* So here is another chapter for behind the mask. I would like to ask the readers to enjoy and please leave a review for when they are done because with reviews I can improve my story and writing. *
And thanks to Melanie Malachite for Beta-Reading
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY that is property of Monty Oum. I do own my OCs.
The four previously lost teens known as Ruby, Jaune, Grane and Azure have finally found the gathering hall where all the other students are located after minutes of walking and searching. After entering the hall their attention was caught by a blonde girl dressed in a brown jacket yelling and waving at their direction.
"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Yang called her sister over.
"Oh that's my sister! Gotta go guys! See after the ceremony!" Ruby said as she went over to her sister.
"Hey Wait!" Jaune cried in a desperate attempt to stop her. "Great, now what?"
Azure placed his hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Don't worry, Jaune. You still got us to keep you company." He said indicating him and his twin Grane.
Jaune smirked. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Come on. We should find some spots before there's none left to take." Grane added. The three teenage boys found spots that weren't far from Ruby and Yang. When they took their spots, Grane was observing the students that filled the gathering hall while Jaune and Azure were having a conversation that didn't interest him. His eyes stopped on someone that was completely out of place. He saw a young girl that was probably around 12 years of age with long brown hair dressed in all white attire consisting of a long sleeve shirt and pants. His eyes were transfixed on her back and nothing else. As if sensing she was being watched, the little girl turn her head slowly to his direction. When he was about to see her face a voice broke his concentration.
"Hey Grane, what are you doing?" Jaune asked
Grane blinked and looked at Jaune, then turned back to the little girl only to find that she was gone. "I was just scoping out the students here, trying to verify if they're any good."
"What's the verdict?"
"I would have to say that we got some competition to contend with here."
Jaune's confidence lowered after hearing that. He wasn't a great fighter and didn't want his two new friends to find out, but the way he was acting right now showed how nervous he was. "R-Really?"
"Ah, come on Jaune! Have some self-confidence. If you ask me, they don't look all that tough!" Azure said enthusiastically slapping a hand on Jaune's back.
"Y-Yeah." Jaune mumbled to himself in attempt to sound confident to the twins.
"So little sister, how is your first day at Beacon going?" queried Yang.
"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?"
"Meltdown already?"
"NO! I literally exploded a hole in front of the school, and there was fire, and lighting, and I think there was some ice?"
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"I wish! I was just lucky that there were some nice guys willing to help me after you ditched me!"
At the mention at guys Yang looked at the direction at where the three boys were standing and formed a mischievous smirk "Wow, Ruby! First day in school and you already got three guys! Didn't know you were so much of a player!"
Ruby blushed at the accusation and sputtered "W-what? No, I wasn't- it's just that I- I was on the floor and t-then they-"
"Oh, playing the damsel in distress card? Didn't know I was rubbing off on you." Yang smiled at her little sister's embarrassed face. She liked the perks of being an older sibling, which is teasing your younger siblings. Just then, Yang looked in the direction of where Grane was standing and remembered his face. "Hey Ruby, wasn't the guy in gray over there that guy who bumped into us back on the airship?"
Ruby stopped her stuttering. "Oh, you're talking about Grane? Yeah, that was him, but he apologized so it's alright… Yang?" she looked to find that her sister was gone and heading straight to where Jaune, Azure and Grane were. " Wait, sis! He said he was sorry! Don't hurt him!"
"Look, all I'm saying is that, if cooked right, you can eat a blow fish without any fear of dying a slow, excruciatingly painful death by poison." Azure said to his brother and Jaune who looked at him with utter confusion.
"What in the world are talking about Azure?" Grane asked in utter disbelief.
"Weren't we talking about food just now?"
Grane pinched the bridge of his nose; sometimes he wondered how they were related in the first place. "No Azure we were discussing how life works here in Beacon when you went off track and started talking about cooking a blow fish."
"Hmm... sorry, I was getting quite hungry since we entered the hall."
"Now that he mentions it, I am too. You think we can go to the cafeteria after this?" Jaune asked.
Grane shook his head at their responses, but he had to admit it was getting close to dinnertime and they could go for something. When he was about to respond, he was cut off by an angry voice.
"Hey You!"
All three boys turned their heads to find an angry blonde girl walking towards them.
"Isn't that the sister Ruby mentioned earlier?" Azure asked.
"Seems like it, brother, but why is she coming here?" asked the confused Grane.
When she arrived, she stopped and place her hands on her hips and faced the boys. Grane remembered seeing her on the airship, but now that she was in front of him he could clearly see her in detail. Tall blonde teenage girl dressed in an open brown jacket and yellow shirt that showed her chest to the world, along with an orange scarf around her neck and brown boots. Around her writs were yellow metallic bracelets, with black fingerless gloves on her hands. It made Jaune, Grane and Azure wonder how Ruby and her were sisters with their difference in appearance.
All in all she was gorgeous and was the girl that every guy would fall head over heels for. Grane, on the other hand, was not like your everyday teenage male. Just by looking at her he could tell that she was energetic, flirtatious, and your regular fun type of girl, but he also knew that behind her pretty face was a fighter who wouldn't hesitate to put you six feet under. "You've got a lot nerve, you know that?" She pointed at Grane.
He turned to her and looked into her lilac eyes with his cold lifeless eyes, which startled her little, but she kept her angry look. "Excuse me?"
"You were that guy on the airship who just bumped into my little sister and didn't apologize."
Grane stared at her for a few minutes. At first, he wasn't going to answer and ignore her, but for the sake of not starting something, he did. "Oh yes, Ruby told me what happened earlier. Don't worry, I apologized and am very sorry for what happened."
"He truly is. Please forgive my brother." Azure asked Yang in an attempt to avoid any trouble with her.
Yang took a look at Azure when he spoke and liked what she saw. The teen looked like Grane, but his eyes weren't as lifeless and scary as his brother, and his hair was different. Plus, he was dressed in blue and brown colors instead of Gray. "Hello there, what's your name?" she asked.
Azure smiled at the change in her demeanor, realizing she wasn't going to fight with Grane, which would have ended badly. "Hi, my name is Azure and this guy in gray is my brother Grane." He said pointing to Grane. "Oh, and this is Jaune."
Jaune waved. "Hello."
Ruby arrived at the scene after the introduction and was glad that Yang didn't hurt Grane. "Oh good, you guys did get in a fight." She said, sighing in relief.
"Welcome back, Ruby!" Jaune said with a smile, glad that she was back.
"Yes, welcome back Ruby. We were just meeting your sister and preventing an incident from happening." said Azure.
Yang turned to Ruby. "Hey little sis, met your new friends and got an apology from Grane here. And good thing too. Would have pummeled him if he didn't."
"I would love to see you try." Grane mentally thought
Yang leaned in on Ruby's ear and whispered, "Got to admit getting twins nice."
Ruby flustered. "I told you I-"
"So Ruby, I have to ask why you were on the floor when we found you?" Grane interrupted.
"Well it all started after my sister ditched me." Yang rubbed her head in embarrassment. "Then I fell on some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me! And then I sneezed. And then I exploded! And she yelled at me again! And I felt really, really bad! And I wanted her to stop yelling at me!"
"YOU!" a new voice rang.
At the sound of the voice, a recent memory sprang into her head and she jumped into Yang's arms. "Oh god, it's happening again!"
Everyone turned to the source of the new voice. There stood a girl, around seventeen like the rest of them, except Ruby. She had long white hair tied in a ponytail and fastened on the left side of her head, and cold blue eyes. She was wearing a white dress, which didn't seem practical for fighting monsters, a white jacket with a red inner collar, and to finish a pair of white high-heel boots. And then there was a rapier fastened on her hip. "You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"
"Oh my god, you really exploded." Yang said in surprise. It caused similar reaction with Azure, Jaune, and Grane in forms of widened eyes.
"What were you thinking?"
"I said I was sorry." Ruby apologized as she got off her sister. She was presented with a brochure from Weiss. "What's this?" Which resulted in fast explanation of how her family's company was not responsible for any harm, blah blah blah.
"Excuse me, but aren't you Weiss Schnee?" Azure asked.
"Who's asking?" she said.
"I am. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Azure Javan, and this is my twin brother Grane Javan." Azure introduced them both.
"Charmed, I'm sure." she said with a roll of her eyes and a tone that didn't go unnoticed by Grane.
"As are we, though unlike my brother I tend to not bother myself with names I hardly care for." Grane responded with an insult.
Weiss snapped at him. "How dare you!"
"Grane!" Cried his twin at his behavior.
Grane put on a neutral face, but on the inside he was smiling, as he knew what kind of person Weiss was. 'You can hide behind that cold rough façade you made for yourself but I know who you truly are. You may act strong, but you are as fragile as anyone in the inside, afraid to show the real you.' He had a feeling he was going to have fun with her.
"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. Why don't you guys start over and try to be friends?" Yang suggested so no fight would start. Azure seemed to like that plan, but for Grane on the other hand he could care less.
"You're right Yang. Hello Weiss, I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out? We could shop for school supplies." Ruby said as she held out her hand as a sign of friendship.
"Yeah, and we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys, like tall blonde and scraggly over here" She said with sarcasm as she pointed to Jaune, acknowledging his existence for the first time.
Unfortunately for Ruby, she didn't catch the sarcasm. "Wow, really?!"
Weiss stared at her "No."
'Ouch, cold-hearted rejection.' Grane thought to himself.
"Ahem!" A voice got everyone's attention to the stage where they found man with green clothes, gray hair, and a cane standing before the microphone. "I'll keep this brief."
Grane looked to everyone who had their attention on the man and waited for what he was going to say next. If he had to guess, it would be some regurgitated speech about welcoming them to the school and being the best they can be. "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."
It caused everyone to smile, which also caused Grane to begin tuning him out, as he didn't want to hear the rest of it. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." That caught his attention and he waited for what he had to say.
"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." With that, Ozpin left, leaving many students confused by his words. Grane's eyes followed Ozpin as he left the stage, leaving Ms. Goodwitch to make the next announcements.
"You will all gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiations begins. Be ready! You are dismissed."
"Well that was… enlightening." Grane said to the group.
"He seemed kind of off." Added Yang.
"Almost like he wasn't even there." continued Ruby.
"If you ask me, kind of off-putting to start the year." finished Azure.
There was a serious atmosphere from the announcement as everyone contemplated what Ozpin had shared. That was until Jaune went up to Weiss in an attempt to get noticed.
"I'm a natural blonde, you know." and like that, it was gone.
After the announcement, the group decided that they would get some dinner, with the exception of Weiss who went off on her own to eat alone somewhere. That left Jaune, Ruby, Grane, Azure, and Yang on a table, eating their respective dishes they had picked out. While they were conversing, Azure was recalling a time when he was younger with Grane. "Yeah, me and my brother got in trouble a lot when we were kids…"
"So much so that we were called the terrible duo by the people of our town." Grane continued.
"Must be fun having a twin as a sibling." Yang brought up.
"It has its ups and downs, like constant singing at night." Grane said, making a jab at his twin.
"Oh come now, it's not that bad." shot back Azure.
"You make my ears bleed and the local street dogs howl in pain. Need I say more?"
"Bah! You don't know talent when you see it. Let me prove it to you." He took a pause and opened his mouth to sing, only to have a biscuit shoved in his mouth courteously by Grane.
"Shut up and eat, Azure." Everyone else laughed at their sibling quips, none more so than Yang and Ruby who could relate to the twins.
Azure chewed on the biscuit that was shoved in his mouth and swallowed. "That was uncalled for."
"Just trying to prevent a mass murder."
"Comical. Now if you would excuse me, I need to refill my glass to wash down the rest of the biscuit somebody jammed down my throat." Azure rose and went to go refill his glass.
"Love you too." replied Grane.
"Is it all always like this with you two?" Ruby curiously asked about the twin's sibling relationship.
"You have no idea." answered Grane. "What about you Jaune? Any siblings?"
Jaune turned his attention to Grane who waited for his reply. "Nah, no siblings here. Only child."
"Wow, that must suck being an only child." said Yang.
Jaune shrugged. "It sometimes gets lonely, but I don't think about it too much."
"Well I'm glad. I couldn't imagine life without my cute little sister." Yang replied with emotion as she went to hug Ruby.
"Yang, stop it. Everyone's watching!" Ruby pleaded her sister to stop.
From across the cafeteria, Azure was watching the group converse, which brought a smile to his face. The reason being was that Grane was socializing with other people. "Good job, Grane. This might be good for you after all." Azure, with glass in hand, wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into someone.
"Oof!"
He was lucky that he didn't drop his water. He did look on the floor for who he crashed into. He saw a white skinned teenage girl, judging from her figure. She had long, straight orange hair reaching to her shoulders. Her eyes were lime green. She was dressed in a long sleeve white shirt and sleeveless orange jacket with a red cross on the back. A pair of green pants and black shoes adorned her lower half. In terms of accessories, she had a gold pendant around her neck, a medical pouch and ammunition around her waist. "I'm very sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you."
The girl got up and dusted herself off. "It's alright, I know you didn't mean to do it."
"Maybe so, but I insist… um?"
"Alani Hildegard, just call me Alani" she responded.
"Alani" he continued, "I am very sorry. Could I do anything to make it up to you?"
"That's nice of you, but I'm fine, really… um your name?"
"Azure Javan. Well, can I at least bring you over to meet my friends and brother, seeing as you're alone."
She thought for a minute. "Alright." They both went over to Azure's group, where they were still talking.
Grane was in for a surprise.
Author's note
So yeah a long chapter writer's block was at fault here. I probably think in the future they might be shorter. give me your thoughts in the reviews.