I do not own RWBY. By the way, I added OC voice cast back in chapter 1.

Lucius rose with the sun, which was his way. He always went to bed when the stars appeared and he was always up at first light. Looking over, he noticed Blake stir in her sleep. A dream, perhaps? Lucius dismissed the thought, as it was really none of his business, anyway. He rolled up the bedroll, took the pillow, and exited the ballroom. On the way out, he placed the bedroll and pillow by the doorway where a posted sign said to put them.

Lucius proceeded to brush his teeth, which was followed by a quick shower. Once he had finished, he donned his combat outfit, which consisted of a hooded, long-sleeve white jacket over a light green shirt. White pants and black shoes completed the outfit.

Now fully outfitted, Lucius headed straight for the gear room to retrieve his weapons. The gear room could have easily been mistaken for a common locker room with the rows of combination-locked, rocket-propelled containers. In each of these lockers was at least one deadly weapon used personally by a specific student.

Lucius reached his locker, entered the combination, then took out his gear. He fastened his bracers to his forearms. He slung the quiver of arrows over his shoulder, then attached his collapsible bow to it. The tomahawk was then clipped to his belt. He checked the cartridge of Gravity Dust within the tomahawk and the one on his right bracer. The Dust was vital for Beacon's... unique initiation his master told him about.

After checking his equipment, Lucius left the gear room for the cafeteria, where he ate a quick breakfast. He had tasted better, but food was food, and food was sustenance. With his meal finished, he headed to Beacon Cliff, where Arthur had told him the students would be launched.

Ruby Rose awoke to the alarm on her scroll, which played her favorite song, "This Will Be the Day." She was a young teen with short, black hair that was red at the tips and silver eyes.

Ruby rubbed her eyes and yawned as her older half-sister, Yang, sat up bleary-eyed. Yang had long, golden hair and lilac eyes.

Azura and Nathan, Yang's friends from Signal Academy, also began to wake up. Azura had dark blonde hair and blue eyes, while Nathan had brown hair with eyes to match.

The group rolled up their bedrolls and put them away, then went to the locker rooms to change. Once they finished, they met in the cafeteria for breakfast.

"How do you think initiation will work?" Azura asked when they were all seated.

Yang held up one finger, as her mouth was full of scrambled egg, then she swallowed and lowered her pointer finger. "Dad said they're gonna launch us off a cliff into the Emerald Forest, but I'm pretty sure he was kidding."

Azura shuddered as she brushed back a strand of her black hair. "I hope so. I've heard the headmaster was a little eccentric, but I doubt he'd do something like that."

"Hmm," said Nathan, "If that little rumor is true, it would be a great opportunity for me to try out a project of mine."

Ruby's interest instantly peaked. "Ooh! What is it? Is it a new weapon? A Gravity Dust grappling hook? A lightning sword? What is it?"

Nathan smiled. "I've been working on a gravity belt."

Yang snickered. "A what?"

"A gravity belt. The idea is to keep the wearer in midair so that they always have the advantage over any ground-based Grimm. If we get launched off a cliff, the belt should slow me down enough so that I'll land safely. Assuming, of course, the staff doesn't hand out parachutes."

"Your own portable high ground," commented Azura, "It sounds useful, but won't you have to worry about keeping your concentration as you shoot?"

Nathan waved his hand. "Nothing a little practice and discipline can't fix."

"That's so cool!" squeed Ruby, "Can you show me how to make one?"

"Ruby," said Yang, "You've already got your speed Semblance. You don't need Nate's fancy belt to get rid of some Grimm."

"But it'd be super awesome!"

"Yang's right, Ruby," said Nathan, "Not everyone has your speed. You can easily put distance between you and a monster without the gravity belt."

Ruby sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Can I see it?"

"Hold up, Rubes," said Yang, "Finish your breakfast and then we'll head to the gear room. Nate's probably got the belt stored there, anyway."

"Okay." Ruby was the first to finish breakfast despite having seconds. A speed-based Semblance was quite handy when it came to eating.

After breakfast, the quartet headed to the gear room and retrieved their weapons. Ruby grabbed her sweetheart, Crescent Rose, a scythe that was also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle. "Finally!" said Ruby, "No more awkward small talk or 'getting to know you' stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking!" She hugged the weapon to her chest as though it were a doll.

Yang slipped Ember Celica, a pair of fingerless shotgun gauntlets, onto her forearms as she watched her sister. "Well, remember, Ruby," she said, "You're not the only one going through initiation. If you wanna grow up, you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work with them."

Ruby groaned. "You sound like Dad." She collapsed Crescent Rose into a compact form and clipped it to her back at the belt. "What does meeting new people have to do with fighting or growing up? I don't need new people to help me fight. Uncle Qrow trained me just fine. I don't need people to help me grow up, either. I drink milk!"

"Yang doesn't mean physically growing up, Ruby," Azura clarified, "If you're going to be a huntress, you're going to have to interact with people at some point."

"Yes," added Nathan, "They put everybody on teams for a reason."

"They got a point, Rubes," said Yang, "What are you gonna do when we form teams?"

Ruby tapped her fingers together, nervous at the thought of not being on Yang's team. "Um, I don't know... I'll just be on your guys' team, I guess."

"But what if you get put on someone else's team?" Yang asked.

"Uh, well, I, uh... What if I don't get put on someone else's team?"

"What if you do?"

"What if you do?"

"I'll just take it in stride and hope my baby sister can break out of her shell."

"Break out of my-? What shell? I don't have a shell! That's absolutely ridiculous!"

"Here we go again," Azura mumbled good-naturedly.

Lucius was the first of the students to arrive at Beacon Cliff. Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch were already there. Ozpin held his cane in his right hand and a cup of coffee in his left hand. Goodwitch held a large black tablet in the crook of her arm.

The silver-haired headmaster smiled lightly upon seeing Lucius. "Ah, you're early, Mister..."

"Smith. Lucius Smith."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Smith. Professor Goodwitch was just about to call the students."

Goodwitch, a bespectacled woman with blond hair, nodded to the headmaster and tapped on the tablet. "Will all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff immediately? I repeat, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

Lucis bent down and inspected the row of platforms that faced the cliff. "I take it these will be used to launch the students?"

"An astute observation, Mr. Smith," Ozpin replied, "I'm curious, did you determine our method of initiation yourself, or were you perhaps informed beforehand?

"I learned."

"I see. Well, I do hope you will keep this to yourself." A smirk formed on Ozpin's face. "Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, would we?"

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "If I may ask, why this...particular method?"

Ozpin's eyes briefly drifted upward before refocusing on Lucius. "Why not? Ah, I see more students approaching. I suggest you choose a platform. Any of them will do." He took a sip of coffee.

Lucius nodded and moved to stand on a platform. He wondered what sort of a method there was to the headmaster's apparent madness. Was it a means to set apart those who could adapt? Were the ones who adapted quickly made team leaders? Lucius continued to ponder Ozpin's ways up until the rest of the students arrived.

Ozpin cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "For years you have trained to become warriors," he declared, "Now, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Professor Goodwitch stepped forward. "I am certain many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams," she said, "Some of you may have been informed directly. Regardless of what you might have heard, each of you shall be assigned teammates today."

Lucius nodded as he listened. He had already heard everything relevant about the initiation process from Arthur., but it would have been rude to ignore the headmaster and deputy headmistress. He wondered how others felt about the idea of being launched into a dangerous forest and partnership being determined by eye contact. Several cries of incredulity told him that some were less than thrilled.

Ozpin proceeded to tell the students to seek out a ruined temple after partnering up. At the temple would be a set of relics. Each pair had to retrieve a relic, which was one of several ways by which they would be graded. Once the headmaster finished speaking, each student assumed a ready stance on their platforms.

Lucius soon found himself soaring through the air, feeling the wind against his face. Once his body reached the peak of the launch and began falling, he unclipped the tomahawk from his belt. Holding it up as one would a torch, Lucius concentrated, focusing his Aura on the Gravity Dust. Gradually, his fall slowed as he gripped the now hovering weapon, feeling his own weight pull him down. Eventually, Lucius felt that he was a safe distance from the ground to cease his concentration. He dropped and rolled forward, glad to be on solid ground once more.

Azura (pronounced AH-Zura) and Nathan were created by WinterWolf29 and are used with permission.

I was going to cram all of the initiation, pre-launching and all, into this chapter, but wound up deciding against it. Yang mentioned friends from Signal in canon, so I added OCs in order to reflect that. I actually got the idea of the gravity belt from a Bad Lip Reading of Game of Thrones. Naturally, I didn't include the interaction between Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha because we already know how that goes.

Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.