Chapter 3

The Shining Beacon

Several ships carrying students docked at the entrance of the school. As soon as one landed, Jaune Arc emerges and took in his surroundings, and was impressed.

Ruby and Yang, alongside several other students, walk out of the ship and head down the paved path to the front of the school. Ruby and Yang took in the entirety of Beacon and said at the same time. "Wow ..."

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this!" Yang said.

Ruby startled fangirling over all of the weapons she saw. "Ohmygosh, sis! That kid's got a collapsible staff! And she's got a four sword!" She tries to get closer, but Yang pulls her sister by the hood back into realistic proportions "Ow! Ooww!"

"Easy there, little sister. They're just weapons!"

'' Just weapons '? They're an extension of ourselves! Oh, they're so cool!'

"Well, why can not you swoon over your own weapon? Are not you happy with it?"

"I'm really happy with Crescent Rose!" I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people, but better ... "

Yang playfully pushed her sister's hood down over her face "Ruby, come on, why don't you go try and make some friends of your own?"

Ruby took off her hood . "But ... why would I need friends if I have you?"

"Well ..." In a flash, a group of other students surround Yang and they all dash down the road "Actually, my friends are here. Gotta go catch up." Kay, see you, bye! "

Ruby : "What where are you going?" "Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms? She stopped for a moment, still reeling "I do not know what I'm doing ..."

Ruby falls backwards into a baggage cart, sending cases flying. Someone is standing over her.

"What are you doing ?!" A voice demanded.

Ruby gets up on her hands "Uh, sorry!"

"Sorry ?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?"

Ruby held up a case "Uuhhh ..."

"Give me that!" She snatched the luggage from Ruby and opens it to reveal its twinkling-sounding content "This is Dust - mined and purified from the Schnee quarry!"

"Uuuhhhh ..."

"What are you, brain-dead?" She said,holding out a vial of red Dust and shutting the case. " Dust ! Fire, water, lightning, energy!"

"I ... I know ..." Ruby starts coughing from the Dust pouring into her face

"Are you even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What do you have to say for yourself ?!"

Ruby, who had been receiving more and more Dust to her face, finally sneezes, which erupts into a full-blown explosion of flame, snowflakes, and electricity right onto Weiss. The bottle she had been holding flies over the courtyard and at the feet of Blake Belladonna, who picks it up and notices the Schnee Dust Company logo on the side as she reads from a book and looks over at the scene.

Weiss , is now covered in soot, though it quickly disappears. "Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

"I'm really, really sorry!" Ruby said apologetic and embarrassed.

"Ugh, you complete dolt ! What are you doing here? Are you not a little young to attend Beacon?"

"Well, II ..."

"This is not your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters , so ... watch where you're going!"

"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess!" Ruby said, finally fed up.

Blake saw this as the perfect time to enter the conversation. "It's heiress, actually." Ruby and Weiss look over as Blake approaches with the bottle "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

Weiss smiled smugly "Finally! Some recognition!"

"The same company is infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

Weiss got angry again and Ruby chuckles. "Wha how dare you- The nerve of ... Ugh!" She gets up in Blake's face and takes the bottle from her, walking off in a huff as her helpers gather the luggage and follow.

Ruby called out to the storming Weiss, still sorry "I promise I'll make this up to you!" ( Sighs ) "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day ... So, what's ..." She turned to thank Blake ,but sees Blake walking off as well, then collapses to the ground on her back "Welcome to Beacon. .. " She stays this way until a shadow comes over here

She looked at the person standing over her and recognized him as Jaune. He held his hand out to help her back up. "Having a bad day already Ruby?" He asks her, his hand still held out.

She grabbed his hand stood up. "Yeah…" The two walk off.

Beacon inside the walls is filled with scenic trees, arching architecture, and a winding road alongside a river, down which Ruby and Jaune are walking.

"So, Ruby how did that explosion from earlier happen?" Jaune asked her. "Yang left me hanging and I fell into that crabby girls luggage. I was dizzy and she started shaking the dust vials and they made me sneeze and we exploded."

"Geez i've heard of bad first day, but yours takes the cake for the worst. I mean seriously what is your luck. In your first day here you already ran into a spoiled heiress." An awkward silence fell around the two.

"So… I got this thing!" She pulled out Crescent Rose and stabbed it into the ground.

" Is that a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe?"

Ruby smiled and replied with "Yep" putting emphasis on the p.

"So what've you got?" Ruby excitingly asked. She had seen his sword earlier when she meet him when they both went after Torchwick. He had never drawn it so she wondered what it could do.

Jaune smiled, he knew Ruby would ask about his sword. He had just watched her fangirl over every weapon she saw with they stepped out of the airship. He grabbed the Kusanagi from its place under his rope belt and unsheathed it. The blade looked very sharp, and sunlight reflected off it.

"This is my sword, the Kusanagi no Tsurugi. It doesn't change into anything like your Crescent Rose, but that doesn't mean it's weak, far from it. If I channel lightning through it its sharpness increases greatly through high-frequency vibrations, as well as increasing its cutting range. It also allows me to cut through nearly anything."

Ruby's eyes widened as she thought of all the possible things he could do with his sword. She then proceeded to fangirl over what Jaune could do with his sword.

"Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, sooo... I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it." "Wait - you made that?!"

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?" "It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in a war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me!" She laughed "Well, I like it!"

Ruby and Jaune continued to walk, then Ruby stopped and turned to Jaune. "Do you know where we're going?" "I'm not gonna lie, I have no clue where we're going."

Ruby and Jaune entered Beacon Academy's giant auditorium, that was filled to the brim with people. Ruby looks over when she hears Yang's voice.

Yang started waving at Ruby. "Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Ruby looked at Jaune" Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony!" She said as she left to join her sister.

"Now where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?!" He walked off to reveal Pyrrha standing behind him, hand on her hips as she watches him walk away. Her eyes were drawn to his sword. She saw the Uchiha Clan symbol on it and her eyes widened.

Yang crossed her arms. "How's your first day going, little sister?" "You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?" "Yikes! Meltdown already?" "No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice...?"

Yang smiled broadly "Are you being sarcastic?" Ruby scoffed, she didn't notice Weiss next to her. "I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"

"You!" Ruby quickly jumped into her sister's arms "Oh, God, it's happening again!" "You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" "Oh, my God, you really exploded…" "It was an accident." She replied, getting out of her sister's arms. "It was an accident!"

Weiss held up a pamphlet titled "DUST for dummies and other Inadequate Individuals" to Ruby. "What's this?" Weiss started listing off policies to a clueless and horrified Ruby, going faster and higher pitched with each word. "The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field."

"Uuhhh...?" "You really wanna start making things up to me?" "Absolutely?" Weiss handed the pamphlet to Ruby. "Read this, and don't ever speak to me again." "Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"

Ruby put the pamphlet away "Yeah! Great idea, sis!" Ruby held out her hand and cleared her throat "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!" Weiss , seemingly enthusiastic said "Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!"

"Wow, really?!" Weiss ,dead silence under her glare said "No." The girls' attention is drawn to the stage, where Professor Ozpin is readying the microphone, with Glynda beside him.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in 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. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." The students whisper among themselves. "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."

Glynda stepped up to talk as Ozpin leaves. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

"He seemed kind of... off." "It's almost like he wasn't even there." Jaune thought something among the same lines. He then approached Weiss from the side, and in an attempt to annoy her mad said "I'm a natural blond, you know!" Weiss puts her hand to her face in exasperation. His plan worked.

The first night at Beacon, students are splayed out in sleeping bags. Ruby, in her pajamas and with a sleeping mask around her head, is writing in a journal when Yang crashes next to her, similarly dressed. "It's like a big slumber party!" "I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though." Ruby said without looking up.

"I know I do!" She purrs as she watches several muscular, shirtless guys... and Jaune, wearing only grey sweatpants, showing off his toned upper body. Jaune walked off to find a spot to put his sleeping bag. She returned her attention to Ruby "What's that?"

"A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." "Aw, that's so cuuuute!" Yang was knocked back as a pillow was launched at her face "Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here!"

"What about Jaune? He's nice, and hot" she whispered that last bit to herself. "There you go! Plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase!" "Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero…" "There's no such things as negative friends! You just made one friend and one enemy!" She was hit with another pillow, this time looking like a dog, to the face. "Look, it's only been one day. Trust me; you've got friends all around you! You just haven't met them yet!"

The two sisters notice a candle being lighted nearby, and Blake Belladonna is seen leaning against a wall, reading her book. "That girl…" "You know her?" "Not really. She saw what happened this morning, but left before I could say anything." "Well, now's your chance!" Yang grabs Ruby's arm and lifts her up. "Wait! What are you doing?!"

Blake looks over her book to see Ruby unsuccessfully struggling against Yang's grip as she leads her sister over to Blake's spot before letting go. "Hel-looooo! I believe you two may know each other?"

"Aren't you... that girl that exploded?" "Uh, yeah! My name's Ruby! But you can just call me Crater…" She smiles, embarrassed "Actually, you can just call me Ruby." Blake statered reading her book "Okay."

Yang whispers to Ruby "What are you doing?" Ruby whispered back "I don't know - help me!" "So... What's your name?" Blake sighed as she's distracted yet again "Blake."

"Well, Blake, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister! I like your bow!" "Thanks!" Blake said, irritated. "It goes great with your... pajamas!" "Right…" Ruby laughs uncomfortably. "Nice night, don't you think?"

"Yes - it's lovely! Almost as lovely as this book!" Ruby and Yang stand there "That I will continue to read." Ruby and Yang continue standing "As soon as you leave!" "Yeah, this girl's a lost cause." Yang said.

"What's it about?" Blake was surprised "Huh?" "Your book. Does it have a name?" "Well... i-it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body."

"Oh, yeah... That's real lovely!" Yang said sarcastically. "I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters... They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress!" Blake laughs a little "And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!"

"That's... very ambitious for a child." Her smile turns into a frown "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale." "Well, that's why we're here! To make it better." "Oh, I am so proud of my baby sister!" Yang hugs Ruby into the air.

Ruby starts kicking out "Cut it out!" The forced sisterly bonding evolves into a dust cloud of fighting limbs and flying stars. Blake laughs slightly "Well, Ruby, Yang, it's a pleasure to ha-"

Weiss storms onto the scene in her own pajamas as Ruby traps Yang's leg. "What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?"

Weiss and Yang, at the sight of each other say "Oh, not you again!" "Shh! Guys, she's right! People are trying to sleep!" "Oh, now you're on my side!"

"I was always on your side!" "Yeah, what's your problem with my sister? She's only trying to be nice!" "She's a hazard to my health!" Blake, who rolls her eyes at the fight, simply closes her book, reaches over to grab her candle, and blows it out, filling the entire room in darkness.

Jaune was glad he decided to stay out of the confrontation. He was simply too tired to join in. He watched the mini fight going on, and saw Blake reach for her candle and blew it out, filling the entire room with darkness and ending the fight keeping him from falling asleep. He soon fell asleep, tired from the not so long, not so grueling day.