A week had passed since Beacon Academy's newest crop of students had completed their final exam, many of them resting in the medical wing and licking their wounds. Ruby was woken by the PA system. "All first-year students please report to the auditorium backstage. All other students please enter through the front." the speaker announced, repeating the message as Ruby rubbed her eyes, letting out a groan and grabbing an almost-empty glass of water from her bedside table, finishing it off and jumping out of her bed. She changed out of her pajamas into her uniform, clasping her cape onto it. She looked down at her legs, which had been heavily bandaged with cuts, a parting gift of crashing her whole body into a cliff. She put on her shoes and turned to the rest of her team as they tossed aside their bed curtains.
Yang's torn off sleeves made her wounds more obvious as her arms were bandaged just as much as Ruby's legs. The arm bandages were a sample of the rest of the bruises that had covered her whole body after crashing the Nevermore. Weiss was rubbing her temples as she drank down a nearby set of headache medication, her head still recovering from Semblance burnout. Blake managed to walk out of the hospital unscathed, a complete reversal of her performance in the entrance exam. "Morning, team. You guys ready for the Naming Ceremony?" Ruby asked, the rest of her team nodding and beginning the walk to the auditorium. As they made their way to the auditorium, they were joined by Team ANVL, who looked much better off than them, barring Nora being covered in bandages like Yang and the heavy lids of Jaune and Pyrrha. Ren was walking with closed eyes, trying to focus only on his breathing and not the aftermath of the concussion he had received from the Scorpius.
Jaune walked over to Ruby, walking alongside her. "Hey, Ruby. So, Naming Ceremony, huh? You got any idea what the team's gonna be called?" Jaune asked, Ruby shaking her head.
"Weiss had looked up the system they used, it's usually an acronym of an initial from each team member's name." Ruby explained, Jaune nodding in understanding.
"Oh, so like Team ANVL." he said with a smile, Ruby chuckling a bit.
"Exactly. We've been trying to figure out ours for a while, but nothing's really come up. Yang suggested it'd be team BXWR, Blake thinks it could be WYBR… she was really burning the midnight oil when she came up with that one." she said in an undertone, Blake adjusting her beret slightly as she glared at the young Huntress, Ruby chuckling nervously and waving. "I'm thinking it's BRWL and Weiss thinks it'll be RBYS." she finished, Jaune rubbing his chin in thought.
"Well, guess we won't know until we get called up." he said, the group entering a line of students who were chatting excitedly about their victories in the exam as they were corralled into the back of the auditorium, hidden behind the velvet curtains.
Ruby snuck a quick glance and saw the remaining students file into seats in the auditorium. Spotting Team CFVY, she waved over to Velvet, who smiled and waved back, before feeling her cape being tugged at. Ruby was soon pulled back to her team, Glynda Goodwitch clearing her throat. "As I was saying… passing teams from each test will enter when their designated test number is called. When your team name has been announced, you will leave the stage and join the rest of the students and sit through the remainder of the ceremony." Glynda explained, the students all listening carefully. The Emerald Forest students were fourth to go, sitting in the back and waiting as teams from the tests before them were named and their leaders chosen, the three teams growing restless as Professor Ozpin's voice droned throughout, the cheers of the students managing to keep them awake.
"And now, the three graduating teams of Testing Area #4: The Emerald Forest." Ozpin announced, the twelve hunters snapping back to reality and getting back to their feet. Glynda looked over the students, given them last minute directions to make them look more presentable. "Congratulations. All of you." she said before stepping aside, allowing the teams to pass to cheers from the crowd. Ozpin tapped gently on the floor with his cane, silencing the crowd. "Dove Bronzewing, for showcasing incredible bravery and solidarity with fellow students." Zzpin said, video large video screens showing Dove fighting off a Beowolf and him passing on information to Blake and Yang. "Sky Lark, for showing keen espionage and camouflage tactics. Russell Thrush, for great intellect and strong team dynamic and Cardin Winchester for managing to guide his team to the shrine in the shortest time. These four had chosen the black bishop pieces and henceforth shall be known as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester."
The crowd cheered, though Ruby had noticed Team CFVY's silence from the crowd, Coco gripping the arms of her chair and gritting her teeth. It looked as though she was resisting the urge to boo and jeer the newly-christened team, a sentiment that many on the stage would agree with. Team CRDL soon stepped down and headed to their seats, Ozpin nodding to them with a cold sternness in his eyes. Cardin fidgeted slightly at this look before turning and trying to play it off to Russell and Sky. "Our next team… Jaune Arc, for his brilliance in combat and great chivalry." Ozpin said, showing footage of Jaune confronting the Scorpius and giving orders to his team, and his mid-air rescue of Weiss. "Ren Lie, for his quick reflexes and excellent use of Dust." Ozpin said, showing footage of Ren's fight with the Ouroboros and his use of ice, wind and lightning arrows. "Pyrrha Nikos, who took great risks to secure the safety of her comrades." Clips now showed her pulling Jaune away from separate Grimm attacks. "Nora Valkyrie, whose power and courage know no bounds." Footage of her being eaten by an Ouroboros and her destruction of the Scorpius. "You had all gathered the white rook pieces and henceforth shall be known as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc." Ozpin said, the crowd cheering again, though Jaune himself looked rather down.
Pyrrha put her hand on his shoulder, Jaune turning to his partner. "Jaune, is something wrong?" she asked, Jaune giving a small smile.
"Nothing, it's just… I'm gonna miss being ANVL." he said, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren smiling back at him as they stepped off the stage. Cardin got up from his seat, looking at Jaune in awe.
"Jaune… what you did back there… that was something else." he said, offering Jaune a hand. Jaune hesitated, glancing to his teammates, who nodded to him. He turned to Ruby's team, all shaking their heads. His head moved to Velvet, who gave a thumbs up, Jaune smiling and shaking Cardin's hand.
"Thanks, Cardin. Good job on making it there first." Jaune said before following his team to their seats, getting a few rows behind CFVY.
"Blake Belladonna, much like Ms. Nikos, had made every effort to protect her partner." Ozpin began, the crowd seeing damaged footage of Blake catching Yang mid-fall and bringing her back up. "Ruby Rose, who charged bravely into battle in spite of the odds placed upon her and her team." Screens now showed Ruby charging at the Scorpius with her teammates and JNPR and later readying her scythe to attack the Nevermore. "Weiss Schnee, with unwavering confidence in battle, impressive coordination with others and who pushed her body to its limits to secure victory for her team." the screens now showing Weiss fighting alongside Team JNPR and her straining to hold several glyphs. "And finally, Yang Xiao-Long, for not only her sheer brutality in battle but her willingness to remind others of the true danger we face." the footage showed Yang in her battle against the Ursa, steering the Nevermore with her fist before the footage cut out and pats of her speech to Ruby and Weiss that had survived the shrine crash. "You have claimed the white knight pieces and henceforth shall be known as Team RWBY. Lead by… Ruby Rose." Ozpin said with a smile, the crowd erupting into cheers once more.
Ruby's face was not that of joy at first, but of dawning realization. "Ohhhhhhhhh… Team RWBY, that makes sen-" Ruby said before suddenly being grabbed and pulled into a painful hug by her older sister.
"Yang! Ow! Lemme go!" Ruby said, her sister loosening her grip slightly before Ruby started to reciprocate the hug.
"I'm proud of you, sis…" she whispered softly into Ruby's ear, Ruby smiling as tears of joy welled up in her eyes. The two separated, Weiss putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"Congratulations on becoming team leader… now don't mess it up. I am second in command of this team and if you make any mistakes, I am allowed to remove you from that position." she warned, Ruby giving her a quick smirk.
"Who said anything about you being assigned second in command?" Ruby asked jokingly, Weiss giving a shocked look as she tried to sputter out an argument.
"B-but! My initial is second in the name! Without me, there wouldn't be a team RWBY! It'd be Team RBY!" Weiss said, spelling out each letter individually.
"That still makes 'ruby' Weiss." Blake said with a jovial tone, Weiss turning to argue with her before stopping, looking at Blake and starting to laugh herself, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Ohohohohoho~ Okay, you guys got me there…" Weiss said as they headed to their seats.
Team RWBY sat in the row in front of team JNPR, the two teams exchanging congratulations, hugs and handshakes as Team CFVY slowly got up from their seats, making tracks to leave the auditorium. "Hey, where's Team CFVY going?" Ruby asked, pointing them out to rest of her team.
"No idea, maybe they just wanted to stick around for team namings and then get in some extra training." Yang said with a shrug, sitting in her seat to watch the rest of the team namings. Ruby sat down as well, the teams from Testing Area #5 stepped out onto the stage. The ceremony went on for another three hours, the fully named teams being given their room numbers. The teams headed off to gather their things and enter their new dorm room. RWBY and JNPR walked in unison, chatting away as they headed to team RWBY's dorm first.
"Wow… this is so cool... " Ruby said, heart filled with joy as she turned the doorknob.
"...Do you guys hear music play-AhHH!" Blake said as Ruby opened the door and there teams were immediately hit with a bright flash of light.
"SURPRISE!" exclaimed Team CFVY to the stunned teams, Velvet holding up her camera and taking another picture. The inside of the room was covered in balloons and streamers, small tables of snacks and drinks and a full stereo system pushed against the window playing loud, funky music. The bunk beds, bookshelves and nightstands that made up the room's furniture had been pushed back slightly to make room for everything, the two teams staring in awe at the decorations and snacks as Coco pulled out her shotgun, firing out a shot of confetti. The two teams jumped at the sound of a gun firing before watching the shredded paper fall to the floor.
"Whoa… you guys set this up in three hours?" Jaune asked, Coco shrugging her shoulders and firing another round of shotgun confetti.
"When I wanna put together a party, I can get it done in no time. Trickiest part was figuring out what room to go to, but we were in luck because Professor Goodwitch saw us out of the auditorium and she said where Team RWBY was gonna be bunking. She's kind of cool like that when you're not breaking rules." Coco explained as the teams stepped in. "Now quit standing there like a bunch of dorks and let's party!" Coco shouted, firing off another round of confetti.
Ruby immediately went for a slice of cake. "Cake. Time. Cake Time." she said in a mantra, looking for ice cream to scoop onto the cake. She grabbed the small tub of strawberry ice cream, putting scoop after scoop onto her slice of cake until the cake was crushed under the weight of the ice cream.
"Having a bit of cake with your ice cream, Ruby? Ohohohohoho~" Weiss said, letting out her signature laugh.
"I like strawberries." Ruby said, taking a bite of her ice cream and looking for a corner to sit in and eat. Weiss grabbed a slice of cake, walking over to one of the bunk beds and sitting next to Blake, who was reading a book.
"So, what are you reading?" Weiss asked, Blake smirking and barely looking away.
"I'm reading a book." she said bluntly, Weiss sighing and shaking her head.
"I can see that, but what book is it?" Weiss asked, hoping to get a clear answer this time.
"The Order of Nightshade, series about a group of assassins who realize being assassins doesn't make you any friends." Blake said.
"Sounds… dark." Weiss said, Blake rolling her eyes.
"It's actually kind of cheesy, but there's nothing wrong with cheesy writing as long as it doesn't take itself too seriously." Blake said, turning the page.
"You know, Blake, since this morning I've been thinking of how different things have been since we first arrived here at Beacon." Weiss began, Blake looking up from her book.
"Yeah? How so?" Blake asked.
"Well, when I came here, I wanted to uphold the Schnee family legacy, Ruby was an annoying farmgirl… still is at times. You were a bookworm, Yang was a violent maniac," Weiss continued, Blake speaking out of turn.
"Jury's still out on whether or not she's any different." Blake commented, Weiss chuckling a bit before continuing further.
"And Jaune was some loser who vomited in the airship. But now, I'm teammates with the three people I wanted to be around the least, Jaune's an actual hero and the person who I spent a good chunk of my life hating for what they did to me… is my best friend." Weiss said, Blake smiling and putting down the book.
"Yeah, that is weird. The same thing with me and Yang. I thought she was gonna hate me for life, but now we're cool with each other." she said as Yang stepped up to the bunk bed, grabbing Blake by the arm.
"C'mon, Blake! It's a party! You can't just sit around and read the whole time! Shake a leg, partner!" Yang said with a huge grin, Blake resisting her.
"Yang, let go. It's our party and I can read if I want to, and I plan on making it through this party without a single leg shaken." Blake deadpanned, Yang pulling tighter.
"C'moooooon! Don't be boring, you're being boring right now, Fun time is upon you!" Yang said, shouting over Coco screaming behind them, firing confetti into the air from her pistols. Blake struggled to get her arm free, Yang giving a big pull that brought the raven-haired huntress toppling onto her partner.
"Oh dear! Blake are you alright?" Velvet said, running over to help her up.
"I'm fine, just a bit of roughhousing really… what's everyone staring at?" Blake asked as the room had suddenly gone quiet. Ruby quickly ran and grabbed something off the floor, Weiss putting her hands to her mouth in shock and Yang slowly getting up and backing away slightly from Blake.
"H-hey Blake, it's cool, right? We're cool? I didn't mean to-" Yang sputtered out, Blake staring hard at her.
"Didn't mean to what…" Blake said, looking as Ruby handed her a black beret. Blake's eyes widened as she quickly grabbed the beret and put it back on. The party continued and awkward silence, Blake darting her eyes nervously at JNPR and CFVY, waiting for one of them to say something, anything.
"Well, it looks like the cat's out of the bag." Velvet said with a resigned smile. Weiss got up from the bed, walking over to her former servant.
"Wait… you know she was a Faunus?" Weiss asked, Velvet nodding.
"Well, of course. After Cardin and his crew bullied me on the first day, Blake came by to comfort me, showed me her ears and told me I wasn't alone and if there was anyone she needed to talk to, that I should come see her." Velvet said Blake smiling a nodding.
"Yes, and that offer still stands. So… I'm a Faunus, I won't go into full details as to why I'm disguise, since it's a party, but if anyone has any problems with that, I'll see myself out." Blake offered, Jaune putting a hand on her shoulder.
"There's no problem here. It's pretty neat." he said, his team backing up his comment.
"There's no reason for you to think we'd turn our backs on you based on your heritage, Blake. You had your reasons to hide it, but we liked you as a human and we'll keep liking you as a Faunus." Pyrrha added, Nora and Ren nodding as Coco put an arm around Blake.
"And given that we have Velvet on our team, you know we're cool. Meeyow." she said with a playful paw motion, Blake glaring at her hard.
"Don't ever do that again. And Yang, no cat puns or I will cut out your tongue." she threatened, Yang groaning.
"Aww man, but then the cat will really have my tongue." Yang said before running off, Blake breaking away from the others and chasing after her. "Before you tell me to get out right meow…" Yang said as she headed for the door.
"Yang! Stop!" Blake shouted back as the two ran out into the hall.
"Come on, Blake! You really want to start a game of cat and mouse wi-" Yang began before letting out a yelp.
"Get back here!" Blake shouted, everyone staring in confusion.
...Should we go separate them?" Weiss asked, turning to Ruby.
"Eh, they're adults, they'll figure it out. In the meantime, let's party!" Ruby shouted, the rest of the partygoers cheering.
Nora and Yatsuhashi began to arm wrestle, Fox and Ren overseeing the match while Jaune and Pyrrha were having a quiet conversation. "I… I don't know if I can do it, Pyrrha. What if she says no?" Jaune asked, wringing his hands as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"It's fine, Jaune. Just draw on the courage you had when you helped her and you'll do just fine." Pyrrha said, patting him on the back in encouragement.
"R-right, you got my back, right?" he asked, Pyrrha nodding and giving him a small push up to the bed. Jaune took a deep gulp, knees shaking as he walked over to Velvet. "H-hey, Velvet… can I ask you something?" Jaune asked, Velvet turning around from her conversation with Coco.
"Sure, Jaune. What is it?" Velvet sad, Jaune looking at Pyrrha, who gave him a thumbs up.
"Would you like to… go candles with me or something? He asked, stumbling over his words.
"Ah! Ah… sure, Jaune. That sounds lovely." Velvet said, her face turning slightly red.
"...Did he just say 'go candles'?" Coco asked, Velvet elbowing her in the side.
"So… uh… maybe after the school year ends? You know, when we're not on missions…" Jaune said, unable to back away thanks to Pyrrha.
"S-sure, I'd like that." Velvet said, trying to keep her eyes on Jaune as they talked.
Ruby laughed a bit as she headed out into the hall, happy for Jaune but still finding the awkwardness quite funny. She sat down with a piece of paper and a pen and began to write.
Hey Dad,
I think making things short and sweet will probably help me since last time I wrote one of these I ran out of paper… I managed to pass the exams and I've officially become a huntress! I'll be sure to mail you a copy of the license so you can hang it up on the big wall of accomplishments along with mom's, yours, Auntie Raven's and Uncle Crow's licenses. And I'll get Yang to send her a copy of hers. We're on the same team! It's great! We're part of Team RWBY. And no, I didn't come up with the team name. Gonna be really confusing during mission briefings. Gonna be busy with missions for a while, so I might not get your return letter right away. Tell Uncle Crow and Zwei the big news! Hope you get this soon!
- Ruby
Ruby finished the letter, heading off to the front office to drop off the letter, not using her semblance due to the heavy bandaging of her legs. She dropped the letter off, hearing Weiss call for her. "Ruby! Hurry up! Velvet's planning a big team picture!" she yelled.
"Coming!" Ruby called back, heading back for Team RWBY's dorm room. Weiss headed off to find Blake and Yang as Ruby entered, seeing team CFVY in their signature pose and JNPR joined with them. Ren was sitting in a lotus position on Nora's back as she was doing push-ups, Jaune and Pyrrha knelt down next to them in front of Coco. The rest of Team RWBY soon met back up, looking for positions in front of the camera. Blake sat down next to Velvet, matching her trigger finger gesture. Ruby took a seat spot between Fox and Coco while Weiss put herself between Velvet and Blake, putting her arms around them both for a big hug. Yang stood next to Coco, showing off her guns with a big grin.
"3...2...1!" Velvet said, the collected teams putting on big smiles only for the camera to stay still and not flash. "Oh… I think I forgot to set the camera…" Velvet said, grinning sheepishly at the others.
"I've got it!" Ruby said, getting up and adjusting the camera, preparing the shot to go off in 10 seconds before rushing back, tripping over an untied lace of her shoe and falling over with a flip, crashing into the assembled teams, knocking everyone out of place as the camera flashed multiple times, taking several shots.
The Final photo had Ruby on top of Jaune, Coco and Yang, resting her head on her arm as they struggled underneath her. Velvet had her mouth covered in surprise while Blake covered her face in her hands. Weiss was angrily glaring at her partner while Pyrrha had tripped over Nora and Ren in surprise, lying on top of them, wearing a face of bewilderment as Ren's legs shot into the air, Nora laughing off the whole thing. Fox simply shrugged, having dodged the oncoming Huntress while Yatsuhashi looked down in confusion.
"Welcome to Beacon… it's sort of like this, but for three more years…"
