Rebel 1: Nostalgia's Red

The sound of crackling flames and the stench of ash filled the air. Although it was in the middle of winter, the heat of the inferno around the boy made it uncomfortably hot. He pushed himself up with his left hand, struggling to do so. The blood loss was getting to him. A few strands of blond hair fell down in front of his face, sticking to the sweat that dampened his brow.

(This is…just a dream…)

"Jin! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

The boy screamed into the night as he fought to keep his head up and maintain eye contact with the other child in front of him. Like the boy, he also had blonde hair, but it was neatly cut in a manner that contrasted sharply with the boy's own unkempt, spiky style. The child he had called "Jin" had a natural elegance about him which could be described as noble. At least, that would have been the case if he wasn't wearing a crescent-shaped grin which nearly split his face in two. Although the two boys looked very different from one another, they were brothers.

(This is…just a dream…)

The two weren't alone inside the burning building. A small girl stood next to Jin. She appeared sickly, standing unsteadily on her feet. Like the two brothers, she had blonde hair. Her green eyes were half-obscured by her eyelids, as if she was having trouble keeping them open. Her features were similar enough to Jin's that most people were immediately able to tell the two were siblings. Of course, that also meant that she was the boy's sister.

"Saya…"

(This is just a dream!)

There was one last person there with the three children. The boy didn't recognize him. Green hair which stuck straight up, golden eyes which lacked any hint of compassion, and a grin so twisted that it made the one on Jin's face pale in comparison. Everything about the man standing there screamed "bad news."

"Oh? Still alive there? Tenacious little brat…"

The man spoke in a mocking tone, clearly relishing every moment. He seemed completely unconcerned with the fact that the building around them was slowly collapsing.

"You know…you don't look so good. How about I give you a hand?"

The man tossed something to the ground in front of the boy. Then, he shook his hands vigorously in the air as if he were trying to fling some filth off them. The boy looked down. What lay there was a severed human arm. A right arm. His right arm. The man threw his head back and laughed at the boy's horrified expression. The boy's screams of rage and anguish only served to intensify the maniacal quality of the man's glee.

As the world fell apart around the boy, the crimson flames rose higher into the night sky…

"Aaaaaaghh!"

Quite a few people jumped when Ragna woke up with a start. Looking around for a moment to regain his bearings, he realized that he had dozed off during the flight. His breathing was ragged and sweat coated his face and drenched his collar. When they realized that nothing was going on, the people around him, new students heading to the same school as him, shot him dirty glares and returned their attention to the hologram which was addressing them all.

The projection, of a stern looking blonde woman, continued her speech as if she had never been interrupted. It seemed that it was a pre-recorded message. Ragna listened to the speech briefly, something about hunters, huntresses, and duty, before turning his attention back to his own status.

(Damn it! I hate having that dream!)

He flexed his right hand. Enclosed in black wrappings which didn't affect his range of movement, his arm was firmly attached to his shoulder, unlike in his nightmare. The boy scowled when he recalled the vividness of the dream. Some of the other prospective students near him shied away when they noticed the expression on his face. However, there were a few who didn't.

One in particular caught his attention, a boy his age who was staggering around with his hands over his mouth. Ragna quickly moved to the side, putting some distance between him and the young man who clearly was about to puke. He had few enough changes of clothing as it was, he didn't need to get vomit on one of the few clean outfits he had left.

It seemed as the two girls who had been standing near the starboard windows had the same idea as him.

"Get away from me! Get away from me!"

The girl who was wearing a black dress and a red hooded cape ran around in a large circle as the boy continued to stagger about. Something was dripping onto the floor as the boy moved, making it very obvious why the girl was screaming and trying to avoid him.

(Strange, she looks younger than everyone else here. But Master said that everyone attending this school was strong—I guess appearances aren't everything.)

After another minute or so, the ship began to slow down and an announcement came over the loudspeaker informing the students to prepare to disembark. Ragna got in line, coincidentally behind one of the two girls he had seen early by the windows. She had voluminous blonde hair and wore a brown vest, yellow scarf, and some sort of half-skirt over her shorts. She was chatting amicably with the girl who had been scrambling around trying to avoid "vomit boy" earlier. From the pieces of their conversation which he overheard, Ragna learned that the two were sisters.

(They look nothing alike. And speaking of vomit boy—)

The boy who had been the source of much unpleasantness over the last few minutes for many of the students on the transport rushed past everyone to the front of the line. No one complained that he was cutting; in fact, everyone gave him a wide berth.

Ignoring the sounds of retching coming from the side as he stepped out onto solid ground at last, Ragna looked up at the building that was to be his home for the next few years. The first word which came to mind when he saw Beacon Academy was extravagant. He had been living in the wilds with his master for the past five years, training to become stronger. This place seemed wrong to him. It was too clean, too…storybook. It certainly didn't look like the sort of place where he could obtain the strength needed to find his sister and exact his revenge. Scowling once more, he set off towards the school, doubts already forming in his mind about attending.

"So, that's him?"

Glynda Goodwitch directed her question to the man standing by the window. Although he carried a cane, the headmaster of the school, Ozpin, gave the impression that he was half of his actual age. His tussled gray hair was the only indicator of his true age, a secret to which not even Glynda was privy.

"That's him."

Ozpin answered her question without further elaborating. Given the topic of their earlier conversation, there was only one person who "him" could refer to.

"I don't like this. You're making too many exceptions for the entrants this year. First him and then Miss Rose. Not to mention the boy's record is extremely sparse…nonexistent, even," Glynda remarked as she tapped away at the portable information terminal in front of her.

Called a "scroll," it allowed her access to a remarkable breadth of information. Information that didn't seem to include anything at all on the boy the headmaster seemed to have no qualms about letting into his school. It was troubling...no matter who you were, there had to be some sort of data on you. It was almost as if this child, "Ragna," didn't actually exist.

"It's not like the boy is some wanted terrorist with a bounty on his head," Ozpin answered calmly. "Besides, I can't exactly say no to a request from one of the heroes of 'The War,' now can I?"

Glynda knew that Ozpin could very well have said no to a hero of The War, being who he was. But he also had a point; Jubei was a legend even amongst the distinguished figures of The War. Glynda had been visibly shaken when he had appeared silently out of thin air in the headmaster's office two weeks ago as she was delivering a status report. That someone who had fought a century ago could still be alive and kicking was a surprise to her. That the legendary warrior who had slain countless Grimm single-handedly and was rumored to have the fighting power equal to a full company of hunters and huntresses was a small cat-type Faunus who bore more animal traits than human ones…unthinkable.

"Be that as it may," Glynda replied, "I still don't think it is wise to let someone we know absolutely nothing about join the academy."

Ozpin took a sip from the coffee mug he always seemed to be carrying about before answering her. "Jubei and I go back a long ways. He's a trustworthy man, an honorable one. If he's vouching for the boy, I have no reason to doubt him. Besides, you'll recall that he wasn't the only one to give his recommendation."

"You mean that letter from the heiress of the Alucard family?" Glynda asked, raising an eyebrow.

She tapped a few more buttons on the scroll, bringing up a copy of the note. The contents of the letter were handwritten in an elegantly flowing script and bore the seal of the Alucard family at the bottom.

"To my dear Headmaster Ozpin," Glynda read verbatim, "I am writing as the sponsor of the boy who the carrier of this letter will be vouching for. Uncouth as the child may be, and foul-mouthed and vile as his mannerisms are, I am forced to grudgingly admit that he does indeed have the necessary physical requirements befitting a student of Beacon. Whether his mental faculties are up to par is another matter and one I feel is best left to the esteemed professors at your facility to determine. And so, let it be known that I, Rachel Alucard, vouch for the knave known as 'Ragna,' will bear the costs of his education, and request his admittance to your prestigious academy."

The letter was signed at the bottom in the same graceful handwriting as the rest of the message. Glynda turned off her scroll and stashed it away. If that was a letter of recommendation, it was certainly an interesting one. Then again, the rich and powerful could be eccentric, and no one would dispute the Alucard family wasn't both.

"That's the one," Ozpin replied, taking another swig from his mug. "I've had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Alucard on several occasions and her penchant for dignified insults seems to be the way she shows…affection."

Glynda shook her head but accepted the headmaster's decision. Still, she couldn't help but feel as if they had just let a time bomb enter their school.

Ruby Rose was having a bad day. First, she had barely avoided getting vomit over her clothes on the transport coming into Beacon. Then, her sister had run off with her friends, leaving her alone in a completely unfamiliar area. And to top things off, she had accidentally caused an explosion and gotten some strange, fast-talking, demanding, rich-looking girl angry with her. What was her name again? Weiss?

Groaning, she dropped to her back as if she was going to take a nap in the middle of the square leading to Beacon. She had just gotten to the academy and she was already feeling out of place and more than just a little homesick. She closed her eyes for a moment.

A shadow fell over her face. Opening her eyes, she saw a young man standing over her.

"Hey," he said, sounding a little nervous. Then, with a more confidence, he added, "I'm Jaune."

Ruby took his proffered hand. "Ruby," she replied, as he helped her to her feet. A few pieces clicked together in her mind. "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

Quickly, when Jaune wasn't looking, she wiped her hands on her cape and gave them a quick sniff. Well, it didn't smell like she got anything on them. But better safe than sorry.

The two of them wandered about the schoolyard. Jeanne seemed to know where he was heading, so Ruby followed along beside him. They talked for a bit, though most of the time was spent with Jaune explaining exactly why it wasn't that odd for someone to get motion sickness. Ruby personally agreed with him, but he was so insistent on redeeming himself that it was actually somewhat cute. The conversation took a bit of an uncomfortable turn when he pointed out that she'd probably messed up her chance to make a good first impression on everyone by exploding.

(It was only a tiny explosion! And half of it wasn't even my fault!)

It took her a second to realize that Jaune was only teasing her. In an effort to hide her embarrassment and to dispel the awkward air between them (not that Jaune's ramblings weren't amusing in the same way a puppy chasing its tail was,) Ruby drew her weapon and engaged it. It a split second, the compact device expanded into its scythe form with a few mechanical clicks. The blade struck the ground with a loud clang, causing Jaune to jump back slightly.

"Is that a scythe?" he asked, one eyebrow raised skeptically.

Ruby couldn't help it. She loved weapons. Before she knew it, she launched into a monologue about the sniper-rifle function of her weapon and was patting Crescent Rose fondly on the handle. Noticing that Jaune looked a little uneasy, she realized that she was, as Yang would call it, "geeking out again."

"Um, so what do you have?"

Ruby directed a question to Jaune, partially to include him in the conversation, but mostly because she was curious. Jaune answered her by showing her the sword and shield combination that his great great grandfather had passed down to him. He seemed rather ashamed of it, but Ruby had no idea why. Weapons were just cool, regardless of how complex they were. In fact, she actually found it impressive that Jaune's heirloom was in pristine condition after all those years of use. If weapons could speak, the one Jaune wore at his side must have one heck of a tale to tell.

Suddenly aware that she had no idea where they were, Ruby turned to Jaune, "Hey, where are we going?"

"I was following you," Jaune replied. "Do you think we're lost?"

(Well, I guess we can backtrack…)

"Let's ask that girl over there," Jaune said, pointing in front of them. "She can probably give us directions."

The girl Jaune had been referring to was lying on her back atop the grass just off the path Ruby and Jaune were heading down. She jumped to her feet and dropped down into a fighting pose the moment they got near before doing a second take and relaxing.

"Sorry about that," she apologized. "Force of habit."

The girl in front of them reminded Ruby of her sister. For one, she wore a heavy gauntlet over her left arm which looked a lot like Yang's 'Ember Celica' when it was engaged. Their heights were about the same too. Ruby caught sight of Jaune staring at the girl's chest. Oh yeah, that part about her was similar to Yang as well. She was wearing a black jacket over a white undershirt and had a pair of denim shorts on which were…cut very daringly. Ruby almost felt embarrassed just for looking. Aside from her main outfit, she also wore a single belt, the tail of which extended down near her metal-plated boots.

"Done staring?" Ruby whispered, elbowing Jaune in the ribs. Asking for directions was his idea, so he should do it.

"Oh! Um…" Jaune enunciated, snapping to his senses. His face was quite red. "D-do you know how to get to the dorms from here?"

"Let's see," the girl said, looking up at the sky. The light reflecting off her silver hair was almost blinding. "The sun's over there, which means we're on the west side of the building. But I guess that doesn't matter since it'll be quicker to go through the school building itself."

She pointed to a door across from them. Jaune thanked the girl and walked over to the side entrance. He pulled at the handle, but it didn't budge. Ruby gave it a try as well, but the door seemed to be locked rather than jammed.

"Can't get it open?"

Ruby turned around to see the girl who had pointed out the door to them. Apparently, she had come over to take a look when she noticed the two of them struggling.

"Here, stand to the side for a second," she said. When Jaune took a little too long to move out of the way, she grabbed him by the shoulders, lifted him up, and set him to the side.

(Yep, she's definitely very similar to Yang.)

The girl studied the lock for a brief moment before opening a compartment in the side of her gauntlet and rummaging around.

(Is she going to pick the lock? Isn't that a little rash?)

Apparently locating what she wanted, the girl placed what looked like a wad of chewing gum onto the door near the handle and pressed a small box into the gunk.

"What's that?" Jaune asked as he leaned in for a better look, clearly curious.

"Just some Crimson-Four," the girl replied calmly. "There's two types of doors in this world. The ones that are unlocked, and the ones that you need to unlock yourself."

(Crimson-Four…where have I heard that befo…)

With a start, Ruby realized exactly where she had heard that term before. It was during a class back when she was a student at Signal Academy. To be more specific, it was during a class on how it was possible to refine Dust into…

"You can't use high-yield explosives to get into the building!" Ruby screamed as she pulled the other girl back by the collar of her jacket.

"Why not?" the girl asked, clearly puzzled. "It's the most efficient way of getting inside from our current position."

"Are you trying to get arrested?" Ruby asked.

"No, I'm trying to get us inside the academy," the girl replied, looking completely serious. "Now if you'll just back away for one second, I can finish setting up."

"Nononono!" Ruby exclaimed, dragging the girl further away from the door. "We're going to backtrack and go in from the main entrance!"

Ruby stalked off with the girl in tow. She couldn't trust her not to go back and actually follow through with blowing up the door. After a moment, Jaune raced to catch up, all the while wearing an expression of extreme confusion.

"Ruby! Over here!"

Yang waved empathetically when she noticed her younger sister entering the hall with two other students. She quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Her sister was a bit awkward when meeting new people for the first time so she didn't have many friends. Yang had run off by herself and left Ruby alone in an effort to force her to reach out to others. Of course, she felt a little guilty about abandoning her sister like that, but it seemed like everything had worked out in the end.

Ruby waved goodbye to the two people accompanying her and waltzed over.

"How's your first day going, little sister?"

Ruby gave her a glare. "You mean since you ditched me?"

(Well, that could have gone better… Seems like she's holding a grudge.)

"It can't have been that bad, right?" Yang asked cheerfully. "It looks like you made a few friends…"

"Let's see," Ruby replied, counting off on her fingers. "First I blew up, then some girl yelled at me, then I got lost, and then I almost became an accomplice in a terrorist action!"

(Yikes.)

"Well, at least you can't say it was boring," Yang said clapping a hand on her sister's shoulder. "What's this about blowing up? Having a meltdown already?"

Ruby launched into an explanation about what had transpired since Yang left. But as she was explaining, a white-haired girl butted in, admonishing her sister for almost killing the two of them. Yang wasn't sure what to make of it, but she did feel a renewed sense of guilt for running off. After a minute or two, she decided that it would be better to interrupt them before the girl, apparently named Weiss, made Ruby break out into tears.

"Well, why don't you two start over? You know, be friends?" Yang suggested.

"Yeah! That's a great idea," Ruby chimed in happily, shooting Yang a look of gratitude before extending a hand out towards Weiss. "Hello Weiss. I'm Ruby, let's be friends."

Weiss responded, "Yeah, we can hang out and go to the mall and paint our nails and…"

Ruby, being the innocent little girl she was, didn't catch the obvious sarcasm in Weiss's tone. Yang made a mental note to teach her sister a few things about the world in the near future.

(Still, that girl doesn't need to be such a bitch about it. Ruby's only trying to be nice.)

Just as Yang opened her mouth to give Weiss a piece of her mind, someone else intervened. Stepping between the two girls and placing a hand on each's shoulder, a young man leaned in with a grin on his face.

"Now now, ladies. You should play nicely with one another," he said soothingly in a suave voice. Looking at Weiss, he added, "Especially you, heiress of the Schnee Corporation. Wouldn't want wrinkles forming on that pretty face prematurely, now would we? Life's too short to get worked up over every little thing." After a brief pause of contemplation, he offered, "Tell you what, why don't we go out for dinner after this, my treat?"

Weiss gave a snort of derision, "As if." But she seemed less agitated when she gave Ruby one last look before walking away.

Watching the white-haired girl stalk off, the newcomer muttered, "No go, huh? Oh well, can't win 'em all." He turned towards Yang and gave her a wink, "The name's Kagura. And here I was worrying that there wouldn't be any astonishing beauties at Beacon Academy. I'm glad I was wrong."

"I'm Yang," Yang introduced, "and this is my sister, Ruby."

Kagura was tall, almost a half a head taller than Yang, and looked rather slender, although that was likely an illusion created by his height. He had straight black hair with two long bangs that came down to his chin, framing his face. His hair was unkempt in the back, but rather than a product of neglect, it seemed to have been styled in that manner. He wore a blue and white jacket and black pants; a uniform from an academy which wasn't based in Vale. Yang noticed, and approved of, how he left the top half of his uniform unbuttoned, revealing toned muscle.

"Yang, huh?" Kagura mused, his gaze scanning downwards appraisingly before returning to meet Yang's eyes. "That has a nice ring to it. What do you say to getting better acquainted after the headmaster's announcement? Just the two of us?"

"Do you always ask girls out immediately after meeting them?" Yang asked skeptically. However, she was careful to keep just a hint of a smile on her face to suggest that she might be persuaded to go. After all, it wasn't as if he wasn't her type.

"Just the cute ones," Kagura admitted shamelessly while wearing a cocky grin on his face, causing Yang to laugh.

Before Yang could give a response, microphone feedback filled the room. Since it was completely unexpected, Yang winced for a second. Before long, everyone's attention turned to the front of the hall where Professor Ozpin had appeared.

"I'll keep this brief," he began, "You have travelled here today…"

Yang listened to the man's speech, but when he began to talk about "seeing only wasted energy" when looking at them, it was hard to tell if he was being serious. Just then, the double doors at the back of the hall burst open, and a girl stumbled in, tripped over her own feet, and landed on her knees.

"Sorry, I got lost," she exclaimed meekly, looking near to tears as she brushed herself off and joined the crowd of students, hunching her shoulders in an effort to hide herself better in the crowd.

If he noticed at all, and it was hard to believe he hadn't, Ozpin gave no indication of it, continuing his speech without pause. When he was finished, a woman took the stage. Yang recognized her as Glynda Goodwitch, one of the most famous huntresses in the world.

"Two orders of business. First, you will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins," she stated. "Second, if anyone is aware of any recent suspicious activity or of the…package…left by the western side-entrance to the academy, please report to myself or one of the other professors at the school. You are dismissed."

Yang noticed her little sister squirming around when the woman mentioned the package left by the entrance.

(Ah, that's what she meant by terrorist action…)

"Um, Ruby, you wouldn't happen to know anything ab—," Yang began.

"Nope! Sorry. Nothing at all!" her sister replied quickly, interrupting her before Yang could finish speaking.

With a nervous laugh, Ruby turned on her heels and fled out of the hall, using her Semblance to move so quickly that it was hard to track her. Chasing after her would have been pointless considering how fast Ruby was, so Yang turned instead to the young man who was standing next to her.

"So, playboy…" Yang suggested to Kagura flirtatiously, flipping her hair with a hand, "you going to lead or what?"

Blake Belladonna sat by herself in one corner of the room, as far away from the chaos and noise as she could. She had a book in one hand and was enjoying a story about one man's struggle for identity with two souls locked within his body when the sound of someone approaching made her lift her eyes from the novel's pages.

"Um…is it ok if I sit here? I promise I won't bother you, it's just that it's too noisy over there."

Blake recognized the girl as the one who had arrived late for Professor Ozpin's speech. She had blonde hair which came down to her shoulders, green eyes, and a petite frame. Her pajamas consisted of a light-blue cotton panda-print shirt and matching pants. The girl was pointing back towards the center of the room where half-naked boys were wrestling with one another while a majority of the girls looked on with interest. Blake got the impression from the girl's tightly shut eyes as she pointed that she had led an innocent and sheltered life before arriving at Beacon.

"Go ahead," Blake answered before returning to her book.

There was a sigh of relief and a muffled thump as the girl sat down a few feet away from Blake. "I'm Noel. Noel Vermillion."

"Blake."

It was rude not to give a name in reply to an introduction, so Blake did so without looking up from her reading. She was aware that it was probably nerve-racking for Noel to sit in silence and, every so often, the girl would make small noises as if she wanted to say something before thinking better of it. Blake's impression of the girl went up a little; she was clearly trying to keep her promise not to bother her.

The near-solitude was nice, but Blake's plan for a quiet evening was rudely shattered not long afterwards—

"Saya!?"

—By a rough-looking boy with spiky white hair. His heterochromatic eyes were wide open and his expression was one of disbelief. He wore a red and black sleeveless tunic, baggy black pants, and black gloves. What appeared to be black bindings snaked up the entire length of his right arm, ending just below his shoulder. He got down to one knee and grabbed Noel's shoulder roughly with his left hand.

"W-wha?"

The girl looked terrified as he studied her features, scowling all the while and muttering to himself. Although his words were probably not meant for others, Blake's hearing was better than most and she caught a few phrases such as "impossible" and "what the hell is going on?" Noel, for her part, was trembling, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Blake couldn't blame her, while the boy's words were those of someone in confusion, his expression screamed "bloody murder."

"W-who's Saya?" Noel asked, finally managing to speak properly.

The boy's brows furrowed even further in agitation. Before he could muster a response, someone else joined in the conversation. Blake shook her head and sighed. Her quiet time had just gone out the window.

"Is this some new way of hitting on girls?" another male remarked, half-jokingly. "Because if it is, it's kind of…lame."

"Shut the hell up and stay out of my business," the white-haired boy growled, twisting around to look at the speaker.

The newcomer was accompanying two other girls, one of whom Blake recognized as the one who had set off a Dust explosion with a sneeze in front of the school. While the two boys squared off, the girls approached Blake and the taller one shoved the smaller one in front.

"I believe you two may know one another?" the blonde one asked with a broad smile on her face.

She seemed like the extremely outgoing type, the sort who could be dumped into a roomful of strangers and walk out ten minutes later with a dozen new friends. Blake normally didn't mind interacting with others but sometimes, and this was one of those times, she just wanted to be left alone.

The two girls introduced themselves, forcing Blake gave her name as well. They, mostly Yang, kept trying to make small talk, to which Blake replied with the briefest possible answer. It didn't look like she was going to take a hint anytime soon. Blake decided to be a little less discrete and seized the next opportunity to suggest that she really wanted to get back to reading and that she couldn't do so if Yang kept pestering her.

The plan worked, in a sense. Yang finally relented and looked like she was about to leave, but Blake didn't count on the other girl, Ruby, taking interest in the change of topic.

(So she wants to become a huntress because of the stories she heard growing up, huh? That's a nice dream…but…)

"Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairytale."

Blake couldn't keep the melancholy from slipping into her words as she said them. Her experiences told her that it was impossible for there to ever be no sources of conflict. The Faunus Rights Movement, the White Fang… even if those problems were magically resolved today, something new would crop up. And speaking of conflict…

"I said, 'stay outta my way!'" the white-haired boy roared.

The one-sided conversation with the two sisters had caused Blake to momentarily forget about the bickering parties nearby. Things had taken a turn for the worse in the meantime.

"Oh? Going to get violent? That's just fine by me," the other young man replied with a smirk as he dropped into a fighting stance. He waved his hand in a "come at me" gesture. "Bring it on!"

"Kagura! Cut it out!" Yang shouted. "Do you want to get expelled before initiation even begins?"

She quickly walked over to the feuding boys and delivered a solid smack to the back of Kagura's head. It sounded like she hit him pretty hard and Kagura's head rocked forwards in response to the blow, but he recovered quickly and laughed it off.

"Worried about me, cutie?" he replied. "Don't fret. I can't let you be the only one that doesn't back down from a fight, you know. Besides, this ass has been asking for it the past five minutes."

(Ugh, this is going to be a major headache. Can't they take it somewhere else?)

"That does it. You're going to regret those words," the white-haired boy exclaimed. Like Kagura, he also entered a fighting pose, his left arm bent in front of him to guard while his right arm was extended behind him. A menacing aura (or perhaps Aura might be more appropriate) emanated from him and was met halfway by the fighting spirit that Kagura was emitting.

"Stop it, you two!"

Noel's high pitched voice cut into the tense atmosphere as she got to her feet and intervened by grabbing the boy's extended arm. A look of concern sudden came over his face as she did so, but it was quickly replaced with anger. The boy swung his arm violently, shaking Noel off and causing her to fall to her knees.

"Don't touch me," he growled.

There was something else in his voice as well. Blake couldn't quite place it. Was it fear? Worry? Whatever it was, it didn't make sense to Blake considering the animosity which was plain on his face. Still, Noel's actions seemed to have diffused the situation as the boy shot Kagura one final scathing look before stalking off to another corner of the room. A small crowd of onlookers had gathered, but they parted as the boy drew near, no doubt subconsciously staying as far away from the murderous intent flowing from him as they could.

"What's his problem?" Kagura muttered. Then, extending a hand to Noel, he asked her, "Are you alright?"

"I-I think I'm just going to sit here for a little bit," she answered, refusing his hand. "I'm feeling a little…tired. Thanks though."

Blake thought that "tired" was an understatement. Noel looked rather pale and disoriented. It must be hard, she decided, having people bother you when all you want is to have a little time to yourself. Then, smiling slightly, she conceded that that thought was probably because she was in the same position.

(Well, at least things have calmed down a bit. I can get back to reading...)

Blake flipped through the pages of her book and found where she had left off.

"If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also."

AN: I came up with this idea from a string of conversations with other fan-fic authors. The characters in this fic are the products of Arc-System Works and the team at Rooster Teeth's efforts. Insert various "I don't own" disclaimers here for tradition's sake.

This fic will take place entirely in the RWBY universe, that is, Remnant. The Blazblue characters who appear will all have been residents of the various locations on Remnant and while much of their backstories will be the same or similar to what they were in the BB-verse, there will be changes. As such, please don't expect that power-tiers from Blazblue will necessarily carry over or that the character's relative ages will be the same as they were there (though with Kagura being about the same age as Ragna here, it should have been obvious.) Powers and abilities from Blazblue will be adapted to fit with what is known about how things work in RWBY whenever possible.

All that being said, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. If you have any comments or concerns with how characters are portrayed, please feel free to voice them in a review.