Sam awoke to the sound of a whistle blowing. He jolted up immediately. He looked in the direction of the offending noise, but all he saw was a wall. He kicked it lamely a few times, only for another whistle noise to come from it in response, surprising Sam enough to make him fall off the bed mid-kick.

While on the floor upside-down, he looked at the only other occupied bed in the room, which contained his friend and partner, James, who had managed to sleep through the whistle.

Sam shook his head. James was quite possibly one of the deepest sleepers on the face of the planet. Very little could wake James up, which was probably why James still fell asleep in full combat gear. And why he had his Semblance active while sleeping; he didn't need as much time to sleep if he experienced the world several times faster while sleeping.

However, Sam knew of two ways to wake James up. His alarm on his phone, and…

"James, wake up." Sam said.

James blinked the sleep out of his eyes, and then gently rubbed both of them with the palms of his hands. He turned to look at Sam.

"Sam…?" He groaned. "What time is it?"

Sam shrugged. "Seven in the morning. Class starts in two hours."

James blinked a few more times before rolling over. "I can sleep for another hour then."

And that was it. James was out like a light. Sam facepalmed at James' action. Sam had almost forgotten that James could be exceptionally lazy without a push in the right direction.

"James, wake up."

James looked to be rubbing his eyes again, before he turned back over. "Sam? What time is it now?"

"You just went back to sleep. It's still seven in the morning."

James groaned, and started to roll back over.

"Oh no you don't! We agreed to explore the school before class." Sam said, grabbing James' shoulder and forcing him onto his back.

James let out a deep breath and opened his eyes. "I change my mind, we'll do it later."

"Nope. Now. Come ON James." Sam asserted.

James sighed in defeat. "Fine. Let me have a shower first. I need to wake up."

Sam nodded in acceptance. "Alright, I'll decorate my side." He said.

Sam started to set up. He and James had to keep the beds that the school had provided, which meant that there were two beds too many. However, they had already decided what to do with them. Both members of team JS had made bunk beds. Sam because he needed space for his stuff and James because he liked sleeping on the top bunk of the bunk bed. Sam slept on the bottom bunk of one bed, and James slept on the top of the other.

Sam didn't have too many personal items, mostly just a few posters. He had many, many cases of dust though. So many in fact, that he actually had to use both spare mattresses to house his remaining dust.

It probably said something about Jacques' lack of faith in Sam that he gave him so much dust. Sam didn't like Jacques much.

Either way, Sam was done by the time James got out of the bathroom. Sam had showered the night previous, so all he needed to do was change into the uniform.

James was somewhat comfortable with the uniform. Honestly, he cleaned his clothes every other day anyways, so he was used to wearing the same thing. The only problem that he had with the uniform was that they would be somewhat restrictive, and he would definitely be too warm by the end of the day. He loosened his tie so that it wasn't choking him, and then left his blazer unbuttoned. Honestly, it was bad enough that he'd have to tuck in his shirt, he hated that.

Hearing the bathroom door open, James turned to look at his partner… Who had done the same exact thing he'd done.

"Huh. Honestly figured that the Schnee family would have beat 'proper dress' into you by now." James said to his partner.

Sam shook his head. "Nah. They've tried, but it didn't stick."

James raised an eyebrow in questioning. "And Weiss will just accept how you're dressing?"

Sam nodded. "She'll probably be a little frustrated, but she knows that I'm not gonna back down."

James shrugged in nonchalance. "Your funeral. I figured you'd want to get on her good side today…"

Sam's eye twitched, and then he looked down at himself. "You… May have a point."

"Probably. You gonna need more time?" James asked.

Sam shook his head. "No, I just need to grab my hat."

James had started to head towards the door, but froze when he heard the end of Sam's sentence. He turned back to face Sam, a deadpan expression on his face. "Really? You're going to wear your stupid hat with your uniform?"

"It's my hat." Sam said, as if that explained his entire reasoning, which it probably did.

James just shook his head in exasperation. "I'll be waiting outside." He announced.

Sam looked down at his hat a few seconds before securing it on his head. "No one appreciates you but me…" He muttered to the hat.

Beacon was big. Very big. There's a few basement levels that weren't on the show, what looked like training or combat simulation rooms. Most of the more traditional book-based classrooms were on the top floors, and the dorms were all in the same wing.

We managed to find the cafeteria, and sat down for a quick breakfast at 8:30. Our first classroom was near the cafeteria, so we could take our time getting there. I vaguely remember that team RWBY were late for their first class, so in a way I'm happy that Sam woke me up early. Granted, I'm still upset with him for waking me up as early as he did, but it wasn't quite his fault. I had fallen asleep at 8:00PM the night before and only slept for two and a half hours with my semblance on before I woke up. After that, I had gone out and trained for a bit, then come back in at 6:00AM, and then fell asleep with my Semblance on again, so it felt like I'd gone a full day and then slept for three hours.

I'd told Sam all this and he'd looked a little guilty for a few seconds before he smiled at me in a way that told me he had not forgotten how much mischief I'd had at his expense recently.

I'd get him back for it… When I wasn't so tired.

We soon left for our first class, which was a basic physical exercise class, running laps, lifting weights, etcetera. It was probably meant to help wake us up, but I was way too tired for this crap right now.

Unfortunately for me then, my training partner was Sam, who had been my training partner for a good two years now, and knew what to do when I didn't want to train, which was almost always.

"James, come on! You said you were going to get to four-fifty today!" Sam shouted in encouragement, as I lay down on a bench, the bar for the bench press directly above me, my arms laying lax by my sides.

I glare at Sam. "That was before you gave me three hours of sleep Sam!" I shout back. Sam was currently doing bicep curls, likely each dumbbell weighing more than he does with his sniper rifle. Luckily all weights in this gym were simply metal bars with gravity dust in the middle and screens on each side where you can set the weight. It makes it so that Sam doesn't have to lift ridiculously large dumbbells in order to get a workout.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Suck it up James. The whole point of Beacon is to push your limits to improve, so just… Think of this as one of those limits, alright?"

I sigh. "Alright, alright. I'll do it."

I take a deep breath in, and set my barbell to four hundred and fifty pounds, roughly four times my body weight and still under what a the best melee fighters would use.

I push, and my muscles are immediately on fire. I extend the weight fully above myself, hold it for a few seconds, and then gently bring it back down to rest. I then pull myself off the bench.

"Right, that's enough weights, now it's time to run."

Sam frowned in disapproval. "James, we just started weights! Come on, you need-"

"Can'thearyoumusic'stooloud!" I shout over my shoulder, plugging in my headphones as I run towards the nearby track.

And then I ran for the rest of the lesson.

Sam was not amused.

The next class was dust theory, which was interesting, especially since Sam really knew his stuff when it came to that class, but it was the last class of the day that was more interesting.

On paper, it would be one of our most important classes: Grimm studies. Analyzing the weaknesses of different types of Grimm and how to kill them. However, the teacher, much like in the show, well….

"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man…" Professor Port informed us, obviously using his story as a lesson for… Something…

Forget it, the man had no idea what his lesson plan was anymore. That's the reasoning I've come up with here. I refuse to believe that Ozpin actually hired someone this incompetent and hadn't fired him yet. He had simply forgotten the lesson plan. That was it.

…

…

…

Okay, I was close to dozing off now… Seriously, I don't do this often, and I'd been wide awake ever since the end of the first class today, so it wasn't like I was especially tired or anything…

And then canon decided to reel its ugly head.

"Now, who believes they embody these traits the best?" The professor asked.

Uh oh… I thought to myself. We had actually been sharing this class with team RWBY and JNPR, but Sam and I had decided to sit near the very back.

"I do sir!" Weiss shouted, standing up with her hand raised.

I turn to give Sam a meaningful glance. He sighs, and nods slightly. He knows that he needs to talk to Weiss as soon as possible. He can probably help her out more than Professor Port can, and maybe mend things without Weiss insulting Ruby.

"I'll talk to her." Sam whispered to me.

I nod in affirmation, and then get back to observing Weiss, who had just noticed that her opponent was a boarbatusk. She quickly dodged to the side, and looked shocked at her new opponent.

She was quickly getting more and more frustrated as Ruby kept trying to give her advice, and at one point it cost her dearly. The Grimm managed to trap Weiss' weapon between its tusks.

"Show it who's boss!" Ruby shouted at her partner.

Weiss turned around, and was about to yell at Ruby, when the Grimm decided to use the distraction to its advantage. It reeled back, sending Weiss' rapier flying and sending Weiss in the other direction.

I hear a intake of breath from Sam's direction, but I didn't look away from Weiss. I didn't remember how this fight had gone, so I was concerned that Port would have to get involved and make the situation between Ruby and Weiss even worse.

I didn't doubt for a second that Weiss was in no danger, I knew that Port was actually a good huntsman, despite the fact that this class had shown he might not be a good teacher. However, I may have forgotten to tell Sam that, so he probably thought that he would have to step in.

Luckily for all involved, Weiss managed to trick the boarbatusk and grab her sword, she then used her runes to deflect its charge, flip it on its back and then skewer it through the stomach.

"Bravo! A wonderful performance by young Ms. Schnee!" Professor Port announced. "It appears that we ARE in the presence of a true huntress-in-training!"

Sam let out a deep breath. Weiss glared angrily at Ruby.

"Sam…" I start.

"I see it…" Sam says, resigned to his fate. "I'll… Make sure she doesn't do anything she'll regret."

I nod in acceptance.

"I believe that's all the time we have here for today! Please go over your assigned readings before the next class!" Professor Port announces.

What assigned readings?! We don't have a textbook and he spent the entire class talking about his own stories of being a hunter! I furiously thought to myself.

Whatever. I've got to get some training done anyways. I grab my bag and head towards my locker. I want to practice my fighting skills without my Semblance. I've been relying too much on it again, and with my low aura pool, that's a really bad idea. I wave Sam goodbye and head out of the room. He peels off from me and heads after Weiss.

Sam had been moving through the hallways, trying to find Weiss before Ruby did. He was concerned about her. He knew that Weiss had been upset about not getting the leader position for her team, and he had yet to properly apologize for forgetting to tell Weiss that he would be joining her at Beacon Academy. On top of that, James apparently remembered that Weiss said some pretty hurtful things to Ruby after their first day of classes, and James pointed out that nipping that problem in the bud might be for the best.

However, Weiss had ran off, probably towards her dorm room, but Sam didn't know where their room was, only the general direction that all dorms were in, which meant that he had to guess how Weiss would head back to her room, which involved looking up and down several hallways and moving across several floors.

Finally, he found her. She was storming away from him, so he had to pick up the pace to catch up to her.

"Weiss!" He shouted, catching her attention.

Weiss spun around, and looked like she was about to start shouting, before she realized who had spoken up. Her posture relaxed slightly. "Oh… Sam." She said. "How are you?"

Sam frowned at Weiss' demeanor. "Weiss… I'm sorry for forgetting to tell you that I would be going with you to Beacon… I really messed up there."

Weiss stared at Sam for a few moments. She opened her mouth and brought a hand up as if to make a statement, before her posture slumped and she closed her mouth.

"It's alright Sam… I can't stay angry at you." Weiss said with a sigh.

"Okay, now I KNOW something's wrong. You'd never let me get away with that otherwise." Sam said with a frown. "What's bothering you Weiss?"

Weiss didn't say anything for a few moments. She was weighing telling Sam what was really going on, or just brushing him off. She was still somewhat upset at him for the shenanigans the other day, so she wasn't sure if she wanted to talk with him for too long. However, right now, she was dealing with something pretty big… And having her best friend helping her through it might be for the best.

"I'm… A little upset about not being team leader." Weiss admitted.

Sam snorted. "Yeah, I uh, kind of noticed that."

Weiss glared half-heartedly at Sam. "I… Suppose I was acting… A little bit childish…" Weiss admitted. "I was just so… Frustrated!"

Sam nodded. "But don't you think you're being a little unfair? I talked with Ruby a bit the other day, and she seemed nice."

Weiss shook her head. "That's not the point! I should have been leader! I've studied, I've trained, I've worked so hard…" Weiss choked back a sob. "I… Just wanted to get away… I wanted to prove myself…L-like Winter..."

Weiss collapsed to her knees, covering her eyes with her hands. She was sobbing uncontrollably.

Sam raced to get next to Weiss, hugging her tightly. Weiss was quick to return the hug, sobbing into Sam's chest instead of her own hands.

After a few moments of comforting Weiss, Sam held her shoulders at arms length and "Weiss… It'll be alright, okay? Your dad can't get you here. You don't have to prove anything to him. He's not going to get disappointed in you, he's not going to shout at you, he's not going to tell you what's 'proper'. The people you think you need to prove yourself to know you are strong, the only person who isn't happy about your standards is yourself, alright? Your team knows it, I know it, and all your professors will know it soon. There's nothing for you to worry about!"

Weiss stared into Sam's eyes for a few more moments, and looked like she was about to say something when a sob from behind Sam caught the attention of both students. Turning around, they saw Ruby, who had tears in her eyes, and was covering her mouth with her hands.

"I'm SO sorry! I didn't- I didn't know that- I just- I wanted to see what was wrong with Weiss and then I heard her crying so I wanted to see what was wrong and then I heard you both talking and I just stood there but I didn't mean to listen in but I couldn't move and then…" Ruby kept rambling off apologies, which amused Sam, and only made Weiss seem guilty.

Even after I had been so mean to her… She still came over to see what was wrong… Weiss thought to herself

Weiss stood up and wiped her eyes, and schooled her expression. She walked towards Ruby, not saying a word as she did so. Once she got within arms length of her partner, she stopped. She took a deep breath and then held out her arm.

"I believe we got off on the wrong foot Ruby… My name is Weiss Schnee." Weiss introduced.

Ruby blinked in confusion, the tears in her eyes still present. She seemed to get it after a moment, and smiled brilliantly. "Hi Weiss! I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose! And I promise to be the best leader you could ever hope for!"

Weiss gave Ruby a small smile. "I suppose… That's all I can really ask for Ruby. I'm… Looking forward to being on your team."

Sam smiled at the interaction between the partners, and decided to get up from the floor. "Well, I'll leave you two to yourselves. I'll catch you later." Sam said, waving goodbye at the two.

"Sam!" Weiss shouted, catching Sam's attention. "Thank you… For today. We should meet up again sometime."

Sam nodded with a grin that almost split his face. "Definitely. I'll try to have lunch with your team. I'll catch you around."

And with that, Sam headed back to his room, leaving the two girls by themselves.

"Soooo… How do you know Sam?" Ruby asked, genuinely curious.

Weiss seemed to be considering the answer to Ruby's question. "One of the servants at my father's mansion found him sleeping out in the snow one night… During a snowstorm. They brought him in, and he'd been cared for by my family ever since." Weiss explained. She hesitated for a brief second, trying to come up with the words for her next statement. She would never be this forthcoming with information for anyone but Sam and Winter, but Ruby was going to be her partner and leader for the next four years, so she needed to trust her.

"I was six when that happened, and I had never really had any friends before then… Sam was my first friend and he's still my best friend even now… Which is why I was really mad that he forgot to tell me that he'd been accepted a year early to Beacon…" She huffed in frustration.

Ruby giggled. "Wow! You're so lucky! You guys must be super close!"

Weiss nodded. "Yeah…" Her voice held something that Ruby couldn't determine, but Weiss seemed to shake it off. "Anyways, if you're going to be partners, you need to try harder in class!" She said, dramatically pointing a finger at Ruby. "So we need to get to the library to study!"

Ruby groaned. "Do we HAVE to? Couldn't we just, I don't know, spar a bunch?"

Weiss shook her head. "No! You need to be better prepared! Let's go!" Weiss said, dragging Ruby by her hood towards the direction of the library.

Ruby put up her arms in a falsely cheerful manner.

"Yay… Teamwork. Woo." She said dryly, already regretting agreeing to be the best leader.

The next day had actually had more interesting classes than the day prior. Our first class was exactly the same, but the class after that was aura theory, which was… An interesting experience for me, to say the least.

Apparently, when a child unlocks their aura before puberty, but their physical capabilities tend to be better than average and their Semblance tends to become easier to use, but reduces their overall aura capacity. This is what I noticed happening to me a few years ago, and apparently the reason is because the aura notices what changes the body is going through and enhances them, but because those changes are permanent rather than temporary like how aura is usually used, the aura gets trapped inside of a person's body, being constantly used in the upkeep of the changes that it helped enhance during puberty. In order to compensate for the drastic decrease in aura, the Semblance adapts in the same manner, improving because it realizes the rest of the body is improving, reducing aura usage as well as other possible benefits.

The reason why most people waited until after puberty started before unlocking their child's aura is because parents tend to be more concerned with their children surviving rather than making them hit harder. I got lucky that my Semblance can be used in a defensive nature, but with most people, Semblances are crapshoots. No one knows what their Semblance is going to be. While very few are useless, there is no guarantee that it will actually help you much in a fight. Parents would rather take the guaranteed chance with a higher aura capacity rather than risk their child's safety with a Semblance that they don't know anything about.

However, I was more interested in methods to improve one's aura capacity, so I tried to look into that in between that class and the next, using the provided text that the teacher had provided (because this professor actually remembered to hand those out).

I started with ways to use my aura more efficiently, because I figured that would accomplish the same thing, but probably help me get results faster.

As Sam and I were walking down the hallway towards our last class of the day, I froze. It took me a few moments to realize the ramifications of a passage that I'd just read. I re-read it, just to make sure I understood. Then I read it again, just in case.

"James?" Sam asked, sounding concerned. "Is everything alright?"

I close my book quickly, making a 'whap' noise as I did so. I stare blankly forwards, before quickly hitting myself in the face with the textbook. And then again, and again and… you get the idea.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I mutter to myself.

Sam grabs the book. "James, stop! You're wasting aura!" He says.

I glare lightly at Sam, who only smirks in response. He decides to ask the question that was on his mind.

"So, what made you an idiot?" Sam asked, and then flinched, almost immediately regretting it.

I shrugged in response, "Most things, but in particular, something that I should have realized a while ago…" I sighed. "The idea of focusing my aura on a specific point. Right now, whenever I use my Semblance, I have to infuse my entire body with my aura, when I really don't need to do that."

"Really? How does that work? I figured that you would need all of your body at the same speed, right?" Sam asked, intrigued and confused by my words.

I shook my head. "No, in theory, if I use less aura and focus it on my head, I should be able to achieve a greater time dilation for the same amount of aura I use right now passively." I explain. "That should increase my reaction speed by a great amount, and from there I can change the time dilation about the rest of my body as needed."

Sam took a few moments to process what James just said. "Sooo…. What does that mean for you?"

"Potentially, it should increase my reaction times to crazy high levels, and also decrease the amount of aura I use during combat situations, since I won't need my entire body covered in aura the entire time I'm fighting. I don't know how much it'll improve my reaction times, but the important thing is that I'll use less aura in general."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, you run out of aura pretty quickly…" He mused. "But how long is this going to take you? I mean, it's not like it's just a thing you can master immediately, right?"

I nod. Sam's right, but I have absolutely no idea how long it could take me. It's not like the book says how long it should take someone to go from coating their entire body in aura to only targeting specific parts of my body.

"Not sure. Probably a while though. I'm gonna start now." I say, spinning on my foot and walking off.

"Wait, James!" Sam shouts "We're supposed to have lunch with the others!"

I wave over my shoulder. I needed to train. Besides, I'm garbage at making friends, and those people aren't my friends yet. I'd just be imposing on them, and I don't really want to do that.

Ruby was enjoying having lunch with her team and team JNPR. They were all really cool! Well, she hadn't really talked to most of team JNPR, and she didn't know much about Blake yet, but she was sure that they were awesome! Nora was really funny, Pyrrha was really nice, and Ren… Hadn't said anything yet, but Nora really seemed to like him, so he must be nice as well.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" A voice came from Ruby's left, catching the attention of everyone at the table. Standing at the end of the table, tray of food in hand, was Sam.

"Sam!" Weiss exclaimed, standing up to greet him. She looked at the two spots beside her, and saw that they were both taken by Blake on her left and Jaune on her right. Weiss shoved Jaune to the side, taking the leader of team JNPR by surprise, toppling him off of the side of the table.

"You can sit here!" She offered, not even bothering to look at Jaune, who was still rolling across the floor, having been thrown with enough force to make him keep going.

Everyone else at the table simply stared at Weiss. Weiss, the heiress that didn't really get along with anyone, that always seemed to be arguing with everyone around her, was being far more enthusiastic than normal.

When Jaune finally stopped rolling, and shook off the dizziness, he turned a hurt expression to Weiss, and glared at Sam, who could only give Jaune a sheepish smile while shrugging at him.

Sam took the seat next to Weiss and moved Jaune's tray to an empty spot. "Thanks for letting me sit here guys. I'm Sam, I've been friends with Weiss for a long time." He introduced himself.

Ruby pointed at Sam, having finally figured out who he was. "You're that guy with the mask from the first night!" She exclaimed.

"Ohhhhh" Yang responded, having caught on to Ruby's line of thought. "So THAT'S why you looked so familiar."

Weiss grit her teeth together and her eye twitched in anger at Sam's ploy the first night. Sam merely chuckled. "Yeah… I forgot to tell Weiss that I'd got into Beacon a year early… So she thought that I just didn't say goodbye to her before I left… I felt REALLY bad about that, by the way, but it's all good now." He explained.

Weiss huffed. "I'll get you back for that, just you wait!" She responded.

"Oh, it's alright Weiss!" Sam said with a nervous chuckle. "You already taught me my lesson! No need for anything else!" Sam added, shaking his head and waving his hands in an exaggerated motion, hoping that Weiss wasn't still feeling vengeful.

Weiss simply smirked at her best friend. "Oh, I don't know…" She started. "I certainly don't think you've learned enough. I'll have to think of something…"

She then noticed that the rest of the table was staring incredulously at the two, especially her partner Ruby.

"WHAT?!" Weiss exclaimed.

Everyone else immediately pretended to either eat their food or talk to someone else. Ruby however, had her mind elsewhere. She knew that Weiss and Sam were best friends since, well, forever, but she didn't think that Weiss would be so DIFFERENT. Was this the real Weiss? Was all that mean talk and stuff just fake? If so, Ruby resolved that she'd be a person Weiss could act like this around. She'd make it one of her missions as her leader!

"Sam, didn't you have a partner? I believe his name was James?" Pyrrha asked, gathering the attention of the rest of the table.

Yang latched onto that line of conversation. "Oh yeah, we met him the first night too! You guys were that two-person squad right? Where is he?"

Sam groaned. "Yeah, James is my partner, and yes, we were put on the two-person squad…" He affirmed. "Unfortunately, James isn't great with meeting new people, so he's training right now."

Nora gasped. "He's not eating?! C'mon Ren! We've got a food emergency!" Nora shouted, pulling Ren up with her while she stood from her seat.

"I wouldn't bother if I were you." Sam said, taking a bite from his sandwich. "I explored Beacon with James right before our first day of classes. There's so many training areas, it'd take you hours before you'd find him, and by then it'd be time for class."

Nora seemed to deflate at that. She sat back down, allowing Ren to sit as well, who decided to let out a deep breath of relief at his partner's actions. "B-but… Food! He can't just… Not eat, can he?!"

Sam smiled awkwardly. "I've been training with James for the better part of two years now. Sometimes, he just doesn't eat a meal. No real reason behind it, I don't think he forgets or anything, he just… Doesn't. I'm still not clear why."

"So James was your training partner?" Weiss asked. "You never introduced us." She sounded somewhat hurt at that statement.

Sam shrugged. "Never saw the point. I'm happy though. We make a good team, and he's a good friend."

"But you will introduce us, right?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, sure. Next chance I get, I'll try to introduce him to you." He promised. "Not sure how much he would say, but I'll make sure he shows up."

"Yeah! Bring him to lunch sometime!" Nora shouted. "We need to make sure he eats!"

Sam chuckled. "I'll uh, bring him with me next lunch then, how's that sound?"

Nora nodded her approval, seemingly appeased by Sam's words, which relieved Ren. Nora was getting a little bit too excited, and that never meant anything good for those around her.

"So Sam, how long have you known ice queen?" Jaune asked.

Sam's eyebrows raise. "'Ice queen'? You call her 'ice queen'?" He asked incredulously.

Jaune, confused, merely nodded. "Seriously? Personally, I think Winter's more of a 'queen' and Weiss is more of a 'princess', but you know, whatever." Sam mused.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Weiss asked indignantly.

"Oh! Uh, well, you see, Winter's older, so she'd be the queen, right? Besides, 'ice princess' sounds more like you, right? 'Ice queen' sounds like someone that doesn't really care about anyone else, and you're not usually like that." Sam said.

Blake arched an eyebrow at Sam's statement. "Are we talking about the same person here?" Blake muttered to Yang, who chuckled in response.

Weiss' cheeks colored pink at Sam's compliment. "Fine. I suppose that makes more sense." She muttered. Then she shoved a pointed finger into Sam's face. "But don't you dare call me that, alright?!"

"Uh, yeah, sure thing Weiss!" Sam said, staring straight at the finger pointed at him.

Yang and Blake shared glances at this, but it was Ruby that voiced all of their thoughts.

"Okay, is Weiss acting really weird, or is it just me?" She whispered to the other two members of her team.

"It's not just you." Blake responded. "This is really bizarre…"

"I don't know how to respond to this, so I'm just going to not." Yang said, going back to her food. "We'll talk to her about it when we get back to our room."

The three members of team RWBY agreed to that, and decided to spend the rest of the lunch period observing the antics between their final member and Sam. While not drastically different, it was still nicer than Weiss had been with any of them. However, team JNPR were just trying to be welcoming to the newcomer. Sam turned out to be a pretty funny guy, so he fit in just fine with everyone else.

They all shared small talk until it was time for the lunch period was over. While Ruby really wanted to know more about Weiss and Sam, she had to go to class with her team now. She'd have to ask later, after the day was over. Weiss was her partner, and Ruby wanted to understand her as much as possible, and she was sure that talking about Sam with her would help. After all, Weiss did say that they'd been friends since they were kids, right? Then that meant that Sam was really important to Weiss, so Ruby should get to know how important.

Their next class taught aura manipulation, but unfortunately Ruby was distracted. She'd been wondering whether to join her sister and Blake in their talk with Weiss later tonight, or to try to find Sam and talk to him about Weiss.

It didn't help that they shared that class with Sam's team. She could see Sam in the back, talking to James, who she realized she had actually met the first night, when he showed up and revealed Sam's presence to Weiss. She'd have to wait and see what he was like when Sam introduced him some other time.

At the end of class, which Ruby had barely managed to catch up with, since she spent the first half hour or so debating with herself about whether or not she was going to chase down Sam. However, that choice was taken from her when Sam left with his partner, seemingly frustrated by something. Ruby didn't really want to intrude, since it seemed like they had to talk about something, so she didn't bother them. That meant that she'd be talking to Weiss about it with the rest of her team, which was fine.

The four walked back to their dorm in silence. Three of them wanted to talk to Weiss, but wanted to wait until they got back to their room. Weiss on the other hand…

"Why are you all so quiet?" She asked.

Ruby chuckled nervously. "Well, um… I guess we just uh…" She trailed off, not sure what to say. "Guys, help?" She asked, desperately turning to the other two.

Blake shrugged. "We want to talk about something, but we can't talk about it out here." She explained.

Ruby let out a breath of release as Weiss arched an eyebrow. "Okaaay… Well, let's get back then." Weiss responded.

When they did finally get to their room, they all sat on the two opposite beds. Weiss finally decided to voice her question.

"So what did we need to talk about?" She asked.

"Well Weiss." Yang started, a mischievous smile spread across her lips. "Why didn't you tell us you had a boyfriend?!"

"What?!" Ruby and Weiss both shouted.

"What are you talking about!" Weiss demanded.

"Oh you know, your boyfriend that you introduced to us today?" Yang teased. "Jeez Weiss, I knew you probably were distracted, but we were still at the table you know!"

"Sam is not my boyfriend!" Weiss countered, having realized what Yang was talking about. "I don't know WHY you thought he was!"

"Well…" Blake started. "After he showed up, you didn't even look at anyone else…" She mused. "You were more focused on him."

Ruby seemed to catch on to what they were saying. "Oh yeah! And he helped you out yesterday, plus you were acting really weird today after he showed up!"

Weiss' cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I-It's not- I don't…" She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. "Look." Weiss started. "I've been friends with Sam for… A very, very long time. He knows me better than anyone. Better than my mother, better than my sister… And especially better than my father." She explained.

"Sam's always known how to help me when I needed it, so I'm… A bit more lenient with him than I normally am with people, alright?"

"That still doesn't explain why you were so focused on him though." Blake said, not letting it go. "So what's going on Weiss?"

Weiss looked at her hands for a few moments, before she glared up at the rest of her team. "This doesn't leave the room, GOT IT? Not to any professors, not to team JNPR, and ESPECIALLY not to Sam!"

The rest of her team, seeing how serious she was, all immediately agreed, and gave her nods in response.

"Sam's… Not just my best friend" Yang perked up at that. "No, not like that Yang!" She shouted, causing Yang to pout. "Sam is the only friend I've ever really had. He wasn't some son or daughter of someone important I was supposed to like, he wasn't some tutor trying to be nice to me for a pay raise, he wasn't a servant nervous about upsetting me because they'd be fired, he was just… Sam. My friend." She paused, trying to compose her thoughts. "... But Sam went to school outside of the mansion. He made friends, and he spent time with them. I… Started to feel like he didn't care about me anymore. When he found out about that…" Weiss smiled. "Well, he made sure I knew that that wasn't the case." Her smile then turned back to a frown. "But now… We're not partners, we're not even on the same team! I just- I don't want him to leave me! He's my oldest friend, and I just don't- I don't want him to leave me!" Weiss said, starting to freak out a bit.

Ruby immediately hugged Weiss, and the others quickly joined in. After a few moments, Yang decided to speak.

"Weiss, I'm sorry for teasing you…" She started. "But, if it makes you feel better, I don't think Sam's gonna forget about you."

Weiss stared at Yang with wide eyes. "H-how can you tell?"

Yang shrugged. "Well, the guy said that he met his partner two years ago, right?" Weiss nodded. "Well, he still left the guy to sit with you for lunch, so he obviously wants to hang out with you more."

Weiss stared at Yang for a few moments, before she giggled somewhat hysterically. "I can't believe I didn't think of that!" She exclaimed. "I was just- I was just worried about nothing!" She started to laugh at her own ridiculousness, and the others soon joined in.

Ruby smiled. It seemed like Weiss had her own issues to sort out with Sam, but for the moment, she could rest those to the side. Still, it was good to hear Weiss vent like that, since Ruby got a better idea of what Weiss' life was like. And from the looks of it, Sam had played a big role in it. That only further increased Ruby's resolve to become friends with him and his partner, because that would make Weiss very, very happy. And tomorrow was the first step, where Sam would bring his partner and they would get to see what he was like!

"Hey, I'm gonna go get some training done before class." I told Sam.

However, before I could head in the direction of the training areas, Sam grabbed me by the shoulder. "Ohhh no you don't." He said. "WE are going to LUNCH." And then he started pulling me towards the cafeteria.

I roll my eyes. "Sam, I told you yesterday, I don't normally eat lunch most days, so I'm not used to eating it. I'm not hungry right now."

Sam shook his head. "Nope. You're going with me. You're going to have a proper diet, and you're going to like it! Besides, I promised the others that I'd introduce you."

"'The others'? You mean teams RWBY and JNPR? Sam, I already told you that I'll meet new people at my own pace!"

"Yeah, well, if that pace was above zero friends per month, then maybe I'd actually believe you." Sam said dryly. "C'mon! It'll be good for you!"

I shake my head. "Sam, have you actually seen my trying to meet new people?"

"Yeah, I'm sure I have! You know, when you met, um…" He trailed off. "I can't remember one off the top of my head, but I'm sure I did! You made loads of friends first year!"

"Yeah, and none in second year. But that's not the point. Have you seen my try to talk to new people in the last two years? Because I guarantee you I'm waaaaay worse now." I explained.

"Alright fine. You may not be great, but there's always time for improvement! These guys are great, you gotta do it for them. Besides, you already met a few of them!"

I was about to argue when Sam decided to try to convince me even further.

"James, come ON! Just give it a try, alright? I promise, I won't force you to do this again if it doesn't go well, but you need to at least try it once." He said, crossing his arms.

I sigh. "You promise?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I'm not expecting sunshine and rainbows, but you have to stay until lunch is done."

"Fine. Let's go." I say, already dreading this lunch break.

It's not like I hate the idea of becoming friends with the cast of RWBY, far from it, I would be thrilled. But I don't think I can. I just don't think that I'm interesting enough for them to want to be friends with me. I mean, they're freaking awesome, and I'm just… James.

But Sam wanted me to meet them, so I'll meet them. I just don't think it'll go as well as he thinks it will.

A/N:

So, this chapter was a bit short, but this one and the next one or two are mostly just meant to build up the characters that I'm using, and their relationships. Sam and my character will feature prominently in these, simply because the whole goal of this chapter is to give an insight on these two characters' personality and how they interact with the rest of the world. I'm keeping the team name to joust by the way. It's the one I like the most so far.

I was initially going to include the next scene in this chapter, but once I started writing that, I realized that I wouldn't have a good stopping point for a while after that, so I ended the chapter here. Shortest yet, but hopefully you guys won't be too upset about that.

Also, Sam is getting a lot of screen time this chapter. There's a lot of reasons behind this, but the main one is that he's here to help create/introduce new Weiss, one that had a friend growing up. Speaking of which, I'm not sure how I feel about Weiss' two breakdown scenes. I know Weiss is a strong character. I know that she doesn't cry much. However, these were both moments when I feel like it was justified for her to just have a mental breakdown. She's far from everything she's ever known, leaving just about everything behind to try to get away from her jerk of a father, and she's told (or at least in her mind) that she's not even good enough to beat out Ruby as team leader, someone that she doesn't believe is qualified for the position. On top of that, she wants to prove to herself that she's strong enough to stand on her own, and when she found out she wasn't going to be the leader, she thought that she wouldn't get that chance.

Anyways, I rambled longer than I expected. Here's Sam's author note:

Sam: Hey all! With another chapter, I seem to be helping more and more with some of the writing. It's quite fun, I've never really written a lot for something like this before.

Review responses:

Bomberguy - As far as letting Ozpin know future knowledge anonymously, it's probably not as complicated as you'd imagine, but I'm not gonna spoil it.

merendinoemiliano - Well, hope you like what I did instead of the normal Weiss and Ruby scene in this chapter.

Guest - Yeah, avoiding mary-sue syndrome is what I constantly have to fight, especially with the Semblance that I chose for myself. As far as the whole 'getting in over their heads' thing… At the point in time my character's from, I'd only watched up to season four, and Sam has watched… Less than that. It'll come up later.

Suffice to say, we don't quite know how things really go down.

Anonymous - Reversing time is possible with my Semblance. My character doesn't have a full grasp on how it works just yet. Healing other people would be tricky though. Healing himself… Not so much.

Harbinger the Reaper - Nice to know that you like it! I've been doing my best to make it enjoyable. I'm really trying to prevent the disaster that you alluded to. Hopefully I can continue to do so, but this is only my second multi-chapter story, so please forgive me if there's some bumps along the way.

Now, regarding the decision for a 2-man team… Really, I just didn't want more OC's. I'm fine with OC's in stories, but I hate it when there's too many. Honestly, more than one is stretching it sometimes when I read, so I think I might be pushing it here. Ozpin does have some reasoning behind us being the two-person team though… And it's only partly because of our quick success in retrieving the relic.

Anyways, thank you all for reading, and happy holidays!