Wow, this chapter took considerable time to write. But nonetheless, here is chapter two.
I do not own RWBY. RWBY was created by Monty Oum and owned by Rooster Teeth. I do, however, own any and all original characters in this story unless I specifically say so.
Chapter 2: Beacon or bust
"Good lord, they really are strict on their schedules. They can't wait 30 seconds?" Aidan said as he caught his breath on the airship floor. A couple moments earlier, Aidan had been jogging to the air pad in order to take an airship up to Beacon. However as the pad came into view, Aidan saw that the first ship had already taken off and the other was only a dozen or so seconds from retracting the boarding ramps and he had to sprint the last 10 meters. He made it by the skin of his teeth.
A couple of the other novices aboard the ship looked over judgmentally before returning to their conversations and such. Aidan finally picked himself up off the floor and sat down on a bench near one of the windows. He opened the brown bag in his hand.
"I guess I can… maybe choke it down." The blond said before biting into the sandwich.
The airship slowly rose into the air and began moving towards the east. Several passengers watch out the window as the ground got farther and farther away. Aidan looked on impulse and immediately jerked away from the window. You could say he was more the a little afraid of heights. He did his best to try to forget their increasing altitude and focused on the huge sandwich. Even though it wasn't exactly to his taste, Aidan was still hungry. As he grimaced with each bite, he looked around at some of the others aboard the ship.
Some had armor, others had dyed hair. One even had what looked like a cybernetic arm. Each and every one was easily distinguishable from the rest. Most of them stood in small groups chatting amongst themselves.
"Ugh, note to self: always make sure they get your order right." His taste-buds refusing to take any more, Aidan furrowed his brow and stuffed his surprisingly large sandwich into the brown bag before the news caught his attention.
"… Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony." The news anchor went on reporting about the white fang and their activities. Aidan watched the report with interest.
"Well, it looks like things are way worse here then they are at home. Four dead... thats just-"
"Hey." A voice caught Aidan's attention.
"What?" He slightly turned to the side.
To Aidan's right a tall girl stood facing him. She wore a light set of silvery-gray armor and chainmail. Long sleeves hid all of her hands but the ends of her fingers. A long lilac skirt hung to just below her knees around her waist. A curved katana in its sheath was hooked onto a belt that looped around the top of the skirt. Her long black hair flowed over her shoulders and transitioned to a light pinkish purple near the hair tips. But the detail that caught Aidan's attention stuck out above her head. Jutting out of her hair at the top of her head was the black ears of a fox.
"You gonna, like, eat that sandwich?"
"What?"
"Food, you know: sustenance." She said slowly as if explaining something for a child.
"Um… sure" Aidan said unsurely as he handed her the bag.
"Mmm hamks" She mumbled out after she bit into the sandwich. She hungrily chomped down again and again. She chewed and chewed and finally swallowed with a satisfied sigh.
"Man, this is good. What's your name?" As soon as the words left her mouth she bite into the sandwich again. Aidan was both amazed and a little repulsed by her aggressive behavior towards the innocent sandwich.
"Aidan Iolar, nice to meet you uh…" He extended his hand for a handshake
"Mmn Han." She hastily swallowed the last bite before clearing her throat. "Sorry about that. My friends call me Ran." Ran gripped his hand and shook it then smiled. A sharp barely audible noise turned both of their attentions back toward the news report. Only the report had disappeared and was now replaced by a hologram of a tall woman.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!" The woman began.
"I feel like I should know who this is." Ran whispered over to Aidan.
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among the few privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy." These words made Aidan briefly remember what Forrest had said earlier that morning.
"Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntsman and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The hologram faded away and left most of the people aboard with the amazing view of the outside.
"Wow. We're, like, really high up. Look at all the water." Ran said gleefully.
Aidan only needed a quick glimpse before he pulled back from the window. Only now did he realize just how far up they were. The thought made him feel lightheaded. But Aidan wanted to remember everything about this day. So he stood up, although clumsily, and walked over to look out the window with Ran.
"You're right about the view, it is amazing." He forced out as he stood tensely.
"I just hope we don't all fall to our deaths." Ran chuckled as Aidan shuddered.
…
Aidan practically threw himself out of the airship as everyone disembarked. He charged out and dove into the grass.
"I love you, beloved ground, please never leave me again."
"Are you done, because…" Ran gestured ahead.
The large avenue before them lead to a few concrete structures surrounding a beautiful guardian. Beyond that you could see the spires and peaks of various building around Beacon. But the crown was the large tower that seemed to be the center of it all. Green lights shone from the top majestically.
"Wow. The descriptions I've heard of this place just don't do it justice." Aidan said in awe after he picked himself up off the ground. The two just stood there for a moment absorbing the view. Finally Ran broke the silence.
"So… where do we go? I don't see any signs or... you know... other marker… things."
"Well, Ran, the path seems to go straight to that building waaay over there. So I guess we could just stroll over there and check it out. Also it uh... seems to be where everyone else seems to be heading."
"I guess that's as good a plan as any. I'm gonna stick with you alright?"
"Uh... sure." Aidan could tell that even if he wanted to say no, that she would follow him either way.
The two walked in silence and observed the well-kept nature around them. Carefully pruned brushes and vivid flowered dotted the edges of the path in almost perfect symmetry. They walked for a good two minutes when Ran, as usual, broke it.
"Okay. So I've, like, got to ask. What exactly do you fight with? Do you, like, only fight with your fists or something. That would be so awesome. I mean you don't really seem to have anything one you." Ran's enthusiasm radiated off her.
"No, no, no. I have weapons, just not in plain sight... or are they" Aidan smiled and raised both of his hands up to show her the bracers on each arm. With an audible *Shinksh* metal blade shot out the front of the right bracer. The left bracer shifted back a little, exposing a small but bright red flame coming from the end of a small barrel. Then after a couple seconds they reverted back to their original inconspicuous state in a blink of an eye.
"WHOA! That's so cool. But check out my stuff." Ran whipped out her katana from the sheath and whipped it around before sheathing it. Then she dropped her arms to her sides. Two small axes slowly descended from each sleeve, hanging from a small metal cables that disappeared up her sleeves.
"Check out that red flower over there." She said pointing out her target. *PIIFFSH* one of the axes shot off at alarming speed and whipped at the flower. A split second later the head of the flower slowly floated down to the ground and the axe cord retracted the axe back into Ran's hand. A prideful smile spread across her face.
"Whoa. That really-" Had Aidan been watching where he was going instead of watching his friends demonstration, it would have been impossible for him to not see the hurried man carrying books he had just ran into. Well, ran over might be a better way to describe it. The man smashed into him and fell over backwards in a whoosh of books and papers.
"I am so sorry sir." Aidan apologized as he bent down to help recover the mess of notes and other assorted papers. Ran quickly jumped in.
"Nah, kid. It's all good." The man said as he picked up a rather large book with a red cover.
The man himself looked fairly tall, a little taller than Aidan, but had a small frame. He had shaggy red hair that covered his eyes half of the time. He was dressed in a bright green shirt with lots of white tropical leaves and flowers on it along with a pair of khaki shorts that went down to his knees.
He briefly brushed his fiery hair out of his eyes.
"Wait. Are you two new students?" Aidan caught a small glimpse of a pair of blue eyes lurking behind the man's bangs.
"Yes we are. Are you a student here?" Ran guessed.
"Do I really look that young? Man… No I'm a librarian. You can call me Mr. Reed." The man shook both of their hands
"Nice to meet you... did you just make a pun." Aidan said as he handed the librarian the last of his things.
"Now that you mention it, that is a pun. But no seriously that is my name." He chuckled slightly to himself before continuing.
"Anyway you do realize you're supposed to be at the meeting hall now, right? Anyhow, I've got things to do, places to be. But it was good meeting you kids. feel free to top by the library sometime, okay. Well not that you will have a choice. You will both be spending lots of time their if you are to succeed here." Having gathered up all his stuff he left and waved as he speed walked away.
The two watched as he left.
"Well… he was friendly." Ran said as Aidan grinned slightly.
"He's right though, we should get moving." Aidan said trying to return to the task at hand.
"OH... Yeah."
A small grin on Ran's face slowly crept into a smile.
"Race you there."
Aidan didn't even have time to process what she said before she left him in the dust.
…
It was a while before Aidan caught up to his faunas friend.
"At least give me a chance would you. I bet you run almost 3 times faster then I do" Aidan said out of breath.
"I don't know about that. Maybe you're just slow." Ran crossed her arms and pretended to look offended.
The meeting hall was jam-packed with other students. Most stood and talked with newly acquired friends as they waited. The building was like a giant auditorium, with a large stage with a microphone located at one end. Aidan and Ran settled for a place nearer to the back before the headmaster cleared his throat into the microphone.
"I'll keep this brief." Ozpin stated before going headfirst into his speech.
"You have traveled here today in the search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." He looked around the room.
"But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to YOU to take the first step."
The woman from the hologram back on the ship walked up to the stand as the headmaster left.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
Now with the 'speech' done, the students all began speaking amongst each other.
"That was a nice speech. Short, sweet, and to the point." Ran watched as the two teachers walked off the stage.
"I don't know if I would call that a speech, more like a pep talk cut short. But I have to admit, it was inspiring. A little at least." Aidan did, in fact, feel driven by that speech.
"*Grurrllle*..."
"Was that your stomach?" Aidan asked as he raised an eyebrow
"What... no... yeah it was."
"But you ate my sandwich just like an hour ago."
"Give me a break. I don't run on sugar and spice and everything nice." Ran itched the back of her head in embarrassment.
…
Aidan sat on a sleeping bag near the edge of the wall of the ballroom. There was enough space for somebody to walk by but not enough to not disturb him as they did. He had been able to change into his sleeping clothes; a pair of cobalt pajama pants with a dull gray t-shirt.
Aidan tuned out the hushed room around him as he flipped though a few pages in the book he was reading.
The ballroom was divided into two sections: one half for the boys and one half for the girls. People from either side walked back and forth as they got ready for bed.
Aidan realized he had just looked across the same paragraph twice and hadn't actually read it.
"*Sigh* Tomorrow is the day everything actually starts. And I thought today was exciting." Aidan had heard about initiation before from his father. Apparently it was different every year but other then that his dad had kept him in the dark on what to expect. "You'll find out yourself someday when you are there. Wouldn't want to ruin a future experience." Aidan's dad was like that, always letting him find out how to do things on his own.
"The hard way is the best way." Aidan smiled at his father's motto. Thoughts of his father brought the rest of his family to mind among other things.
"I need to write Mom ASAP or she is gonna be ticked. Maybe if I have time to call in the morning."
Aidan gave up on his book and tossed it into his bag. He stretched out right as someone tried to squeeze passed. A large amount of force crushed down on his arm.
"ARGHH! What the heck man?" Aidan looked up angrily at the tall figure that had quickly readjusted his step.
He was tall, defiantly taller than Aidan was. His red hair, which looked more like fire then hair, fell in dreadlocks down to the lower back of his neck. A matching soul patch rested on his chin. His eyes were both furrowed into a more or less permanent glare. He looked strong as well and his tank top didn't hide that fact.
"Dude, it was you own fault. Stay out of the way, stupid." The tall student glared down at the Aidan on the floor before walking by without uttering a single apologetic word or even looking the least bit sorry. Aidan stopped himself from yelling at him and focused instead on his throbbing arm.
"If I see that guy again he's gonna get it. UGHH. It was my sword arm too." Aidan buried his head into the pillow, hoping that tomorrow wouldn't be but a minute away, he finally was able to re-tune out the sounds from around the ballroom and within a couple minute was asleep.
YAY, soon we'll be able to have some fighting, with the initiation next chapter. Looking forward to that. Anyway I hoped you guys have enjoyed my story so far. If you did (or even if you didn't) please leave me a review to let me know how it is or how I can improve on it. Also feel free to send me a message, because those always make my day.
Next time: Initiation
*Edited on August 8, 2015