Every first year student who had successfully completed their initiation (and survived) were instructed to report to Beacon's amphitheater. The purpose of which, so they could be officially placed on teams of four...about an hour into the presentation.

"Man, Oz sure likes to ramble." Yang had whispered to Ruby, who snickered in response.

The two siblings carried on with the making of small jokes. Weiss kept her focus forward, fixating herself on everything the headmaster said, to perhaps make herself feel more like the "smart, ready to learn" one in the group, to elevate her already inflated ego to an even higher extent. Blake, meanwhile, was once again tuning out the old man on stage. She suspected that such a behavior of hers would become commonplace. It wasn't like she could help it. The overused, inspirational clauses irked her to no end. She was certain that Professor Ozpin was a good man, but still…

"Blake? Uh, Blake, you there?" Ruby asked, perplexed, gingerly shaking her partner's arm when words proved to be ineffective.

Blake was startled out of her temporary trance. Looking around her, trying to figure out who or what had disturbed her brief escape from reality, she was met with Ruby staring at her with a bothered expression.

"You alright, Blake?"

"Uh…"

The Cat felt her face heat up again. She knew for certain that she felt a twinge of embarrassment, but that didn't appear to be the whole picture.

For you see, the scythe wielder had presented Blake with a warm smile, as her silver eyes sparkled, ever so alluring to the Faunus!

"Uh, Blake? You're doing it again."

Blake's consciousness made its unwelcome return, cursing at her.

"What the hell are you doing? Get a grip, girl!"

She was now certain that her red cheeks were manifested solely based on a wave of embarrassment. Not a twinge like it was about ten seconds earlier, a wave.

Blake listened to the advice that her consciousness had given her.

"S-sorry, Ruby. I spaced out for a second."

"A second? Try forty five minutes." Yang remarked playfully.

"What?" At that point, Blake's face was tinted a shade of red, one that's complexity was similar to that of...well, a couple of Ruby's accessories, such as her cloak and scythe.

"Ah, don't beat yourself up about it, Blake! I do it all the time!" Ruby proclaimed, jovially slapping the Cat on her back.

Before Blake could become any more flustered, if that was even attainable, Ozpin's deep voice brought all the girls back to attention. She saw that blonde guy Jaune, the two redheads Nora and Pyrrha, and the quiet ninja Ren making their way towards the headmaster.

Blake listened as Ozpin rattled off their names, information not particularly relevant to her. The sentence that followed was a massive surprise for her.

"...Team JNPR, led by...Jaune Arc."

If Blake had been taking a sip of her routine cup of tea at that moment, she was convinced that she would have spit it out. Someone like Jaune, who didn't even understand the concept of a landing strategy, and old man Ozpin thought he had what it took to lead a team at one of the most prestigious schools on Remnant? Why choose him over Pyrrha? The superstar celebrity who was also on this "Team JNPR"?

Before she could start uncontrollably laughing in every possible way (giggling, chuckling, chortling), Ruby grabbed her arm and as she pointed towards the large screen above Ozpin, nearly touching the ceiling of the amphitheater.

"Blake! We're up! This is it!" Ruby squealed, sounding just as chipper as always.

The Cat would have to hold it in. The four girls made it up on stage in good time, Ruby and Yang with their hands on their hips. Weiss, prim and proper as ever, walked with her hands flat against her sides. Blake walked with rushed steps and her hands behind her back.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by...Ruby Rose!"

Applause from the other students and whoever else was in the amphitheater roared all throughout it. Ruby found herself in a tight hug, the giver of which being Yang.

"I'm so proud of you!" The brawler yelled into her half-sister's ear.

"Congratulations, Ruby." Blake said, smiling, normally an oddity for the Cat. Her new leader was the first person who had made her consistently smile in years.

Weiss's emotions were equal parts shock and disappointment. Why not her? She was a Schnee, she had notoriety. She was calm, cool, collected, the whole package. How could Ozpin look at that resume and still choose the younger, reckless girl over her?

The aforementioned headmaster smiled contently. He had utmost confidence in his judgement. Ruby was the right choice.

…

The next morning, the newly established Team RWBY had a...chaotic start, so to speak. Their leader being as exuberant as always, Ruby devilishly grinned as she drew near Weiss, a silver whistle in hand. Yang viewed this idea as quite humorous. Awaking the overly prideful heiress in such a manner like the whistle was something the brawler, a jokester in her own right, admired. A stroke of genius in the field of "comedy". Blake too, had found potential fun in the prospect of infuriating Weiss for a moment or two. She didn't quite know what to make of her.

"She's good in battle, I don't think I can deny that. Still, I don't like how she scolded Ruby. Like she was a child. I mean, she explicitly calls her that. I suppose this is Ruby's payback." Blake considered.

The Cat Faunus found making sense of Weiss's logic to be tough. To be precise, the whole "calling Ruby a child" point.

"She isn't a child. She's two years younger than us. Last time I checked, fifteen doesn't equal "child". It's more a good thing than not, that Ruby was able to attend Beacon earlier than the rest of us, it's more impressive than anything that she got in early."

Blake hadn't the slightest clue how her thoughts always led her towards complimenting Ruby, but she didn't think of it as bad.

"I think I'm just relieved to have a nice, fun partner for once. Adam was a good one for a while, but then…"

Conveniently, Ruby had picked that moment to blow on the whistle, right beside Weiss's face, it's infamous shriek jolting the heiress awake quite easily. Which for Ruby, was the desired result.

The noise had bothered Blake's cat ears some, but she didn't seem to care. None of her teammates noticed the slight movements of her bow, a sad yet oddly comforting reminder that they were still ignorant of her Faunus heritage. To be expected, Weiss was...less than amused at the whistle, and by proxy Ruby.

"What is wrong with you?" She groggily shouted.

Ruby did not let her teammate's anger get to her. In fact, it was what she wanted to see and hear. And she was correct in her presumption that the prank would get a satisfactory laugh out of her.

It was an ironic sight to see. Weiss, who was supposed to be the classiest girl on their team, and in her mind, all of Beacon. And here she was, laying on the dormitory floor in angered shock, her nightgown wrinkled, her hair all over the place. Then, there was the rest of her team, The other girls, dressed in identical uniforms. Elegant brown vests, dark red blazers, white blouses, and plaid skirts. They nailed the formal aesthetic, which only helped Weiss in terms of wallowing in humiliation.

"First order of business, girls! Decorating!" Ruby exclaimed.

"And cleaning." Blake added.

Team RWBY did just that. Once they had finished constructing an improvised system of bunk beds, to allow more space for their possessions, it was time for their first class.

Blake found paying attention in Professor Port's class to be a strenuous task. Of course, learning about how to most efficiently kill different types of Grimm seemed like an significant and obvious subject to learn at a Huntsmen Academy. The issue was the man speaking.

The Cat Faunus was sure that her professor was a good Huntsman, but she learned that his skill there didn't exactly translate over to teaching. He spoke of the subject for a little while, but would soon go off on some pointless tangent. Blake found no interest or reason in listening to Professor Port drone on, so she looked in the seats next to her, at her team, to see what they were up to.

Yang was more or less doing what Blake was. Watching anything but the lecture. Meanwhile, Weiss was entirely focused, a stark contrast to the rest of the girls. Ruby was being her usual goofy self. Sketching odd scribbles on her paper and crumpling it into a ball, for instance. Blake kindly smiled at her partner.

"She really is adorable." Blake thought, before the all too familiar feeling of her face flushing red came back.

Professor Port picked that moment to call on one of his new students to demonstrate their combat prowess against a single Grimm. Thankfully, Weiss had volunteered, unknowingly saving Blake from having to face a Grimm, Port, and her whole class with a (literally) red face. The Cat Faunus didn't even notice the vexation in the heiress's voice, presumably from Ruby's silliness.

Ruby, Blake and Yang all encouraged Weiss. The Cat waved a flag that she found out of nowhere, telling Weiss to fight well. Ruby shouted multiple pieces of advice on killing the Boarbatusk. However, to her dismay, it was only met with contempt. The Grimm managed to disarm the white haired girl while she was telling Ruby to pipe down. Such a maneuver proved to be futile. Weiss's Semblance pushed the Grimm off of her as it pounced. As it tripped backwards, it let go of Myrtenaster. She retrieved the rapier and impaled the Grimm in the stomach, a strategy that her jumpy teammate proposed.

Needless to say, Weiss was less than happy with Ruby, and she passionately expressed such emotion after Port's class. Blake exhaled sharply, as she and Yang watched the other half of their team argue, themselves motionless. The Faunus wasn't surprised to hear the heiress calling her partner a child again. It was what she said after that, that truly startled Blake. Ruby had tried to convince Weiss otherwise, bringing up the latter's belief in the merits of teamwork, but then…

"Not a team led by you. I've studied and trained. And quite frankly, I deserve better. Ozpin made a mistake."

Blake was internally fuming, boiling with rage. Her eyes flashed over to Yang, who was doing the same as her, except she wasn't doing the best at suppressing her fury, a clenched fist clearly present. Weiss stomped off to gods know where, and Ruby just...stood there, like the statue assembled outside of Beacon's doors. The tension could be represented by every cliche in the metaphorical book. Blake could tell her partner was greatly troubled. And she didn't blame her. Weiss's words had made her uneasy, and she wasn't even the one being berated.

All of a sudden, the space where Ruby had been standing became vacant, a few rose petals taking her place. Blake attempted to talk to Yang, although she wasn't entirely sure what she could say. A male voice interjected.

"Now that didn't seem to go very well."

"Professor Ozpin!" Blake said.

"Hmm...I was going to talk with her about those remarks by Miss Schnee, but it appears she's already scurried off...This argument seems like something you all should handle as a team."

"How do you think we should handle it?" Yang inquired, letting her anger dissipate in Ozpin's presence.

"Miss Xiao Long, I recognize that you may feel inclined to be the one to comfort your sister, as I'm sure you've done plenty of times." The headmaster began.

Yang nodded. There were indeed many nights where she had had to be there for Ruby, to play that motherly role in her sister's life.

"But, I would like to propose a different remedy. I believe that this is a task for Miss Belladonna." Ozpin said, shifting his gaze towards Blake. "I have noticed that you and Miss Rose seem to work well together. I commend that. My aim with partnerships and teams is to forge a trusting bond between students; applicable when in the field, and when one of them needs it most. This conflict left the other half of your team both furious and saddened. I do think that eventually, you should all reconcile together, but for now, I suggest both of you talk with your respective partners, alone."

"But...what about our next class?" Blake questioned.

"I'll let the professor know that you all might be a couple minutes late." Ozpin chuckled.

"Alright…" Yang mumbled, her voice oddly quiet. Despite the impression such a tone might have given, the brawler really did comprehend what Ozpin was trying to say. She would be the second and last person to focus on Blake. "Cheer up my sister for me, would ya?" The spark of sarcasm, a focal point of Yang's character, had come back. The Cat's response was of similar spirit, performing an exaggerated salute before grinning.

"Will do, Yang. Good luck with Weiss."

"Hah, thanks." The two shared another brief laugh before they went off in opposite directions, much like what Ruby and Weiss had done about three minutes before.

…

Blake pressed her ear up against the door that led to their dormitory. It appeared to be the most reasonable place to search. She pushed back a few bangs of hair that draped over her eyes.

Despite acting lighthearted with Yang, she was anything but. Upset with Weiss, for example. However, one other emotion for a single person ruled her mind, and that was concern for Ruby.

"Who does Weiss think she is? Gods, she's more childish than what she makes Ruby out to be!"

The Cat's brief return to a foul temper was halted almost right after it manifested. The reason being? Blake picked up on some muffled sounds from the other side of the door, her cat ears aiding her once again. Although she could not identify what the exact sound was, it gave her a handy tidbit of information, that Ruby had indeed run off to their dormitory. Blake steadily walked into the room, not wanting to create any unneeded noise that would contribute nothing except potentially making Ruby even more distraught.

The abovementioned silver-eyed girl was sitting on the edge of her bed, absentmindedly skimming through a large book, presumably one from one of their classes. She had one objective; prove Weiss wrong. Show her she could be a leader.

Ruby heard someone come into the dormitory and merely assumed that it was Weiss, back to argue with her some more. She did not make an effort to look up.

"Uh...Weiss! Oh, don't mind me, I'm studying! Wait, don't we have our next class soon? Shoot, I'm sorry, I won't forget next time!"

It puzzled Ruby as to why Weiss didn't utter some snide comeback. Scanning the dorm as she spoke, she was cut off mid-sentence by herself realizing who was actually there.

"Aren't you going to fight with me some….oh. Sorry, Blake."

The Cat sauntered over to her partner, her hands loosely clasped together.

"Don't apologize, Ruby. You didn't do anything."

Blake stared at Ruby. Tears had been running down the younger girls' face. They had the same distinctiveness as her eyes, thay glistened, they gleamed.

"So, uh, why'd you come here, Blake. Shouldn't we be getting to class?" Ruby asked, attempting to sound convivial.

"Oz allowed us all time. He said he'll let our next professor know that we might be late."

"Time for what?"

Blake sighed. This might not go as smoothly as she had anticipated.

"Time for us to talk, Ruby. You're clearly upset right now, and I want to help you."

"How?" Ruby had dropped the act, letting her strained voice reveal itself.

"Ruby, I'm not going to ask you questions like "Are you OK?" Because I know you're not. I want you to tell me what you think of what Weiss told you."

"I don't...really know what to make of it, Blake. Maybe she was right...Maybe she would be a better leader…" The scythe-wielder began, but was interrupted again.

"Cut that out." Blake stated, equal parts caring and serious.

"Hm?"

Blake reached up to place her right hand on Ruby's shoulder, the same gesture that she gave her in the Emerald Forest.

"It's been one day, Ruby. you can't doubt yourself this early in your time here."

"But, I was goofing off in class instead of paying attention!"

"So what? Yeah, it's probably good to focus in class, but class isn't where you lead. Remember back in the forest? What you told Weiss when we were trying to figure out how to kill that Nevermore?"

Ruby tried to recall what it was that she said. She gave Blake another puzzled look.

"You said, "I have a plan! Cover me!" When you had me and Yang make a slingshot out of my ribbon, when you had Weiss fling you up to the Nevermore using her Glyphs, that was all you, Ruby."

"Oh right, I did say that. But I mean, that wasn't all me. I couldn't have killed it without Weiss trapping it with her ice wall thing." Ruby thought and then repeated out loud.

"You know what I meant. Listen Ruby." Blake started. "My point is that you're a leader when it matters most. Weiss is only mad because she'a a Schnee. They're used to getting everything in life."

The scythe wielder failed to restrain herself from chortling, but this time it was genuine, no charade.

"You really believe in me, don't you?"

"I do, Ruby. I like that you're not all serious about leading all the time. Acting like that when it isn't necessary is more irritating than anything. That's how I perceive Weiss to be, if she was our leader. I don't think any less of her for it, but she isn't the one for the job. She's competent, but not very fun. You're both, Ruby." Blake proclaimed.

Ruby's eyes began to produce tears again, but this time it was not because of sadness. Her partner's words struck her deeply, but not in the way Weiss's had. For one thing, Blake talked to her warmly and didn't find any opportunity to discredit her. She felt appreciated, and in turn, appreciated Blake for consoling her. The Cat took notice of the tears.

"You want some water or something?"

"Yeah...that sounds good."

Blake swiftly fetched a glass and prepared the water; although, saying that she "prepared" it would be an overstatement. She passed the full glass to Ruby, who had made a small jump off her bed so they could stand next to each other. She downed all the water in three swigs.

"Are you feeling better now, Ruby?" Blake's expression of worry, while faint, was still there. It subsided entirely with the younger girl's answer.

"Yes."

"I'm glad."

They stayed that way for a bit, Ruby's hand now on Blake's shoulder, occasionally gazing at the Faunus as her hair was being delicately massaged every now and again.

"Blake?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"Thank you. For comforting me. It really helped a lot. And it meant a lot too." Ruby gulped, her voice now positively steady.

"You're welcome, Ruby. I'm your partner. You need to be there for us, to lead our team. But we also need to be there for you."

That night, Weiss made Ruby a cup of coffee. One with cream and a hefty amount of sugar. Five packets worth, to be precise. Exactly how she liked it. An apology gift, both Blake and Ruby guessed. But, the heiress was trying to be there for her, what the Cat had said was imperative to all four of them.

And that's Chapter 3. Next chapter is gonna jump ahead a bit, to the whole argument between Weiss and Blake near the end of Volume 1. Also, I think it's worth it to note that I do not have a schedule for when new chapters go up. None of that daily or weekly stuff. I think my writing would only deteriorate if I put myself on a schedule like that. Recap is almost over. Fun Fact - i originally planned for even more recap (like when I was first coming up with the framework for this fic) that would've involved the dance at Beacon, but I scrapped that, because I don't know how to write about that kind of stuff all that well.