The bullhead jostled uncomfortably causing a wave of nausea to rip through the me I leaned against the cold wall, trying to find a friend in its unwavering balance. Here I was, Jaune Arc a 17 year old veteran of the second Great War, about to become on of the thousands meant to rekindle their academic passions at Beacon Academy. I had served for only seven measly months before I was ambushed in the desert along with my platoon, the result was me getting several scars, a purple heart, and an official discharge home until the war ended just two months later.

Ok Jaune, just remember: strangers are just friends you haven't met yet I mentally hyped to myself, however my bravado crumbled under the feeling of almost vomiting as the bullhead groaned and shook through the air. I felt a few passerbys scoot away from me slightly just in case I did yak all over the floor, maybe talking to someone would alleviate the need to barf. Or atleast I hoped it did.

I steeled my resolve once more before taking a confident step into the main lobby of the large airship, it was decorated pretty well considering on the outside it looked pretty uninviting with its gunmetal colors. However I didn't quite take that part in too much as I noticed a very glaring issue that seemed almost poetically ironic given why we were all on this ship: the humans and monsters sat starkly across from another, having drawn invisible lines on each side of the room. To the left I could see some of my fellow humans whispering, listening to music, reading, or even throwing glares to the other side of the room.

To the right I could see much of the same only with a different ambiance so to speak, meaning I could hear more growling and rather unnatural noise coming from the group of monsters. Looking between the two I need what must be done, in order to make an omelette you must sacrifice an egg or two so, trying not to piss myself and run, I walked rather woodenly over to the "monster side" and took a free seat next to a young man in a green shirt long-sleeve shirt. He didn't regard me or initiate conversation as he read his book, but I did feel the combined glares and looks of a hundred something monsters who I had my back turned to.

"So ugh- ahem," I coughed, trying to cover the voice crack. "So ugh, pretty good weather we're having ay man?"

Greenbean flipped a page in his book. "Yes, I enjoy the sunshine."

There we go, that's the spirit! I supposed that the fact he didn't ignore me or even threaten to eviscerate me must be a good sign. This was it! Jaune Arc, mediocre mage and self-proclaimed charming knight, was going to bridge the gap between-

A hand made of ice clamped down on his shoulder.

Oh shit.

I craned my head back slowly to get a good look at my admirer and saw a young, very pale man with blue hair with his hand firmly on my shoulder. He smiled, a tight-lipped motion that sorta reminded me of a restrained snarl, which showed of a pair of sharpened canines if only slightly. A vampire then, and a pureblood if the soft features were anything to go by.

Maybe- Just maybe, this guy was socially awkward like me and wanted to be friends. Couldn't hurt to give him a chance right?

"O-Oh hey! I'm Jaune."

"Sky. Sky Lark, human," Oh, that's not a good sign. "I saw you sitting there and couldn't help but wonder if you were a hunter?"

"I-I was."

"Really!" he said putting on what was probably fake awe. "Then you must have killed tons of monsters during the war huh!"

The way he said it made his voice carry, which, in turn, brought the attention of many, many monsters around me.

...Oh...Shit...

I'm not gonna lie, I shot a desperate glance at my fellows humans who had also taken an interest in our exchange. For a moment I thought that I would be alone in this fight until I saw the biggest ginger guy I've ever seen rise up from near the middle. Before anything could happen, however, a strong hand clamped down on Sky's arm with enough force to create a tight sounding squeeze.

"Leave him alone, he hasn't done anything." greenbean said calmly from beside me, his pink eyes gazed sharply at the vampire even as one of my hands inched towards my knife.

Sky looked like he was between snarling at the guy next to me and giving up, he chose the latter and let go opting to sit back and glare at the back of my head icily. Greenbean's eyes roamed the crowd around us as if daring them to start some more shit and in time everyone began to look away. I sat rigidly, spine straight as I tried not breathe, noticing my expression greenbean sighed.

"Look, I apologize for his actions. I promise you that we are not all like that." he said, flipping another page in his book.

"Ugh, yeah don't worry about. Thanks for the save but I gotta, ugh, go over there!" I finished quickly, standing up and returning to the comfort of the human side. Some of the people over there looked at me with respect, some with annoyance, and others looked at me almost asking "do you have a death wish?".

I took another free seat and soon enough the big ginger from before came over along with his companion, a young man whose sandy hair covered his eyes and half of his neutral expression.

"I'll tell you what man you've got some major balls to try and do a stunt like that." The big guy gave me a firm pat on the back and casting a glare of at the other side of the room. "Bastards think they can just get away with whatever huh?"

I chuckled nervously for a moment before straightening myself. "Yeah man, my name's Jaune Arc, and your's?"

"Cardin Winchester, and the guy behind me is Dove Bronzewing." The latter nodded politely in my direction to which I just nodded back. "So I assume you were a hunter like us then?"

My nervousness melted away at the mention of that, with all the commotion I kinda forgot we were all hunters at one point. "Yeah man, I served as a sensory dustmage for my unit."

Cardin whistled, apparently impressed. "That so? I was never so good with all that dust shit, no instead Dove and I found our work making shit blow up."

A demolitions man huh? Well far be it from me to fault him for that, knowing how clumsy I am I'd probably just end up setting some explosives off and getting sent home in a matchbox. Truth be told I wasn't even a super good mage, sure it was my required craft and I definitely knew my stuff but I couldn't do some of the stuff that real mages could do.

I remember seeing a senior dustmage create a thunderstorm miles wide over an enemy fortress using only yellow, blue, and white dust crystals. Even now I find it so crazy what some people can do with dust, me, on the other hand, could pull out some spells, and I've definitely went toe-to-toe with more than a few share of monsters, but it was paltry compared to people like Glynda Goodwitch who was hailed as a mage of worldwide renown.

Before we could talk more the pilot's voice crackled over the intercom. "We are beginning our descent now folks, while we are landing please listen to the words of Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch."

Sure enough, as he finished, a dust-powered hologram of the blonde Goodwitch herself came to the life between the two factions of students.

"Students, I am Glynda Goodwitch, an adept dustmage and the current Deputy Headmistress at Beacon Academy, and I would like to welcome you all to the first steps to returning home. Before I continue I must talk about some rules: 1. There is to be absolutely no fighting on campus, any skirmishes between students will be handled with extreme prejudice, 2. All dustmages are to file the appropriate paperwork for alchemical ingredients and dust supplies as well as a spell log for everday usage, failure to submit said paperwork will result in disciplinary action, and 3. All hungers, desires, needs, and the like will be catered to while on Beacon property, the staff and I are trained in such things not to mention the various concecssions in place for you."

That cleared things up a bit atleast, I'll admit I was a little anxious at the thought of having to share a room with a vampire if I wasn't sure how they were getting blood. Looks like Beacon had thought of everything though I probably shouldn't have been surprised, a lot of monsters went through periods like that -Amazons, Vampires, Werewolves, and, ugh, Redcaps.

"Please do keep in mind that you have all been offered an extraordinary chance to renkindle your passions as you return home, I and the staff here hope you do not waste it. I look forward to meeting you all soon."

And with that the hologram faded out and was replaced by whispered conversations among the new students. Cardin seemed contemplative for a moment before looking to Dove who just shrugged and looked at me.

"Hey Jauney-boy, you're a mage right? What was she talking about with all that paperwork crap?" Cardin asked, popping an eyebrow at me. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the question, to me it might be obvious but he didn't have any magical training.

"What she was referring to was that dustmages need to organize and list the items they currently have on them and submit a request form for what they might be. This makes it so no yahoo can just traffic in dust and ingredients that could be illegal and/or dangerous." I took on a lecture-like tone as my friends listened to me. "When it comes to spells us mages know a few spells that require very little dust, so we use them for practical application to make our lives easier or we use full-on spells to the same effect."

"So I assume they don't want you guys pulling magic tricks out of your ass whenever you feel like it?" Dove said, and honestly I was quite surprised but I nodded.

"Yeah, that's the gist of it."

"Wait hold on, I thought all spells needed dust?" Cardin questioned, scratching his head.

"Well... They do, it's just that some, like the ones I was referring to, require so little dust that we mages undergo a ritual to have trace amounts of dust woven into our bodies." I saw Cardin cringe so I quickly added. "It's nothing serious don't worry. It's more like we have small batteries inside us that power spells like low-level telekinesis. Levitating books and making small items come to me requires more concentration rather than gravity dust."

Cardin still had a sour look on his face as he shook his head. "Yeah man I don't know, sounds creepy to have some of that crap crammed into you."

I laughed a little at that from just the mental imagery of someone shoving dust crystals into a patient during like an open-heart surgery. Suddenly the bullhead lurched, along with my stomach contents, as we made our way onto the runway. Needless to say I was the first one out of that infernal contraption and when my feet hit solid ground I swear I seriously considered kissing it.

Once I had shaken myself out of my nausea I took in the surrounding academy grounds, and let me tell you it was lavish. the government spared absolutely no expense when making it. The concrete buildings were built and high and seemed to be brand new, the courtyard was ripe with fresh flowers, and even the brick path was in pristine condition.

Cardin and Dove sidled up next to me as we followed the procession of students down the white brick path towards the main lecture hall where we were supposed to go for initiation. We got into some mild banter as we need the equally impressive building until we were rocked by what appeared to be an explosion coming from a courtyard to the left of us. I looked to Cardin and we exchanged a quick nod, I'd go check it out and if I needed backup I'd call for it.

I followed what sounded like irate shouting until I came upon where I assumed the explosion had happened, judging by the scorch marks, and I found two young women, one of which was white haired and seemed to be the source of the shouting while the other looked rather young with black hair that ended in red tails.

"-A complete an utter dunce! What if I had spilled the rest of these ingredients then where would we be?" whitey shouted to the little kid, she felt rather familiar and I soon came to the conclusion of just why. She was a Schnee, as in the proud aristocratic mage family who's known around the world for providing spells and dust to millions.

Their reputation among other hunters is disputable, with some respecting the quality of their dust and spells while others scorn them for their actions during the war. You see, the Schnees decided siding with either faction was bad for business so they settled on a neutral standpoint and supplied ingredients, spells, and recipes to both sides. To be fair, if my friend got killed by a Schnee-brand spell or recipe I'd be pretty pissed at them too.

As I brought myself back down to Remnant I saw the Schnee's rant come to a close with the little girl cowering before her. Snapping myself out of it I approached both of them carefully.

"Hey, everything alright here?" I asked, raising a hand in a greeting.

"Humph, this dunce almost blew up my entire supply of red dust by knocking it over-"

"I didn't mean to princess!" Red muttered but then quickly fell silent as the Schnee looked at her.

"It matters not, you nearly cost me my life you little demon so you best be on your guard, and it's Weiss to you." She said before sniffing in my direction and sauntering off, her servants bringing about her trolley of ingredients with her.

"You ok kid?" I asked, offering a hand to the girl who gladly took it.

"Yeah I'll be fine, geez who put a bee in her undies?" she huffed at Weiss's retreating frame. "Anyways I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose. I'm an Akuma demon from Patch."

I froze. My blood froze. My thoughts froze. Akuma were worshiped as honest-to-god demons back in the day, and while I can personally say I never fought one I knew that if things got ugly here there was only so much I could do.

-Akuma demons are monsters known for their red hair and chaotic attitudes. Their strength and ferocity is rumored to go beyond that of a even one of the vampire lords making them a fierce foe. Luckily rather rare, the best way to kill them is using magical blades which had been blessed with ancient sanctity rites.-

I suppose I could trap her if I needed to, but if she went berserk that's it, I'd be a pavement stain. Best to just get out of here as quick as possible.

"So, ugh, yeah, nice meeting you." I rushed out, turning around to leave before she caught the sleeve of my jacket.

"W-Wait, I-It's kinda embarassing but I'm not sure how to get to the lecture hall. Can you show me the way atleast?" she asked innocently. To which I would say no. Hell to the no because this sounds exactly like a trap.

"Ugh, sure kid follow me." ok willpower, you and I need to have a talk later.

"Sure thing...?"

"Jaune."

"Jaune what?"

"You can just call me Jaune for now." in my, admittedly limited, experience I found it wise to never give your full name out to monsters. "Follow me but don't mess with my friends."

"Hmmph, ok Mister Grumpypants." she mumbled under her breath, pouting and crossing her arms rather cutely. Honestly if she wasn't a demonic monster she'd remind me more of my little sister Rowena than anything.

When I returned to Cardin and Dove it was to raised eyebrows and questioning looks, I waved them off in a silent show of "I'll tell you later" as we made our collective way to the lecture hall. When we arrived most of the students had settled in together and Cardin, Dove, and I found ourselves some seats. Suddenly, out of nowhere, some big blonde bombshell comes sashaying out of nowhere and in between Ruby and I.

"Hey little sis what's good?" she asked, throwing an arm around Ruby.

"Ugh, "what's good" is the fact you left me behind!" she complained, shrugging the arm off.

"Aw chill baby sister, you made some new friends right...?" she finally took notice of me, and it didn't take long for her to surmise who, and what, I was. "Anyway sis come check out these cool guys I met..."

A little while later the chatter was cut clean through by some mic feedback. There he stood, Ozpin himself, headmaster of Beacon, on the stage, he cleared his throat and began his speech.

"I'll keep this brief. You have been chosen to attend this academy for one reason: you all fought and bled for you values and people in the Great War. There is nothing to be ashamed of in that, but know now that the war is over and we must set forward in creating a future in which our children will be proud to live in, no matter who or what they are. I know many of you harbor ill wishes and memories, some of you may even have personal vendettas. And while the staff here understand returning to the homefront is never easy, you must take it upon yourself to accept this amazing opportunity put forward to you."

He sipped the coffee mug in his hand for a moment./pp"With that in mind, while attending Beacon you will be put into a dorm consisting of you and three others. You will live together in this dorm and will be expected to behave as mature adults. If there is any problem at any time, or if you don't feel safe, please, do not hesitate to bring it up with either me or one of the staff here. Your dorm assignments will be posted over in the ballroom."

I kinda just shrugged to Cardin and Dove as we made our way over to the ballroom for our dorm assignments. Wading through the crowd of pushing and shoving monsters and humans I found my name buried within a few pages.

Room 441:

Jaune Arc

Pyrrha Nikos

Lie Ren

Nora Valkyrie

Soon after I returned to my two compatriots as we swapped our rooms assignments.

"I got 3 people I know nothing about, hope they're cool." I half-muttered to myself. Cardin clapped a big hand on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring smile.

"Hey don't sweat it man, you got Dove and I to watch out for you." his smile turned into a scoff as he looked over at a familiar blue-haired figure. "Dove and I got shoved into a room with that pompous asshole over there. I swear to god if he even breaths on my I'm going to suffocate him with garlic."

"You do know garlic and vampires is just a myth right?"

"I know, that's why we're going for suffocation." all three of us laughed at the joke before waving goodbye to eachother. I breathed deeply and got to work looking for my room number. I check high and low, through every nook and cranny until, three hours later, I finally found the floor my dorm was supposed to be on.

...

"439... 440... Ah! 441 here it is." I opened it with my key and found my dorm mates sitting there setting their things up. I was surprised to see that green-guy -probably Lie Ren- from the ship along with a hyperactive ginger girl in a skirt and vest who was bouncing on the , muscle but completely human in appearance. The last name as well as the presence I'm getting... so maybe she is a Valkyrie.

-Valkries are war spirits that served the Norse Pantheon in ancient days. They chose to stay out of the war but are known for their personality and impressive strength, the best way to kill them is with a spruce branch covered in human blood to the heart.-

"Oh hey! You must be the last guy! I'm Nora Valkyrie, your roommate and new bestie!" the ginger girl squealed, jumping up from the bed and striking a pose. Ren just sighed and closed his book before turning to me.

"And I am Lie Ren, a Cerastes from Mistral." he said plainly, eyes devoid of any real emotion.

-Cerastes are horned snakes that were primarily used as desert recon and messengers during the war.-

"Ah yes, I am Pyrrha Nikos, an amazoness." the stunning redheaded beauty replied, putting a hand over her heart and smiling. Geez, and here I thought I'd die of old age before seeing an amazoness with how reclusive they are.

-Amazons are a race of warrior women who are native to an island off the coast of Mistral. They've remained isolated for centuries due to not being entirely accepted by either humans or monsters and so have decided to keep themselves away from the world. Recently, under command of a new leader, they've begun to reconnect with the world and help in its rebuilding.-

Well they were certainly some odd folk. Kind, but odd. Atleast I didn't feel like they were going to shiv me in my sleep or something, so I got a leg up on Cardin and Dove there. I had a feeling this would be an interesting time indeed.

The door was suddenly flung open, the wood cracking against the wall as a familiar blond blocked the doorway, a familiar redhead hanging onto her waist.

"It is I! Yang Xiao-Long, kickass dragoness and the bringer of awesomeness!"

Certainly interesting so far.

0-0-0-0

There is your chapter ladies and gents. Wanted to clear some things up for future chapters by the way:

Jaune is not racist, or atleast not how you think. Mind you he was nearly murdered by literal monsters and had been training to fight them, he won't immediately be at ease with them as a whole. In fact, one of the biggest weaknesses of the Beacon Initiative is the underlying hatred between the two races.

The magic is going to be similar to that of Rin Tohsaka's from Fate/UBW. If you are unfamiliar then I suggest you go look it up and watch it, my meaning here is that beside some novice spells most spells will be used via encantations and dust crystals to wide effect.

Thank you for listening to me bitch.

XOXOXO

CoffeyJoe