Summary: Surviving Beacon's initiation was Ruby's priority. Getting married along the way happened to be a bonus.

*White Rose Week 2020 Day 1: Love at first sight/Eye contact.

Ever since Ruby was a toddler, attending Beacon had always been her dreams. It was one of the four pinnacle academies led by the most aspiring leaders. Classes were taught by professors who bled the same, if not more enthusiasm and passion than she did.

Getting accepted to the greatest school, two years ahead of time no less, was the best thing that had happened to her. She anticipated a lonely semester, but at least Yang would be by her side all the time.

Well…

…That was a lie.

Some of the time.

Yang had ditched her yesterday right when they first set foot on the school's courtyard. But Ruby, being the kind-hearted little sister that she was, put the past behind her when she started the next day with a new invigorating energy. She had so much energy channeling through every nerve and muscles that she slammed her locker much harder than she intended to.

"Easy there, tiger!" Yang laughed at her little sister's sudden burst of energy. "Save all of that when the real test starts."

"I'm trying!" Ruby exclaimed with a whine strung in there. "But I really, really can't. This is Beacon we're talking about. Bea-con!"

Ruby hooked her weapon onto her lower back and inhaled deeply through her nose.

"Can you smell that, Yang?"

After fixing her gauntlets to make sure they fitted right, Yang whiffed once and recoiled at the acrid smell lingering in the locker room. "Sweat?"

Ruby groaned at the disgusting answer. "No! It's the sweet smell of my dreams almost coming true!"

"Wow, I never thought your dreams smell like mold and sweat…"

Ruby ignored Yang's brazen comment and started gushing. "Can you believe I'm going to be a huntress once I graduate?"

"Yeah." Yang smiled at how her sister was too busy salivating over the fact that she was one step closer to achieving her goal. "I actually can believe that because you really know how to kick butt. But seriously, save the excitement after you pass. Though, I'm really not sure how happy or excited you would be after getting married…"

"Married?" Ruby frowned because she didn't understand what marriage had anything to do with what they were talking about. It was so random and out of context.

Yang gaped at Ruby with surprise. "You didn't hear the rumors?"

Ruby started shrinking nervously. "What rumors…?"

"Well…" Yang looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping. When she saw the coast was clear, she leaned over to Ruby's ears and whispered. "I heard we might be getting married today."

Ruby reeled her head backwards, staring at Yang in disbelief before bursting out in laughter. "Where did you hear that from? Geez, we're too young to get married!"

"Shhh, shhh, shhh." Yang hissed and warily looked around again. "Keep it down will ya? It's something I just heard, and rumors don't go floating around for nothing."

Before Ruby could knock some sense into her sister, an announcement came through the speakers. As instructed, all participating students gathered at the cliff side of Emerald Forest.

All of what Yang had said regarding the rumors flew out of Ruby's ears as her mind was overtaken by the excitement of initiation. Looking down the lineup past Yang, Ruby recognized a few people she had crossed paths with.

There was the tall, red-haired Mistralian girl from the locker room; Weiss, the girl who Ruby totally did not almost kill yesterday; Jaune, the vomiting trainwreck; Blake, the stoic girl who really, really, really, really, really did not want to be her friend, and a couple of others who she had seen passing by.

When Ozpin cleared his throat to call for everyone's attention, Ruby turned face forward.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," he spoke scriptly.

This was the moment Ruby had been waiting for. The plan was simple — outperform every person here because she knew that she could kick ass.

"Now, many of you may have heard the rumors roaming around in this school." Glynda bounced off of Ozpin's speech. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be getting married… Today."

"What?!" Ruby cried out, her jaw slamming straight to the ground. However, her voice got swept away by the clamorous students.

Ozpin raised his hand to silence everyone.

"While we will be assessing your abilities, the true purpose of initiation is to randomly assign you partners," Ozpin explained. "It has been our school's tradition for years, but the professors and I have noticed a recurring pattern. By fate, everyone gets married to their partners after graduation."

"So, the professors and I agreed to make some minor changes." Ozpin smiled. Ruby did not like where this was going. "To save everyone the trouble, we decided to cut corners. That being said..." He paused as if a dramatic drum roll was supposed to cue in. "...The first person you make eye contact after landing will be your spouse!"

"Isn't this great Ren?" One girl said excitedly in a shrill voice. "We're going to get married!"

"Uhh…"

Jaune raised his hand nervously. "Yeah, um, sir?"

"Rest assured, Mr Arc." Ozpin smiled. "I am certified."

Jaune gulped and counted the numbers again. There were more boys than girls — the odds were not in his favor.

"After you find your partner, make your way towards the northern end of the forest." Ozpin instructed. "You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path. Your ceremony will be held there, then you will be appropriately graded afterwards for academic purposes and assigned into teams of four."

"Questions, comments, or concerns?" Ozpin asked.

"Lots of concerns!" A hand from Weiss skyrocketed to the air, but Ozpin pretended to miss her hand.

"Good! Now, take your position."

"Uh, heelloo?" Weiss waved her hands in the air to get his attention. "Isn't this illegal?"

"Not at all." Ozpin nonchalantly sipped from his mug that he was holding. One after another, students were catapulted into the forest by the launch pad underneath their feet. "When you applied to this school, every one of you had to fill and sign the applications required to get in. It was stated specifically in there, and I assumed everyone had the chance to read it before signing the documents."

Weiss wanted to break down and cry as her face started to pale whiter than her hair. She remembered the school administration had sent out stacks of papers that were the size of encyclopedia books. The documents contained words tinier than fine print, so Weiss took the lazy route and signed every page without reading.

"You can't be serious!" Weiss shrieked.

"On the contrary, I am very serious."

Ruby shared a worried glance at Yang as it was her turn next to be launched into the forest. Yang returned a look of concern and wildly motioned a hand to her neck.

Whatever the sisters do, they must never make eye contact in the forest.

Soaring through the skies, Ruby used her scythe to make landing more manageable. The moment she set foot on the ground, she bolted deep into the forest.

"Oh this is bad. This is really bad!" Ruby cried out loud to herself. She bulldozed through the wild vines, overgrown bushes and tree leaves like a human lawnmower.

"The headmaster is going to marry every single one of us, and I know he will gladly do it with a smile. Gosh what was I thinking — I shouldn't have accepted his offer to Beacon when he gave me a chance! I should've stayed at home. Oh god, who the heck am I going to pick?!"

Mind running quicker than her semblance, Ruby went through her options.

"Nope, nope, nope, nope, not Yang — Anyone but Yang." Ruby didn't want to consider that one. They may not be full sisters, but the idea did not appeal to Ruby at all.

"There's that red-haired Mistalian chick!" Ruby thought of next. "She's cute… I guess? Maybe she will make a nice wife and good partner."

"There's Jaune." Ruby took it into consideration, but decided against it. "He doesn't seem like a reliable huntsman material. Husband, maybe?"

"How about Blake?" She suggested out loud next. "No, no, no, no. Rearrange the letters and you get bleak. Gaaaah! Who else do I know? There's the red head, Jaune, Blake, aaaannndd…"

Ruby came to a screeching halt when someone had stood in her path up ahead in the clearing. She hesitantly lifted her eyes from the ground, and time slowed to a crawl when the other person turned around.

Ruby made eye contact with Weiss.

They stared blankly at each other for a long period of time, blinking every other passing second until Ruby broke the ice.

"I… Uh…" Ruby scratched her cheek, not sure how to go about this. "I guess we're getting married?"

Weiss' expression blanched.

"No," she then said dryly. She pivoted in the other direction and walked away from Ruby. "I'm divorcing you."

"W-Wait!" Ruby called after her, but Weiss left without looking back. She kicked the floor dejectedly, her lower lip rolling into a pout. "We haven't even gotten married yet…"

Weiss forced her way through the rough thickets to get further away from the bumbling dolt who had almost blown them into smithereens. Spiny branches snagged onto her dress like needles, but Weiss managed to break through into another clearing. She brushed away the dust and dirt afterwards and ignored the superficial scratches on her skin.

Weiss looked up at the sound of struggling. To her disgust, she discovered Jaune Arc nailed into a tree like an old piece of art in a museum that no one cared about.

Jaune ceased all efforts to unpin himself after catching a glimpse of the heiress underneath him. With an embarrassed smile, he waved in greeting. Being a polite human, Weiss did not wave back. Letting him bask underneath her presence for one second was gracious enough.

Weiss pivoted and traced her steps back to Ruby who was still kicking the ground and sulking.

"Fine," Weiss grumbled in miffed resignation. She snatched the tip of Ruby's hoodie and dragged her along. The choices between partners were clear. Whatever the future had in store for them, they were going to do it together until death did them apart — which she knew will be very soon and by her own hands. "Let's get married."

"Yay!" Ruby threw her hands up with joy.

Sticking to the audience list but skipped day 3 and 4.