot we landed on without even turning to make sure I was going to follow.

I did a quick jug to catch up to her. "Hey, I'm sorry again about bumping into you before. And, also, I wanted to thank you for saving me just now."

"It was nothing."

"I'm pretty sure you dislocated your shoulder."

I watched in shock as Sierra grabbed her dislocated shoulder before smashing it up against a tree trunk. With a loud crack and a wince of pain, she had popped her shoulder back into place. "My aura will do the rest, and before nightfall, it should be fully healed. I meant it when I said it was nothing. I've been through a lot worse."

Wow, this girl is like a more intense, younger, version of my mother. She even has the right color scheme. "Well, I appreciate it all the same. Not a lot of would jump out of a running train and off a cliff to save a complete stranger like that. Oh! Right, my name is Hua my the way."

No response. Ok, fine, I can take a hint. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair before looking up at the already orange sky. Spending an unknown number of days in the woods alone with a pretty girl sounded like a dream. Too bad she was more likely to rip off my head than cuddle with me for warmth.