Chapter 2

The aircraft came down with a hiss of the engines and an excited sigh from many students aboard. As the glass doors to the exit slid open, students began to file out and make their way towards the campus that they'd call home for the next four years. A mixture of exhilaration, apprehension, and curiosity hung in the air, each student feeling a strong mixture of all three as they strode out of the doors.

And just like that, the serene atmosphere was broken with a vividly pink swirling vortex of excitement, excitement, and… well, excitement.

Nora Valkyrie zoomed out of the doors, arms spread out wide as she screamed happily at the sky, challenging it to feel any better than she did. "Omigosh omigosh oh. MY. GOOOOOSH!" she squealed, dancing in place as the now freaked out and unsure students carefully tiptoed around the volcano of molten lunacy that talked to anyone who made the mistake of eye contact. "I can't believe we're here! I mean we're actually at Beacon Academy! Not like we'd get kicked off the ship or anything, I just can't believe we're actually here! Hey, you guys!" Nora pulled at the three girls who she had cornered and talked at during the entire flight, "come check it out, I mean there's an entire view of this great forest and stuff! I mean there's probably a boat load of Grimm for us to –!"

"No, no, it's fine, goodbye!" one of the girls said as she grabbed her luggage and dashed off, the other girls already dashing off towards their next destination, leaving Nora Valkyrie alone… again.

Not that Nora was affected, or even bothered by them leaving. She shrugged, skipping off towards the school, her mind already wandering around. Nora was too excited to be at her new school to worry about the girls, so she proceeded to skip ahead, eyes wandering through the crowd.

Hmm, who looks like they know where they're going? she mused to herself, skipping leisurely through the campus she would call home for the next four years. She heard something about an orientation on the flight over, but she couldn't remember what time or place it was at. And to make matters worse, too many people were meandering and not really going in any set direction, which made it hard for the Valkyrie to piggy back off anyone else for help. She would have continued her skipping – and following the flight of a cerulean blue butterfly that caught her attention – if not for the sudden bump in her path.

"Ooph!" Nora stumbled a bit, regaining her attention as she realized she had stopped. As she found the center of her balance again, she found the source of her skipping-deprivation: a girl, slim and surrounded by suitcases, sprawled on the floor, a soft-pitched groan coming from her lips.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, so sorry!" said Nora, cheery daydreaming heading home for the day while apologetic anxiety took the next shift in Nora's wide spectrum of emotional highs; the pink enthusiast zipped around, haphazardly sticking the array of suitcases back on their little trolley-thingy. She then turned to her new friend, smile at the ready. "Hi!" she said, back to her peppy self. "Sorry about that, I –"

"You BETTER be sorry!" snapped the girl, venom in her voice as she struggled to her feet. "That's the finest Dust mined from the Schnee Quarry! Why don't you - ?"

"Ooh, Dust! Cool!" Nora interrupted, catching the other girl off guard. "That sure is a lot, what kind do you use? Mine comes in these big pink canisters that go Boom! Boom! Boom! It's fun, what kind of weapon do you use? Mine's a big awesome grenade launcher that shoots the canisters, but I can shift into a sledge hammer form that detonates the canisters every time I hit to give it extra range! Ooh! That's my favorite mode, because I can smack the ground and fly up really high and…"

The Schnee girl continued to sputter, not used to being interrupted like that, and certainly not used to someone posing her a question and then continuing to ramble on about herself as if nothing happened. With a huff, she spun on her heel and stalked away, muttering to herself as her father's hired help pushed the trolley behind her. Nora was just getting to the part about how she had managed to find the right shade of pink dust that matcher her everything when she noticed the other girl was already out of earshot.

"Wait!" Nora called, starting after the girl with hands raised in a failed signal for her to return. "What's you name? I need to know so I can put this in my scrapbook!"

No response.

"You! Girl in white! We should hang out, okay?!"

But the Schnee Heiress had already gone, and the body guards trailing behind just gave Nora disapproving shakes of the head. Nora, while persistent, did know when to stop, so with shoulder's slumped, she sat herself down on a nearby bench, watching as more and more people strode by, some chatting with people the just met, others with friends and family they're known for ages.

Nora knew sitting here pouting wouldn't get her to the orientation any quicker; still, she did wish she had come here with someone else. Or had someone she had known long enough to even write letters to.

With a sarcastic exhale, and muttering "Welcome to Beacon" to herself, the orange haired girl rose up and, like she had done all her life, fell in line with the rest of the crowd, one face in a sea of many.

Two seconds later, she was skipping again, back to her usual cheery – yet lonely – self.


A/N: I'm back! I only have 2 finals this week so I took some time and wrapped up what I had of Chapter 2 and viola! Here she is, ready for you beautiful readers! For the path of the story, character's will meet each other at a different pace than what is canon (not just within JNPR, as Nora and Weiss have illustrated) but I can assure the teams are the same, the dynamics are all that's changing. Hopefully Team RWBY and CRDL will be featured more in this story, just to blanace things out. As for relationships -

Don't wanna give away too much! :D Message me with ideas/questions and don't forget to review!

~thehemingwaydilemma