Training with Qrow wasn't all that bad. Sure, he was a sarcastic asshole most of the time and drunk all the time, but he knew what he was doing. Must be why he got a teaching job, despite his constant drunkenness. He came around every three months, for three years, and then stopped because he said he had other things to take care of that were more important than training a pipsqueak. I wrote down the date in my journal, as the day when Amber became the fall maiden or when she required more vigilant protection.
Three years of training and growing showed on my person. I grew to four feet nine inches, and my skin went from the light tan look to the mocha color that my parents had. My hair was also now long enough to put into a braid. Around the second year is when we told the rest of the family that hadn't caught on yet that I was adopted. None of them really cared at this point, except for Jaune. I think it was his ten-year-old mind that just couldn't comprehend the fact that a non-blood related female had stayed in the house for so long and he hadn't hit on her. He was a regular Casanova, and by that, I mean he hit on every girl and was shot down immediately.
And speaking of Jaune, he had hit a growth spurt in the first month of eleven-years-old. He shot up to being five feet and four inches, and that was after being shorter than me. He liked to poke fun at the fact that he was taller than me now. I just told him to keep on growing so he would hit his head on doorways if he didn't duck. We had a competition of sorts, seeing who could come up with better insults. Then he started something that will come back to bite him in the ass.
It was right after Qrow stopped training me and my mornings went back to self-practice in the backyard. Before lunch, I took a shower so that I wouldn't stink up the kitchen, but Jaune completely ruined it by putting a pie in my face.
"Jaune, you just opened a can of worms on yourself. I will get you back, when you least expect it. It could be tomorrow, it could be six years from now, but I will get you. This is going down in the journal." His face paled a bit at that, and he dashed off. Things that were too important to forget went in the journal, and the reminder to prank Jaune back even got a little sticky note with a heart drawn on it as a bookmark. The entry reads, 'Put itching powder in Jaune's underwear sometime in the next six years, before he turns eighteen.'
I had also finished my swords in their final iteration. They were called Sol and Luna, and when I put them together they were called The Heavens. Instead of having a single scabbard, I had two, one on each side. Sol went on the right and Luna on the left, and I was proficient in dual wielding at this point. I was now working on getting the right materials and pieces for the battle axe that I had drawn up. Parts were not rare, per say, but they were difficult to come by in Ansel. If one of the Hunters wanted something specific, they had to order it in Vale and wait for it to be flown here.
There was also the need for serious Lien with creating mechashift weapons, and I was done leeching off Nicholas' funds for my weapons. So, I did what I thought was normal and got a job in Vale.
0-0-0
"Are you sure you want to take the job? I mean, there's no real trouble with you working in Ansel, maybe with the Hunters to guard the walls?" Nicholas and Juniper were trying to get me to stay, giving me possible options to consider.
"Nah, I'm going to need some serious Lien if I want to make my last weapon, and I just can't get that kind of money here in Ansel. I was already accepted in the workshop over in Vale anyways, so I can't really quit and work over here just because it would look bad if I didn't go to work there even though I had accepted the job." I checked my luggage again, making sure I had everything I needed before I got onto the Dust Plane.
"What about crime? It's so much worse in the city than it is here. What if something happens to you?"
"Calm down, calm down. Beacon is going to be close by and the police are there for a reason, so there's no real threat of crime where I'm going to be staying. And when we touch down in Vale, I'm not going to be sightseeing in any shady parts of town or something like that." The announcer started to call for passengers to board. "Looks like that's my cue. I love you guys, and I'll be sure to call you every now and again."
"Stay safe and work hard, kiddo." Nicholas clapped his hand on my shoulder and Juniper started crying. "Never thought that the youngest would be the third one to fly the nest, huh dear?" He received a punch to the shoulder for that. "Yeah, I know. They grow up so fast."
I boarded the plane and stowed my baggage in the compartment above me with the help of a nice gentleman that had been visiting some relatives. An attendant checked on me to make sure that I was comfortable and that I had my ticket, which I pulled from my pocket and showed her. She was a nice girl, went to school with Fleur before. She came around the house a few times, but I never caught her name. The pre-flight checks went by quickly and we were in the air within five minutes.
Luckily for me and the passengers around me, I didn't have the motion sickness that was prevalent in the Arc household. I had some motion sickness pills in my luggage just in case, but other than that, I just sat back and enjoyed the scenery outside the window. I always liked flying, because you could see large swaths of land passing by below you when you weren't above the cloud layer. And dust planes rarely went above the cloud layer because it weakened the dust in the engines.
I nodded off sometime during the flight, the next thing I know I'm being roused by the person sitting next to me telling me that we're about to land. I glanced out the window again and was met with the sight of the city of Vale in most of its glory. I could just see the docks, with ships unloading and loading large cargo containers with workers milling about like ants. Cars sped around the streets like blood in veins, and people packed the sidewalks. My first day in Vale ever looked like it would be busy.
The plane landed and we all disembarked. Some of the others had family members waiting to pick them up, and others had cars ready. I was stuck to hoofing it towards my destination, which was only a few blocks away, so it wasn't really all that bad. People barely spared me a second glance, only mildly intrigued by my headphones before they went about their day like they hadn't seen me at all. Glad to see a ten-year-old walking around by themselves didn't really garner any real attention. I reached the apartment I was going to be staying in for some time, and it was decent enough.
After entering, I walked to the front desk and rang the bell. The receptionist, a young lady named Cherry (nametags, thank you), turned from her computer. "Hello, and welcome to the Water Gate Apartments. Where are your parents little lady?"
"They're back in Ansel. I was told by Otto to come here, he said there would be a room booked for me." The look of confusion on her face stayed for a moment before she turned back to her computer.
"If I could have your name really quick?"
"Echo DeVris Arc." I stood there with my luggage while she searched my name in the database.
"Huh, so you are. Well, here's your code for your room. Just put it into your scroll and as long as you're renting the room all you have to do is hold your scroll to the door to lock and unlock it. Calling for room service incurs extra fees, and it is asked that any parties or gatherings be approved of by the general manager before they occur. Have a pleasant day!" She smiled and waved me off.
I was on the third floor, with a view of the street. It was a simple apartment, with a queen-sized bed and a connected bathroom. The living room that connected to the bedroom also had a kitchenette connected to it, with a fridge and a stove. I checked to make sure that pots and pans were in the cabinets and that the fridge was clean before I went to put my things away.
I wasn't expected to be at work until tomorrow, so today would be the day to get the lay of the land and get groceries to feed myself. I had gotten Lien by doing a few jobs here and there in Ansel, enough to tide me for a few months if I didn't splurge. My stomach growled after I put everything away, and I decided that my first line of business would be to get food. I left my apartment and locked it behind me with a wave of my scroll, swiftly descending the stairs and exiting from the front door of the complex. I scouted the street for any shops, but there weren't any in sight so I did a mental coin flip on going left or right.
It ended up being right, and I set off weaving in and around foot traffic. I made quick progress, as my diminutive stature allowed me to move through the crowds with ease. Just a few streets down there was a diner, and I ate there. They had some good pancakes and hash browns, but the eggs were over-cooked and the bacon was to crispy. I left a tip for good service though, as I normally would. Next thing to do, after I fed myself, is to find the store to pick up preparation materials for my own meals. As much as I would like to eat food prepared by others, I don't think that my money would last as long as I intended if I ate out every day.
Another short search later yielded positive results. The shop was big and clean, and the employees were friendly enough. I picked up eggs, bacon, oranges, lunch meats and bread. I was torn on getting some fish because they were having a sale on salmon, and then I decided I might as well treat myself this once since it was on sale. After loading everything onto the cashier's belt and paying, I left the store with my purchases in bags. Time to get this stuff back to the apartment and then find the workshop.
I slowed down about a block from the apartment when I heard some sort of scuffle in the alley. A quick peek in showed me some kids were picking on a wolf, or maybe dog, Faunus child. The Faunus couldn't have been older than eight, and he was a runt at that. I could already see some bruises forming on his arms as he huddled in a ball to prevent his face from being kicked. The ones bullying him didn't look familiar, but that was to be expected since I was new to Vale.
"Hey! Cut that out!" My voice bounced of the stones of the buildings and the kicking stopped. The kids looked my way and ran off down the alley. I walked over to the downed kid and placed my bags on the ground, taking him into my arms in a comforting manner. "Hey, it's alright now. They're gone."
He sobbed into my chest, and I cradled him there for a while. His sniffles died down and he looked up to me. "Thanks. Do you think you could help me find my mom? I lost her a few minutes ago."
"Yeah, come on. Let's get out of this alley first." I picked him up and gave him a quick dusting off, picking up my bags after that was done. When we exited the mouth of the alley, I closed my eyes and increased the gain on the microphones in my headset. Rotating my ears a few times, I picked up some yelling from further down the street. I put the gain back down to normal and led the kid down to where I had heard the yelling.
"Onyx, where are you baby?!" The kid's mom was standing there, yelling on the corner and scanning the crowd to spot her child.
"Ma'am, I found your child!" I held my hand up and waved to be spotted.
She pushed people aside to reach us, and she lifted Onyx in her arms. "Oh, my baby boy! Don't scare me like that again! What if something bad happened to you, what if you were kidnapped?" She took a look at him and her face darkened. "Something did happen. Where are the ones who did this to you?!"
"They ran off when I yelled at them to stop. I don't think they're anywhere nearby now, probably too scared to actually get in some sort of conflict. Not scared enough to not kick a kid though." Onyx's mom put him down and picked me up in a crushing hug.
"Thank you so much for helping my boy! Here, have this as a reward." She put me down and rummaged around in her purse, putting a few Lien in my hand.
I pushed it back into her hand. "I can't accept this. All I did was help someone who needed help, I'm not going to get payed for a simple job of scaring off bullies. And besides, we Faunus need to stick together." I lifted my headphones and showed her my ears. "Have a good day." I gave a slight bow of my head and went back to my apartment.
After putting everything up, I decided to take a rest and watch some television. I scrolled through some channels before settling on the news. White Fang protests were getting coverage, with a few of them getting violent. I made a mental note to keep my ears concealed more often now, no more casual reveals of them on the streets. I didn't want to get caught up in the White Fang mess that was picking up. By the time I was bored of watching the news, it was four in the afternoon, and I decided to make an early dinner.
The salmon came out and was spiced, placed in a pan with some olive oil and cooked up. The mouthwatering scent almost made me want to eat it right out the pan, but I knew to let it cool off and finish the carry over cooking before I dug in. I slipped the plate and utensils into the sink and ran some water over then to clean everything off before I put them in the dishwasher. I took the map I had been given on the area to find the workshop.
Otto said that it would be open till seven every day except for Sundays, and today was a Saturday. Another quick trek through the streets and I was standing in front of the store portion of the shop. I walked in and was greeted by the ringing of the bell above the door. A shout came from the door in the back, "I'll be right with ya!" I glanced around at the walls and inspected a few of the parts for sale, as well as the ammunition cases. They were priced fairly, from what I could tell based on how much it cost in Ansel for the same ammunition.
"Welcome to Otto's Parts and Pieces, how can I help ya today?" Otto was a large man, like Roan's dad, but he was more friendly looking. He was also a little larger around the belly, but that was just something that made him look more inviting.
"Hello, my name is Echo DeVris Arc. I'm to be your apprentice."
"Ah, yes, Arc. From what I remember, you're scheduled to come in tomorrow. Let me just make sure real quick." He brought up a clipboard from behind the counter. "Yeah, tomorrow at nine in the morning. What are you doing here now?"
"I figured that I would check the place out before actually starting work, to see what looked like and stuff. It's an impressive selection." He had everything I needed to make the axe, but the problem was how much it all cost. It would take me some time to get enough money for everything.
"Sounds good. Business has been slow today, so I think it would do for you to see the back. Be careful to not touch anythin' just yet, even if you do have your aura unlocked. Some of the stuff is unstable and I don't want to be sued for workplace injury just yet." He showed me to the workshop through the back door, and it was paradise to me right now. Weapon parts hung on the walls, and there was a full weapon on top of a workbench.
"I was working on this when you came in. Hunter came in yesterday saying it was lagging in its mechashift, but I can't seem to find the reason." He pressed the switch to mechashift it and the axe shifted into a one-handed shotgun.
"Shift it again?" He did so and I listened in to the shifting parts. There was a dull scraping sound near the exit of the barrel and the axe head. "There's either something stuck in the weapon, or the piston is low on pressure. It's scraping near the axe head when it shifts to melee mode."
He got out some tools to check it out and let out a chuckle. "You're right, there's this little rock chip here that clipped the piston. I have replacement pistons over there, top drawer on the right, could you fetch me one?" He pointed over his shoulder to a stack of drawers and I had to climb on a stool to reach the drawer he had pointed at. "Thanks, this should be ready for him to pick up tomorrow." He led me back out to the store front. "I look forward to working with you Miss Arc."
"Same here, Otto." We shook hands and I was on my way back out to my apartment. I spotted a guy wearing a white fang logo on the other side of the street that perked up when I exited the store. I walked on like I didn't notice him, but then he crossed the street and started to follow me about fifteen feet back. My hands went back to rest on the handles of my swords, and he backed up a few more feet. I walked past my apartment, with him still on my tail, so I decided to try to lose him by entering a corner store.
Inside the store, while out of his sight, I took off my headphones and undid my braid. Then I walked out the back door into the alley, with permission from a worker there since I told him I was being followed by some guy with a White Fang logo and I didn't know him. I slipped out of the alley and saw the guy waiting outside the store with his gaze stuck on the door. I power walked to my apartment and told Cherry not to let anyone know I was here if someone came calling for me.
After entering my room, I flopped down onto the bed and dialed the home phone. It was picked up after three rings by Nicholas. "Honey! How was your first day in Vale? Did anything big happen? How was Otto's?"
"Calm down, calm down, there's no need to ask me all this so quickly. Breathe." I heard him take and release a deep breath over the line. "To answer your questions, it was okay, nothing real big happened other than me chasing a few bullies off a kid. I met Otto just, like, thirty minutes ago. He seems nice, a good worker for sure." I wasn't going to tell him about the White Fang guy, no need to worry him with the information.
"Not even a day there and you're helping people! That's good to hear." A voice sounded in the background on his side. "Juniper tells me to remind you that she loves you and misses you already."
I smile a bit at that. "Yeah, I love her too. You as well. How were the others today?"
"They're showing that they miss you in their own ways. I'm thinking Jaune misses you the most, since you were the only one that really connected with him. Well, other than me, but I don't apparently count because I'm super old or something."
"I understand it. Being stuck in a house with eight women and only your father to talk about man stuff is hectic. I shudder to think about the day he discovers the female body, he has no privacy."
That got a guffaw from him. "Yes, I know. Juniper and I don't really have the privacy that we used to either. But with you out of the house, we have some more time to ourselves."
I cringed and shudder. "Nicholas, too much information for me. I do not need to imagine my parents getting hot and messy together. I think I'm going to turn in early tonight, tomorrow is going to be my first day of work and I don't want to be dead on my feet."
"Okay, I'll let you go now. Have a good sleep." He hung up and I laid my head down on the sheets for a few minutes before getting up to take a shower. The complimentary shampoo and bar soap were okay, but I decided that tomorrow I would go pick up some better shower items. The shower was quick, and I toweled myself off before slipping into my night clothes.
"All in all, not a dreadful day. Let's get better days though." I went around flipping lights off and slid into bed, turning off the bedside lamp last. With my muscles relaxed from the shower and the exhaustion from everything else, I fell asleep quickly.
0-0
Somewhere nearby…
The White Fang member that had been following Echo knocked on a door to a run-down building in the dock areas. "Password?"
"Infinity Tail."
The door opened to let the member in, and he slid inside before the door closed behind him. He made his way past rooms that were occupied by Faunus sitting around low tables. Another door at the end of the hall was opened for him and he entered. A burly Faunus sitting at the table stood up and made his way over to the member. "It is good to see you; do you have news regarding the one I asked you to follow?"
"She knew I was following her and gave me the slip at a corner store. I don't think she's interested in joining the White Fang."
The burly Faunus nodded his head and rubbed his jaw. "That's too bad, we could use some more fighters to help in our rallies. I'll send word out to the others to keep an eye on her if they see her, but now to follow her. There's no need to stalk a little girl uninterested in The Fang." He scratched the wolf ears on his head. "That is all."
The member nodded his head and left, and the burly Faunus went back to his planning. "This girl is a wildcard. Her hands went to her weapons, I don't really want to see her again. I just hope Bane knows what he's doing…"
0-0-0
Years went by, working for Otto in that shop, and I gathered enough money to build my battle axe, hammer, rifle, shield. I named it Jolder, a fitting name I believe. The dust channels were on one side and they looked like a tree with sprouting leaves. The shield straps could retract into the head with a touch of my hand, and the barrel handle was telescoping with reinforced sides so it didn't bend while I swung it around in hammer or axe form. The magazines fit into the receiver in the head, so I had to carry them around in holders on my lower back when I wasn't using the rifle form. It had a flat top and straight blades that had a slight flat bottom that then curved deeply towards the handle.
I called home every month or so to keep everyone posted on how I was doing, and when I got a break from work, I took a Dust Plane back to catch up with everyone in person. The twins had opened a detective shop in Ansel, which was more like just them finding lost items and such, but it was still work. Lily was doing well in school, and Jaune was just about done with his school year. He looked like he was debating something the last time I visited, like he wanted to speak with me about something but he never worked up the courage to do it.
I was back in my room now, in a rented house, as I had moved out of the apartments I had started out in. Work was good at Otto's right now, and I was about to head out to pick up a shipment of fire Dust that he needed for ammo. While he could take in smaller shipments of Dust, larger orders had to come from the shops around the area. I dressed in my new combat wear, because casual wear nowadays was overrated.
Jeans with light blue combat boots, fitted with weight dispersal tech that I had rigged up a few months ago. I could step as light as a feather with these suckers. A sports bra held up my now decently sized mammary glands (I refuse to call them breasts on me), and a pink tank top with harnesses for my weapons went on top. My now waist length hair went into a braid and then put into a bun and my headphones were put on. With the radicalization of the White Fang, Faunus were given more than two glances now, especially if they had weapons.
The gloves went on, tightened and now specially reinforced as they had grown with me. Then came the sword in their scabbards. And finally, the axe, in its shield form, placed on my back. I looked in the mirror at myself and stood at my full height of five feet and five inches, and then gave myself finger guns. "Looking good there, Echo, like a true badass." I left my house, locking it manually behind me. The streets at night were nearly as busy as they were during the day, but as I closed in on the Dust shop I was picking up the shipment from, traffic died down to just a few people every now and again.
I entered the store and the bell rang, signaling my entrance. "Hey geezer, I came for the shipment." He just nodded and pointed towards the back of the store, the shipment was ready for pickup. "I'm just gonna stay here and look through your stuff real quick. You got the latest weapon and Dust mags?" He nodded and pointed to the magazine racks. "Thanks."
We got Dust from him every now and again, and he wasn't a real talker. Mostly just grunts and nods, with a few hums every now and again. He was my go to for raw Dust when I need to stock up for my weapons, mostly because of how much Otto bought from him showed that he was trustworthy. While I was flicking though a few pages of the Dust mag I was reading, the bell rang again. I didn't really pay attention to who it was until they asked the geezer if the latest weapon mag was in. I glanced over and grimaced when I was met with the sight of a red hood.
The little red reaper herself was standing beside me, in From Dust Till Dawn. Reading a new weapon magazine with her headphones blasting Casey Williams. I turned on my own music, making it seem like I wouldn't hear anything else going on in the shop. We were both standing there for about five minutes before the bell rang again, and in came Roman Torchwick.
"Finally! Do you know how difficult it is nowadays to find Dust shops open this late? Pretty difficult! And that makes my job all the more difficult." He pointed his cane at the shop owner, which I saw just out of the corner of my eye.
"Take all the money that you want, just don't hurt me." The most words I had heard out of him in one sentence at this point.
Roman laughed, his head tilting back. "No, we don't want the money. Give us the dust." The thugs that had followed in after him began pulling cases up and opening them, taking out containers and sticking them in the dust dispensers. He spotted Ruby and I, and nodded his head over at us to a thug with his gun out. Good, he hadn't noticed I saw them.
"'Ey, hands up and turn around." I acted like I hadn't heard him while Ruby straight up didn't. "'Ey! I said, hands up!" This time he bumped our shoulders to get our attention.
Ruby turned around, glancing at me and then the thug. He pointed at his ears, indicating he wanted her to take her headphones off. She did so, and glanced at me again. I just shrugged and went back to my magazine. "Are you… robbing us?"
"Yes. Get your friend to turn around and put her hands up, or I shoot the both of you." He motioned with his gun towards me.
I just grunted and put the magazine back on the rack, making sure it went back in the exact same spot I had found it in. I spun around and socked the guy in the jaw, sending him spinning through the front window into the street. I followed after his limp body and Ruby came soon after. The rest of the thugs rushed out when they heard the crash. They just stood there with dumb looks on their faces until Roman motioned towards us with his cane. "Well? Get them, you idiots!"
Ruby had deployed her scythe and got to work on the guys with their guns out while I engaged in the close-range combat. One swung at me from my right, coming in towards my shoulder and I ducked into the swing and the blade nearly hit me. I grabbed him by the arm and used the momentum to throw him into two others that were coming from the left side. With them dispatched, I heard Ruby engaged in battle with Roman and I picked up one of the axes from the ground and chucked it at him. He leaned back and dodged it, but made a tsk noise with his tongue.
"As much as I would love to continue this babysitting, I must go." He lifted his cane and the end swung up to show a crosshair. The Dust round came out quickly and Ruby and I dodged different ways, with the round exploding on the asphalt somewhere behind us. When we looked back to where Roman had been, he was gone. A survey of the area, and we found him climbing a ladder on one of the nearby buildings.
"Geezer, you going to be alright here by yourself?" He nodded and grunted. "Come on, red, after him!" We got up there as fast as we could, Ruby climbing the ladder and me using some juice of my semblance to enhance a jump. Ruby popped off a shot that missed him narrowly, impacting the side of the Bullhead he was stepping into instead.
"You kids are damn persistent!" He grabbed a fire dust crystal from his pocket and tossed it towards us, lifting his cane to take aim at us.
I grabbed the axe shield and positioned myself in front of Ruby, tanking most of the blast while the rest bled off to the sides. When we looked back up, the bullhead was beginning to fly off. I switched the axe into its 20mm rifle mode and fitted in a mag, and then began popping off rounds while using my semblance to keep myself rooted. The problem with my rifle is that I have to hip fire it, since there is no way to hold it up to my shoulder comfortably, and I still hadn't gotten much time in the range to practice with it.
The Bullhead was beginning to turn around, the other door sliding open. I caught a glimpse of a red and gold dress before it lit up. I shifted my axe back to the shield and hunkered down, ready for the barrage of fire. It was blocked by pieces of roof left over from the explosion Roman caused. The rest of the pieces that hadn't been destroyed were shot up at the Bullhead, but those were destroyed as they came. The door slid back and the Bullhead flew off quickly, leaving Ruby and I on the rooftop with Goodwitch.
"Oh my gosh! That was awesome! And a real huntress! Can I get your autograph?" Ruby was all up in Goodwitch's face. She just raised an eyebrow at me and I gave a half shrug and a shake of my head before dropping my shoulders.
"Both of you will follow me. No speaking." She stalked off and dropped to the ground. We followed her, dropping off the building as well. The thugs that we had taken out were being shoved into a police vehicle, and they grumbled obscenities to the cops before they were cuffed over the head and the door was shut. Ruby and I were ushered into a dark vehicle while Goodwitch slid into the passenger seat. We took off at a quick speed, and the streets of Vale blurred through the window.
The ride was quiet, well, other than the squealing of Ruby sitting next to me and the tapping we heard from Goodwitch's scroll. We reached the Vale Police Station and were shown to an interrogation room, and the door shut behind us. Goodwitch sat us down on the other side of the table from her, and I squirmed at how uncomfortable the seat was. It was like I sat on a bar of steel that had just cooled. Very solid and very rough.
Goodwitch pulled out a tablet and faced it towards us. It showed us the camera footage from earlier, how I had punched the thug through the glass and the whole fight outside. "I hope you both realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, at all. You put yourselves and others at great risk by pulling off this stunt!"
Ruby spoke up, putting both hands on the table and leaning forward. "But they started it!"
"It doesn't matter who started it. You should realize in those kinds of situations just how many people are involved, not just the enemy. But if it were up to me, you would be sent home with a pat on the back," Ruby perked up, "and a slap on the wrist!" Goodwitch slammed her riding crop onto the table and Ruby scooted back in her chair. "Sadly, it is not up to me." She moved back to the door. "There is… someone who wishes to meet you two."
The door opened and in walked Ozpin, with a tray of cookies in his offhand and a mug of coffee in his main hand. His cane was strapped to his side. He set the tray down and sat on his own chair, Goodwitch standing behind him. He stared at Ruby for a few seconds. "You have silver eyes." Ruby looked perplexed at this, like 'What does that even have to do with this situation right now?'. Ozpin took the tablet from Goodwitch and rewound it to the point where Ruby had gotten to melee combat. By this point, Ruby had stuffed all the cookies in her mouth and was attempting to chew them and not choke. "Where did you learn to do this?"
A mess of garbled words and crumbs came out in response and I cringed as some of them hit me. She swallowed and spoke again. "Signal academy?"
Ozpin took a look at the footage again and stopped it when it showed Ruby pulling off a difficult move. "And they teach those in training to use one of the most dangerous weapons out there?"
Ruby looked nervous and rubbed her feet and hands together. (Hands and feet separately, of course) "Well, one teacher in particular…"
"The only teacher I know to be able to teach to this level with a scythe is a dusty old crow…"
Ruby perked up again. "That's my uncle Qrow! He's super cool! Before he took me under his wing, I was total garbage, but now I'm all like Hoowaa! Witchaa!" She made karate motions with her hands.
"And what is an adorable girl like you doing at a school like Signal?" He sipped from his mug. The smell of coffee wafted over to me. Note to self, stock back up on coffee beans, you only have enough for one more brewing at home.
"I want to be a Huntress." She looked down at her hands, wringing them together.
"You want to go out and slay Grimm? Help people?"
"Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon! You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, hey, I might as well make a career out of it!" She giggled at the thought. "I mean the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, gosh, you know!?"
I took an earpiece of my headphones away from my ear and rubbed at it, trying to get my hearing back. Ozpin turned towards me. "And you, Miss, you've been awfully quiet during this exchange. What is your story?"
I put my earpiece back on and sat straighter. "I am In Vale currently working as an apprentice to Otto in his shop. I was out to collect a shipment of dust that we need to fill out some orders when we were confronted by Torchwick and his men. I sought to bring the fight outside so that the shopkeeper was not brought into the fight, and Miss Rose here followed. After dispatching of the men in red and black suits that belong to the Red Axe Gang, we confronted Torchwick. Of course, he fled to the roof, and the rest is known firsthand by Miss Goodwitch."
Ozpin just rose an eyebrow and took another sip of his brew. "Not quite what I was asking for. What is it that made you want to be a Huntress, and where did you train? The tactics you used do not seem familiar to me, but they were effective nonetheless."
"I wanted to be a huntress to help people, defend those who cannot defend themselves. To remove threats that may harm more than just a few. And as for where I trained, I grew up in Ansel and was trained there from the age of seven to the age of ten. When I was ten, I came here to work for Otto in his shop, and that is where I made Jolder, my battle axe."
"Your battle axe?" I glanced towards Goodwitch and she nodded, so I slung the axe off my back from over my shoulder and extended the handle. The head stayed the same as when it was in shield mode but the straps retracted into it. And the reason why it hadn't been this was before was because I had to switch it to its hammer mode tow use the rifle. "Ah, I see. A fitting name for such a weapon. And you made it yourself, with no aid from anyone?"
"Yes, I made it by myself, with my own funds. I also created my swords Sol and Luna along with these gloves and the headphones that I'm currently wearing. The headphones and gloves were made when I was seven. I took training under the Huntsmen and Huntresses in the village, and every now and again Qrow would come to train me."
"WAIT!" Another shout in my ear, another attempt to gain my hearing back. "You know my uncle Qrow!? He trained you?"
"Yes, and yes. He spoke of you and your sister occasionally." I turned back to Ozpin. "Does that satisfy your need for knowledge?"
"One more thing. It says you graduated from a civilian's high school when you were seven, the earliest anyone has ever graduated from primary schooling. Is this true, and if it is, did you cheat to get the results you did?"
"It is very much true, and I did not cheat to achieve those scores." I looked him in the eye, daring him to challenge me.
He looked down and placed the tablet on the table. "Do you two know who I am?"
Ruby beat me to the punch. "You're Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon."
He held up his mug and smiled. "Yes, hello."
"Nice to meet you." Ruby said, rocking in her chair.
"How would you two like to come to my school?"
Ruby shot forward, the chair clattering to the floor. "WOULD I!? More than anything!"
I cracked my neck. "Is there some sort of catch, some fine print we need to read into? Initiation is in a week, no way you can fit us in in that short a time."
"There is no catch. And believe me, I can fit you two in in that time." He sipped from his mug again. "So?"
I ran the possibilities through my mind, the possible butterfly effects, and sighed. "I accept. I will have to tell Otto about this."
"Do not worry about that, Miss Arc." Glynda showed me her scroll. "I have already informed your employer that you will be leaving his employ to go to Beacon. If there are no more questions, we will allow you to leave now and get ready for initiation. Your passes will be sent to your scrolls, please make sure that you are at the Vale Air Harbor at the appointed time to get on a Bullhead for Beacon."
She didn't really give us a chance to ask questions before she ushered us out of the station and shut the door, most likely to go deal with the paperwork that would be required for the criminals we had taken care of. Ruby turned to me and held out her hand. "So, I never really got your name, other than Arc. My name is Ruby Rose, and it's a pleasure to meet you!"
I met her hand with mine, giving a firm shake. "Echo DeVris Arc. If you ever meet my brother, don't make any indication you know me."
"Okay?" She retracted her hand from mine slowly. "So, wanna go get some ice cream or something?"
I checked my wallet, to check how much cash I had, and shrugged. "Sure, I know this pretty cool place on Third West that sells some sweet treats."
Ruby face palmed. "Oh no, not another one." She looked up to the sky. "Why would you do this to me? Isn't one enough already?!" When she realized I had stopped walking to stare at her, she lit up like a Christmas tree. "Ehehe, sorry about that. It's just that Yang already makes way too many puns. You're pretty different than you were in there. What's up with that?"
"Simple efficiency. If I do not need to dice words or add in some extra flavoring, then that is what I'll do. There are times when being serious can get you kudos with others." I took my scroll out and showed her a picture of Weiss I pulled up. "Like someone from Atlas. They hold high priority on militaristic behavior in seriousness and efficiency. They will add flowery words at times, but only to be obscure."
"But why would someone try to be obscure when talking? It makes sense to be up-front with everything so nobody gets hurt by secrets."
"Politics, Ruby. And there are secrets that can hurt people simply by existing, no need to tell anyone about them. And are you saying that even you don't have secrets you want to stay hidden?"
She made a zipping motion on her mouth. I chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Hey, before we get there, do you think we could go get my sister? I should tell her the good news! And she has the money."
"You went into a Dust shop without any money? You know what, never mind, sure let's go get your sister. Lead on." I let her take the lead, and she led us to the Water Gate Apartments. Turns out, they got put in the room I used to use. Ruby left me downstairs while she went to get Yang. "Hey Cherry, how's life treating you?"
She made a so-so motion with her hand. "It's not terrible, but it could be worse. I'm still hoping to get a raise; the bills are starting to stack up."
I winced. "Yeah, that sucks. I'll try to put in a good word to the manager for you."
Ruby stopped further conversation by coming down with Yang in tow. "Echo, this is Yang. Yang this is Echo. She has asked me to not tell her brother, if we ever meet him, that we know her."
Yang shot a questioning look at Ruby before holding her hand out for a shake. "Pleasure to meet you, Yang. Qrow told me how you like puns."
A spark lit in her eye. "And it looks like we're already going to be the best of friends. So, tell me, how did you meet my lil sis?" She grabbed Ruby in a headlock and gave her a noogie.
"We stopped a well-known criminal from robbing a Dust store and then Ozpin asked us to come to Beacon." I said in a nonchalant way, looking at my nails.
She put her arms under Ruby's armpits. "Oh my gosh! My little sister got into Beacon two years early! And she already made a friend! This is awesome!" She began to crush Ruby in a bearhug.
"Yang… need… air." She was dropped and gulped in lungsful of air. "Anyways, we were going to go get some ice cream to celebrate our acceptance to Beacon! And I wanted you to come as well."
"Sounds sweet, let's go get some cool treats." She gave that lopsided smile and made her finger guns.
"Sorry, already made those puns when we were coming over here. We might as well head on over now, since they won't be open much longer." She deflated and followed me, with Ruby bringing up the rear. "So, have any tasty scoops about anything that's happened lately?"
Ruby groaned and Yang beamed. She went on about how she had gotten into a bar fight earlier this week, in great detail. About the massive amounts of property damage she and the opponents made. She didn't go into why she was at the bar to begin with, but I knew. Her story lasted us all the way to the ice cream shop, and Ruby picked up some cookie dough, Yang got mango and strawberry sorbet while I got raspberry sorbet. We ate in silence, with Ruby occasionally taking bites out of it and then complaining about brain freeze
When we finished we just walked the streets, talking about whatever came up. Yang was surprised to learn that I had made all three of my weapons, and she was even more excited when I told her that I also fought hand-to-hand. She made me promise to have a boxing match with her some time, and I agreed to try. I didn't tell them my semblance, and there was no way they would guess it right now. Ruby was probably the closest to figuring it out, but she wasn't making any guesses.
We parted ways and I headed back home to pack my things away in preparation for moving to the dorms. When I was about halfway through the stuff I would be taking, I got a call on my scroll. I grabbed it from my pocket and answered without looking at who was calling. "Hello, Echo Arc speaking."
"Echo, Jaune is gone."