Tenenbaum crushed the bud of her cigarette into an ashtray. She let out a weighty breath and turned on her recorder, "I still find myself missing the little ones, but I know that they're in good hands."

She stopped for a second and looked around her cheap apartment, she could've sworn she heard something. She prepared a pistol just in case, "I always tend to find myself as a scientist first. There have been new technological advancements since I've been away."

This time Tenenbaum swore she heard a noise, it wasn't her neighbors. The noises tried to sound muffled and secretive.

"In my time away from the world I'm surprised to find it has mostly forgotten about me and moved on… if only a little bit. Robotics is the main focus of the world right as of now. This doesn't mean I'll bring attention to myself, especially from Atlas. I know no matter how much I wash away my atrocities, in the name of science, will never be cleaned off of my name."

Tenenbaum stopped her recording. There's many things she could've put on the recordings she's made for the past couple of months back on the surface. She's ensured that any mention of the word Rapture was censored or not said at all.

There was a knock at the door.

Tenenbaum sighed as she stood from her chair, taking her pistol with her. She placed it behind her back and slowly opened the door.

"Yes?"

She saw three people in the same uniform, wearing white masks over their eyes. Two men, one woman, no that wasn't right. It was A man, a woman and a child, one that's just getting into his teens by the looks of it. No doubt they were faunus, judging from the extra appendages they had. Unfortunately, for her she recognized what group they were affiliated with.

"Are you Tenenbaum?" The man asked, he wasn't going to wait for answers as he slowly unsheathed a knife.

"Can't believe she opened the door. So much for being a scientist." The woman said as she simply cracked her knuckles.

"Now we can do this the easy way or th-" The child began to taunt the stupidity of this woman. Unfortunately for him, he got to see firsthand what it's like to see someone drop dead.

Tenenbaum whipped out her pistol, aimed at the man's head and fired. He went down instantly, showing that he didn't have his aura unlocked.

The woman didn't have time to react as Tenenbaum quickly took aim towards her and fired three shots. Two to the chest, one towards the head. All three connected and killed her.

Tenenbaum then took a glance at the child perhaps just getting into his teens. He was pointing a handheld submachine gun at her, shaking in his boots.

"Do-Don't move!"

Tenenbaum got down on one knee to get to eye level with the child.

"I-I said don't m-move! Filthy human!"

Tenenbaum simply took the gun away from the child without much resistance. She raised a hand, causing him to flinch on instinct.

To his absolute surprise the woman gently caressed his exposed cheeks. She then gently ruffled his hair, this somewhat calmed him down a bit.

"Run child. Get away from these people. You have your entire life ahead of you, don't waste it on blind hatred."

His eyes widened, "Why should I believe you? You'll probably just shoot me the moment I turn around."

Tenenbaum didn't say anything, instead giving the child a small stare.

The child wordlessly backed away from the woman, before turning around and running as fast as he could out of the building.

"That can't be all of them." Tenenbaum muttered as she carefully proceeded inside the strangely quiet building. Someone must've heard the gunshots, surely.

She carefully peeked around every corner, she was sure those three weren't the only ones sent to capture her.

"Hello." A deeply modulated sounding voice spoke behind her. She zipped around to see someone in a completely white mask, with slits as eye holes. That was all she got to see of the man as she found herself on the ground, quickly losing consciousness.

There was a modulated sigh that came from the assailant, "I told them I could handle it by myself. They wouldn't have died if they just listened."

The assailant's black boots were the last things she saw before she slipped into the realm of unconsciousness.

The man checked to make sure she was knocked out, "Got her." He spoke into his radio.

The man walked a bit in a circle, waiting for a response.

"Good, it didn't take long, did it?"

"No, but she killed two of our men. The child ran away though. They didn't listen to me. I told you they'll get themselves killed."

"They need the field experience."

"Do I look like a babysitter?"

There was no answer from the otherside of the line.

"Is this about me not-"

"No."

The man sighed in a mock relief, "Good, cause I could've sworn you were mad about me messing up your favorite suit."

"So it was you."

The man chuckled, "There we go. You need to show more emotion. Just get over her."

"Just get Tenenbaum back here."

"Alright, but seriously you need to get over her. It's been, what, like a couple of months?"

The man effortlessly picked up the unconscious woman over his shoulder, plus her pistol, "Huh. This is an old model." He gave it a quick inspection, seemingly admiring it as if it was an old antique, "I might keep this, nothing beats a good old revolver." He quickly pocketed the weapon in his blue trench coat. If he didn't like it he could just sell it.

The man turned on his radio, "You know I'm kind of jealous. I have years worth of activities, I forgot how many jobs I've done. And all I have is an 80,000 Liens worth of a bounty. This woman kidnaps a couple of children and she gets 500,000 Liens worth of a bounty. Am I not good enough for them?" The man pretended to show a bit of despair.

He knows that she was one of the leading scientist in Atlas and one day she just went AWOL, but still.

…..

Amber nervously shifted in between the sudden influx of students that were on the grounds of Beacon Academy. Today was simply the first day, but there was hussle and bussle everywhere.

She was surprised to learn from Ozpin that today was just a day for the new students to get acquainted with the school grounds and the old ones to just settle back in their dorms. By noon all new students are to report to the auditorium and await further instructions.

She honestly had no idea what to do now until then. She had spent the last couple of minutes wandering around, getting an occasional greetings from other students. She's never been in this large of a crowd before. It kind of scared her, but she could push that fear down a bit.

There were people showing off their weapons, some were simply chatting, some were heading to more secluded areas. Amber gulped as the many students were becoming acquainted with one another, and this is all happening at the front of the school. It would make it seem that not a lot of people actually went in to the academy itself.

She wanted to talk to people, but there was this nagging feeling that always occured in the back of her mind. It reminded her of who- no, what she was. Is it really worth the risk- Amber shook her head. She's got to ignore that voice in her head. However, even if she ignored the nagging feeling, that didn't mean she had the courage to walk up to a group of people.

Maybe she could start off slow, maybe find one person alone, like herself right now. Amber just realized how depressing that sounds.

She gave a sigh as she weaved through the crowds, trying her best to try and find a person by themselves. It honestly didn't take long for her to give up and sit down on an open bench. She sighed as put her hands on her head, this was a lot harder than she thought. However, she said she was ready for this and chose to come here. If she can't prove that she can survive in society she'll just be isolated from it once again. Not to mention it is supposed to be an easy day, it would be strange if she gave up on her choice without going to any classes.

Amber took a deep breath and sat up straight, before sighing and slumping down again. She could only wonder what Jack was doing. He was probably giving candy to whomever he wanted. Her stomach growled at the prospect. Now she wanted candy, or food. Whichever one worked best.

"I don't like crowds either."

Amber raised a brow as she just realized that another soul was right next to her. He probably just sat down, because she was sure she was the only one on the bench earlier. She turned her head to see.. and odd looking fellow.

He wore a short sleeve black shirt with a white long sleeve shirt underneath, the word SMILE was written across the shirt. He had sandals and baggy jeans. Strangely, he seemed to wear a beanie with a unique looking symbol on his head, it covered his eyes completely. She needed to get a good look at it later. She could see a bit of red hair slightly coming out of the beanie.

"Y-yeah." Amber admitted to the stranger.

"People are usually afraid of crowds because there are so many people. One could get lost very easily. Or you can feel very alone in a large crowd." He sighed, "It can't get any more truer for me. In a lot more ways than one."

Amber swallowed a bit, now was her chance. It's now or never, "My name is Amber." She held out her hand.

A small second of silence passed, before the stranger smiled, "Nice to meet you. I'm Rideat Dente. In case you can't tell, I'm blind. At least, it hurts to keep my eyes open."

Amber raised a brow.

"Don't worry, I can 'see' you, I just can't see you. It's hard to explain, but I can just see you just raised your brow a bit."

"That's… impressive." Amber didn't exactly know how to word her thoughts at the moment.

A long silence passed between the two, Amber having no idea what to say. However as she got a better look at the blind student, she noticed that one of his arms looked quite peculiar.

"You know, it usually takes a shorter amount of time for people to notice my arm." Rideat smirked a bit

"Oh." Amber nodded.

Another moment of silence passed between the two.

"Are you not going to ask?"

It was clear that it was common for people to question about his arm. Naturally anyone would question it, but Amber decided against it. She simply shook her head.

Rideat seemed to smirk, "I don't mind people asking me about my arm, at least at this point anyway. However, I do appreciate it when people don't ask about it, genuinely of course. I can tell that your gesture is genuine."

Amber once again smiled back to the blind man. It honestly reminded her of the stories where a great swordsman is blind, but is still a great swordsman. It just shows that even if one is blind, they can find ways to not be blind.

"So, we're supposed to gather around in the auditorium?"

"Yes." Amber replied.

Rideat maneuvered his head back and forth, "Do you mind leading the way? I can't manuveted that well against crowds."

"Alright." Amber replied as she got up from the bench, holding a hand out for the blind student.

"I'll follow behind, just lead the way." Rideat said as he used Amber's hand to get up.

"So, uh… have any books you… oh right." Amber asked as she began to lead the way, before remembering who she was dealing with.

"Don't worry, I can read books in low light. I can also see words that are close enough to me, or if I focus enough I can 'see' a bit farther. So, what are your favorite books? Mine are philosophical like ones and ones where the lesson is to accept change." It was clear Rideat didn't mind the blunder.

Amber seemed to give a sigh of relief as she continued leading the way. She was pretty sure she made a new friend, "Fairytales are my favorite type of stories. Ones that involve heroism are also my favorite."

The two would continue to chat as they made their way towards the auditorium.

…..

"So, you're the fabled security guard. Mr. Wynand, was it?"

A bit of a pudgy man, with a moustache and gray hair, plus a red suit, walked into the security room.

Jack nodded his head.

"I am dutifully sorry for not meeting you earlier. I am Professor Port one of the Grimm Studies teachers. I must say it is great to actually have a security staff. After all not only is it your duty to make sure no unsavory characters are on school grounds, but it is also your duty to protect the students from themselves. I believe in the motto, 'The most dangerous thing that will harm you, is yourself'." The man was quick to speak.

Jack's brows raised in surprise. That is a motto that he knows rings true. He's seen it and heard of it firsthand, "Those are very wise words Professor."

"Indeed. I first heard of that motto when I was a little lad. First thing in the morning I would recite it."

Jack nodded.

Professor Port chuckled, "Welp, I can't stay here forever. I've got to prepare my lessons. If you ever find the time, do stop by to listen to tales of virtuous deeds. Every generation must hear of the great deeds of the old, so that they wish to strive for it." With that Professor Port left. He appeared then just left. Oh well, Jack might stop by from time to time.

Jack stood from his chair to move a few things around, namely some chairs.

"Whoa, I didn't know a room like this existed. Was this here before?" Jack turned around to see a teenager, a student by the looks of it.

"Hello." Jack said as he sat back down.

The teen looked around the room and whistled, "So, you're the new security guard? Don't worry, I won't get into any trouble here. The name's Mark Meltzer by the way."

"Jack Wynand." Jack took a second to think, "You're the one Amber talked about." Amber had told him about the person who was helping her prepare.

"You know her? I didn't expect-" Mark took a second to get a look at Jack's features, brown hair and brown eyes, "Hang on a second. Are you her father?"

Jack shook his head.

"Oh." Meltzer muscles seemed to lax, "Well if you aren't her father, then you must be Mr. Bubbles."

Mark Meltzer took out his hand, "Nice to meet you Mr. Bubbles."

Jack shook the man's hand. It was a rather firm handshake.

Meltzer took a look at the candy bowl on the desk, "Can I have some?"

"Be my guest." Jack pushed the bowl of candy towards the students, to which he fished out some small chocolates.

"Thanks Mr. Bubbles. I think I'm going to come in here more often just for the candy." Meltzer chuckled as he unwrapped the chocolates and ate them.

"Whoa, this wasn't here last year." It seems that another student wandered in.

Jack would find the security room to be filled with curious students of all years. Most would take a look and leave, others would chat with him a bit. They were quickly growing accustomed to the name Mr. Bubbles.

…..

Rideat and Amber found themselves in the packed auditorium. Since it was filled with first years, one couldn't imagine how it would be if all the students came to the auditorium.

Amber made sure to maneuver slowly as Rideat was grasping her sleeves. She didn't want to have the blind student get lost in the crowd. She could see a relatively open space next to the wall. She accidentally bumped into a few people and apologized each time.

"Watch your feet." Rideat managed to say.

Amber stopped in her tracks as she saw a blond teenager on the floor. He was obviously ignored by a lot of people as there were right next to him, not giving a helping hand.

"Little help?"

Amber didn't waste any time as she quickly got the teenager to his feet, he honestly looked very average. He wore a white hoodie, had some white armor over his chest, and seemed to have a sword that protruded from his belt.

"Are you alright?"

The teen cave a cocky reassuring smirk, "Yeah.. just uh.." The smirk disappeared, "I tripped and fell, but I'm alright."

"You looked like you were on the ground for quite a while." Amber noted. Even she didn't take long to get up after tripping.

"Well I… may have been thinking about my life choices as I lay there on the ground." The teen was a bit uncomfortable.

Amber raised a brow, but didn't question his words.

"So, do you have a name?" Rideat decided to join in the conversation.

The teen blinked a couple of time, "Oh, right. Sorry about that." He awkwardly chuckled, "The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, and rolls of the tongue, the ladies love it." He adopted an unconvincing playboy attitude.

"Jaune Arc. Jaune Arc. Jaune Arc." Amber said his name a couple of times, it didn't exactly roll off the tongue, "It really doesn't. I feel like I should be saying something in between the two names." She gave her honest opinion.

Rideat chimed in, "It feels as though it should have something like 'Jaune The Arc' or 'Jaune of Arc.'"

Jaune looked a bit sheepish, "My mother says it does… though now that I think about it, maybe she was talking about my first name?" He scratched his head.

"Then again it is your mother who said it." Rideat began to get a bit playful.

Jaune grew a smirk, "Hey, I'll have you know I'm a pure mama's boy." He didn't seemed to be embarrassed at his self proclamation.

Rideat shook his head in amusement, he'll just let Jaune sort that statement out.

Amber quickly realized she didn't introduce herself, "Oh! Sorry, my name is Amber. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jaune "

"I'm Rideat Dente. Do you want to walk with us?"

"Sure." Jaune happily agreed.

The three made their way towards an area near the wall that had a little more elbow room, they could even sit down if they wanted, to which they actually did.

"Whoa, you're actually blind?" Jaune was surprised at the revelation.

"Yes, but I'm not blind at the same time."

"How does that work?"

Rideat gave the same explanation to Jaune as the one he gave to Amber.

Jaune stared blankly, "What?"

"I don't understand it either." Amber admitted, it was just confusing.

Rideat scratched his head, "Think of it like this. You can see everything around you, not through your eyes, but almost like it's a camera view only you can see."

"Oh, like a 3rd person video game." Jaune quickly connected the dots.

"Yeah, I guess. Don't know much about video games, because my eyes will quickly burn, but at least you get it."

"Wait. I thought you were blind?"

"I technically am. I can still see a bit through my eyes, but it burns if I keep them open for a long period of time."

Amber tilted her head a bit. 'What's a video game?' She thought as the two continued.

"Speaking of seeing. You in the bow. Why're just staring at us? I know the difference between scrutinizing stares and curiosity stares, so don't try to say you didn't mean to." Rideat 'looked' at a woman in black with a bow in her hair.

The woman in the bow didn't answer as she opted to just walk away.

"She was probably checking you out." Jaune naively suggested.

Rideat shook his head, "No, she was observing me carefully. I could feel it." Rideat stood from his position, "I'll see you two later. I've got to go talk to someone." It would seem his disdain towards crowds vanished as he focused his sights on something new.

"Alright, see ya." Jaune said.

"Bye." Amber waved.

Rideat somehow disappeared into the crowd quickly, there was no sign of him.

"Hey, Jaune? I've got a question to ask." Amber said.

"Yes? What is it?" Strangely, there was a hopeful glee in his eyes.

Amber swallowed, "What's a vi-" Amber couldn't finish as it would appear that Ozpin was on an elevated stage and quickly tested the microphone.

"Hello. Testing." Ozpin said, the sound echoed throughout the room, silencing all of the conversations in the room.

As soon as Ozpin was sure that everyone quieted down he began, "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." He paused.

"The hell is he talking about?" The students murmured about

"Wasted energy?" A lot sounded annoyed by that.

"Wait, my whole life? I picked the wrong career." It was obvious that someone was joking around, "Wait a second." At least, hopefully joking.

Ozpin didn't allow the murmurs to go any further as he made his voice the most important in the room, "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." Ozpin left the brief speech on that and slowly walked away.

Amber didn't know what to think about the speech. She wasn't speechless per say, but Ozpin was a bit confusing. Then again, it's almost his style to be confusing.

"Any idea on what that was about?" Jaune asked her.

"No." Amber shook her head.

Glynda walked up to the microphone, "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." She then followed Ozpin.

The students once again continued on with what they were doing.

"Huh? Thought it was going to be today, but it's a saving grace for us, right?"

Amber shrugged.

Jaune sighed, "You don't talk much, do you?"

Amber coughed a bit, "Sorry. I really don't have many friends." She sheepishly said.

Jaune noticed her plight, "There's no need to apologize. I'm pretty sure I can be your friend." He smiled.

Amber's attitude lit up a bit, "Really?"

"Yeah."

She smiled, "Thank you." Jaune may not know it, but it really means a lot to the girl.

"Hello again, Jaune!" Amber noticed a black and reddish haired girl behind Jaune.

The girl wore black and red all over. She seemed to be wearing a sort of red hood, black and red dress, with a combat skirt, she didn't know how to exactly describe the attire. However, her most striking feature was her silver eyes. For some reason, Amber couldn't help but feel a bit on edge. Seeing those eyes seemed to stun her a bit, as if she knows to be weary around her, even if her current demeanor is cheerful. What the heck is happening?

"Who's this?" The cheerful girl decided to sit with the three of them. It would appear that Amber missed a conversation between Jaune and the silver eyed girl.

"Ruby, this is Amber. Amber, Ruby." Jaune introduced the girls to one another.

"Hi, Amber. My name is Ruby Rose, it's nice to meet you." Ruby extended her hand out for Amber to shake.

Amber seemed to hesitate, her instincts were telling her not to associate with the girl. For what reason was that? This girl was just being friendly. She could only chalk it up to herself still being on edge about talking to people and making friends, but then why did she connect with Jaune easily? Once again it was her instincts telling her not to do it. It was more of a hostile edge, than a nervous one.

"Hey, are you all in there? Hello?" Ruby grew a bit discomforted at the long silence.

Amber shook her head, "I'm sorry. It's nice to meet you Ruby." She still hesitated a bit, but their hands quickly met and shook. However, their hands didn't separate for a solid couple of seconds. The two blankly stared at one another, trying to gaze into one another souls. Both of their hands unconsciously squeezed as hard as they could on one another.

"Hey, are you two alright." Jaune noticed the uncomfortably long gazes.

Amber and Ruby blinked and separated their hands after a couple of seconds. Their previous demeanors wore off as they acted as if nothing happened, as if they only registered that they shook hands and nothing else. They were making some small talk right afterwards.

Jaune actually stood silent on the matter, he wasn't sure if they would even remember staring at each other for a long period of time. The way they just looked at each other was with a strangely natural animosity to one another. It was like they were natural rivals ready to kill each other. He could've sworn he saw their eyes glow for a second as they stared at each other.

Ruby nor Amber knew why they were feeling a bit on edge near one another. They were even getting along with one another quite quickly, it was like they just had instincts to be weary around one another for whatever reason. They equally hated this small feeling, yet they couldn't put it into exact words. It felt substantial, yet inconsequential. Neither of them have any reason to hate each other as of yet.

In the middle of their conversation Amber pulled out her camera, Ruby smiled and got right next to Amber, adding Jaune into the mix. The three took a picture for their newfound friendship. Maybe the feeling of animosity would go away soon? It could just be chalked up to strange first impressions. Or meeting unknown people. Then again, Jaune, Rideat, and Meltzer.

"I keep hearing about this new security guard. I want to go see him. My sister, Yang, said something about him, but she doesn't want to see him for some reason. Do you wanna go see him?" Ruby seemed to have run out of things to talk about, she already wandered the school a bit, so it wouldn't hurt to see the security guard, maybe a few teachers if possible.

"Sure." Amber knew full well who the security guard is. She needed to move around anyway, her guard was still a bit up around the girl though.

The two didn't wait for Jaune's input as they quickly made their way out of the auditorium. They appeared to keep a distance from one another, yet never too far or too close. Jaune wasn't sure whether to follow them to see what would happened, or to stay put and preserve his own skin if he's caught in a strange crossfire. He would dwindle on this thought for too long as they were already gone.

Jaune sighed, "Once again I find myself alone." Jaune just noticed that Rideat actually returned a little bit after the girls left, "Hey, Rideat. Did you have any luck?"

"No, I lost her in the crowd. Too many people to keep track of one person."

Jaune only raised a brow, "Are you absolutely sure she wasn't checking you out?"

A brisk silence followed, "Yeah, point taken." Jaune nervously scratched his hand.

….

"Mr. Bubbles." Amber seemed to fondly say to the man. She wore a smile.

"Hey, Amber." The man responded.

Ruby meanwhile couldn't help but noticed something weird. Namely the way they interacted. She could kind of see the resemblance, brown hair and brown eyes, but not much else. Then again she didn't look much like her dad either.

"Hello." Jack said to Ruby.

Ruby shook herself out of her thoughts as she quickly extended her hand out, "Hi, I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose."

"Jack Wynand."

"I thought your last name was Bubbles?" What with Amber calling him that and all.

"That's what the children call me."

"So a nickname?"

Jack nodded.

Ruby couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed with that. It's kind of hilarious to have your last name be Bubbles. It would also be an awesome contrast to the name Amber. When you think of two names they would fit together well, not ones that are polar opposite. Amber Bubbles would be a strangely satisfying name, two polar opposite names. But, bold warrior would have to do.

Ruby noted that Mr. Bubbles had a nice ring to it. She finally noticed the candy bowl. There were small cookies, wrapped in an equally small plastic bag. They couldn't be bigger than the size of her pinky, but they looked delicious all the same.

"May I?"

Jack slightly pushed the bowl closer towards her. She didn't waste a second as she quickly took the tiny cookies.

"Thank you, Mr. Bubbles." She found herself adopting the nickname.

Strangely took a while to get this one done, guess it was just ideas bouncing around in my head trying to take form. Oh well, here's the next chapter.

Give credit to The Baz for his OCs Rideat and a certain other man. If you've read a certain story by The Baz you would probably know who these two are. I thank you for allowing me to use them.

Next chapter should be fun, yay.

…...

Friends are strength. LV0-LV1. You gain a boost in combat performance with the more friends that fight alongside you.

Silver Eyes, Ruby Rose. LV0-LV1. ? Unknown advantage or disadvantage? Further research needed.

I don't understand why, but I feel the incredible urge to stay away from her. I even feel the urge to harm her, an incredible sense of hostility. I don't know why I feel this way. I just hope it goes away soon. It feels almost like I'm afraid of her, like she could negate anything I could do if I ever use my powers on her…. Why would I even think to harm her with my powers?