So this is my attempt at a RWBY story.

In watching RWBY, I always wondered about what would drive the members of the White Fang to be willing to join, what kind of discrimination they would've gone through that would have pushed them to that point. We get a good glimpse of that through Blake, but she notes that she was "born into the White Fang" when it was peaceful.

For this story, I wanted to try and show what life for a Faunus would be like in a setting where Faunus discrimination is more obvious than it was at Beacon, where I feel Ozpin and the other teachers try to maintain a non-discriminatory atmosphere (and yet it still happens, as shown by team CRDL's bullying of Velvet. Admittedly, they seemed to be equal opportunity bullies, but Cardin was shown to be racist against Faunus in Oobleck's class.)

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update, but I will try to update at least semi-regularly. My chapters will also likely be pretty short, especially for the time in-between; being a college student, as well as someone who's easily distracted, makes it difficult to sit down and write for extended periods of time. However, I will do my best.

Hopefully it's something people like, but who knows. Here's chapter one!

Would it really kill them to provide chairs?

It was a brief, pointless thought. One of the many that had been running through my head as I listened to the 'welcome speech' on the large grassy lawn.

It wasn't that I disliked standing, per se.

No, it was the crowd of people around me that was the source of the thought. Consisting of other students and whatever family or friends had come with them, they couldn't seem to keep still during the ceremony. Some were fidgeting in place, doing stretches or hopping from leg to leg, while others were trying to walk around to keep their legs from aching. Others, although thankfully few, had flat-out given up on trying to present a respectable image and had flopped down on the grass to sit or lay down.

At least with chairs, only the really disrespectful members of the audience would be doing anything other than just sitting and listening to the teacher at the podium talk.

Or at least pretending to. I could understand someone's attention wandering; even I was finding myself losing focus during the various speeches that were being given on stage.

I managed to pay attention through at least two teachers. When the third teacher started giving a speech that was almost identical to the previous two outside of its different wording, though, I found my gaze wandering over the crowd, eventually searching for any classmates in the mass of bodies.

After several long minutes, the last teacher finished their speech and walked off the stage to polite applause. Just as the headmistress stepped up to the microphone, I spotted the distinctive hair of one of my closest friends.

...One of my only friends, but I try not to dwell on that too often.

I didn't actually know if I was looking at the right person, but given how few people had bubblegum pink hair, I thought it was reasonable to assume it was her.

The headmistress began speaking then, and all of my attention went to her.

She was a commanding presence, both in appearance and personality. At over six feet tall and with lean but obvious muscle in her arms, it was clear she hadn't let her training slip in the many years since she'd stopped going out on missions. She wasn't a classical beauty, but no one would ever call her average, much less ugly.

And not just because they feared her retribution if she heard.

She had a fearsome reputation stemming from her years as a Huntress. Combined with her commanding presence and voice, the moment the first word came out of her mouth, the crowd of people - even those who had previously been chatting without any regard to discretion - immediately began deathly silent.

"Every year, I find myself in the same place, doing the same thing. Every year, I give a speech to you, the students, here on this very field. But despite this, it is always different.

"I have had new experiences since I was last here. I have seen new places, met new people, and done things I had never done before. And whether or not I realized it at the time, every moment has had its effect on me, teaching me new things."

"And so I stand here before you, more knowledgeable and skilled than I was a year ago. But not just I – you as well, each of you, are more than you were a year ago. Whether you are returning for another year of study or coming here for the first time, you are capable of more than you were before. Hopefully, when you leave here at the end of the school year, you will have learned more than you did last year, become more than you are now.

"Learn all that you can. Improve the skills you already possess. Become a better person than you are now, in all the ways that you can think of and some that you cannot."

"Welcome, and welcome back, to Forge Academy."

Silence.

And then one person started clapping.

It slowly spread, with each person starting slowly and then becoming more enthusiastic. By the end of it, the whole crowd was clapping, with a few people even whooping or cheering.

I just clapped, of course. The speech itself had been good, but somewhat dull. It was the headmistress's presence, the commanding and inspiring tone that she spoke with naturally, that had led to the overly enthusiastic response from the crowd.

The headmistress walked off of the stage, and the crowd took it as the signal that the ceremony was over and began to disperse. Most students went to get their room assignments and move in for the semester, but a good number remained on the field, chatting in small groups.

Among them I could see the same pink head of hair that I had spotted before, and I made my way over to it.

My friend was chatting with her parents when I came up behind her. Both of them saw me approach, but other than small smiles, neither reacted to my presence.

I tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned.

"Amy!" Suddenly, I had a body crashing into my chest, and I had to step back in order to keep my balance. I winced slightly at the impact, but ignored it and wrapped my arms around her in return.

"Good to see you too, Cerise," I replied, amused. She let go and stepped back, which let me get my first good look at her.

The time between last year and this one had treated her well - she'd gotten taller, although she was still about a good foot shorter than me. Cerise's outfit was one I hadn't seen before; she must have bought it after the last school year had ended. It was a black dress with crimson leggings and heeled boots, and the ensemble managed to cover everything all the way up to her neck.

Her most noticeable feature was her hair. Coming down to the middle of her back, the bright pink locks usually drew a good amount of attention, especially from people who had never seen her before. I didn't know if it was natural or artificially colored - neither of her parents had it, but that was no proof one way or another.

I never asked her about it, of course. It was only a passing curiosity, and I didn't want to be rude.

"Amy? You there?" I blinked, and noticed the hand waving in my face. My face flushed as I realized that I had completely zoned out when I took in Cerise's new appearance.

"I'm fine." I looked over at Cerise's parents, who just looked on amused, and then back to Cerise. "Let's go get checked in."

I turned sharply and strode off towards where I could see other students waiting in line for their room assignments. Behind me, I heard Cerise giggle quietly as she followed me with her parents.

They caught up within seconds, and after a few moments of silence, Cerise's father spoke up.

"So, Amelia, could your parents not make it to the ceremony?"

My lips twitched into a frown that I quickly smoothed out, but Cerise was looking directly at me and almost definitely noticed. Her parents didn't seem to, however.

"No, Mr. Rosario. They had work."

His brow furrowed. "Could they not take a day off? I realize that an introduction ceremony isn't as important as some other events, but it still seems like something they would want to be here for…"

I hesitated for only a short moment before I responded. "They were going to. They both were, but I told them I would be fine on my own." I shrugged. "You said it yourself. An introduction ceremony isn't that important, especially when it's only the year before my last year."

He looked as if he wanted to ask more, but thankfully fell silent.

Unfortunately, that killed the conversation, and we walked in silence for the rest of the time it took to reach the check-in station.

The lines were arranged in alphabetical sections, so I parted from Cerise and her parents with a wave and went to my line.

The wait was boring, although thankfully not overly long. When I reached the front of the line, I realized why - all there was to do was present your identification from the previous year and get your folder of papers with all of the information necessary for the beginning of the year. I moved a small distance away, and looked through the papers, briefly glancing at each one.

Room assignment, schedule, locker assignment, map of the school (that was incomplete, as I had learned - there was a handful of classes and hallways that weren't on the map at all. After I had discovered them on my own, I was told that it was meant to, and I quote, "test our ability to discover information on our own". As far as I could tell, it was because the teachers couldn't be bothered to update the map after they'd renovated the school a few years ago, or even have anyone do it).

I was rooming with Cerise, as we'd decided last year - students were allowed to choose who they roomed with if both of them made a request for each other. The choices only ever got denied if teachers saw a good reason not to, and given that the headmistress was rumored to personally go over such refusals personally? No teacher was willing to try to use roommate refusal to punish a student they disliked.

Which was a good thing, in my opinion.

Schedule looked pretty normal, lockers didn't change unless they got damaged, and that was pretty much the whole folder.

Just as I closed it and started to look for Cerise in the crowd, I heard a voice say my name.

"Oh, Amy! What a surprise to see you here!"

I shut my eyes and took a calming breath. I would need it.

Turning towards the owner of the voice, I was unsurprised and unhappy to see that it was who I'd expected.

Gilda Elix, a blonde diva who took pleasure in putting others down to make herself look better. Thankfully, she wasn't an elitist or rich, which would have put her at the top of the food chain instead of just above the middle.

Unfortunately, that lack of status seemed to only make her more determined to put down those beneath her. And I was the perfect target for her.

"Oh look, your tail's twitching! Gee, it must be tough living with something so annoying attached to you all the time!"

I was the perfect target because I had a tail, because I was different, because out of everyone at school, I was the one the fewest people would try to defend.

I was the perfect target because I was a Faunus.