The thing he saw upon waking up was stars. It was nice to see stars again, but these were not the stars he recognized. They were . . . different.
There were also people. All around him. Talking. Wondering why this kid was on the ground. And why he had a fork on his back. Sighing, he sat up and looked around, studying the background.
People were good, and there were Faunus? They had animal features, and were almost everywhere. Sam turned around, and saw that there was a shop labeled as a dust shop, which seemed interesting, he'd been hoping to find Licky End somewhere, which you could only get if you were a pregnant sheep. He knew a dog that had it, somewhere, but he'd been not seen for years. Or a year or two at least.
Shaking himself, he saw that a group of people came down the street, and they were obviously bad news, seeing as people shrank away and the very street seemed to darken around them. Come to think of it, he could have sword I heard a voice over somewhere, but it must have been a hallucination. Sam thought that he had stopped drinking the water, but it didn't matter. He shrank back, and pulled his trident out of its sheath, still carrying his backpack.
The men mostly wore dark suits and sunglasses, but there was one guy with a cane and a weird haircut, and really long eye lashes, which gave him a unique look. A strange thing was that he didn't seem to need the cane, he held it, but he didn't walk with it, and he had no obvious limp. The guy looked around, then, motioning to the others to enter the shop. As they did so, Sam followed, trying to remain inconspicuous, as a robbery was in effect. There was about five seconds of silence, followed by what proved to be a bloody Sunday: some bruiser crashed through the window, shattering it and the still night air. A young rapidly followed, as did the rest of the bruisers, and the fight began in earnest. Sam joined in, to the surprise of the red and black girl, and thus spoke Zarathustra.
"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady. You put yourself and others in great danger!" said the woman standing before the brightly lit desk in the dark room.
"They started it," responded Ruby Rose.
"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back," a smile from both Glynda—the scary professor and huntress—and Ruby, "and a slap on the wrist!" She said, emphasizing the phrase by smacking the table in front of the girl with what looked like a riding crop.
"But . . . there is someone here who wishes to see you." And in walks a guy in green, carrying a cane, obviously not needing it, just like that legionnaire dude, carrying a plate of cookies in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
"Ruby Rose. You have silver eyes." It was an observation, not a question.
". . ."
"So! Where did you learn to do this?" He asked, holding what looked like a tablet sort of computer, showing multiple video feeds with a primary feed showing Ruby fighting. Unfortunately, Sam couldn't avoid the camera feed, and he was there.
"S-Signal Academy," Ruby stuttered, and looked adorably awkward.
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
"Well, one teacher in particular," said Ruby, starting to regain her confidence. The older man set the plate of cookies down, and Ruby grabbed one, looking hesitant. Eating it in one bite, she rapidly consumed the others. He continued.
"It's just that I've only ever seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty, old crow. . ."
"Oh! That's my uncle!" She was almost unintelligible, due to the cookies in her mouth. "Sorry. I was complete garbage until my Uncle Qrow took me under his wing. Now I'm like"—she demonstrates karate-like moves, and emitting appropriate noises.
"So I've noticed," he said, as he sat down opposite here. Sam noticed that Goodwitch was still standing in the corner, so that she had a clear view of anyone coming into the door, which was an odd thing to be paranoid about, but nevertheless. He continued, saying
"And what is an adorable girl such as you doing at a school designed to train warriors?" He asked her, and Ruby's enthusiastic tone seemed to have been toned down, just a little.
"Well, I want to be a Huntress," Ruby said, her voice gaining a note of seriousness, though she was still joyful.
"You want to slay monsters?" the other guy asked, sounding as though he was asking it . . . as a question. Not interrogating her, not already knowing the answer, just, asking the question. Sam might have been wrong, but that sure was what it seemed like to him.
"Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon! You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I want to help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, Hey, I might as well make a career out of it! I mean the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, gosh, you know!" Ruby almost flips out at the last, sounding incredibly happy. When she calms down, Ozpin, Goodwitch and Ruby study each other across the table. The older professor spoke up.
"Do you know who I am?"
"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon."
"Hello," he said, smiling.
"Nice to meet you," she said.
"You want to come to my school?"
"More than anything," Ruby said, and Ozpin and Goodwitch glanced at each other. Goodwitch harrumphed and Ozpin turned back to Ruby.
"Well, okay then." As Ozpin said this, Ruby squeed in delight, and the two professors smiled, though Goodwitch barely let a sliver moon sliding through.
"And you, young man? Would you be interested in attending my academy?" For the first time, Ozpin turned to Sam, quirking an eyebrow at him. He started, and then sat a little straighter in the chair he had been sitting slouched in.
"Sounds marvelous, Professor Ozpin," Sam responded, and he nodded.
"Are you sure that that was the wisest thing to do? The Rose girl has credentials, but that Phoenix kid, he has none at all." Goodwitch waited until the two were out of the small, darkly-lit room, until she raised her comments regarding Beacons two newest students.
"Do you not recall how they both fought? That was at least half a dozen human attackers, and they both handled them with efficiency and speed, neither of them garnering a scratch," Ozpin responded, motioning towards the tablet he held in his hand, still replaying the footage of the fight between Roman's henchmen and Ruby and Sam.
"Still, there are no combat schools of which I am aware that train their students to use tridents, or in that combat style. It would be a wise idea to monitor him further, him and his activities," he said, which seemed to appease Goodwitch.
"I can't believe my baby sister is going to beacon!" the blond girl was saying, as Sam walked onto the airship. It was incredibly difficult to find her, after she went through the park and the business section, but a few years of tradecraft had made that one problem that he could deal with. He spotted her, and went over, holding out his hand as he went.
"Hello there, never did get a chance to introduce myself at the dust shop, or after. The name's Sam Phoenix, who might you be?" He asked, trying to be diplomatic.
"Oh, hey Sam! I'm Ruby Rose, and this is my sister Yang Xiao Long!" Ruby shook my hand, and Yang nodded at me, distinctly unhappy to see a guy with her sister, it seemed to him. And Yang, for her part, had yet to hear the story of what had happened, beyond the brief news story of 'two teens halt dust robbery'; Ruby had been in no state to talk after last night, in fact, the only thing she could say was that she was going to Beacon. Maybe now Yang could extract the story from them, and take the opportunity to make sure this guy stayed away from her sister.
"Little Sun Dragon? Well met, Yang, Ruby. Those were some smooth moves you pulled back there, fighting those men," Sam said, looking at her, knowing what her background was, but still not entirely able to believe what she had done. Yang pulled her sister into a hug, looking over her shoulder as she did so, staring at him, and mouthing: You hurt her, I'll kill you. Sam nodded, thinking that he would have to stay away from her. For now, at least.
Ruby had broken away from the iron embrace of her angry—at Sam, at least—sister, when a picture came up onto a nearby window, along with a voice over. Sam and Ruby recognized the guy in the picture as the guy who had tried to rob the store, and kill them both. Not the best way to make an introduction.
"The robbery was perpetrated by notorious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade capture. If you have any information pertaining to his whereabouts, please contact the Vale police department immediately. Back to you, Lisa.
"Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted"—the reporters voice was cut off as the head of the Professor from yesterday appeared.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon."
"Who's that?" Yang asked, and was immediately answered,
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."
"Oh."
Goodwitch continued: "You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen 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." She disappeared, and Ruby raced to a window, peering out of it as her sister and Sam followed.
"Oh wow, you can see Signal from up here!" Ruby sounded happy, but they looked like a jumble to Sam. Yang scanned the skies, and found Signal. It was a tall, pointed spire in the middle of the city of Vale. "Guess home isn't too far after all!" Her older sister responded somberly.
"Beacon's our home, now." Just after that, there was a guy a few yards away, who didn't seem to be dealing with the motion well.
Then he ran off-stage, spewing, well, spew everywhere. While Ruby verbally hoped about was going to happen, and friends she was going to make, Yang whined about Vomit-boy getting puke all over her shoes. New ones, too, apparently.
A/N's: well crash queens and moto babies, don't expect a whole lotta fan service. More like author service. I will try to keep it to the episodes, but it WILL diverge. Obviously. Sam Phoenix is in other stories, but he mostly exists as a headcanon character. And I will now flatly deny that he is a self-insert character. Search for "Another Casting of the Cards" on fimfiction, and you will see what I mean. Probably going to expound on him a lot more in the following chapters, especially his magic. And yes, he uses a trident, with a gun in the middle, which is more of a cannon than anything.
If you have read this far, please leave a review; I might not be doing this for the readers but I still like knowing what they think.