AN: Hello everyone! YES! I managed to update all three stories before November! WOOHOO!
If you haven't seen in my other stories, I'll be doing NaNoWriMo this year, so no updates next month. Sorry for abandoning you, but I'll be back in December with more content. Hope you guys like this chapter.
As always, eternal thanks to my lovely beta, annbe11. (BTW, she's writing a really good Tiger's Curse fanfic called Tiger's Circus. If you're a fan of that series, definitely give it a look.)
Chapter 9 - Headmaster's Office
BOOM!
The pressure wave of the Dust explosion slammed into Sanguine, making her ears ring from the impact. Pieces of lab counter scattered across the room. Some pieces were on fire. The ceilings shook, letting a shower of plaster fall upon the students.
When all of the motion finally stopped and the ringing in her ears had died down to a dull roar, Sanguine uncovered her head and looked around. The counter Ruby and Weiss had been working on was a strange combination of shattered and melted, but the stations around it were only blackened with soot. Many of the nearby students had managed to take cover before the explosion occurred and were shakily standing up. Sanguine sat up, moving slowly to check for any injuries. To her surprise, she was unharmed and only covered with dust and soot. She turned to where Yang was still covering Blake. Yang cracked an eye open.
"You okay, San?" Yang asked. Sanguine nodded. Yang turned her attention to her other partner. "Are you okay, Blake? Anything hurt?"
"I'm fine," came Blake's muffled response.
"Good to hear," Yang said, relaxing.
"Um…Yang?" said Blake after a moment of pause.
"Yeah?"
"You can get off me now."
"Oh! Right." Yang pushed herself off of Blake and letting her rise. Suddenly, she snapped up straight. "Ruby!" she cried as she scrambled to her feet and began searching for her sister. Sanguine and Blake both rose to join her.
Thankfully, Ruby and Weiss were able to jump over the counter behind them before their mixture exploded. Unfortunately, both of them were covered with soot and tangled up with Jaune and Pyrrha. Pyrrha was pulling Ruby to her feet while Weiss was slapping away Jaune's efforts to help her. The second that Ruby stood upright, Yang was there to sweep her off her feet in a bone-crushing hug and then began checking her over for injuries.
"Well now…" came an unpleasant drawl from behind them. Professor Qodra stood behind them, his eyes looking ready to burst into flames. The members of RWBYS shifted uncomfortably.
This should be fun, thought Sanguine.
line
Blake, Yang, and Sanguine sat against the wall of the Beacon Tower lobby. Their entire team had received a verbal beating from Professor Qodra, and Sanguine was quite certain they were about to get another one as soon as their Dust Use professor finished up his talk with Ozpin up in the headmaster's office. Weiss and Ruby had been sent to the Nurse's Office to get checked up before they would join them here.
"Well," said Yang, clasping her hands behind her neck, "I always did like to start my school years off with a bang." She gave a toothy grin to both Blake and Sanguine. "Get it?"
Blake shot her down with a glare while Sanguine just kept staring forward, clenching and unclenching her hands as they rested on her knees. Professor Qodra had been in Ozpin's office for over twenty minutes, and Sanguine was starting to get anxious. What was going to happen? She was already on probation as it was.
Am I going to be homeless again? She wondered to herself.
The door to the lobby opened, admitting a fuming Weiss and a depressed Ruby. Ruby gave the three of them a small wave while Weiss just marched right past them and called the elevator. Their clothes still looked a little burnt, but they both appeared alright.
"Hey guys," said Ruby as her teammates stood and joined them, "I think that Professor Peach, the nurse, might be a little crazy. When she finished checking us out, she tried to get us to help her test out a bunch of chemicals in her syringes. We had to make a break for it when she turned her back. Right, Weiss?"
"Don't talk to me, dolt!" Weiss snapped. Ruby flinched before staring at the floor. Yang glared at Weiss, but said nothing.
The team remained silent until the elevator door opened, allowing them to squeeze inside and rise toward Ozpin's office. When the door opened again, they found themselves in a large room surrounded by immense windows and with giant clockwork gears turning overhead. Ozpin was seated at his desk while Professor Qodra stood before him. The Dust instructor sneered at them as they entered while Ozpin gave them a friendly nod.
"Thank you for your input, Selvarus," said Ozpin after he took a sip of coffee. "Would you please let me talk to these girls alone?"
"Of course, Headmaster," Qodra said with a nod before he made his way to the elevator, swishing his coat as he went. As the elevator door closed, the only sound in the office was from the gears overhead.
Slurp.
And the sound of Ozpin drinking his coffee.
"I must say that I am a little impressed," said Ozpin as the five members of RWBYS stood before his desk. "Blowing up a Dust lab on only your second day due to petty squabbling is a very remarkable feat."
"Squabbling?!" demanded Weiss, looking affronted. "I was performing the correct procedure! It's not my fault that this child tried to-"
"Miss Schnee," Ozpin interrupted, "it is indeed your fault." His eyes panned over them all. "The fault rests with every single one of you. As a team, you are expected to work together, to succeed together, and, if it comes to it, fail together. We have Huntsmen and Huntresses in teams because they share a great burden in defending humanity, so they are expected to shoulder it as a group." He stopped to take a sip of coffee. "Teams do not turn their backs on one another, they do not fight among themselves, and they certainly do not stand by and watch while their other members squabble over samples of the most volatile substance known to man." He turned a critical eye toward Yang, Blake, and Sanguine. "The events of the day will, of course, result in disciplinary action."
All five members of Team RWBYS swallowed.
"Are…" said Ruby. "Are you going to ex…expel us?"
To their shock, Ozpin actually gave her a small smile.
"Certainly not, Miss Rose. If I expelled teams every time someone made a Dust explosion, this school would be a great deal emptier." The five girls relaxed. "However," he said, making them tense up again, "you will all need to perform community service to work off the cost of damages to the Dust lab."
"Professor Ozpin," said Weiss, "I can assure you that will not be necessary and that I will gladly pay for any necessary-"
"This is not a question of material cost, Miss Schnee," he interrupted. "This is a question of both your collective attitude and your ability to work as a team." He took another slurp of coffee before leaning back in his chair. "Miss Rose?"
Ruby flinched.
"Y-yes sir?"
"What would say is the duty of a Huntress?"
Ruby began wringing her hands while staring at Ozpin's desk.
"To… to fight the Grimm," she said.
"Hmmm," responded Ozpin. "And the rest of you? Do you say the same?"
After a moment, they all nodded their heads. Ozpin sighed.
"Unfortunately, that is incorrect," he said, placing his coffee mug on the desk and lacing his fingers together. "Remnant is an incredibly dangerous world to live in, and in the face of danger, our darkest emotions easily reveal themselves. Fear. Anger. Blame. Hatred. Despair. And it is these precise emotions that bring the Creatures of Grimm clawing at our realm's walls. How do you think we prevent this kind of crisis from happening, Ms. Xiao Long?"
Yang jolted to attention, surprised at being called.
"Um… well… I think…" she gave a pained smile. "Motivational speeches?"
Blake and Ruby sighed while Weiss scowled at her. Sanguine just kept her eyes on Ozpin, who shook his head and smirked.
"Huntsmen and Huntresses," he began. "In the eyes of the kingdoms' citizens, going about their lives as if the Grimm don't exist, Huntsmen and Huntresses are their guardians. They bear the burdens of our world so ordinary folk never have to. It is this mutual trust and respect, along with our ingenuity, that allows mankind… and Faunus… to stand united against the Grimm. We must be the symbol of cooperation and a bulwark of defense so that they may all live their lives to the fullest."
"And how," interrupted Weiss, "is that goal accomplished when you name an immature child as leader of a team?"
"You got something to say about my sister?" said Yang, rounding on Weiss while curling her hands into fists.
"Yang, please don't," Ruby begged weakly.
"Yes," answered Weiss. "This is all an enormous mistake. Your sister is not qualified to run a bath, let alone a team of Huntresses. She is immature, idiotic, and frankly, you're no better than her!"
Yang's eyes turned red as she took a threatening step closer to Weiss, cracking her knuckles as she did so. For all of her earlier insults, Weiss suddenly looked a great deal less confident.
"Go ahead, Ice Queen," Yang snarled. "Keep digging that hole you're in." She took another step forward, heedless of Ruby's attempts to pull her away as Blake took a big step away from Yang and Sanguine simply stood there and watched.
All five of them jumped when Ozpin slapped his palm down on his desk, reclaiming their attention.
"This is exactly what I was talking about," he said coldly. "If any of you hope to have a chance of completing your education here, you will need to work past your differences and learn to work as a team." With another sigh, he leaned back in his chair. "Details of your community service will be worked out soon. For now, consider yourselves on notice. If the instructors bring word to me of more fights or squabbles between you, stricter punishments will be given. You are dismissed."
The members of Team RWBYS made their way to the elevator in dejected silence, but Ruby hesitated on the threshold.
"You guys go ahead," she murmured. "I'll catch up."
Yang looked like she wanted to say something, but just nodded before she pressed the button, closing the elevator doors and leaving Ruby alone with Ozpin.
"Is there something you wanted to discuss, Miss Rose?" Ozpin asked before sipping form his coffee. Ruby shuffled closer to his desk, her eyes locked on the floor.
"Yes, Professor," Ruby said quietly. "Did…" She stopped to take a breath. "Did you make a mistake? Naming me team leader?"
"That remains to be seen," said Ozpin, standing from his chair and walking around his desk. Ruby looked up to meet his eyes. "It's only been two days. We at Beacon do not expect all of our students to perform exemplary right from the start." His eyes softened as he looked down at her. "Miss Rose… Ruby, in my life I have made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet." He smiled and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "At this moment, however, I would not consider your appointment as leader to be one of them. Would you?"
"U-um…" stuttered Ruby. "No?"
"Good. I believe you have what it takes to carry yourself as a leader and to inspire others to follow you into danger. It will be hard work and there may be some stumbles along the way, but I believe in you, Ruby." He gave her shoulder a pat before moving to sit at his desk again. "I'd advise you to take some time to think about how you will carry out your responsibility. I hope the rest of your day goes well."
Ruby nodded, a small hopeful smile on her face as she called an elevator and headed for the ground floor.
line
Their meeting with the principal had left them out of class for much of the next period. Since the last class of the day had only a few minutes remaining, the members of Team RWBYS just gravitated to the dining hall to be the first ones in the dinner line.
Sanguine thought that Weiss would be the kind of person that would rather die than miss class, but the heiress only silently glared at her floor tiles, as if they offended her purely by existing within her field of view.
The main course of the day was tuna steaks. While Ruby and Yang filled their trays, Blake was piling her tray with as many tuna steaks as the scowling dining hall worker would allow, Weiss was only grabbing a salad, and Sanguine was piling her tray with a bit of everything that was available. She had never even seen some of these foods before, and she wanted to try as much of it as she could.
Definitely an upside to coming to Beacon, she thought to herself.
The members of Team RWBYS set their trays down at the table they had occupied for breakfast and lunch that day. When Sanguine sat down, she noticed that Weiss was still standing, glaring at them all with an icy gaze.
"I just want you to know," she almost growled, "that I will not allow myself to be dragged down by any of your performances. I came here to be the best, and you had better not think I'll tolerate your brutish or idiotic behaviors." Ruby lowered her head in embarrassment while the others scowled at Weiss.
"That's an interesting thing to say, Princess," said Sanguine, stabbing her knife down into her tuna steak, "considering that talk was entirely your fault."
Weiss just glared harder at Sanguine before turning on her heel and moving to the other side of the room.
"I don't like that one too much," said Yang, chewing her food with a little more force than necessary.
"I'm honestly not surprised at her behavior," Blake said with a nod. "She's from Atlas, one of the most closed-minded places on the planet. And she's a Schnee on top of everything." Blake turned back to her small mountain of fish. "I don't think we'll be seeing much cooperation from her side of things. Probably for the best, actually."
"Dang," said Yang. "That's cold, Blake." She suddenly smiled. "You could say it was even… Weiss cold, am I right?"
"Goddammit, Yang," Sanguine and Blake said at the same time. Ruby just kept picking at her food.
As the last class of the day ended, students began trickling into the dining hall. Soon the entire hall was buzzing with conversation from hundreds of students. JNPR set their trays down next to the remaining members of RWBYS.
"Team SCRT isn't coming to dinner," said Pyrrha. "They said they were going to have a tea party in their dorm."
"That's… a little weird, but okay," said Yang. "What did we miss in class?"
"Just Port rambling on and on and on about his old stories," groaned Nora, who looked like she was a few moments from falling asleep. "I don't even get it. What does a flock of tiny Nevermores and a giant butterfly net have to do with how to cut off a Beowolf's head?" Nora groaned again before slumping forward onto the table, with Ren pushing her food tray out of the way of her face without even looking.
"The whole class was talking about what you guys did in Dust class, though," said Jaune, looking to be in higher spirits now that the sparring match was further in the past. "What happened? Did you guys get expelled?"
"Fortunately, no," said Blake, carving into her third tuna steak. "We do have to do some community service."
"It's supposed to bring us closer as a team," added Sanguine. "The Princess doesn't seem to agree, though."
The members of JNPR, not counting Nora who was beginning to snore, blinked and suddenly realized that Weiss wasn't at the table.
"I should, um, probably go look for her," Jaune immediately said, standing up and walking away from the table. Pyrrha looked like she was about to say something before stopping herself and returning to her meal. Sanguine just shrugged as she swapped Jaune's full tray with her empty one and continued eating. The others made small talk that Sanguine didn't acknowledge or even really care about.
Everyone at the table fell silent, however, when Professor Goodwitch walked up to their group, her heels clicking against the tiles as she went. Students went absolutely quiet as she passed, scared at drawing her attention.
"Miss Sanguine," Goodwitch said, not looking pleased, "may I speak with you for a moment?"
Sanguine finished her sip of water before standing and following the professor to the side of the dining hall where they could talk away from prying ears.
"Professor Ozpin wanted me to inform you that your first lesson will be tomorrow evening at seven o'clock. Please meet the instructor on the second floor of the library."
Sanguine nodded, but scowled slightly.
"He could have told me when we were in his office," she muttered.
"I said the same thing myself," Goodwitch said with a nod. "By the way, where is Miss Schnee?"
"Wandered off. She didn't want to eat with us."
"Hmm," said Goodwitch. "This is not a good start." With that, she turned and left the dining hall while Sanguine returned to her seat.
"What did Goodwitch want?" asked Yang. All of the others at the table were looking at her expectantly.
Sanguine seemed to curl up and hunch over the food in front of her as she lowered her fork.
"Nothing that concerns you," she said simply before continuing to eat.
"Um," said Ruby, "are you sure that-"
"Yes, Ruby," Sanguine snapped, making the girl flinch. "I am quite certain it does not concern you at all. Now please leave me alone."
"Well, since you said please," muttered Yang as everyone went back to their dinner. Sanguine stared at the table and let out a long breath.
This is going to be a long semester, she thought.