" … Ruby… Hey Ruby…"
From the uttermost depths of her dreams, one where she was fighting giant robot caterpillars with a talking sword, Ruby Rose could vaguely hear her sister's voice. Obviously annoyed with this, Ruby turned over in her sleep, away from Yang's voice, and curled up into a comfort ball.
" … Yang… 5 more minutes…"
Ruby heard Yang chuckle in amusement at her sister, and a moment later Ruby felt Yang poke her cheek, obviously ignoring Ruby.
"Come on now Ruby. You know that you can't sleep forever."
Ruby waved away Yang's poking finger, grabbing ahold of her red hood and pulling it down over her face.
" …Yes I can Yang… As long as my bed is comfortable… I can sleep until the end of time…"
Ruby heard her sister laugh at her, before hearing Yang talk to someone else.
"Hey Dad, looks like you were right, she has no idea what's going on. I think she needs a bit of a wake up call, don't you?"
Suddenly Ruby could hear her father chuckling alongside Yang before he spoke.
"I agree with you 100% sweetie… Ok then… Hang on to something."
Briefly, before hearing the sound of a roaring car engine, Ruby had a thought about the situation she was in.
…? That's weird… Why are Yang and Dad in my-...?!
Before Ruby could finish her thought, she felt herself being thrown forward, slamming her face into something padded before landing back in her seat. All the cobwebs of sleep that had been plaquing Ruby's head were gone, leaving the girl very much awake, and very, very angry.
"What in the FFFFF-... Frig was that about?! You could have broken my face or something.
As Ruby gripped her stinging nose, the girl instantly remembered where she was. Ruby was in the backseat of her father's car, which was driving down one of the many backwoods roads in Patch. The back of the driver's side seat had a Ruby's face sized dent in it, a dent that Yang was feeling as she looked at her sister from shotgun.
"Well you're awake now aren't ya Ruby? Honestly I was worried that you would have slept the entire day in the back seat."
Ruby tugged at her nose a few times to test if it was okay, before grimacing at Yang and shaking her fist.
"You know I would have woken up eventually Sis! I don't see why you had to slam my head to wake me up now! We still have a ways to go until we reach the ferry."
From the driver's seat Taiyang Xiao Long, Ruby and Yang's father, began to laugh as he shot a knowing look to Yang.
"Oh my god it's worse than we thought! Not only is she tired, but she doesn't even know what's going on!"
Yang nodded at her father before looking back at Ruby, a coy grin on her face as she looked at her sister.
"Yeah… Now I'm a bit disappointed. I would have loved to see the look on her face when we woke her up at Signal, her hair and new uniform a mess, and her not even having a clue about what's going on."
Ruby tilted her head in confusion, looking between her dad and her sister.
… New uniform… Signal? What in the world are they talking about? We aren't going to Sorolo so I can take the ferry to-...?!
In the middle of her thought's, Ruby looked looked down to see what 'new uniform' Yang was talking about, and found herself dressed in the same uniform as her sister, the red and white uniform of Signal.
"..."
Ruby sat there in the back seat, completely silent for a few moments as her sleep deprived brain tried to take in what was going on. Then, in a single moment, everything clicked together, and Ruby almost jumped out of her seat.
"Oh Gods that's right! Today's my first day at Signal!"
As Ruby began to desperately fix her uniform and hair, Tai began to laugh in the driver's seat, looking back at his daughter with a grin.
"Now there's the excitement that I was expecting this morning. Honestly… with how you were gushing about finally getting to go to combat school all week, and then to not say a word when getting into the car this morning? You had me and Yang worried about you."
Yang retook her seat in shotgun, grinning over at her father with a smug expression.
"You might have been worried Dad, but I knew exactly what was going on with Ruby as soon as I saw her this morning. You see, after you went to bed last night, Ruby kept me up for another 2 hours, asking me all sorts of questions, like 'what if I'm bad at the lessons?' or 'what if the teachers don't like me?'. You know… general first day jitters sort of stuff."
Tai looked at Ruby via the rearview mirror, his eyebrow rising in concern.
"You were actually worried about that stuff Ruby? You didn't seem that concerned about it during the week, so I thought they weren't bothering you."
Ruby gave up on her hair and uniform once she realized that it was impossible to fix it properly, and she frowned at her father.
"It all just hit me at once last night while I was getting ready for today, and I realized that I should be worried about that sort of thing. After all… Don't I already have a reputation at Signal and I haven't even had a day of classes yet?"
Both Tai and Yang exchanged glances before both looking in the back at Ruby.
"What do you mean by that sweetie?"
"Yeah Sis, what do you mean by that?"
Ruby, realizing that she was getting a concerned look from her father and an annoyed look from her sister, the silver eyed girl attempted to rephrase what she wanted to say.
"W-Well… Dad there's the fact you and Uncle Qrow are teachers at Signal… and you two have… interesting reputations from what I've been told."
"... Qrow might have a reputation for being a drunken, disappearing wreck of a teacher, but I feel like I should have a pretty good reputation for a teacher."
Yang began to laugh, looking at her father with a grin on her face.
"Oh… Maybe I'm misremembering things, but… Who was it that broke that kids arm during a class?"
"... That was an accident, as I have stated many times… And as a person in charge of training warriors, I feel that if I hold back in training them, then I am doing them a disservice."
Yang began to chuckle at her father as Ruby looked over at her sister, her expression still blank as she took a deep breath.
"And then there's Yang, who… Let's face it Yang, everyone is going to know who you are, both returning students and first years, not to mention the other teachers."
Yang looked back at Ruby, an expression of mock confusion on her face.
"And why is that Ruby? Would it happen to have anything to do with my placement in the Vale regional tournament this year? What position did I place in again Ruby?"
Ruby glared at Yang with an annoyed expression.
"... You placed first Yang, but that's-...?!"
Yang, ignoring Ruby's explanation, leaned back in her seat and put her feet up on the passenger side dash.
"Yep… Had an easy time in the tournament, beating every single one of my opponents in the first two rounds. By the way, Dad, you still owe me for placing first."
Tai let out a sigh, shaking his head in a defeated manner.
"Yeah, Yeah I know sweetie. It's just all about timing… and me having the money in order to get your gift."
Ruby, tired of being ignored, stuck her head up into the front, her annoyed expression still on her face.
"Anyway… That isn't the only reason that people might know you, because don't you also have a bad rep at Signal?"
Yang looked over at Ruby, this time her look of mock confusion replaced with a look of genuine confusion.
"What do mean I have a bad rep? I'd like to have you know that aside from being outstanding in my combat classes and… decent in my normal lessons, I tend to keep a pretty low profile at school. Isn't that right Dad?"
Tai began to open his mouth to respond, but Ruby turned to look at him, a frown forming on her face as she narrowed her eyes at her father.
"Hey Dad… Could you kindly remind me about the time you told me about Yang demolishing one of the older buildings on campus because one of her classmates accidentally cut off a strand of her hair?"
Tai again opened his mouth to speak, but this time Yang interrupted him, pinched Ruby's cheek, her angry eyes glaring at her sister.
"Hey! That wasn't my fault! The building only came down because that bastard didn't want to stand still and take his beating. And furthermore him cutting my hair wasn't an accident! That fuck knew that-...?!"
Tai turned over to look at Yang, his own expression uncharacteristically angry.
"Hey Yang! Language!"
Yang glared over at her father for a few moments before releasing Ruby's cheek, turning to look out the window with her arms crossed and a pout on her face.
As Ruby rubbed the injured part of her face, Tai looked back at his daughter with a reassuring smile on his face.
"Now Ruby… I know you're worried about having an… undue reputation because of your family, but you shouldn't have to worry about that for long. At Signal, both teachers and students tend judge people by their deeds rather than the deeds of others. I mean… Yang had to deal with pretty much the same thing when she was starting at Signal, right sweetie?"
Both Tai and Ruby looked over at Yang, who was still looking out the window pouting to herself. As her father and sister continued to stare at her however, Yang let out a sigh and grinned over at the two.
"Yeah I did. I was worried that I would be given special treatment because I had my dad and uncle as teachers… but that all changed when I started beating 3rd years in fights in the first week."
Tai had a shiver run up his spine as he recalled that part of his daughter's life.
"I might have lost 10 years of my life in that one week… Anyway, Ruby the thing I'm trying to tell you is relax. Act in the way you want to be treated, and everyone should respond in kind."
Yang then jokingly pinched her sister's cheek, grinning at her.
"And all of those idiots who do try to mess with you will have to answer to me. Heck I'll do more than break down a building if anyone tries to hurt you Ruby."
Tai began to nervously chuckle, looking over at Yang with a concerned gaze.
"Do try to control yourself sweetie. Wouldn't want to do to much damage during your last year… Me and Qrow could barely afford the first building you destroyed."
Ruby and Yang exchanged glances and began to laugh, while Tai couldn't help but smile at his two girls.
A few minutes later, the trio's car pulled into the parking lot of Signal, a campus of plain looking military style buildings, with the few newer additions being distinctly Vale like in construction.
Ruby quickly exited the car, standing up and instantly stretching to remove the soreness of her body.
"... I'll be the first to say it, I'm probably never going to miss having to sit on a ferry for two hours to get to class."
Tai began to chuckle as he pulled his bag out from the trunk, slinging it over his shoulder and grinning over at his two daughters.
"Yeah, but now you've got to deal with the boredom of sitting around here for two hours. There might be things to do at this time later in the year, but right now you'll have to figure out something to do until orientation starts."
Yang chuckled and pointed a thumb to herself.
"Don't worry about that Dad, I've got a plan. I'm going to give Ruby a full tour of the school. I know that there is going to be one during orientation, but there are just some things a student can show that a teacher can't."
Tai looked at Yang, a genuine expression of concern on his face as he looked at his daughter, but clearly having nothing to justify his concern. After a moment, Tai simply sighed and shook his head in defeat.
"That sounds fine Yang… Just please, for my sake, don't do anything that will get either of you in trouble on your first day?"
Yang gave a mock salute to her father, who frowned and shook his head again, turning to look at Ruby.
"Ruby, I'll see you at orientation. Remember, 7 o'clock sharp. You don't want to start making a bad impression on your first day."
Ruby nodded at her father, who quickly gave her hair a quick tossle before setting off towards the main building, leaving Yang and Ruby alone.
Yang turned to look at her sister, a grin on her face as she beckoned Ruby to follow her.
"Come on Ruby, there's a lot of places I need to show you. Where should we start…? Ah! How about we go check our our new combat field? It's supposed to simulate combat in ruined areas, so there are a lot of hidden areas that students can go and hide out in. Also… Though the ruins have a similar style to some of the older buildings around here, that is purely a coincidence."
Ruby gave Yang a doubtful look as her older sister began to almost skip away, but slowly began to grin and shake her head, following after her sister at a leisurely pace.
Halfway across the parking lot, however, Ruby stopped in her tracks, noticing something off in the distance, far away from Signal.
On any normal day in Patch, a thick fog hung over the island, blocking most view of the mainland or even deeper parts of the island. Today however was a particularly clear day, granting Ruby a view far off into the distance.
Perched on top of a large cliff looking out over the sea was…
Beacon Academy… The most prestigious of the four huntsman academies… Once I get there… all it'll be is 4 years… and then…
Ruby came to the sudden realization of what she was thinking and she began to vigorously shake her head to dispel that line of thought.
What in the world am I thinking?! I haven't even gotten through my first day of combat school yet, and I think I already have what it takes to go to Beacon?! I've got at least 3 years of training here before I can even consider applying to Beacon, and I've got to focus on here in order to get better! … But…
Ruby looked back up at the far off outline of Beacon, the green light of the CCT at the top of Beacon tower shining brightly in the early morning light.
At that moment, looking at the shining Beacon in the distance, something within Ruby resonated and her silver eyes began to shine bright with determination.
Today's the start… Though it might be quite a long time before it gets realized… Today is the actual start of my dream, isn't it? To become a great Huntsman… Like Dad… and Uncle Qrow… and…
"Hey Ruby?! What are you standing around for? We've got a lot of ground to cover before 7 and I've got a whole lot of surprises in store for you!"
Ruby slowly smiled as she turned to look at her waving sister, the tear that had been in her eye disappearing in a light breeze.
"I'm coming Yang!"
With that Ruby began to run after Yang, Beacon Academy shining brightly behind her on the horizon.
And in that moment, all over the world of Remnant, in every royal palace, in every den of beasts, in every peasants hovel, on every survivors trail, in every champions hall, in every masters workshop, and even in the heart of darkness itself, the second hand of fate slowly began to tick forward.