AN: In no way am I associated with Rooster Teeth
The rest of the working week was very similar to that first day.
Team JWMP were trying to get along and were doing an okay job of it. Weiss had listened to Melody and, if the rumours were right, Goodwitch. Jaune had told Ruby that both Pyrrha and Weiss had offered to tutor him, with Melody being almost apologetic that her weapon was so different.
Blake playing Conquering Remnant had warmed her to RMEY a little and they soon met the rest of her team properly. Zephyr was friendly and seemed the type to get along with anyone. Ren and Nora were complete opposites: one who rarely spoke and one who rarely shut up. So far, their teammates had been getting on swimmingly.
The same could not be said for SVDG. While Violet was the quiet type who tried not to get into trouble, Sawyer had his work cut out for him with Daisy and George. If they weren't arguing with him, they were arguing with each other. The pair also liked to get into fights with other students when they were away from their teams.
CRDL became friends almost instantly, much to the annoyance of other teams. They had rapidly turned into a group of bullies and certainly didn't try to hide their behaviour. So far, they had moved as a group and had never been seen alone. None of the other students had tried to approach them.
As it happened, HION were quite popular, especially with students from the older years. They had also become close within a day and didn't appear to have any problems with other students or each other.
Some of the older students offered encouragement whenever they saw one of the younger ones alone looking depressed. These troubles were a phase that the majority of teams had gone through, if not at the beginning, then later on when something unexpected happened. It was best to handle explosions now and it wasn't the end of the world if things weren't going well yet. A few older teams offered to spar with the younger ones so they could experience fighting like a team.
As it happened, that helped a lot for SVDG and JWMP.
Soon, there was fighting between different teams rather than within the same team. Those competitions were often friendly fun. Things were calmer by the end of the week than they had been at the beginning.
When Weiss applied for Beacon, she had an idea in mind as to what to expect: harsh deadlines, high expectations and a firm no nonsense attitude.
She got the first and second, but the third was difficult to determine.
On top of that, her leader had made friends with Ruby Rose. Weiss had thought her childish before Initiation. As it happened, she had no idea. However, it wasn't just Ruby as her sister was just as bad.
It started the second day of term.
JWMP were ready to go. For whatever reason, Yang of RMEY was running late and, unfortunately, they had agreed to wait for them. As Weiss got more restless, Ruby, Emerald and Mercury couldn't care less that they could be late to class.
Weiss wasn't surprised about that.
However, they were not going to be the reason for her getting bad grades. If Yang did not appear in the next three minutes, Weiss was leaving even if no one else was.
One minute later, Yang opened the door.
A bucket of water landed on her head.
Ruby and Melody burst out laughing. Pyrrha and Jaune also chuckled when they realised Yang wasn't angry about it. Emerald just shook her head as Mercury rolled his eyes.
"Very original Ruby," Yang sighed.
Is she disappointed!?
"Well, these guys aren't used to this, so we got to start slow."
"You can start slow on them Ruby. You can stay advanced with me." With that, she disappeared inside again. A second later, her head poked out again. "I am not ignoring this obvious declaration of war." Her head disappeared again.
With a snort, Mercury pushed off against the wall and past Weiss without glancing at her. After giving Ruby an amused smile, Emerald followed. Ruby grinned and ran after them.
JWMP stood in the hall for a few seconds before deciding not to wait for Yang.
Weiss just knew she was going to regret living in the same hallway as these imbeciles.
It was Thursday when Emerald realised that school may not be as different as she hoped; only that incidents at least started on a smaller scale.
It had been a rather tame incident by Emerald's standards and it occurred at lunch.
Lunch was between 12 and 2 for all years. However, they usually staggered in so there was always room to sit and the cafeteria was big enough for the entire student body if necessary. Normally, students ate lunch depending on when their next class was. If it was at 2.30, then they tended to eat earlier.
Today, they had arrived and joined JWMP at their table after an invitation. Emerald didn't recognise a lot of students in the cafeteria, so they were the older students.
Which meant that CRDL were currently attacking a Faunus that was at least a second year, if not older. Didn't they know she could almost certainly flatten them?
Looks like me and Merc aren't the only ones with a poor Huntsman mind-set. And people wonder why the White Fang turned to terrorism.
It also showed how much of an idiot these kids were. If you provoke someone who is more powerful and experienced than you, you shouldn't be surprised when they smash you into pieces. Emerald had learnt that lesson when she was very young and had attacked the Maiden knowing the risks and had been expecting a very difficult fight. She had just thought numbers and tactics would win. She had been wrong, but she had known that was a possibility.
Still, this particular student didn't seem to be in a violent mood. Emerald couldn't hear what she was saying over the morons' laughing, but it wasn't a threat.
Ruby and Yang didn't seem to have noticed, happily chatting away about some TV show. Mercury had noticed and was studying the event with feigned disinterest. He was frowning though.
Emerald put her elbows on the table, her wrist slightly touching his arm. [Is that bothering you?] It was bothering Emerald for a lot of reasons. Why wasn't the girl fighting back?
[I was wondering if I could get a four on one fight out of it. The matches in class are too tame for me.]
And too easy.
So far, Goodwitch hadn't called on him. Emerald had been called on once to fight Daisy and while that could have been a very quick win, she had dragged it out and made it look close. No one, save RMY and probably Goodwitch, had been any the wiser.
[Doesn't look like anyone else is getting involved. Why not ask?]
[Because they're cowards who'll probably refuse?]
He had a point. As it happened, George had been third at Sanctum, underneath Pyrrha and someone else who didn't come to Beacon and he hadn't lost in the combat arena yet. Everyone remembered how easily Mercury had run rings around him on the airship. Bullies were often cowards, especially against someone they knew would fight back.
[Why is she putting up with this anyway?]
Emerald shrugged slightly at his question. She wondered if it had something to do with her being a rabbit Faunus. Would CRDL be willing to try and threaten a wolf Faunus?
[Maybe we should introduce them to Adam.]
Mercury snorted at that, bringing the sisters attention to them. Ruby looked them in the eyes, then glanced at their touching arms before continuing flawlessly where she left off from her conversation with Yang. She didn't ask and Yang didn't either. Even though they weren't talking about anything too serious, it was odd how willing the sisters were to let them keep secrets.
Then again, she and Mercury wouldn't be talking about a TV programme especially by aura reading, no matter how much they preferred it.
Strangely, when Emerald blinked she heard a quiet voice and was looking at trees. "What was that about?" When she opened her eyes afterwards, she caught Mercury turning his attention back to CRDL.
Emerald knew that voice. Blake. She had just seen the memory Mercury had been thinking of. It hadn't been intentional, but he probably didn't care if she saw it.
[When was that from?] That hadn't been Emerald Forest and she hadn't seen Blake before that.
[It's not important.] Mercury was confused. Maybe he didn't know. Best to give him some time to figure it out before asking him again. Then he shook his head. [Okay, I'm bored.]
Mercury stood up and with a smirk strolled over to CRDL.
"How long has that been going on?" Ruby asked when his movement caught her attention. She was wearing a scowl and was glaring at CRDL. It was an odd expression to see on the normally cheerful girl.
"A while," Emerald commented idly.
"What's Mercury doing?" Yang asked. She was angry as well.
"What he does best."
Both Yang and Emerald looked at Ruby. She didn't seem to notice. Instead, she nodded. "Good."
She must really be angry.
Mercury was now standing next to the group. "You know, that's not how you ask a girl on a date."
Emerald snorted. The group weren't laughing; they were staring at Mercury with open mouths. Finally, Cardin growled.
"I'm putting her in her place."
"And you need four of you to do that? If you think you're that bad, maybe you should wait a few more years before attending here."
Cardin let go of the ear. "Stay out of this."
"Then would you mind being a little quieter? It's really hard to hear myself think." Mercury leaned against the table behind him with a thoughtful frown. "Maybe that's why you never do."
By now, the entire cafeteria were watching the show. The Faunus had backed away, giving both parties curious looks. She didn't look too upset. She did come over when Ruby waved her over.
"Take that back punk!"
Pathetic.
"Is he your teammate?" The Faunus asked them quietly when she sat next to Ruby.
Emerald didn't catch the other insults CRDL threw at him. They probably weren't very creative ones anyway.
"Yeah," Ruby whispered back. "His name's Mercury. I should probably be stopping him, but he saw it and I didn't. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
"How about here and now!?" The yell brought their attention back to the scene. CRDL were on their feet with furious expressions. Mercury hadn't moved and was still smirking. He wasn't threatened at all.
"While I don't think four on one is particularly fair-"
"You started it," Russell cut in.
"I think eight on one would be frowned upon even when I win," Mercury finished as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Ah, well. Can't have everything. So where and when? I'm good with right now."
"You're that desperate to land in the infirmary?" Cardin sneered.
"You're stalling."
"Whatever. You know fighting in the cafeteria's against the rules?"
"So is bullying and that didn't stop you. What's your problem anyway? You seemed all ready to go a minute ago."
"I'm not going to give up my weekend just to thrash you."
They didn't take Mercury up on his offer to fight later either. CRDL left with their heads literally held high.
Cowards.
Mercury shook his head and headed back to their table. With the entertainment over, most students were now ignoring him. The chatter around them quickly began to pick up again.
"Well, that didn't work."
"It was a long shot," Emerald pointed out as she returned to her lunch. "For a moment, I thought they would cave." She wished they had. It would have been very fun to watch.
"I wouldn't be that lucky."
The Faunus spoke up then. "Thank you."
Mercury gave her his attention for about five seconds. "I didn't do it to help you." He turned back to his own half-finished meal.
Ruby gave her a smile. "Mercury's the best fighter I've ever seen and needs a challenge. He doesn't get it in a one on one fight."
"He also gets bored very easily," Yang tagged on cheerfully.
Emerald agreed with both points, though she didn't think he would get a challenge in a four on one fight either. At least, not if the four were made up of students from this school. Maybe that was why he didn't get called upon in class.
It wasn't that different from the lessons she had learnt on the streets. The strong band together to pick on who they consider weak. Separate from your group and you could become a target. Be careful of who you choose to befriend or they could stab you in the back.
However, only idiots target someone from a combat school with high standards that have attended longer than them. This school seemed to have no shortage of idiots.
Emerald wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.
After their final class on Friday with Goodwitch (Blake vs Violet, George vs Opal and Yang vs Russel), she told them the times that the bullhead left on Saturdays and Sundays to go into and from Vale. Apparently, this was allowed every weekend and on week days if advanced warning was given or it was an emergency.
Emerald had mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it was good to know they weren't restricted to Beacon and, as they hadn't been told otherwise, she and Mercury could go. On the other hand, she was afraid to be recognised by someone working for Cinder. This was going to end badly.
She waited until Ruby and Yang fell asleep. They were excited. When she recognised their breathing had changed, she slid out of her bed and landed quietly on the floor. They still didn't wake.
Mercury raised an eyebrow when he saw her at his side, but did move a little in his bed to allow her room. Once she was lying next to him, he put his arm around her, holding her close.
[What's wrong?]
[Cinder thinks I'm dead. She thinks you are too. Tomorrow, she'll know we're not. She'll know we told.]
Mercury hummed. [It was going to happen eventually. The latest would be at the Vytal Festival, though it was probably going to be before.]
[She'll kill us.] That was her real fear. For being a traitor, for being too powerful and if Cinder found out Emerald was part Maiden…Emerald snuggled a little closer.
Mercury didn't mind. His hand gently rubbed her back.
It was in the silence when Emerald noticed something. The breathing patterns had changed. Someone had woken up. Ruby had woken up. A glance showed Ruby was still in bed, obviously trying to pretend she was still asleep.
"I know you're awake Ruby." Emerald didn't move to look at her again. Mercury was warm and comforting.
Ruby's eyes opened. She slipped out of bed as well, managing not to wake Yang and sat on the end of the currently shared bed. "Sorry. I just thought you don't get much privacy in here from us and well..."
"It's fine."
"You're worried about tomorrow." Ruby said it as a statement, not a question. "We can just not go. Yang will understand."
"I don't want to turn the school into a prison Ruby. For any of us. Besides, you and Yang haven't done anything wrong. You could go without us."
Ruby immediately shook her head with a frown. "No. We're not going to the city if you can't share that with us. You're family."
It still felt odd hearing that, no matter how many times she did. In honesty, she had expected Ruby and Yang to branch out with strangers they had made into friends, leaving them behind. That hadn't happened. Whether they wanted it or not, Ruby involved them in everything. They just couldn't say no to her, even if that meant they had to put up with those strangers.
When Emerald thought about it, there weren't many Ruby was getting very close to. Jaune had been a good friend since day one. Blake had also stood up for her that day. Melody and Pyrrha were okay as well (and Pyrrha's attitude had surprised her). Everyone else was a friendly acquaintance. So far, it wasn't that bad and Blake in particular seemed to socialise in small amounts.
It could be worse.
"I'm not sure we're in as much danger as you think tomorrow, Emerald."
Emerald looked up at Mercury's face. His eyes were thoughtful, but he wasn't afraid.
"What do you mean?"
"People know us as Beacon students. Attacking us is going to draw a lot of attention she doesn't want and she knows we can fight better than any student in this school. There are probably going to be other Huntsmen in the city as well. Besides, we have already betrayed her and she's going to know that. Killing us now doesn't keep her secrets."
"We've seen her face. We couldn't show anyone that."
"So has the Fall Maiden." Mercury blinked then. His voice became a mumble. "So has the Fall Maiden."
Ruby had shifted. Her arms stretched out and began to rub her fingers into Emerald's tense shoulders. Her hands moved in a very good massage. Mercury's arm moved so his hand was playing with Emerald's hair.
The tension began to drain out of the girl.
"What is it, Merc?" Ruby asked, not stopping her movements.
"The original plan was to sneak in during the Vytal Festival. Cinder can't sneak in herself at all now. Even if she manages to get rid of us, it doesn't solve the problem. The Fall Maiden saw her and she probably watches the fights. She'll recognise her. The odds of her getting rid of me, Em and the Maiden without something going wrong…Well, near impossible."
"She thought we were dead," Emerald pointed out. "We weren't part of the plan. With the Spring Maiden power, she would attack the Fall Maiden with help and probably win."
"We don't know why she attacked Fall over Spring in the first place," Mercury answered. "Tomorrow, she's going to have to take us into account. That's going to change her plan for the Fall Maiden."
Ruby was quiet as she thought, but she asked now. "What are you saying?"
"The Dust robberies haven't stopped. The White Fang are getting more restless. Cinder hasn't stopped her plan. She's merely altered it. If students are going to be suspected during the Vytal Festival, what about before? What if you slipped in your mole before that? Rather than study students for a few weeks, they get a few months."
It clicked immediately for Emerald what Mercury was saying. Ruby was a little slower, but Emerald knew when she got it when her hands froze.
"You're wrong, Mercury."
"I could be. It's just a theory. There can't be background checks or else we wouldn't have been let in. We were a last minute addition Ruby and Ozpin would have needed to accept someone else to make up the numbers. Maybe it was a fortunate opportunity."
Ruby's fingers circled again; the girl relaxed again. "I still say you're wrong."
Mercury hummed and dropped the subject. His finger twirled around one of Emerald's longer strands. "Tomorrow's going to be fine. It's probably going to be a few weeks before someone recognises us anyway. Why would anyone mention two Beacon students to her?"
And if you're right, we need to worry about a mole inside the school. She'll know when they report names.
His theory did make sense and even seemed likely. No one stood out to her, but then again she didn't know any of them. If there was a mole, they were almost certainly an excellent actor and probably wouldn't get caught unless they wanted to be.
Mercury was also quite paranoid and he wasn't comfortable in the school yet. Both of them were seeing signs of danger that probably weren't there.
No point worrying now.
Tomorrow was going to be fine.
[Can I stay here tonight?]
[Sure.]
Emerald wasn't a little girl that needed a protector. It didn't hurt to have a reminder that the past few months hadn't been a hopeful dream.
Perhaps the imbeciles did have some responsibility.
Pyrrha had suggested a study group for the eight. RMEY liked the idea and agreed to meet in the library on Saturday morning.
Yang, Mercury, Pyrrha and Jaune were at the library when Weiss arrived. She was five minutes early, so this was a good start. They had also moved two tables together to accommodate them more easily.
There was also a plate of Oreos sitting in the centre. Weiss rolled her eyes, but chose to let it go. There were worse things than a snack during studying. She personally approved of the idea, but not of the snack selected.
When Ruby and Emerald showed up ten minutes later, they instantly slipped into the seats next to their teammates. Ruby snagged an Oreo and happily tossed it in her mouth.
Only to choke and almost spit it out of her mouth.
Jaune looked at Mercury, who grinned back at him. Grudgingly, Jaune gave him a lien card.
"Yang!" Ruby crossed her arms. "Of all the biscuits to defile, you picked Oreos! That's not right!"
"You were the one who put chillies in the cookies. You started it."
Mercury rolled his eyes. "So where do guys want to start?"
Weiss narrowed her eyes as the two sisters continued to bicker. "How do you put up with this?"
"Princess, just be glad they're keeping it between themselves to the moment. They've got the entire school to play in now. Things are going to be interesting around here. Now which subject do you want to start with?"
In that second, Weiss decided to pretend that Ruby and Yang didn't exist. If they kept their childish antics to themselves, then she would tolerate their company. She only had to put up with them on Saturday mornings for an hour and she would have the rest of the day to herself.
/
Ruby liked Vale. It had everything from shops to cinemas. There was something for everyone.
Yang took the lead. She led the others on a tour around areas that even Ruby had never been to. She pointed out the best and worst restaurants, which shop had what, clubs that had good music and bad music and even the park where events such as auctions and competitions. There was supposed to be a competition next weekend of products from farms around the area.
Ruby was sold on the 'free samples'.
The morning was spent in the arcade. Lunch was in a café that was one of Yang's favourites (for good reason) and the cinema followed. Emerald picked the restaurant afterwards.
It was a very happy family that returned to Beacon that evening on one of the final bullheads out of the city.
When they got back, they were asked by Melody if they wanted to play a game of Atlas Cluedo with a few other teams. Emery initially refused. Yang agreed instantly and decided to drag Mercury into the game as well. He still refused. When he found out they were betting five lien each and so there was forty lien available though, he caved.
Wonder what he plans to do with that money.
Gambling wasn't illegal at Beacon and the teachers were aware it happened, although it was discouraged. They had the rule that the money had to be provided upfront so there was no 'he owes me money from four weeks ago'. If you couldn't pay, you couldn't play and if you tried to cheat, the following thrashing was your own fault. Also, there was a ten lien each person limit and one gamble a week.
How the teachers would know which student betted what, Ruby didn't know.
Emerald wasn't interested, so she headed back to the dorm. Ruby wanted to follow her and when she saw the other teams only had two playing (Nora and Ren, Melody and Jaune, Violet and Sawyer), she excused herself. Yang didn't seem bothered and Mercury smiled for a second before he settled back into his usual smirk.
"Lost little girl?"
Ruby had seen Opal and Nettle, smiling at them as she tried to pass by them in the hall. When they said that though, with a bit of mockery in their tone, Ruby stopped. Her smile didn't change despite her slight unease.
"No. My dorm's this way." As they knew because theirs was in the same corridor.
"Are you sure? Little girls shouldn't be away from home where mummy and daddy can't protect them."
Ruby had a really bad feeling about this. She just wanted to get back to Emerald. "Excuse me." She tried to move past, but Opal caught her arm.
"You shouldn't be here. You should be at home playing with your dolls."
This was a side to these girls Ruby hadn't seen all week. Normally they were friendly. What had brought this on? "Let me go."
Stay calm. Don't start a fight.
With a sweet smile, Opal let go. The two were laughing as she walked away.
Ruby wasn't.
Rather than crash on her own bed, Emerald was lying on Mercury's. She looked calm and happy. Maybe she was finally beginning to see herself as a student and not a prisoner. That relaxed Ruby and put the HION girls out of her mind completely.
When Emerald heard the door close, she opened her eyes and gave Ruby a small smile. She shifted over a bit so Ruby could lie down next to her. Surprised but pleased, Ruby did so. She always took them up on offers of affection. They had gone without it for too long.
[Did you have fun today?]
It had taken a lot of practice, but Ruby and Emerald were finally familiar enough with each other it actually felt like talking when they were reading the other's aura. There was a comfort that aura reading gave that merely talking didn't.
[Definitely.]
[Was there anything that worried you?] Ruby had noticed how tense both she and Mercury had been all week and had been trying to find a balance between comforting them and giving them space to realise their safety on their own.
Emerald took a moment to think about that. [No. That surprised me. I didn't even get the sense someone was following us.]
[So do you want to go to that farm festival next week?] It was probably going to be a lot more crowded and they didn't like crowds.
[…Yeah, I'd like to.]
Ruby reached out and patted Emerald's shoulder. She in return wrapped her arm around the smaller girl and pulled her closer. Emerald was happy.
For the day, there hadn't been any talk of Torchwick or Cinder. There hadn't been any mention of the time before Patch. They had been four normal Beacon students enjoying the city. That was what Ruby wanted them to be.
Emery had a bit of learning to do before they got to that point.
They were trying and were doing an okay job. Mercury might have stopped CRDL bullying Velvet because he wanted a fight, but he had still stopped CRDL from bullying Velvet. Emerald was getting along very well with other people, even if she didn't particularly like socialising but she was managing.
They had managed not to be the biggest problem students in the year. They now knew what to expect from each of the classes and Emerald had done well in combat class. Both of them weren't as far behind in their education as they had feared and were genuinely interested in most of the classes. Although, they had never had the chance to get a formal education and both were taking advantage of the opportunity.
Ruby honestly never thought that going to school was a privilege. She had always seen it as a bit of a chore.
They tended to stick to her and Yang when they were around the school (mostly her). Save for fetching refreshments during their games, they never went anywhere alone, Mercury especially. Ruby had the feeling that they would spend most of their time in the dorm, in the library or in the computer room if she didn't drag them out and about to see her friends. They had never complained though…
Her Emery was getting there. It would just take time.
