Author's Headnote: Sorry if it feels like the story is moving too fast, given that the story is told soley from the perspective of Ruby Rose, expects some details being omitted. Also, yes, finally, Cover Art. So... without further ado, let's jump into the chapter.
Ruby the Renegade: First Lessons
Beacon Academy, 4:30 AM, Wednesday, RWBY Dormitory
Ruby woke up thirty minutes ago, she had already and gotten dressed and prepared for class. Her reluctant teammates, well... reluctant on Ruby's behalf, and chances are the feeling's mutual for them too... even Yang. Point is, they're still asleep, and since Ruby was appointed leader. It's her burden to make sure they're ready for classes, which start at 8:30.
Why did she wake up at 4:00 AM? Well, let's display the math... she had fallen asleep around 7:00PM. She than, woke up in the middle of the night around 11:00 PM, given that Ruby tends to sleep in two shifts of four hours if she goes to be early. She than spent her time up making herself something to eat, using the bathroom, normal late-night stuff. She than felt tired again and went back to sleep. In which she than woke up at 4:00 AM. So, it's 4 hours in the first shift, one hour awake, and than four additional hours asleep. So, which means she woke up with the feeling of having seven hours of sleep.
Now one would expect Ruby to wake up her team than and there, at 4:00 AM. But Ruby didn't want her teammates pestering her while she was getting ready, so she insisted they get to sleep in for thirty minutes. As for unpacking... Ruby already unpacked her clothes. She didn't bring any decorations, because she doesn't bother... she started unpacking during her time up last night, and finished when she got up. So, really... all she has to do is wake them up.
Ruby flipped the light switch on. Along with clapping really loudly to get their ears to pay attention...
"HEY! WAKE UP! YOU NEED TO GET READY FOR CLASS!" Ruby yelled...
Blake than groaned in complaint... "Err... what time is it?" Blake complained.
"It's around 4:30." Ruby responded.
"Ruby... why did you wake us up at 4:30?" Yang complained.
"I don't want your lazy butts to be late for class." Ruby retorted.
"Let us sleep in for a bit more!" Weiss demanded.
"Mmmmm... nope! I already let you sleep in." Ruby stated.
"THAT WAS SLEEPING IN!?" The three teammates objected at the same time.
"I woke up half an hour ago, and I already finished my unpacking and I am ready for class. I need to make sure you three are too." Ruby said in a serious tone.
"How did you wake up so early?" Yang complained.
"She went to bed at 7. So, she was asleep for 9 hours." Blake commented.
"Oh ya..."
"Stop talking and start getting ready! UP! UP! UP!" Ruby commanded.
Weiss snarled as she got up... Blake groaned as she did... Yang was mumbling to herself grumpily... Ruby was tapping her foot waiting for her teammates to get up and get ready for class. Of course, she turned around, respecting her teammates possible modesty.
In the meantime, she checked her schedule... first up is dust studies, then math class, lunch, grimm studies, and combat practice in that particular order. It's going to be a long day... but no less, this is a school, classes are part of that. And that means no talking from people and Ruby can just focus on paying attention and learning stuff. Most of it will be focused around fighting of course. So, Ruby waited ten minutes before heading down to the school to eat some breakfast before classes start. Because that would be enough time for her team to get ready and dressed.
Beacon Academy, 5:10 AM, Wednesday, Cafeteria
The Cafeteria is wide and large. The room is mostly white, with bench-tables that can fit around forty-eight people each. The room walls also have windows around both sides. With gateways leading to the outside. There also has a cook that provides high quality meals for all students.
Ruby would normally eat outside where there would be less people, but given that it's early... she's eating inside. Since not many students are there, and ones that are ignoring Ruby. Which is good for her, she really is not a fan of fraternizing...
She was having a large breakfast... given that it's early and lunch wouldn't be around until 1PM. It was mostly focussed on making Ruby not hungry. So, it's two large waffles, some sausage, and strawberry milk. No syrup, and she already started to butter the waffles.
Ruby was eating her breakfast in peace that is until her teammates showed up... well, she really can't get rid of them. But they will be annoying to deal with. They got their food and sat around her... with Weiss sitting across from Ruby. Weiss gave Ruby the evil eye, with Ruby doing the same. They were doing this as they were eating their food... constantly staring each other with utter hatred. She isn't paying attention to what Yang and Blake are doing... or what her teammates are eating.
She was focused on staring at Weiss passive-aggressively.
Who does she think she is? Did she buy her way into Beacon? And why Beacon? She's the heiress of a powerful Private corporation, she could be in a luxurious suite in Atlas Academy. But why choose Beacon? What is her game?
She knows that Weiss is a formidable fighter, the incident around the nevermore and deathstalker proves that. However, they are by no means friends. She still remembers the small talk during that... when she was saved by Weiss from being eaten by a deathstalker.
"Why did you save my life?"
"Unlike you, I wouldn't just leave my partner to die."
"You were too slow."
"I'll keep up, I can assure you."
"I doubt that."
"If we're going to have to be on a team, we have to learn to work together."
"Very well, but by no means does this make us friends."
"You took those very words out of my mouth."
They've agreed that they would work together, whether they like it or not, and they certainly do not like it. As a matter of fact, other than the argument this morning, they have not spoken a single word to one another.
Ruby than finished her food. And proceeded to return to the tray to the tray bin. After that, she went straight to dust studies, she has nothing to do may as well wait until class starts. Although she has to learn where exactly the class hall is first...
Beacon Academy, 5:40 AM, Wednesday, Beacon Corridors
The Beacon Corridors, hallways even, the pathway between rooms if one may suggest. The floors have a red carpet with a white outline, and the walls and ceiling are brown. These tend to do as they are described, they're pathways to the various rooms of the main school.
The trouble is... Ruby doesn't know where to go. She is lost. No one gave her a map, so she's literally searching room by room to find Professor Peach's classroom. Maybe she's at the wrong floor... or maybe...
Ruby hummed... and looked at the map, it was a collapsible tablet, similar to a scroll because not a lot of people use paper these days. And she felt incredibly stupid. She pressed the arrow up, and it turns out the class she's to go on is on the third floor. And she's on the first.
No matter, Ruby headed up a couple flights of stairs and proceeded to head the the classroom.
Beacon Academy, 5:55 AM, Wednesday, Dust Studies (Not in session)
Ruby had found the classroom... only to find that she wasn't the first student there... it was Weiss. Well... no matter... it's not a competition, no need for her to get angry at her own teammate. No matter how much she wants to give her another blackeye... which, by the way, the initial one healed up...
Ruby had sat down to the seat on the opposite side of Weiss... well until the teacher had specifically lectured that teams are to sit besides each other. Ruby groaned and reluctantly sat next to Weiss. And she knows she doesn't like it either.
Ruby scooted away from Weiss because she doesn't want her to copy Ruby's notes. And Weiss proceeds to do the same. Which opens up a whole seat spot. The two of them are respecting their spaces and their efforts...
The rest of the team showed up. Yang had sat down between Weiss and Ruby. And Blake sat besides Weiss. On the bright side, they are not late... let's just see if they can pay attention and not make fools of themselves... and Ruby.
Beacon Academy, 9:30 AM, Wednesday, Dust Studies (in session)
Thirty more minutes until classes end... currently at class the professor, which by she didn't pay much attention to get much of a detail of her appearance other than her being a woman. She is giving a lecture on the many forms of dust... basically a recap of any knowledge one may have learned before hand before anyone would dare trying to experiment with it.
Ruby on the other-hand was taking notes. Being so careful as to not let Weiss look over Yang and copy from her. She would have used less paper if handwriting wasn't so large. She tried to write smaller, but she just naturally ended up writing larger as she does it... it'd make it look like if someone took the font size of an online document and increased it by 1 every single letter had increased in size until a certain point where it would normally be the size of Ruby's normal handwriting. So, she doesn't bother trying because it is distorting to look over. In addition, she doesn't mind the large handwriting, makes the notes easier to read over in the future. Although at the cost of overflowing Ruby's binder with around ten or so pages on each subject. She stops and moves her eyes to look over Yang to see if Weiss is copying her... she sees Weiss with her pencil in still, much like Ruby's... also staring at her like if she's checking if someone is copying off of her.
The two of them groaned at each other and than went back to taking notes... which she needed to catch up on.
Although that would have to change when suddenly team JNPR just showed up, one hour late to class.
"Sorry, we're late. We didn't know time classes would start, and the map is really confusing!" Jaune said, coming up with excuses.
The teacher eyed them and told the four to have a seat. In addition, the professor had gone to her computer and went to typing. After that, she went and resumed her lecture.
As the lecture continued... the addition of team JNPR has led onto a strain in Ruby's attention span, Jaune's fallen asleep in class... only for him to be woken up by Nora, who shook him up. That doesn't end there. She's been humming and making noise in class... and it infuriates her. But she needed to stay focused. She needs to write down as much as she can.
Thankfully the two troublemakers, Jaune and Nora were lectured by the teacher about showing up and causing a disturbance. That's a bit relieving... maybe now she can continue to focus on the class without having to worry about someone distracting her.
Beacon Academy, 11:15 AM, Wednesday, Math class (In session)
She was wrong. Nora is at it again... with her snoring in class... and Jaune over there ended up having a blank paper airplane thrown at him. Those bullies are getting on Ruby's nerves. Sure, vomit boy annoys the hell out of her, but there's nothing Ruby hates more than bullies. They're lucky they're on the other side of the classroom...
Math class... she really doesn't like math class... not that she's bad at math, just that typically math teachers don't like how Ruby solves the problem. And because the problem wasn't solved their way, the answer is typically marked with half a score or outright labeled incorrect, even though the answer is right. She knows it's right, because she CHECKED HER WORK!
Ruby is just trying to concentrate on her studies, she would listen to music, but than she wouldn't be able to hear the lecture. So, it's a test of willpower every single class with her... Ruby raised her hand to complain.
"Yes, Miss Rose?" The math teacher asked.
"My apologies, but Miss Valkyrie is distracting me right now." Ruby stated.
"Miss Valkyrie, please retain quiet and be more concerning for others." the math teacher scolded.
Nora scoffed... "Fiiine, I'll be good." Nora said in compliance.
Now she can focus on taking notes in peace, without having to worry about Nora distracting her...
Well, until Ruby gets to be on the receiving end of a paper ball being thrown at her.
She opened it up and it was blank. No matter... she crumpled it back up, and crushed the paper with her bare fist. A terrible waste of wood, but she'll uncrumple it and use it for notes after lunch.
After that incident, she than had noticed that Yang has been copying Ruby's notes...
"Yang... take your own notes!" Ruby whispered.
"Sorry... I was distracted..." Yang whispered.
"By what?"
"Nora?"
"Oh, makes sense. Now I'll need to shut up and pay attention."
Ruby's going to have a lot of gaps in her notes, in which she would have gaps in the knowledge she would have learned on her own.
As for Weiss, well... her seat is littered with crumpled up balls of paper. Mostly being thrown at by the faunas students who aren't fans of her father's business practices. She's been ignoring them however, almost as if she's used to the paper-balling. Well, Ruby used to respond by either reporting to the teacher or by retaliation... However, she doesn't know who threw the ball at her, nor does she care because she needs to focus on her notes and not get distracted by people throwing balls of paper at her!
And that's when someone decided to throw another paper ball at Ruby. She than took it and threw it back at the direction to whence it came. She doesn't want those paper balls, so she's not going to play ball with their games. Which than lead to two paper balls being thrown at Ruby... she growled and clenched her fists... she calmed down... and took some deep breaths... she than looked where the paper balls were being thrown from... and it was towards Weiss' direction.
Beacon Academy, 12:45 PM, Wednesday, Beacon Courtyard
It was lunch time, and Ruby really didn't feel like eating with anyone today, so she just ordered her lunch and decided to eat outside. Not like she'll be missing much by going to the cafeteria. She was eating a large chicken salad, no dressing. Along with a glass of regular milk. She prefers having something more healthy for lunch. There was more salad in the chicken anyway.
As she was eating, she came across Yang... what could she want with Ruby?
"Hey sis, why aren't you eating with your team?" Yang asked.
"I prefer to eat alone Yang, you know this." Ruby retorted.
"Come on, sis. You need to eat with your team."
"The relationship with my team is purely professional, I don't need to sit with them at lunch..."
"Professional huh? Guess I'll go tell our team leader, Weiss tha-"
"Weiss is not the team leader, I am." Ruby interrupted
"She seems more of a leader if she's willing to sit with her team."
"That's how you want to play it, fine. Tell them to sit with me."
"You think they'll just listen to you? I'll just go back to the cafeteria and chat with WEISS."
"Like hell you will! I am going in there, and you're going to sit next to ME!" Ruby yelled, running off to the cafeteria...
Weiss, she thinks she can usurp Ruby as team leader!? She's got another thing coming... Ruby will not be overthrown from a position she rightfully earned by some spoiled princess from Atlas! Ruby will show off just how much of a natural leader she is.
Beacon Academy, 12:52 PM, Wednesday, Cafeteria
Ruby had waltzed in with half a salad in her mouth, chewing it... whilst holding the rest of her food. She than sat down next to Weiss... in which she eyed Yang to sit next to Ruby. She was chewing her salad, although she is chewing quietly, as a way to show proper maturity. Although that's hard to do, since it was literally half a salad in her mouth. But no less, she went to chew it up for a couple of minutes, and than swallowed it all down at once.
"Did you just gobble down half an entire salad?" Yang asked in conern.
"No, I chewed first, Yang! I don't gobble down my entire food like some idiot!" Ruby retorted.
"Just don't choke."
"I don't intend to, now shut the hell up, I need to eat!"
Yang didn't respond by saying anything... instead, she just smiled.
Ruby was eating her food... and than flipped the bird at Weiss.
"What did I do!?" Weiss demanded.
"That, was for throwing paper-balls at me at Math class." Ruby retorted.
"How dare you accuse me of something like that! I would never waste paper for something so trivial!"
"Uh huh... you were covered in paper-balls thrown by angry faunas."
"Even than, I wouldn't be childish enough to throw them at you!"
"Weiss is right, I saw the paper balls, they were thrown past me, she didn't throw them at you." Blake commented.
Ruby just growled when she heard that... and Weiss smirked... Ruby is clenching her fist... trying to remain calm... if it weren't for the fact that they're in a huntsman school, there would a beowulf right behind Ruby right now. That's how irritated she is at Weiss right now.
She can resolve her anger soon enough... but for now, she has to finish her lunch, and than head to grimm studies.
Beacon Academy, 1:01 PM, Wednesday, Grimm Studies (In Session)
"MONSTERS! DEMONS! ALL OF THESE ARE TERMS TO DESCRIBE THE CREATURES OF GRIMM! All of you have came here to fight the creatures of grimm. But one must learn about these creatures to fight them more efficiently." The grimm studies professor, Peter Port stated. Or: Professor Port, or simply 'Port' for short. He also went on about his speech, and winked at Yang during it... no matter, Ruby is taking notes about his rants. She may have a test relating to it in the future. She's noticed that no one else is taking notes. Well, sucks for them. She's going to be the only one prepared for any weird tests the teacher may provide.
She was writing down her notes, and she sees Weiss giving her an evil eye... in which she responds back with an evil eye as well.
"Who here thinks they are the pinnacle of what it takes to be a huntsman?" Port asked the class.
"I DO!" Ruby yelled.
"I AM!" Weiss yelled at the same time as Ruby.
"Well, well, aren't you two very enthusiastic? Unfortunately, I can only have one volunteer. So, you need to settle this yourselves. How about Rock paper scissors?" Port stated.
"That can work." Weiss commented.
Then the two got their hands in a fist shape and a palm under it... they than slammed the fist under the palm three times. Weiss had picked paper, and Ruby scissors.
"Hah! Scissors cut paper; I win!" Ruby announced.
"Miss Rose, stop celebrating and get on stage!" Port commanded.
Ruby sighed and went to the locker room to get changed and get her weapon ready. She than went to the classroom stage, in wherst in front of her is a cage. She set Crescent Rose out in rifle form. And prepared to aim...
"Are you ready, Miss Rose?" Port asked.
"Let's just get this over with." Ruby said dismissively.
Port had used his axe to open up the cage, the boarbatusk and hoped out and in which Ruby had used her semblance to slide under it, and than fire it from the stomach. Killing the boarbatusk before it would even it would prepare an attack.
"How perceptive. You've noticed that the top side of the grimm is covered in armor, so you went under and attacked it's soft stomach, with a single bullet. You are, quite indeed a model huntress in the making!" Port praised Ruby.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Ruby said dismissively. Weiss looked offended after Ruby said that.
Ruby than went to get changed. And proceeded to take notes for the rest of the class.
Beacon Academy, 3:52 PM, Wednesday, Theater Room
Ruby was sitting down, as Professor Goodwitch went and proceded to talk about the importance of combat. Ruby of course, was taking notes. The rest of the class was not, similar to grimm studies.
"But of course, this class will not be revolved around sitting and taking notes. You will be fighting directly. Now, since you are the youngest, Miss Rose, I'll let you pick your opponent." Professor Goodwitch stated.
"That's easy! Her!" Ruby retorted, pointing at Weiss.
"Fighting your own teammate? That's not entirely traditional..." the professor objected.
"If we can't spar with each other, how can we improve as a team? Surely the point of this is to improve the skills of the team as a whole." Ruby counter-objected.
"You make a fair point, Misss Rose. You and Miss Schnee will be stepping onto the stage, change into your combat outfits can get your weapons ready."
Ruby and Weiss went towards the stage facing eachother... they dare not speak a word toward one another, as they prepare for battle. With Ruby getting Crescent Rose out, and Weiss drawing Myretenaster. They both enter appropriate combat stances.
"And... Begin!" Glynda announced.
As soon as Glynda announced the fight. Ruby went for a pre-emptive strike, in which was countered by one of Weiss' glyphs. Ruby than went and pushed back against the glyph, changing her scythe to it's rifle form, followed by shooting a gravity dust round at Weiss, then changing the weapon back to scythe form to make a swing down.
In which Weiss than parried and used a glyph to push Ruby back. She's really skilled with those glyphs... so... she than used her semblance to rush an attack on Weiss... only for her to prepare a glyph to defend herself... the push from the glyph is struggling, and Ruby is pushing through the glyph to make a strike on Weiss...
Ruby managed to make a hit on Weiss, pushing her back... but the Glyph eventially recoiled, pushing Ruby back too...
"Well, that almost never happens... It's a tie!" Glynda announced.
"A tie?" Ruby asked in an irritated tone.
"A tie!" Weiss objected.
"Yes, a tie. You both were ringed out at the same time. Therefore, causing a tie. This would be averted if Miss Rose would take a less direct approach in her strategy or if Miss Schnee would have taken measures to actually attack her opponent in close range instead of focusing on her dust techniques and glyphs." Glynda announced to the class.
After that, the various students were than assigned to duel one another. Although all the wins were done via. Ring-out. This made the professor's eye twitch slightly.
Vale Outskirts, 6:00 PM, Wednesday, Emerald Forest
Ruby went back on the Emerald Forest to train after classes were over. She was working on her fighting strategy. If she's going to be a better fighter, she needs to study on her own time. She'll need to improve her own skills before trying to improve co-operation of her team. If Ruby is a weak fighter, her team would end up being weak as a result. So, she needs to get stronger. For the sake of herself first, then her team. She realizes that pre-emptive strikes would not work against human opponents. One of those attacks even nearly killed Ruby.
So... she may as well come up with an alternate strategy, attacking from behind. She went around the forest, targeting beowulves and ursai as she went and used her semblance to strike them from behind. No worries, her aura would recover up outside of combat.
She's been here since classes were dismissed. Focusing and training herself to fight grimm. Any other team leader would focus on team bonding exercises, but Ruby made it very clear that team RWBY would remain a professional relationship between their team leader, despite that her sister is on the team. A lot could happen in four years, one of her teammates could end up being critically injured or dead, expulsion, even flunked out of school. Hell, even Ruby may even suffer from one of those. So, it's best not to get all chummy.
Being team leader means she can't let that happen anyway. She's got to babysit three people while doing all the heavy lifting. Much like all the group projects she's done back in school. So, she's training herself to get stronger to compensate for four huntresses. Which is an impossible task in of itself, but she needs to become a better fighter anyhow.
She still needs to observe how her team fights in order to analyze how she could manage team strategies... which would only be done efficiently if she... brought her team here... ya... guess being a leader is more of a malus than a boon for Ruby. But she'll take the burden.
Does this mean she'll sleep in the dorms? Occasionally, but she prefers to sleep alone. Which is why she elected to get a sleeping bag and set her scroll alarm to 4 AM. Even though she'll be sleeping at a later time, nothing a cup of coffee won't fix in the morning once she walks back into the dorm. She'll be sleeping outside.
Will she sleep at the emerald forest itself? No. That's just outright suicide. At the beacon courtyard? That's just spelling disaster for Ruby. She'll be sleeping at the dormitory balcony with her current clothes on. One of which is right above some random team's dorm.
After Ruby finished her private training session, she prepared to head to her sleeping grounds where she would do her homework, and than get ready to go to bed.
Beacon Academy, 9:02 PM, Wednesday, Dormitory Balcony
The dormitory balcony has some artificially placed grass on the flooring. Along with a bench, and of course railings. It's large enough for two people to spar in, though.
Ruby was just finishing up the rest of her homework, on the hard surface she had acquired, before putting it away under her sleeping bag and than go to sleep...
And than she came across Jaune, who decided to just stand there for some reason.
"Hey, this balcony is occupied. Go find another!" Ruby shouted.
"Normally people would sleep in their dorms." Jaune stated.
"Well, I don't like falling asleep near other people. I prefer to sleep by myself."
"That's quite the trust issue for a team leader."
"I want to go to sleep, not receive a pep talk about the importance of the power of friendship."
"Alright, fine. I'll sleep elsewhere." Jaune said, leaving the area.
Now that she's by herself. She can peacefully sleep without damaging her ears and headphones to block out any potential mumblings that Ruby would end up being woken up to. She slept in the dormitory last night because no one was around at the first block, and that she still needed to finish unpacking so may as well not change sleeping spot for the second. Now that she's finished unpacking, she'll end up sleeping away from her team... which is counter-effective for a team leader, but she knows that she'll need to get used to sleeping on the ground, since nights like those are going to be common for her in the future.
After that brief thought, she crawled into her sleeping bag and than closed her eyes... and went to sleep...
Author's Footnote: Yep, I decided to push Grimm studies as the third class. Why? Because I figured some original content would need to come first, albeit mundane before we do more of the canonical content. Of course, we'll be doing things one day at a time... and if you can notice... the relationship between Ruby and Weiss are only going to get worse from here. And I am leaning towards no pairing for this Ruby anyway, I just want to hear some thoughts and suggestions, never can go wrong with a second opinion.
And make sure you check out my other fanwork, RWBY: Festival of Blood. And see ya next chapter.