Reflecting moderately up against the large and angled frosted glass window of the airship was a pair of gray eyes silently attempting to admire the lively snow-laced city as the sun directly above the ship caused the snow to shine beautifully while the airship continued on its route. An exhausted and yearning sigh pressed past her lips as her admiration was soon shortly cut off as the various loud conversations of other students aboard the airship had overall began giving her a migraine as she rested her forehead against the glass and forced her ears back against her hair underneath the cloak. She had been feeling completely uneasy of the entire concept of being around large crowds of both faunus and humans all seeming to chat as if they were all friends, albeit for her, though, every time she had felt another student bump into her back, she would tense up and scowl.
Just lay low among the students until at least three months within my school Miss Rose, and you will have complete permission to take whatever supplies you need or have us ship them out to you for a year. It's a more than fair trade don't you think?
The brunette momentarily closed her eyes as she thought back to Ozpin's choice of words before she snorted in pity for her predicament. Sometimes I seriously wonder why I do the things I do. It's a bit too late now to back out, but then again, I don't really think his idea of putting me on an airship full of other faunus was a smart idea. The brunette quietly protested and complained underneath her breath about the questionable conditions and issues before she finally exhaled through her nose as she brought all her thoughts to a pause when feeling an intense shiver going down her spine as she felt a pair eyes blazing into the corner of her skull. The sensation was quick to bring her out of her thoughts as she hesitantly peeked open her eyes and diverted her attention away from the scenic view and over towards her right where she then noticed a pair of green eyes staring intently at her as the person sniffled a few times.
The brunette furrowed down her eyebrows in concern as her eyes reluctantly strayed away from the person's green irises and down towards the red and black mixture of hairs from behind the person as the tip of it attentively twitched when they noticed her looking in their direction. She finally noticed the scent she had been smelling for the past 20 minutes was that of a fox as she noticed the person finally approaching in curiosity of why the scent of a wolf had been so strong in her surrounding vicinity. A fox huh? Dammit. I should probably try to hurry and leave the area as casually as I possibly can not to make her alert any nearby seekers. It's the last thing I'd want to happen after lasting so long. Ruby offered a fake smile towards the fox's direction before she lifted up both of her hands from within her pockets and grasped the front of her hood to firmly tug it down as she tried to turn around towards her left on the soles of her feet calmly before trudging off.
Ruby tightly clenched her jaw as she listened to the soft patters of the fox's shoes against the floorboards as she shuffled through the crowd to subtly follow Ruby, growing increasingly more curious of her actions. The brunette silently made her way through the groups of students to spread her scent around by occasionally bumping and rubbing her shoulder against various people before then apologizing with a sheepish smile, for there had been a number of faunus around the large area seemingly perturbed by the wolf's scent. Growing anxious, Ruby had nudged passed more students as the particular group of faunus tracking her scent became noticeably closer. She had to stay out of the open and keep her distance. She couldn't let one of the Seekers find out who she was. That would only end in a horrible way.
The fox's green eyes drilled into the back of Ruby's head as her scent trailed closer to the brunette. Ruby began panicking until her thoughts were spiraling out of control since she knew the fox hadn't been following the false trail left behind on the other students she had been brushing up against them, but her own true scent. She glanced down at the floor as she took a deep breath to weave in between the students quicker and less subtly before finally running straight into someone, an unmoving body. She stumbled back in shock before looking up with a sharp inhale as familiar lilac eyes peered down in confusion at her before the figure shifted until they were completely staring down at the stumbling faunus. The familiarity of the curls to the woman's hair and the facial features resulted in a widening of recognition in Ruby's eyes, finally looking down at the floor to avoid her gaze. Wait, Yang? What is she doing here?
She silently peered down at the laces of her shoes on impulse as the feeling of adrenaline continued to course through her body, resulting her breathing to become deep and ragged breaths as she tried to calm her racing heart. It had all been spiraling out of control for her for the past hour on the airship as the amount of general anxiety of noticing three scents of born seekers and other faunus was already causing her mind to malfunction. It was as if the realization of how unstressful her past free days were truly something she treasured in her current state of life as she opened and closed her jaw in an attempt at stuttering any coherent words out to the blonde. She wanted to run away from both of the situations, but she knew it would not have resolved either problem. Ruby twitched and tensed up immediately as she felt a firm hand on her shoulder as the blonde girl inhaled before sighing and spoke up in a raspy tone.
"Oh, there you are! I've been looking all over for you buddy. I thought you had gotten lost again. You can't just leave like that when there's a wolf's scent going around." Yang's worried tone startled Ruby as the fox proceeded to take another step towards the tensed brunette only to freeze when a glare from the tall blonde shot at the sly creature. "We wouldn't want you to cause a scene and embarrass yourself now would we?" Ruby painfully gulped down her nervousness as the blonde spoke up before nodding in response and continuing to avoid her eyes by looking at the floor. The tip of the fox's tail twitched irritably before she then scoffed and slowly backed away from Yang's area before turning and disappearing back to their respected group.
The blonde, seeming to be both satisfied and content with the flustered fox's reaction towards her empty threat and their abandonment of goal redirected her attention back down to the shorter faunus and offered a sympathetic smile as she loosened her grip on Ruby's upper arm. "Sorry about this kiddo. People nowadays in the faunus community are starting to bear down on the wolf rules really, aren't they? It's a shame since most of the wolves I've seen are all friendly people." The blonde faunus bellowed a chuckle as she completely removed her grip of Ruby's upper arm and allowed it to return to her side, while the shorter faunus remained motionless in her stance, contemplating both her choice of words and the next best step for the new issue.
Albeit, though, the once anxious driven scent of her sly pursuer was gradually beginning to become smothered by the scent of flowers from the long and curly strands of blonde hair. The fact by itself that it had offered some form of comfort was something Ruby had already begun despising. "You don't seem to be a talkative one, but you should know taking an airship full of other faunus was a poor choice of things you should do. You know what they do to your kind. But if you wish to stay by ol' Yangie here, I can get you to the end safe, and we can split. What's your name, though kid?"
Ruby inhaled sharply as a soft pressure on her hood snapped her out of her current thought, her eyes trailing slowly to the outstretched arm which had belonged to Yang. The praising pats on her head felt only as an invasion of space to Ruby, who grew irritated at the inane gesture and jerked away from the touch. The blonde pulled her hand away to lay at her side, the smile that was once at her face fading to an expression of interest as she caught a glimpse of the gray eyes owned by the wolf faunus. "Why are you here and why are you helping me? Don't you know wolves aren't things you can just easily trust.." With the blonde oblivious to the reason for her question, Ruby watched as she leaned back on the heels of her feet as well as raising her hands behind her head as she silently thought about how she would answer the brunette's question before she smiled even more to herself. The tall woman had reeled around just enough so that she was facing the window in order to admire the scenic view as the wolf faunus quietly snarled to herself. "And don't touch me.."
"Well, in this world and age, we live in a timeless manner of faunus and humans all trying to find peace in Vale to protect something greater right? Humanity for all. I believe everyone deserves that chance at proving humanity, so I never try to judge one by it's cover since from a young age I was taught valuable life lessons by two wolves. No, better yet, two people dear to me. You have to question what your goals really are when you meet certain people in your life. It's a pretty average story though right?" Softly, a sigh pressed past the blonde faunus's lips as the once warm beam of lights retreated until her face was completely enshrouded by a light shadow while her eyes scanned the forest terrain below. Relishing in amazement and curiosity, she noticed the trees obscured by thick layers of the harsh winter's snow as her thoughts recollected back to the main topic. "But your story seems interesting since it's not every day you run into a wolf with balls enough to take the airship with this many faunus scents, and you're going to Beacon to fight Grimm? I give you the good ol' Yangie's approval, pup."
Ruby smirked absentmindedly in sheer amusement towards the blonde's last comment before she momentarily paused as she felt the corner of her lips quirking up more into a smile steadily, resulting in a scowl to form back on her lips as she crossed her arms gently. "Everyone has their own motivation for doing risky things in their life, Yang. My story is truly just a blank page at this point, and that's all I ever plan it to be since a normal life for me is something I'll highly ever achieve. You should know that, as well as the fact that just because you're well respected in the faunus community, it wouldn't save you if you got caught helping a wolf. Trusting others to this point is something always destined to fail. You should know that Yang, since after all. You are nothing but a monster just like all the other faunus with the past you have, Raven." Yang's back promptly straightened up as she hesitantly turned her head until gray and lilac colored eyes intensely peered at each other without speaking, while a cold and devoided expression clearly betrayed off of the blonde when processing the other faunus's words.
Resent, hate, and anger held Ruby's mind at a pause as she stood her ground firmly when noticing the blonde turning her whole body toward her with the same expressionless facade. There was nothing more to do than just confront the person who was so long ago addressed as her only guardian from the skies and in her heart, as her sister, as her protector, and as someone to call safety. "You… You can always claim to have been a hero, but in reality, you know no humanity. Save me once, and that still doesn't change a fact. Even if you don't remember me, I remember you, and I remember us. Or well, what was left of us. Not that it matters now anyways since I won't even be at this school for long." As the brunette uttered the last few words of her reveal, she genuinely smiled at the blonde before she shifted around on the balls of her feet towards the back of the airship and began to resume shuffling her way through the students. She no longer had any need to continue accompanying the Raven faunus for the fact that their stop was approaching quickly
Yang's eyebrows furrowed down as she quietly mumbled a familiar name she hadn't uttered in a long time, her mind rapidly searching for specific childhood memories. As the origin of the name finally became clear as to why she remembered it, she panicked as the brunette slunk into the crowd, out of sight. In a continuous attempt to catch up to the wolf faunus, Yang shoved into other students and called out in a loud gasp before the brunette was lost to her. "Wait! Please wait! I need to know your name!" The blonde reached out her arm to grab at the other faunus, finally gaining enough ground to grab at the red cloak's hood to bring the fleeing woman to a stop and pull her away from unfriendly ears. "Is your name Ruby Rose?" she glanced around nervously before whispering once again. "The child of fallen summer?"
Ruby impulsively clenched down her jaw as tightly as she could in a silent attempt to remain passive as the blonde's pestering questions of her mother were being asked so quickly that she herself could barely comprehend the Raven anymore. For questions and conversations regarding her mother within the faunus community was as if banned, as well as other fallen wolves who lived and lives were ceased. Ruby snorted as her head raised up to stare at Yang as she felt the grip on the hem of her cloak tighten as the blonde impatiently waited for a response, earning a distasteful expression from Ruby. "Well, since lying would be pointless in this situation. I am, I am the last Rose of the family who survived captivity. But I don't see what that has to do with you anymore so what is it that you want right now, Yang?"
Yang pitifully winced when hearing the brunette's blunt comment before she felt her shoulders drooping in dejection since she had still partially been in the startled phase from obtaining the information of who exactly she was talking to. "I-What? No, I don't want anything from you, I just- please, at least let me talk to you and help you get to the actual school grounds. Just give me that much Ruby. You know I'm not like my mom, I wouldn't sell you out." Yang's tone of voice momentarily cracked as she felt the brunette try to jerk her cloak out of her hand at the last comment while giving her a dirty look, causing her to tighten her grasp on the ruffled fabric of the cloak. "You don't have to believe me right now, but can you at least acknowledge the fact you've been missing for nine years of my life since that night in the woods. Do you know how long your dad, and uncle looked for you after that? I doubt you remember your family anymore after that traumatic event, but you're wrong. You aren't the last Rose Ruby. You and your uncle are one of the same, and he was hurt the most when your mom... The impact on him was very long lasting is all I'll say."
Ruby froze in her position mid-tug as her eyes trailed back over to the blonde's lilac colored eyes that were intently peering at hers in nervousness before she slowly spoke up in confusion. "An uncle of the same kind? I'm more confused about what you're trying to say here Yang, but if you're just trying to mess with my head. I really don't have time for any of your crap, nor do I want to deal with it." Yang was quick to lift up both of her hands defensively while shaking her head in order to stop Ruby from getting the wrong ideas of what she was trying to say before she hastily spoke up to clarify.
"No! I've told you that our family doesn't believe in discrimination of our own kind. Please stop holding the past over my head Ruby, I know you aren't particularly fond of me, and I understand that but can we at least come to an agreement that no matter how long you actually intend to stay in this area or school. It's not safe. Dad told me that as your older.." Ruby immediately sneered as she was quick to catch onto what the blonde was trying to say before she jerked at her cloak until it slipped out of the other faunus's hands, resulting in Yang to defensively stick up both of her hands in front of her chest as she chuckled nervously. "I- I mean as a family member of the Ravens I was supposed to make sure you aren't either killed or captured like what's happened to all the others before you. Our families have long since been at peace with each other, and if you just let me do this for you this one time, I promise not to get in your way anymore after you leave school grounds. I will also provide you information about your uncle if that's what you really want. Please.
Ruby indignantly snorted as she contemplated her choices since while she might not have trusted the blonde to any extent, it could have ended poorly for her if she had gotten cornered and had no form of backup. The situation she had found herself in had truly brought forth the immense feeling of distress as she dug her nails into the fabric of the cloak and shuffled around on the ball of her foot to calm herself as she spoke up reluctantly. "I don't need your protection I hope you know. I'm fully capable of defending myself since I've done it for like, nine years, as you pointed out." Ruby feebly tried to smile at the fact that time had painfully flown by since the death of her mother before she felt her lips returning to neutral as her eyes strayed off to the side. "But It would also be a little bit stupid to decline an offer of backup since you actually probably learned about this school more than I did. But this doesn't make us friends, and if you get in the way I will not hesitate in pushing you down. I also expect to hear more about this uncle."
Sighing in relief of their agreement to coexist, Yang happily nodded her head as her eyes lit up in newly established determination to help her sibling. "I figured nothing more from you by this point and that's completely fine with me. I won't get in your way, but whenever you need my help, I'll try to be there as fast as I can." Yang momentarily smiled down at the other faunus as she finally turned on the soles of her feet until her eyes were able to peek through the small gap of crowding students as Beacon came into view over the horizon. "Hmm. It seems that we don't have much longer until arrival. I can tag along to the front with you since that's where most of the seekers are hanging out, and we can get our bags and weapons. But that also reminds me, do you even have one for this school?" Ruby merely grunted as she nodded her head in response as the blonde had already begun trudging off towards the front while she carefully followed behind before she sighed.
This is going to be a very long few months at Beacon. I can already sense it sadly.
10 Minutes Later
As the duo of faunus aimlessly wandered side by side down the narrow sidewalk of campus grounds, peering eyes were noticed by both as the word of a possible wolf faunus being on school grounds spread like wildfire in the faunus community. It hadn't been as if the brunette had expected it any other way, but as they traveled through the school in search of their open ceremony, she couldn't help the scowl which stayed plastered on her face the entire trip. Meanwhile, she gently sniffed at the air in search of areas of the school lacking in students in which she could call her safe haven. Her mind had long since become a scattered mess as she only cared to spare a few glances over to the blonde when hearing the carefree woman start humming a new song underneath her breath as her arms stayed behind her head, holding her bags.
The strong scent of perfume wafting through the open air of the campus grounds blew past the brunette's face as she coughed softly into her balled fist before furrowing her eyebrows in disgust for the strong abnormal scent. "It reeks of unnatural smells here, Yang. Is this normal for schools such as this?" Ruby gritted her teeth as she was growing more frustrated by the lack of open spaces without other lounging students before she resumed to grouse. "And it's almost pointless to sniff out a spot where there are no other students in the front area. The only place that doesn't smell like it's being swarmed is the roof, which I hope to be a last resort. Although if I really had to settle, I guess the roof would have to do since while there are a few up there right now, I can only hope that it's not like that for the rest of the school year."
Yang sighed as she was reminded of the time of year as a cold wind blew in her face. "It's winter, and it'll be that way for about a month while you're here. Just because you're a faunus doesn't mean you won't freeze in this brutal weather, Ruby. I think it would just be better if you and I.. teamed up for a while so there are no questions that would come up to why we would want to partner up." The blonde slowly whispered as she thought aloud to the brunette as she glanced towards her to see that Ruby wasn't listening to her words, instead staring off into the distance where the seniors stood in the front of the hall with juniors to welcome everyone to another year at Beacon. "Like it over there? I'll admit in saying that they're pretty good with fighting." Following her younger sister's gaze, Yang commented on the group of upperclassmen.
Ruby absentmindedly nodded her head in agreement in response to Yang's comment before her uncomfortably pinned ears lifted slightly from their initial spot against her head as a loud cart quickly separated both siblings and caused one of her ears to swivel towards the silence-ruining sound. Unlike Yang, who quickly sidestepped out of the cart's path, Ruby's toe had gotten rolled over by the heavy duty cart-wheel and brought forth a yelp as tears quickly formed in her eyes. She frantically jerked her foot from underneath the cart and the sudden weight shift caused a silver box off the top to tumble off onto the concrete. The injured wolf faunus began to wail as she rubbed at her toe while Yang quickly hurried to her side in concern since she could only hear a wail instead of the actions themselves. "Ruby? What indust name happened? Are you okay? Did some-"
The two sisters froze as a voice spoke up from behind the large cart and revealed a pair of icy blue eyes from behind the mountain of cases only to let her pale hand go of the front of the cart and walk over to the pair. "Your reflexes aren't that great for being accepted into Beacon. Only the best hunters and huntresses train here.. Get up before I get into trouble for running over another student on the first day of the entrance exam." With a roll of her eyes, the strange woman walked over to Ruby and held out her hand in a helping gesture while Yang only glared at the white haired girl.
"Wait, sorry? Did you mean to say you've hit other students with the same cart? All in the same day?" The white haired girl tapped her toe slightly in impatience only to suggest that Ruby hurry before the brunette finally snapped out of her daze and slowly reached out to grab at the other girl's hand. Pulling her back up, the other woman only snorted in amusement at the comment before she took her hand back and gently dusted it off against her gradient blue and white skirt. The female just closed her eyes as she inhaled, a gesture which seemed to make her look calmer as she reopened her eyes as she then shifted her weight and put her hand on her hip smoothly.
With a shake of her head, the white haired girl huffed at the two sisters. "You should probably just stay out of my way next time we meet. You could have damaged my dust that my father graciously imported from our factory to allow me to attend the school." The strange woman seemed only slightly annoyed, her once frowning face finally shifting into a slight smile at the two other females. Ruby slowly nodded her head as she listened to the other girl in order to seem as if she knew what she was babbling about before she noticed Yang in the corner of her eye finally standing up beside her while continuing to shoot a glare at the girl as she spoke up in a slight resentful tone.
"You ran over her foot because you weren't paying attention, Schnee. I wasn't expecting to see your face in a school that coexists with faunus." Yang's comment came out with a bit of a snarl as the girl simply looked her over while furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. The girl named as a Schnee continued to have a puzzled look of why the blonde was being hostile towards her before she scoffed softly and rolled her eyes as her arms tightly crossed to shrug off Yang's rude comment. Ruby only looked lost as Yang grew angry at the stranger, confused as to how her sister had recognized the female as being a part of the Schnee family.
"Ah, well. Certain things are required of the Schnee family to clear up the misimpression that our company dislikes the faunus community. My father figured it also might be a good exercise of my skills and reputation to attend my first few years in Beacon before heading overseas at the end of the year. But as to why the misimpression that our family doesn't even like faunus is simply for the fact we can never see eye to eye with the scandals named white fang which is entirely composed of nothing but faunus." Yang audibly scoffed as she shuffled around on the ball of her feet while crossing her arms across her chest while the other faunus merely frowned at the comment, only taking a second to regain her composure before she forced a friendly smile. The sensation of multiple chills running down her smile had been the only thing making her keep her friendly attitude as she noticed the once lilac colored eyes beginning to fade in and out of red as she peered at the other female.
"I was assuming you were going to mention the rebel group since while I don't know much on the topic, I do know they have been spreading throughout the kingdoms and stopping transfers belonging to you. But regardless of that, if you're looking to change your reputation in the faunus community, you shouldn't be classifying every faunus as a possible scandal since I'm sure that even the rebel group has their own reasons for doing what they do. It might not be right, but it's still a reason." Ruby brought her sentence to a halt as she glanced between the pair when noticing both pairs of eyes peering at her in minor amusement before she hesitantly spoke up again since her information on the school was already limited. "And we all in Beacon aspire for the same goal to coexist for humanity and help. We should all be working together, and we can start that by an introduction. I'm Ruby Xiao, freshman, and you are?"
Yang seemed slightly taken back by the change of the brunette's last name, but nevertheless, she remained silent as the white haired female quirked up her brow in interest before she eventually sighed as she noticed Ruby patiently waiting for a response. "Well, since you seem to know some formal manners, I am Weiss Schnee. The second daughter of the Schnee family and the heiress for the corporation. I'm also a freshman; It's a pleasure meeting you Ruby Xiao, despite our circumstances. I also suppose it's a pleasure meeting you too…?" The heiress slowly trailed her sentence off as she noticed the blonde still glaring at her as she casually talked to the faunus before she heard Yang grumble.
"I'm Yang." She bluntly replied without a beat before she finally turned to Ruby, who was still peering at Weiss in amusement before the blonde gently sighed and nudged at her shoulder before she spoke up. "Look, Ruby, we should figure out where we need to be for the opening ceremony. Let's go." A small smile from Weiss was directed to Yang in return to the idea of wandering the school grounds in order to learn her way around the school and explore where they would be living in order to become better fighters and more trained in the art of hunting Grimm.
"That's a splendid idea, Yang. Wouldn't want to be late for our first school meeting now would we?" Amusement shot through the ice blue eyes as Weiss looked at the pair of half-siblings and nodded a goodbye as she simply grabbed at her heavy dust cart again. Weiss dragged her mountainous cart away which revealed a silver case which sat on the bricks of the road they were previously walking along. The Schnee heiress dragged her cart out of view by the time Ruby had bent over to pick up the weighty case to roughly inspect it with a curious gaze.
"We should bring this to her. It's probably important." The brunette twisted the case in her hands as she looked over it more, beginning to walk towards the general direction of which the heiress had disappeared with the intent of returning what belonged to her. Coming to a stop almost as quickly as she started walking, Yang stepped in front of her younger sister which earned a sharp glare from the pair of gray eyes. Looking confused, she attempted to sidestep Yang as her sister's intentions became more confusing, which only caused a counter sidestep from the taller female. "What are you doing?"
Yang's crimson colored irises stared down at the short faunus before she spoke up in a defensive tone as she noticed Ruby growing impatient with her getting in the way of her leaving. "Ruby, don't you understand that the Schnee's don't get along with faunus? Even if they had tried to, it would just end up causing more trouble for us in the long run. I don't think it's safe." Yang's expression softened as concern for her sibling showed more clearly.
"I'm positive that even if she is the daughter of a well-known dust company, she doesn't personally abuse the faunus themselves. It's not her fault she was born into the Schnee family name along with their reputation with faunus across the world, just like it's not our fault we were born into the faunus community." Ruby's explanation towards Yang seemed to grow slightly hostile as she made her point. She took a step towards Yang while her wolf ears under her cloak instinctively pinned against her head at the small threat Yang posed.
Yang backed off a bit and put her hands up in a submissive state as she simply resumed her claim. "All I'm saying is that if this Schnee girl finds out who you are...what you are.. It'll spread like wildfire throughout the school, and you will no longer be safe, even with me around." A drawn out sigh forced its way out of Ruby's throat as she realized that the taller woman had a valid point, her arms continuously clutching the case closer to herself as she sought to act upon her original intentions.
"Well, I'll only be a minute. She won't find out in such a short amount of time. Besides, what would we even do with it? We don't use dust that much." Ruby shifted her weight impatiently as the thought of Weiss getting farther away had made her nervous, for the brunette wanted to return the case to the woman. Ruby quickly feigned a move to the left and bolted to the right of Yang, running to the same area that the white haired woman had gone.
Yang simply groaned to herself as she shifted her weight onto one leg, putting a hand loosely resting on her hip as she scuffed at the ground with her other foot. "She better be careful.. I wanted to tell Qrow that she was still alive.." With a sigh, the blonde simply trudged in the direction that Ruby ran off to.
Alright, so I decided to give you all a little something to look forward to in the new rewrite of TRAS since I'm sure most of you didn't believe me when I stated that this is going to be not as you remember it in the original. It generally wraps around the same plot, but not really. Rereads are always boring so I spiced it up pretty decent, right? This chapter was once again helped by my girlfriend so kudos to her for helping me finish everything on time. Next chapter will either be focused on Ruby or Yang so post your reviews of who you wish to see since both females get their own stories and they're all separate instead of connected to Ruby. Regardless, send quotes because I always enjoy listing them down to wrap up the chapter and don't forget to favorite, share, and review.
Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience; This is the ideal life ~ Mark Twain
Until next chapter, though, I'll see you all and I hope you have a good night or day as always! Thank you for joining us in 2017, and let's hope it's a good year.