Qrow flew through the sky in bird form, something that he usually reserved for missions but right now he wasn't on one, instead he was looking for his nieces.
Oz said that they'd both be doing their initiation today, and Qrow wanted to be part of that. He wanted to watch and see how they'd both do.
He wouldn't interfere of course, not unless it looked like either of them were about to be killed, but Qrow doubted that would happen. His nieces were both some of the best huntresses he'd ever seen.
So he flew over the forest on the lookout, then he heard a noise that caused him to realise he never asked Oz what time the initiation would be starting at.
And with no real time to dodge, Qrow could only look up at the rapidly approaching and freefalling from of his youngest niece.
Just his luck.
"Birdie, no!" A loud cry echoed through the forest.
Weiss paused where she landed in the forest, who was that?
She waited for a follow up but was rewarded with silence.
Well that wasn't her problem, what she needed to was find Pyrrha Nikos and become her partner.
A perfectly trivial and mundane task, that she could easily accomplish, the Grimm would fall easily to their combined force and the rest of Weiss's time at beacon would simply fall into place.
Now which way did Nikos fall? But as Weiss looked into the forest she heard something.
" ᵗʰᵃᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᶠᵘⁿ."
Weiss looked around but failed to spot anyone.
So she dismissed what she heard as the wind, picked a direction she believed was reasonable and started walking.
She was a Schnee, she will find Niko's, she will pass initiation, she will prove that going to Beacon was the right move and she will redeem the name of her company.
Everything depended on it.
Ruby's mourning of the bird lasted all of a second as she remembered what she was supposed to be doing.
Landing.
Firing off a few rounds from Crescent Rose to slow her down, Ruby then turned her precious weapon into its scythe form and caught the branch of a tree in her blade… only for it to cut cleanly through the branch.
She knew that Wash's idea of sharpening Crescent Rose before initiation was a bad idea.
Trying again, she swung Crescent Rose at the nearest tree truck. This worked better and she used the momentum to spiral down the tree in a fluid motion.
Sarge's landing was far less graceful.
The red leader was unable to 'phase' through the tree branches and as a result was forced to hit each as though they were made of steel.
"Oh, ah, ow, son of a-" Sarge landed in face first in front of her, before immediately springing up like nothing happened.
"You okay Sarge?"
"Dandy," Said the red leader indignantly. "Where to big red?"
"We need to find Yang," She told him seriously as she folded up Crescent Rose and stored it at her back.
Sarge considered this for a moment before asking, "Where did ya last see her?"
Ruby pointed in said direction.
"Right, then we are going that way," Sarge said as he pointed a couple of meters to the right of where Ruby pointed.
"But Yang was-" Sarge cut her off.
"Becaaaause," Sarge drew out, "You last saw her in the air, so odds are she's went further into the forest than that."
That... was a fair point. Odds are Yang used Ember Celica to get more air time out of being launched into the air.
"Your right, but how do we know how far she went?" Ruby said biting her lip in worry.
"Don't worry Ruby, we here at red team have a little something called gut instinct," Sarge put a reassuring arm on Ruby's shoulder and gave a hearty laugh, he then made a grandiose gesture with the other arm, "And mine has never failed me."
Ruby took a deep breath, "Right, I trust you Sarge, grab hold of my hood."
Sarge did so, as he couldn't phase through it, and the pair darted off using Ruby's semblance to burst off at high speed.
"Gotta find Yang, gotta find Yang," That was the mantra that played on loop in her head.
She also weighed her options, Yang would be ideal, being her sister and all, Blake would also work being her newest friend, Weiss would not be ideal considering the poor impression she made on the rich girl at the courtyard and Yang's own argument with the girl last night.
And that was everyone she knew at Beacon. Maybe Yang was right about her needing more friends than just her and the colourful trio.
Consumed with her thoughts, Ruby didn't notice the person in front of her until it was too late.
"WAITWATCHOUT!" She called out before she collided with a familiar stranger.
She was hated by the universe, Weiss was certain of it.
Why else would she get stuck with such a clearly useless partner?
"Come on, come on! Stupid!" Her probable partner was hanging with Pyrrha's spear keeping him pinned to the tree by his hood.
Then he noticed her and they made eye contact.
'The first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years,' Ozpin had said.
She was hated by the universe.
"ᵂᵃˢʰᶦⁿᵍᵗᵘᵇ, ᵃᵍᵉⁿᵗ ᵂᵃˢʰᶦⁿᵍᵗᵘᵇᵎ"
"ʰᶦ ᶜᵃᵇᵒᵒˢᵉ."
It really was windy today.
Back to the matter on hand… Jaune, she was fairly certain was his name, was now her partner.
Hmmmm.
He was more concerned with flirting with Pyrrha than talking with her and had left Weiss alone, but he had somehow only known of Pyrrha through Pumpkin Pete's Cereal.
He didn't look like much of a fighter, but granted neither did she. He couldn't have gotten into Beacon without combat training so evidently his appearance must be deceiving her.
Still, even if Jaune wasn't up to scratch, he had to be better than the little girl and her brute of a sister from yesterday.
And she was a Schnee, A Schnee wouldn't give up at the slightest inconvenience. Winter wouldn't give up at the first sign of trouble. Neither would Weiss.
"Hello? Are you going to let me down? Please?"
Weiss turned her head up towards the embarrassed Arc.
"Fine."
She summoned a glyph underneath his feet, giving him stable ground and leverage which he used to pull the javelin out of the tree.
She then lowered the glyph gently to the ground, Jaune in tow.
"Thanks, guess I owe you… partner?" Jaune put his left hand behind hid head sheepishly.
Weiss looked him dead in the eyes, "We may be partners, but by no means does this make us friends."
She stormed off hearing Jaune sigh and start to follow her, on the way out she grabbed the javelin, she could still be on the same team as Pyrrha after all.
"ˡᵒᵒᵏ ᵗʰᵉʸ'ʳᵉ ᶠʳᶦᵉⁿᵈˢ ⁿᵒʷ ʷᵃˢʰᶦⁿᵍ⁻ᵗᵘᵇ."
"ᴵ ˢᵘᵖᵖᵒˢᵉ ᵗʰᵉʸ ᵃʳᵉ ᶜᵃᵇᵒᵒˢᵉ, ᶦ ˢᵘᵖᵖᵒˢᵉ ᵗʰᵉʸ ᵃʳᵉ."
Pyrrha Nikos was having a good day.
She was at Beacon, away from Mistral, away from the arena fights, the sponsors, the fans and all the expectations that came from being the famous "Invincible Girl."
She was no fool and didn't expect Beacon to be a clean break, just a place where she could meet others her age and possibly grow out of the role she was stuck in.
But something wonderful happened at her entry.
She met someone who had no idea who she was.
Jaune Arc.
He had flirted with her. flirted.
Pyrrha couldn't remember the last time someone had tried to flirt with her without knowing who she was.
So now here she was heading towards where she pinned him to a tree. He was exactly what she was looking for in a partner.
He probably needed her help after asking the headmaster about "landing strategies."
And his "thanks." He yelled back to her was vindication enough.
"WAITWATCHOUT!"
That was all she heard before someone ran right into her, sending them both into a heap on the floor.
Untangling herself from the other person, Pyrrha looked at them and saw a pair of silver eyes meet her own.
"OH, NO I'M SO SORRY!"
"It's fine," Pyrrha told the shorter girl.
They both got up and dusted themselves off, taking a moment to recover and examine the other person.
She was shorter than Pyrrha was, and wore a black long-sleeved dress with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves and a combat skirt. She was also a bit shorter than Pyrrha.
Pyrrha braced for the inevitable recognition and subsequent talk about her fame.
"You're the person on my cereal."
"What?"
The other girl elaborated. "I a-mean that you're that person in the, tournaments that Yang watches." She paused, "And my cereal." She finished mumbling the last bit.
"I suppose so, my name is Pyrrha Nikos," Pyrrha gave a small laugh with a slightly fake smile.
"Ruby Rose."
Ruby lifted up her hand and Pyrrha shook it.
"Is the shield your weapon?"
"No, Akoúo here is just a shield with a sharpened edge."
"Then where's your weapon?"
Pyrrha shifted sheepishly, "I...used it to pin Jaune to a tree." She admitted.
"Oh… want to go get it?" Ruby asked.
"Ruby I would be glad to… partner."
Ruby gave Pyrrha a smile that warmed the gladiators heart. She might not be Jaune but Ruby seemed a decent person with an enthusiastic attitude, that had no real interest in her fame.
Besides she could still be on the same team as Jaune.
"Lead the way, and oh! On the way I can tell you about Crescent Rose!"
So the pair set off, but as they did so Pyrrha could swear she heard one distorted word. Barely louder than the wind.
"ᶜᵃʳᵒˡᶦⁿᵃˀ"
Weiss and Jaune were lost.
To be honest this didn't surprise Washington, as it seemed that they both had a terrible sense of direction.
One might think that they might cancel out each other and have a collective, decent sense of direction.
But it only seemed to multiply the troubles.
Also Weiss looked ready to blow a gasket the next time Jaune offered a suggestion and that would only attract some Beowolves, which would be less than ideal.
"Where. Is. The. Forest. Temple." Weiss said mostly to herself, Wash would offer a suggestion or two, but he only had a fleeting idea on the location as he was more concerned with the fact that Ozpin used jump pads to get the students into the forest which he believed was probably not the most ethical or moral way of doing this. So he only had a small glimpse of the ruins themselves, due to his own distracted thoughts.
And of course the duo was going in exactly the wrong direction.
Also Wash was pretty much incapable of communicating with the duo in any way so there was that.
"What if we followed the trees?" Suggested Jaune only for Weiss to immediately dismiss the notion.
"Follow the trees? Are you brain dead?" She took a breath. "We are in a forest and forests typically, are made of trees, you dunce!"
Caboose then chipped in his two cents, "What if we climbed the trees? Then we can build a tree fort!"
Unhearing of Caboose's suggestion Jaune looked down dejectedly.
"Sorry."
Weiss was unmoved.
"One more useless suggestion and you will be gagged."
"Wait, what if we climb the trees? Then we can get a look from higher ground." Huh, that wasn't half a bad idea, good job rookie.
"Fine," Weiss said in agreement. "That idea isn't half bad, but you have to do it."
"Why not you?"
"I am the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, I do not go gallivanting around trees." Weiss said, looking indignant at the very suggestion.
Wash imagines that if he were Jaune he would have argued with the heiress a little more, but it seems that Jaune was either more chivalrous or lacking in backbone than Wash did when he was younger.
"Right, okay…" Jaune took a deep breath before looking at the various trees obviously looking for one to climb, but before he could choose…
"YEEEE-HAAAAW!"
The loud cry came from the right and was accompanied by the sounds of loud crashing and the sounds of breaking tree branches.
On instinct Wash ran to tackle the nearest person (Weiss in this case) out of the way of whatever was heading their way.
Of course the expected outcome happened with him simply phasing right through the heiress and head first into a tree. (Unbeknown to Wash, Weiss actually stumbled a little when he phased through her.)
Ow.
The new arrival made themselves known, just as they came in ridding on an Ursa out from the bushes and tossed Jaune to the side.
Only for the beast to continue running head first into a tree, the person on its back jumping off at the last second.
Wait what?
True to Wash's sense of vision, a girl with ginger hair and pink (not lightish red) skirt came off the (poor?) Ursa's back and look at it disappointingly.
"Aww... It's broken." She said dejectedly, but she brightened when another student, a man this time with a purple highlight in his hair, came bursting out form the same bush the girl came from.
"Nora! Please," The poor soul seemed out of breath, "...Don't ever do that again."
"But Ren, it was fun!"
"ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY INSANE!?"
Ah Weiss had recovered. Lovely. Although she wasn't wrong, who (apart from Sarge) thought that riding a Grimm was a good idea?
"Nope!" The new girl said cheerfully, "I'm Nora silly, and this is Ren." Nora gestured to the person in question, who gave a sigh at his partners antics.
Weiss's eye twitched in an way that in Wash's experience was a precursor to extreme violence from South and Carolina.
"Uggghhh," Came Jaune's moans as he got up. Which was enough the distract the trio from the impending argument.
"Whoa are you alright?" Nora asked as she rushed over to help Jaune up.
"Yes, but I would like some cookies," Caboose said seriously. "I get very hungry."
"Fine, I just have a hurt arm," Jaune replied to Nora, rubbing his left arm as he did so.
"Why didn't you activate your aura?" Wash asked, he should have been plenty capable of doing so, even with the limited reaction time.
"Why didn't you activate your Aura?" Ren asked, who had a far greater chance of being answered.
"My what?" Jaune replied intelligently.
Weiss stepped forward concerned. "Jaune, you know what Aura is, right? Even you can't be that much of an dolt."
"Psch! Of course I do! Do you know what Aura is?"
It turns out Jaune was that much of a dolt.
"Goddammit rookie," He said softly.
Ren stepped in to answer, "Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts."
A very textbook answer, the same Ruby gave him and the others when they asked three years ago and she read it from a dictionary.
"What?"
"Basically it's a bit our soul that acts like a force-field," Nora put in layman's terms.
"How do you activate it?" Jaune asked, which had Wash curious as Ruby only skimmed over that in her explanation.
"Allow me."
Much to Wash's surprise, while Weiss had looked ready to tear off Jaune's head, she had volunteered to activate his Aura.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality," Weiss said solemnly as she took Jaune's hand. "Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death." She placed her hand on his chest. "I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."
While she had said the small oath, Weiss had been glowing a soft white, the colour of her aura Wash assumed, and now that it was done she returned to normal.
"Neat," Caboose summed up.
"My sister taught me that, now your arm will heal and you can possibly be useful in combat," Weiss told Jaune. "Now, back to the matter at hand, we have to find the ruins, we've dilly dallied too long here."
She had a point, the unlocking of the Aura and the increased negativity had most likely attracted some Grimm by now, it was a small wonder they weren't already here.
"Yes," Ren nodded. "I saw the ruins as I came in, they're that way."
Weiss nodded and the group set off, as they did Nora asked Weiss,
"Sooo, do you think we'll be on the same team?"
"I sincerely hope not."
Wash could only hope Ruby and Sarge had it better.
There was no Jaune nor Wash nor javelin at the tree when they arrived.
This was fine by Ruby, it clearly meant that Jaune must have pulled himself free or had help from someone else.
Although her new friend (and partner, how awesome was that!) seemed disappointed.
"He's gone," Was all Pyrrha said as the pair and Sarge looked at the tree which did have a hole near the top of it.
"Someone probably pulled him out," Ruby comforted.
"Well there's no blood so she probably didn't skewer him like a fish," Sarge added thoughtfully. Ruby decided not to tell Pyrrha this, the mental image would probably not be the most comforting.
"We could probably meet Jaune at place that has the relics, and get you weapon back as well," Ruby suggested. Then when they met up, they could form, the most awesome ever team of all time.
"'Your right Ruby," Pyrrha told her. "It's just a matter of finding the relics. Any ideas?"
"You're… asking me?" This threw Ruby through a loop.
"Of course, your my partner so it's better that we work with each other when solving problems," Pyrrha gave Ruby a warm smile. "I'm sure that any ideas you have would be fine."
Right. Ideas… ideas… ideas… ideas…
Sarge put an arm over her shoulder to catch her attention.
"Ruby!" He began "I believe it is time to tell you, about the red team methodology on situations such as this. While most others would simply start walking, but we? We wouldn't. We're the Reds. We don't walk anywhere. We travel as the good Lord intended: in the largest possible vehicle with the maximum horsepower allowed by local law enforcement. And if there's no cars available, we find the biggest, nastiest, meanest, land animal we possibly can, beat the crap out of it, and saddle that puppy up."
As Sarge finished his lesson, the screech of a Nevermore filled the sky, causing both Ruby and Pyrrha to look up at it.
"Do birds count?"
She believed Sarge was grinning under his helmet. "They most certainly do."
"Ruby what did you say?" Pyrrha asked the young red.
"I have an idea."
It wasn't long into their walk that Yang and her new partner found a clearing with some ruins.
"Think this is it?" Yang asked.
Blake gave her an incredulous look and headed down the hill.
Yang followed, yeah that probably was a redundant question.
Closer to the ruins themselves, Yang saw what exactly the 'relics' were.
"Chess pieces?" Blake asked out loud, probably rhetorically.
Thinking back to the occasional game she played with Ruby, Yang noticed something.
"Some of them are missing," Yang paused for a second. "Looks like we weren't the first ones here."
"Well, I guess we should pick one."
Yang gave a neutral hum and studied the remaining pieces. Before seeing a very familiar piece.
"How about a cute little pony?" She asked Blake as she picked up the knight piece. She always called it the pony to mess with and tease Ruby, who always got frustrated at Yang's terminology.
"Sure," Blake gave her a smirk.
As they walked towards the centre of the ruins Yang reflected on what had happened. Aside from fighting a few Ursa when she met Blake and the four Beowolves that had tried to ambush them a few minutes ago, they really hadn't run into much trouble.
It was sort of disappointing, she had hoped for more of a challenge.
"That wasn't too hard!" She told Blake cheerily, keeping the disappointment out of her voice.
"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find," They shared a smile, but the Blake turned around.
"Do you hear that?"
Yang put herself on alert and opened her ears but didn't hear anything.
Silence was the name of the game for the next few minutes, then:
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"
The blond that vomited on her shoes on the bulkhead to Beacon was running over the hill with that crabby rich girl Weiss and some new guy.
Yang prepared for a fight and saw Blake do the same in the corner of her eye. What were these three running from?
As if the universe itself heard Yang's internal question and wanted to answer, a Beowulf with a girl on its back came over the same hill.
Wait, what?
She and Blake could only watch stumped, as the Beowulf collapsed and died halfway down the hill.
"Aw, I broke this one too, why don't they like me?" The girl asked no one in particular.
The other three noticing that the Beowulf had died, stopped and caught their breath.
"Did that girl just ride in on an Beowulf?"
"Uh, are you guys alright?" Yang asked, ignoring Blake, it looked like they'd been running for a while now.
To her surprise, it was Weiss that answered.
"I." She took a deep breath, "Will be fine. When I kill, that INSANE FOOL!"
Weiss then started to march where the girl was only to find her missing.
Yang looked at Blake who sighed and gestured to behind them where...
"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
"Nora!" The new guy scolded.
"Sorry Ren," Nora told him.
"NORA!" Weiss screamed.
"Hiya Weiss!" Nora replied cheerfully.
"WHAT, in all of remnant, possessed you to ride on a Grimm not once, but twice!"
"Well-"
"And to do it in the middle of battle!"
So Nora here rode on a Grimm twice? Sounds fun and dangerous. She'd have try it some time.
She also thanked her lucky stars Ruby wasn't reckless or stupid enough to try that sorta thing.
"WAAAATTTCCHHH OOOUUUTTTT!"
"Is that your sister falling from the sky?"
The argument between Weiss and Nora stopped as everyone looked up to see Ruby and someone else falling from the sky. Presumably falling from the now circling Nevermore.
Yang had shitty lucky stars.
The other girl then grabbed onto Ruby as she shot Crescent Rose into the ground, reducing their momentum into a controlled decent.
"ʸᵒᵘ ˡᵉᵃᵛᵉ ˢᵃʳᵍᵉ ᵃˡᵒⁿᵉ ʷᶦᵗʰ ʳᵘᵇʸ ᶠᵒʳ ᵒⁿᵉ ˢᵉᶜᵒⁿᵈ..."
It was sure was windy today.
Yang watched with equal parts exasperation and amusement as the pair landed on the ground in heap.
"You sure know how to make an entrance sis."
"Yang!" Ruby got herself up, "Is this the place with relics?"
"Sure is sis," Yang nodded, "Go and pick one."
Ruby's partner who Yang now identified as the Pyrrha Nikos also got up. "Jaune?"
Vomit boy stood to attention, "Pyrrha!"
Pyrrha smiled at Jaune, "Glad to see you're alright." She shifted sheepishly, "Sorry, for pinning you to a tree."
Jaune gave a small laugh, "It's fine, Weiss found and rescued me." He gestured to the girl in question. Oh!, Here's your spear a back." He then handed the gladiator's javelin back to her.
"Thanks."
"Pyrrha!" Ruby called, "Would you be fine with the white, I-a guess golden knight for our relic?"
"It would be fine Ruby," Pyrrha said warmly.
Yang went over to her sister as the duo of Weiss and Jaune chose their piece.
"So the pony huh? Good taste Rubes."
"It's called the knight Yang," Ruby ground out.
Yang smirked, that was exactly the reaction she was hoping for.
Blake stepped forward, "Now what?"
Yang shrugged, "I guess it's over and we can just head back, the Grimm are all dead right?"
"CCAAAAAAWWWWW!"
Oh right the Nevermore. She had kinda forgotten about it.
"Son of a bitch."
It wasn't often Beacon had such interesting students as the set on his screen.
But that, Ozpin supposed, just made it all the better when interesting students did come to Beacon.
"Should we intervene?"
"No Glynda, let's see how they adapt." He turned his head back to the screen, it seemed they had arrived at the ruins, he hoped that there wouldn't be too much damage, Bart had been trying to get that section of the emerald forest quarantined off for years now. No need to aggravate the man further.
He sipped his coffee as Miss Valkyrie played distraction. She and Mr Ren had been in the same schools and classes for the most of their lives, so it was no surprise to see them partners.
What was a surprise was their future teammates, Weiss Schnee and Jaune Arc.
Miss Schnee had been a surprise, he had expected her to follow the same path as her sister and go to Atlas. So when her name crossed his desk and the parental right/consent waiver were signed (a precaution against parents pulling their child out of Beacon without the approval of said child or suing Beacon for their child's injuries), Ozpin had been left with one of the only two Schnee's to ever come to Beacon. He would have to pay attention to her to find out why exactly she left Atlas.
Jaune Arc on the other hand was interesting for a different reason. He had tried to fake his way into Beacon, Ozpin of course knew the transcripts were forgeries right away, but when meeting for the interview section of the application, Ozpin had gotten a gut feeling, that if he let Mr Arc in, he would do amazing things.
His gut rarely led him wrong.
Ah, he'd gotten distracted, focusing back on the screen he watched just in time to see Miss Xiao Long jump into the beak and fire multiple rounds into its mouth.
"I! Hope! You're! Hungry!"
Ah, truly the youth of today were innovate when it came to combat.
Although only time would tell if Miss Xiao Long would be more like her mother, father or more of a unique mix of their best traits.
Ignoring Glynda's disbelieving groans, Ozpin switched the camera perspective to see all of the others barring Mr Arc, Miss Schnee and Miss Rose all firing there individual weapons at the Nevermore.
He focused in on Miss Belladonna, his agents had informed him that she was a former White Fang member, the daughter of the former leaders in fact. She was obviously seeking some form of redemption at Beacon, hoping to atone for her sins by becoming a huntress.
She was also hiding the fact that she was a Faunus, it was unfortunate as the Faunus would always be accepted into Beacon. But he could also see why she would feel the need to hide it. He just wished she didn't need to.
"Think you can make the shot?"
"Hmm! Can I!" Miss Schnee said confidently.
"Can you?"
"Of course I can!"
Miss Rose pumped Crescent Rose as Miss Schnee turned the circle from black to red and released miss rose at such a speed that the ground behind her launch cracked, rose petals flying from her ascent.
A slingshot. Inventive.
He watched as with each new shot, she got closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe caught the Nevermore's neck in its blade and caused them both to fall to the cliff wall. Miss Schnee, displaying some admirable teamwork, raised her sword and created a series of white glyphs up the wall, which Miss Rose dashed through by firing the entire way up.
Ozpin watched her climb up with the bird in her grasp until, both future huntress and Grimm cried out, Miss Rose reached the top of the cliff, circled up, fired one last shot, and tore the Nevermore's head from its shoulders in a shower of petals.
She landed beside the severed head as the body of the giant Nevermore fell lifeless to the ruins and crevice below while Miss Rose's fellow students watched in amazement.
Well, she had the same flare for spectacle as her mother.
"Glynda."
"Yes, Ozpin?"
"Would you mind collecting Miss Rose and the others from the forest?"
"Fine," Glynda left without another word.
He took another sip from his coffee.
The final one of his students was Miss Ruby Rose. All these years later and he still felt guilty over her mother's death.
Indeed it was this that had led to his guilt on Miss Rose's current condition.
Schizophrenia.
Undoubtedly caused by a mix of Miss Rose's visit to her mother's gave all those years ago and unresolved/unprocessed grief over her mother's death. Miss Rose's condition was ultimately his fault.
Still, it was not guilt that had caused him to let Miss Rose into Beacon two years early.
It was the goodness of her heat and the pureness of her soul, a robbery had taken place and Miss Rose didn't so much as hesitate to stop it.
People like that were in short supply these days.
Of course her silver eyes were also a factor, but a very minor one.
Only time would tell if Miss Rose was up to the huntress's life. But even those with mental illness could be great hunters and huntresses.
Beacon and Ozpin would never discriminate on something like that.
He went for another sip of his coffee only to find it empty.
Unfortunate.
Well, he had to head back to his office anyway, it was time for the worst part of the year.
Naming the first year teams.
He could only hope that none of the names would be stretching it out too far this year.
"Weiss Schnee. Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Nora Valkyrie. you four retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team Salmon, led by… Weiss Schnee!" Ozpin called out.
"Go Weiss!" Called out Ruby as she grinned and clapped, sure she seemed crabby and a little unpleasant, but Ruby found herself liking Weiss anyway, it was probably her awesome combat skirt.
"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Pyrrha Nikos. Ruby Rose. Yang Xiao Long." Her team walked up to the stage and took their place. Ruby's trio of friends right behind them.
"Saving the best for last huh?" Sarge asked rhetorically.
"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team Raspberry, led by...Ruby Rose." Ozpin finished.
Ruby's smile got wider than she thought it could ever be, as the room clapped.
Yang put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm so proud of you!"
Pyrrha did the same to the other, "You'll be a good leader ruby." Her partner told her.
Blake agreed, "Yeah what she said."
"Good job solider, only fifteen and leading a red team of your own!" Sarge made a wiping a tear away gesture, "You're making me proud."
"Everything will be great forever!" Caboose told her and Ruby had to agree. She looked to Wash.
"You're doing good Ruby, doing good."
Ruby was grinning so hard it hurt.
This. Would be. The best year. In all of beacon history. Ever.
And Ruby couldn't be happier.
Somewhere in an alley in Vale.
His head fucking hurt, it felt like all of his bones were broken, but he was still alive. That was their mistake.
Taking a look at his surroundings, he found that he couldn't recognise any of them.
"Where the fuck am I?"
Notes:
I had fun remastering this particular chapter, I really loved some of the character interactions I made back then.
Same time next week eh? Thanks for reading!