TheTrueTemplar here, first of all, a massive apology for the lateness of this chapter, after some personal issues and Christmas it took a lot of effort to get back into writing.
However, I'm back on my feet now and finally got this chapter completed, I hope you enjoy!
Deus Vult!
Two days had passed since the meeting with Ozpin and both Teams RWBY and JNPR had woken up early to prepare for their new arrivals, and as the clock struck 6:00 AM all team members slowly got out of their respective beds. In Team JNPR's room, Ren and Jaune began discussing what plans they both had for the day while brushing their teeth,
"So Jaune, how are you going to entertain Luteus on his first day here?" Ren asked his team leader.
"I'll be honest with you Ren," Jaune said putting his hand on Ren's shoulder with a worried look, "I am a little bit anxious about this guy...I mean he's a vampire, what if he tries to kill me and leave me with nothing but my bones, I'm already pretty thin, there won't be anything left!"
Ren sighed before poking his head out of the bathroom and looking at Nora with disappointment, "Have you been scaring Jaune with ridiculous stories again...?"
"Um...no...?" said Nora putting on an innocent smile that clearly screamed 'guilty'.
"Listen Jaune," Ren said, turning back to his leader, "Ozpin said he was fine and I trust him, don't you?"
"Yea I do," replied Jaune after a long pause, who still appeared slightly sceptical before putting a smile on his face, "I'm probably just overthinking it that's all."
"There is something we do need to remember, however," Pyrrha said as she returned from her shower, "We have all been excused from the first and only the first class this morning, we are expected to be in the second class along with the new students."
"Yes, that means we only have one hour and forty-five minutes at most, to get introductions out of the way and show them around the academy," Ren said as he took out his weapons to check them.
"That's piles of time!" said Nora as she jumped on her bed, "All we gotta do is say hi, take them to the cafeteria for pancakes and bring them to class right?"
"I think you may have made our task sound simpler than what it actually is Nora…" said Pyrrha as she stared at the orange haired girl who was jumping across all four beds in the room, "We are to be their first friends here, we aren't just ensuring they eat and attend class."
"Ooooh," said Nora as she stopped jumping, "In that case I'm going to go work on my smiling!"
Pyrrha and Jaune laughed as Ren sighed, sparing a thought for Blaze, the poor boy who had been paired up with Nora. As Nora began working on her smiles, however, an argument was occurring in Team RWBY's room.
"What do you mean you want to show him the city!?" cried Weiss, in disbelief that Yang's statement had actually left her mouth.
"I'm just saying," Yang replied, "One of his hobbies is plants and crap like that, we could take him to the plant store!"
"Yang, we only have an hour and forty-five minutes…" said Weiss holding her palm to her temple, "Could you please leave the planning side of this to me."
"Yea-Yang," said Ruby, "Weiss is right, it's a good idea but maybe on a different day?"
"Yang folded her arms and sighed, "Fine."
"So…Ruby," Blake said trying quickly to clear the air, "What have you, Pyrrha and Jaune planned to do with Luteus?"
"Well, that's the problem," Ruby replied looking downtrodden, "We only have a short amount of time before we go to class so none of us were sure what to do with him…"
"Well if we're all going to Goodwitch's Combat Training then why don't you talk to him about fighting, maybe show him all of your weapons?"
Ruby's eyes widened in delight,
"I can't believe I didn't think of that!" she said as she hurriedly ran across to Team JNPR's room, as she opened the door the members of Team JNPR jumped back in shock, with Nora nearly falling out of the window.
"Guys I've just thought of a brilliant idea for today!" Ruby said while looking at Jaune and Pyrrha,
"Hey!" shouted Blake from Team RWBY's room, clearly not happy at Ruby's blatant plagiarism.
"Oh?" replied Pyrrha calmly, "And what may that be Ruby?
"Well, since the first class we have to go to is a combat one, why don't we explain the class to Luteus and show him our weapons!?" Ruby replied with enthusiasm.
"That's a great idea!" said Jaune with as he stood up and walked towards Ruby, "That way we can use all of our weapons as a conversation topic!"
"Thus eliminating any potential awkwardness, it's perfect," added Pyrrha with a beaming smile.
"Exactly!" finished Ruby, "It's fool-proof!"
All members of Team RWBY and JNPR had been told to meet with the Headmaster outside of the Academy at a painfully early 7:00 AM, ready to meet the four new students. It was not just early, but also a very cold and windy day. Just as Yang was about to start complaining about both the temperature and the time Nora pointed in the air with an excited scream,
"Look! Look! They're here!" she said as she jumped up and down with glee.
"Well, I'm glad someone's happy being up this early..." Weiss said with a frown, wishing that earlier she hadn't missed the chance for a coffee due to all of the planning.
"Come, children," Goodwitch said bluntly as both her and Ozpin began walking forward to the descending aircraft, promptly followed by Team RWBY and JNPR.
As the aircraft turned and landed a sense of both excitement and nervousness began to fill both teams, they had never met anyone from this far away before and a lot was riding on their shoulders, they needed to have a successful first day.
"Smiles everyone..." Ruby murmured nervously looking straight ahead as the aircraft's exit door opened and extended to the ground.
Four soldiers were the first to exit the aircraft, after disembarking they stood at attention facing each other just outside of the ship.
"Fear not children, you will be fine," Ozpin said with a calm smile as he began walking to the aircraft alone, while he was moving an idea popped into Weiss' head,
"Hey!" she said to everyone in a whispered shout, "Open up the picture of who you've been assigned to on your scroll, just to make sure we don't go to the wrong person!"
Everyone agreed, quickly taking out their scrolls and opening their respective images sent by Ozpin before turning their attention back to the aircraft. Two people had emerged from the exit and were easily identifiable as Silvanus Shinrin and Blaze Brand, they walked over towards Ozpin and caused great surprise to everyone as both giving the headmaster a strong hug, it was clear Ozpin had done a lot to help these boys. The headmaster laughed at something Silvanus said before gesturing to the two teams behind him,
"If they even try to hug me..." Weiss said through a forced smile.
"If they do then you will suck it up and deal with it," Blake said also through a forced smile, "We don't want to upset or offend them, especially if they're just being friendly."
The two boys had at this point walked over to the teams with Ozpin,
"Hi, guys!" Silvanus said with a broad smile and a cheery wave, "Thanks for coming out to see us, sorry about the weather, though!"
Blaze nodded in agreement with a smile as he held up a scroll that had the words "Hello" and "Thank you" written on them.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the two new students didn't appear to be as difficult as they had expected,
"Oh don't worry about that," Weiss said with an elegant smile, "It is our duty as students of Beacon Academy to make everyone feel welcome."
Silvanus' smile grew even larger as he turned to Ozpin,
"Wow you were right gramps, they're all really nice just like you said!"
Ozpin sighed at Silvanus' choice of nickname for him which garnered laughs from the other students present,
"Well I did promise you it would be enjoyable here, didn't I?" he said with a smile.
At this point, Blaze started writing on his scroll before turning it around to show everyone,
"I hope we can help each other have a great year," it said.
"Absolutely," said Yang with a thumbs up, "The more the merrier I always say!"
As the new students began conversing with the teams Ruby noticed a large collection of black in the corner of her eye, as she turned to look she saw two other students standing at the top of the exit platform, both of which were dressed in long black cloaks.
"Guys..." she said quietly, nervously pointing towards the aircraft.
As everyone stopped their conversation and turned to where Ruby was pointing they saw two figures, one of whom somewhat resembled the image of Luteus Lamia, but the other looking completely different than the image of Albion Angelus.
As Ozpin turned towards them the new students began to disembark and walk towards him, there were some clear changes to the new students that could be easily identified. For one, Luteus now had several scars on his face and neck, his hair was much longer than that seen in the image, now being held up in a ponytail, he also had a multitude of wounds on his left arm that were clearly still healing. The other boy, who Ozpin confirmed to be Albion, had what appeared to be breathing apparatus covering his nose down to his neck, he had a limp, his hair was messy and also longer than seen in the image sent by Ozpin, now falling in front of his face as opposed to being pulled back, however, most unsettling of all was that the boy was missing his right arm. This change caught both teams off guard and both Silvanus and Blaze picked up on this,
"Oh don't worry if they look scary," Silvanus said with a look of honesty, "They're really good guys when you get to know them," he continued, trying to convince his new classmates.
Blaze held up a sign that read, "They have both sacrificed much, for the greater good."
It was clear to both teams now that they had only seen the surface of the current conflict captivating the world, they were about to meet two boys, only one year older than most of them, who had been at the front line.
"Albion, Luteus, how are you?" Ozpin said with a calm tone extending his hand, seemingly unfazed by the radically changed appearance of the new students.
"We are both well, thank you Ozpin" Albion replied, the breathing apparatus giving his voice a mechanical sound to it. Luteus nodded in agreement before following Ozpin and Albion to meet the teams,
"Albion, Luteus, these are the eight students I informed you of, I am sure they will make both wonderful allies in the field and friends at the dining table," Ozpin said hopefully.
Both teams were then placed under the heavy gaze of the two boys dressed in black, it was if they were being reviewed and seeing if they met some sort of requirements.
After a short silence, Albion spoke,
"I thank you for coming to greet us," he said with a slight bow, "I wish that I could stay and get to know each of you individually but regrettably I must take my leave."
The boy's words seemingly hit Ozpin like a red hot poker as a look of shock rapidly took over his face,
"Team RWBY, Team JNPR, I leave my team in your care, farewell," Albion concluded before bowing again and walking slowly past them and towards the Academy, as he did so Luteus walked over to stand beside the rest of his teammates.
"Well that wasn't so bad," Yang said, "I thought you said he would be hard to talk to?" she asked Ozpin who was still speechless.
Blaze smiled and Silvanus began laughing heartily,
"I've been waiting all this time to see that face gramps!" he said with delight, "Bet that surprised you didn't it?"
Ozpin quickly regained his composure,
"Well I shan't lie, I was not expecting any words to come out of that boys mouth, let alone pleasant ones."
"A lot has happened in the last year Ozpin," Luteus said with both a serious tone and facial expression, "We have all lost a lot."
His words caused Blaze and Silvanus to lower their heads, as they both remembered the tribulations they had gone through.
"I know you have been through a lot, and I am equally sure you will inform me on what I haven't heard of yet," Ozpin said with a calm tone, "However, you are now students at my academy, and I wish for nothing more than you to enjoy your youth, now that you have the opportunity."
The three members of Team ALBS turned to him and nodded in agreement, Blaze and Silvanus smiling at Ozpin while Luteus bowed courteously.
"Now," Ozpin said with a smile placing a hand on Silvanus' shoulder, "I do believe that Team RWBY and JNPR have planned some activities for you boys before you begin your first day at the academy."
"That's right!" Ruby replied with enthusiasm, "We're going to show you around, explain how the school works and get some food!"
Upon the mention of food, Luteus' solemn expression brightened ever so slightly,
"Food...?" he said with curiosity, "Now I'm up for that."
Well, it seems introductions went relatively smoothly didn't they?
Next chapter will be up soon (provided university doesn't want all my assignment done in one week!).
Thanks for reading, and as always if you have any ideas or feedback don't hesitate to tell me!