Unknown location, Forever Fall

The Beowolf snarled at the hooded figure, desperate to find the source of the fear it could smell. It took one step forwards, and then, nothing. The figure watched as the Beowolf faded away, before turning back to the small children that he had saved. Sheathing his sword, the man crouched down to look the kids in the eye.

"Now, now," he was saying. "You guys are safe now. It's okay. I'm gonna make sure you get home safely." Reaching back, he removed the hood covering his face, and asked the kids for their names.

"Em-Emily, and C-C-Connor, sir," came the frightened reply. The man smiled at them.

"Well, Emily and Connor, my name is Cade. Cade Greyclaw," he said. "And I think it's about time we got you home, don't you think?" Standing up, Cade helped the kids to their feet, and led them back towards the village that he had come from.

After dropping the kids back with their parents, Cade pulled out his Scroll, and called his brother, Derek. "Hey, sorry I'm running late," he was saying. "I ran into a couple of Beowolves on my way home, so I had to take care of them. Yes, I know that there are proper Huntsmen to take care of that, but if I didn't do something, then -" Cade winced as his brother screamed into his scroll, obviously not caring why he had done it.

"Listen, Derek. If I hadn't stopped to kill those Grimm, then two little kids would never have made it home. You know that I was in a similar situation at their age." Cade shot back. With that, Derek stopped his yelling.

Looking at his watch, Cade's eyes widened when he saw the time. "Oh, crap. Derek, I know you don't often do this, but I need a Breach right now. Yes, I'll send you a picture, just hurry. Next time you need a Dust refill, it's on me." Turning back to the signpost announcing the name of the village, Cade snapped off a photo with his Scroll, and sent it to Derek. Moments later, a shimmering orange hole appeared next to the sign, startling some of the people on the road. Cade gave a mock salute, and stepped into the rift, which disappeared with a slight 'pop'.


Vale

Derek Greyclaw shook his head as he watched his brother Cade emerge from the rift that Derek had used to transport him here.

"Is it that hard for you to keep track of the bloody time, Cade?" he said, exasperatedly shaking his head at his brother. Cade simply grinned back at him.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault that those Beowolves decided to attack!" he shot back. Derek just threw his hands in the air as he walked away.

"You coming or what?" he asked his brother. "The Airships won't wait for you!" Cade perked up at this, and ran towards his brother, ducking and weaving through the crowd.

This is it, Cade thought to himself. This is the day that I officially begin my career as a Huntsman! I'm finally going to attend Beacon Academy. I've only been dreaming of this day for the past two years. I mean, I know that I can put up a fair fight, but this is BEACON!

Derek, however, having boarded the transport, was busy tinkering with his Dust Gauntlets, in an attempt to better secure the Dust chambers to the rotating section of the glove. He was so immersed in his work, that he failed to notice that he had attracted the attention of a certain young girl dressed in black, with a distinctive red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders. Looking up, Derek was surprised to see a pair of wide, silver eyes staring back at him. After a few moments, he jumped back, as did the girl.

"Umm, hi?" he tentatively said. "Can I help you?" The girl just blushed, before timidly replying.

"Hi. I was just admiring your gloves. They look neat," she said, gaining confidence with each word. She looked at him, brows furrowed as if she was trying to recall something, when Derek swore he saw an actual lightbulb appear above her.

"Oh, um, sorry. My name's Ruby. Ruby Rose," she managed to say. "I'm kind of a geek when it comes to weapons, and I tend to forget to introduce myself. What's your name?" Ruby finished.

Derek just looked at her, before chuckling to himself. "Derek," he replied, still chuckling. "Derek Greyclaw. Pardon me for saying, but aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" he inquired.

Ruby's eyes lit up at that. "Well, you see, the thing is, umm, I kinda got caught in the middle of a Dust robbery a few nights ago, and I managed to stop the guys from getting away with the Dust," and with that, she proceeded to explain how she met Professor Ozpin, who Derek knew was the Headmaster of Beacon. "And so, basically, he kinda offered me a position at Beacon early," she finished. Derek was impressed by her story.

"So, can you show me your weapons?" Ruby asked him. "I really wanna see what those things do!" And so, Derek got to work explaining the mechanics behind his gauntlets, Ruby nodding excitedly as he went. At one point, Ruby asked him if he had based the design off of someone named Yang, who Derek reasoned was a friend of hers.

"Nah, these babies are my own personal design," he told her. "I've never even met this Yang that you're talking about."

Before Ruby could ask any more questions, Derek spotted Cade making his way towards them, a hurt look on his face.

"Making new friends without me, Derek?" he said. "That's just rude. And here I thought we were supposed to be family." Ruby perked up at this, and turned towards Cade.

"Hi, my name's Ru- WHOAH, you've got one too?" she interrupted herself as she caught sight of Cade's right hand. Cade glanced at her, then at his brother, who just shrugged.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," he said, a smile on his face. "My name is Cade, nice to meet you." Ruby looked back at him, sheepishly.

"Oh, sorry," she replied. "My name's Ruby Rose. I'm apparently the youngest person ever to be accepted into Beacon" she said proudly. Cade was about to continue the conversation, when a rather lanky blonde boy came rushing past, puking near some blonde girl's feet. Ruby stood up at that.

"Oh no, looks like I need to go and calm my sister down," she explained. "Still, it was nice meeting you guys!" she cried as she ran towards the blonde, who Cade swore was actually on fire.

Cade looked at Derek. "Well, she seemed nice," he said. Derek had to agree.


Beacon Academy, 5 minutes later

Jasper Arazeiros looked around, taking in the sights of Beacon. He knew that this was his chance to make something of himself. Back in Atlas, he was lucky to escape the discrimination that most of his kind faced, but only because his Semblance allowed him to blend in. Being a Faunus was not easy, especially when everyone was more than willing to abuse you, be it verbal or physical. Being able to literally become invisible was a godsend, but he couldn't help but feel ashamed by the fact that he was hiding who he really was, just to avoid the fate that nearly every other Faunus suffered.

Jasper was distracted from his musings by the sound of someone stumbling over their luggage. Racing towards the sound, he got there just in time to witness a young girl in black sneeze into a cloud of Dust, igniting a chain reaction. The ensuing explosion almost caused him to lose control of his Semblance, revealing his eagle wings to the world. Luckily, he got a hold of himself, just in time to see a girl dressed in a white dress start screaming at the exploding teen. Looking at the scene, he was shocked to see that it was none other than Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, and his long-time rival. Smirking, he walked over to her, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Now, now, Weiss, surely you can make a better first impression than that?" he said. Weiss turned towards the newcomer, before somehow going even more pale as she recognized Jasper.

"You!" she spat. "What are you doing here? I thought that, given your last embarrassment, you would have crawled under some rock in Vacuo." Jasper just smiled, at her, before replying.

"Well, when I heard that you would be running away to Beacon, rather than attending Atlas Academy, I just had to see it for myself." Jasper laughed. "Glad to see I wasn't disappointed."

Weiss just glared at him, then, with a wave to the people carrying her luggage, stormed off towards the auditorium. Jasper took one last look at her, then turned to help the other girl up off the ground, only to see that another blonde boy had beaten him to the punch. Cheerfully, he extended his hand to the two of them, and introduced himself.

"Right, sorry about all that," he said. "Weiss is a bit, difficult, to say the least. Anyway, I'm Jasper. Jasper Arazeiros. Pleased to meet you." The blonde boy stepped forward.

"Jaune Arc," he said, proudly. "Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"

"Do they?" the girl asked, skeptically. Jaune began stammering, trying to justify himself. The girl identified herself as one Ruby Rose, then quickly proceeded to show off her massive scythe.

"So, I got this thing," she said, nervously. Jaune jumped back a few feet, whereas Jasper just smirked.

"Nice scythe," he said. Ruby beamed at him, just as Jaune regained his composure.

"Thanks! I made her myself. She's called Crescent Rose," she said excitedly. "She's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle!" Jasper was impressed. Jaune just looked at her with a blank expression.

"Uhhhh, what?" he asked. Jasper turned to look at him.

"It's also a gun," he clarified. Ruby looked slightly hurt at that, so he amended his statement. "She. She's also a gun." With that, Ruby inquired about their own weapons. Jaune held up his sword.

"Umm, I've got this sword," he said nervously. Ruby's eyes went wide, as she let out a soft 'oooh'. Jaune also held up his scabbard. "Oh, and I've got this shield too." As he said that, the scabbard expanded into a small white shield, adorned with what Jasper assumed was the Arc family crest. He zoned out for a second, but was brought back to reality by Ruby.

"So, what about you, Jasper?" she was asking. Jasper reached for the hilt of his weapon, Fiendslayer. Holding it up, he gestured to it.

"Well, I have this. Meet Fiendslayer." Jasper said. Ruby just stared at it, slightly puzzled. Seeing this, Jasper decided he should show his new friends what he was actually holding. Depressing a small button near the edge of the hilt, Jasper watched Ruby's Eyes light up as Fiendslayer's Katana blade extended into position. Jasper demonstrated a few basic swipes, before turning back to Ruby and Jaune.

"That. Is. AWESOME!" Ruby shouted. Jasper chuckled at this.

"Well, that's not all it can do, you know," he said, a sly grin creeping onto his face. Jasper didn't think it was possible, but Ruby's eyes and smile widened even further.

Depressing another button on the other end of the hilt, he turned the blade around, so that the curve was facing away from him. Warning Ruby to stand back, he extended a secondary blade, also curving away from him, and ignited the self-contained beam of energy between the two tips.

"This is called a Plasma Arc," Jasper said. "It's essentially a beam of energy with enough power to slice through a block of solid steel, like a knife through butter." Even Jaune looked impressed by this. Deactivating the plasma arc, he returned Fiendslayer to its compact form, and replaced it on his belt.

Jasper looked at his watch, and swore. "Damn it. We're gonna be late for the orientation," he said, already running towards the auditorium. Ruby blushed slightly, before following suit.

"See you later, Jaune," she yelled over her shoulder.


Several Hours Later, Beacon Ballroom

Remus Viridian looked across the ballroom with his one good eye, scanning for any threats. An old habit of his. Satisfied, he turned back to the only other person in the room that he knew, who was currently reading a book.

"Blake," he said. "Why is it that every time I look away, you've always got your nose buried in a different book?" Blake just ignored him, too busy reading to even dignify that with an answer.

Looking up, Remus noticed a rather tall girl with blond hair, and a shorter girl with short black hair standing in front of them. "Hey, aren't you that girl that exploded earlier?" he asked the short one.

"Uhhh, yeah," she said. "My name's Ruby, but you can just call me… crater… Actually, just call me Ruby…" she mumbled. That finally managed to draw Blake's attention away from that bloody book.

Remus' wolf ears pricked up as he heard the two newcomers whispering to each other. Before he could say anything, the blonde girl started to talk to them.

"Sooo, what's your names?" she said, with a surprising amount of optimism. Blake looked up from her book, before replying.

"Blake" she said, trying to convey her annoyance at the constant interruption.

Remus introduced himself also. "Don't worry about her," he told the two girls. "She always gets like this when she's reading."

"Well, Blake, Remus," the blonde said, "I'm Yang. Ruby's older sister!"

Remus turned to her, and proceeded to try and convince her that Blake wasn't as bad as she seemed. Blake however, wasn't having any of it.

"Well, it was, nice, to meet you two" she said. "Almost as nice as this book. Which I will continue to read. As soon as you leave." Yang turned away, muttering something about a lost cause, when Ruby spoke.

"What's it about?" she asked Blake. Remus saw Blake's Cat ears, hidden beneath her bow as they were, prick up. Obviously, she wasn't expecting someone to be interested in her book. Remus halfheartedly listened to two girls talk about the book, when he saw another girl, this time wearing a white nightdress walk over, her white hair flowing down her back. Both he and Blake tensed up at the sight of her, for someone with such hair could only be a Schnee. Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice the two of them, instead focusing on Ruby and Yang. The three of them began getting into an argument, however, before it could get too loud, Remus reached for the candle that Blake was using to read, and snuffed it out, ending the argument prematurely. Remus watched the trio return to their respective sleeping bags with his enhanced vision, before rolling over to sleep. Sleep didn't come to him though. Instead, all he saw was Adam slashing upwards with Wilt, before sleep finally claimed him.


A/N: Hey Guys. So, here it is. Chapter 2 done and dusted. For those that are interested, I am planning on uploading a copy of my character notes for Team CDAR, so that you guys can understand where I'm coming from. Cheers guys, and don't forget to leave a review, and if you deem it worthy, a follow, or even a favourite.

*Edit 3/01/18: Changed the names of the OC's, to comply with the color naming rule. Cade and Derek are now Greyclaws, not Flyhytes, Jarek Arazeiros is now Jasper Arazeiros, and Remus Dalanthan is now Remus Viridian.