The two sisters stood a few feet apart, one pensively clasping her arms, and the other leaning back against the window with a convincing appearance of confidence and comfort. Not a word had passed between them since boarding the gigantic airship they now rode.
At last, Yang broke the silence.
"Sooo...Beacon! As in, no longer an aspiration, but you're actually going! Like, today! You excited?"
"...No." Ruby continued to stare in no particular direction.
"No? C'mon, what's there not to be excited about? This is huge! Do you know how many - "
"Yes, I do. And to make it clear, I'm scared out of my mind."
"...Oh. Yeah, I get that."
More silence.
Until, of course...
"Well, if you're scared, uh - here's what I usually do. I just try to look on the bright side of things!"
"Easy to do if you're on the dim side of things." Any other day, Ruby would have been very proud of that insult. As it was, she was fighting the urge to pull her hood tight over her head, a habit she'd fought for years to break free of.
"Shut up," Yang snipped back. "Anyway, you really do have a lot to look forward to! You're on the path to becoming what you always dreamed of being, you're gonna make new friends, you're gonna - "
"I really doubt I'll be making any friends here."
"Yeah, you're right. Signal was waaay better, you just had so many friends there - oh, wait!"
"Well, at least I knew what to expect then! But here? I'm not just gonna be the outcast - I'm the Special Kid who got let in early! I'm gonna be the school punching bag!"
"And that's why you gotta make some friends, Rubes! I can't go around beating everyone's ass for you, you know."
"Says the person who routinely beats me up herself. And don't call me that."
"Wha- Rubes, I - "
"Hmm, let's see if I can count how many times you've beaten me up..." She held up her fingers, counting them all one by one. "Well, would ya look at that, I don't have enough fingers! And I just told you, stop calling me - "
"OK, geez, I'll stop!" Yang huffed, then relaxed somewhat. "Look, Ruby, I...I don't wanna be the person who - see, I'm trying to not be the bad guy anymore, alright? 'Cause, you know what Dad said about how when it comes down to it, your family's all you've got? Well...I'm trying to start taking that seriously, you know? So, no, I'm not gonna beat you up. Promise. Well, I mean, unless it's training or something and I have to, but, you know."
"Mhm. Okay."
"And, all the annoying pep talk I'm doing - I'm just trying to help. Trying to be a better big sister. 'Cause, you know, that's what big sisters do - they give advice that sounds dumb, but it actually works."
"Yeah, but your advice sounds dumb because it actually is."
"See there? You just insulted me again, for no reason. That's why we're always getting in fights, it's because you can't stop - "
"No, it's because you constantly make me feel terrible about myself, and because you act like having anger issues is a viable personality trait!"
"You don't know shit - " Briefly, Yang's eyes burned red, and her hair seemed brighter than it already was; Ruby recoiled back in a defensive pose. At the sight of this, her older sister's aggression melted away, and she sighed. "...Alright, look, Ruby - I want to change that. Really, I do. But I just need you to give me a chance to do it, okay?" She gestured out to the window, where their destination approached in the distance. "You know the biggest reason I'm excited for Beacon? It's because it's a chance to make a fresh start. I think that's something we can both use. Whaddaya say?"
"...Alright. Truce, for now. Just...don't screw it up."
"I'll try not to. Now, about that fresh start..." Ruby did not like the grin forming on her sister's face. "...If you're bad at making friends, why not try and turn that around? You could become really good at it, even!"
"I wouldn't get my hopes up, Yang..."
"Well, here's what I usually do: even if I'm not confident about my chances, I just fake it! Do it enough, and you start to believe it. You'll see!"
"That sounds, uh, dishonest..."
"Mhm, and you're just the picture of honesty, aren't you..."
"Yang, that was - ...okay, touché. Fake it 'till you make it, got it. So...which random stranger should I just walk up to and ask to be my friend, even though they don't know me at all?"
"Pshh, I dunno, anybody! Like, uhhhh..." Yang did a quick finger-point-scan over the various students around them before settling on - "Him! Yeah, that guy right there. He looks nice!"
Her target was a tall, blonde boy wearing an old breastplate over a hoodie and jeans, looking somewhat stiff and formal in his posture. He stood some meters away from where they were.
"Uhh...you sure? I mean - "
"Sure, I'm sure! Go on, say hi to him! I bet he's real friendly."
"Yeah, but - what if he's been overhearing us this entire time? He'll - "
"Awww, c'mon, sis - just give it a shot! What's the worst that could happen?"
"But - Yang, I don't - !"
"Don't nothin', Ruby! Gotta start somewhere!" And Yang shoved her about half the distance between them and the boy.
Ohhh, God...
Ruby immediately felt her heart rise into her throat. She took a step backwards and sent a pleading glance to her sister - who, of course, responded with the completely unhelpful gesture of a wink and thumbs up.
Well, here goes nothing...
Taking very, very small steps, she gradually made her way over to the boy, who didn't seem to notice her.
"Uhh, hi, um..." she said, somewhat breathily. The boy didn't look her way. Ruby began to deflate and step backwards when she heard a not-very-subtle pssst from behind. She turned around to see Yang mouthing the word, "Louder!" Taking a gulp, she turned back to the boy.
"H-...Hi!" she managed to squeeze out of her, sounding entirely too loud in her opinion. She held her breath...
The boy didn't move, but his eyes moved in her direction. She thought she heard him make a noise, but it was rather hard to tell over the sound of her own heartbeat.
"Uhm...I'm, uh...I'm Ruby!" she said, putting on her best smile. She then thought that she probably looked buffoonish and toned the smile down, inadvertently making herself look even more ridiculous.
The boy, strangely enough, still maintained his rigid posture, seeming to intensely fixate his attention on some point in the distance. His eyes, though, darted back and forth from Ruby to that point, whatever it was. Ruby, of course, took this to mean that he was trying to find an excuse to get away from her, and whatever remained of her faux smile melted into nothing. Her head drooped slightly...but then, inexplicably, shot back up in a sudden burst of daring that she'd have never thought possible:
"Wanna be friends?!" She blurted out entirely too loudly, then held her breath once again.
The boy's eyes regarded her outstretched hand...
"Mmm...glrrk!"
His hands suddenly flew up to cover his mouth as he doubled forward, a look of animal panic shooting through his gaze. He ran off at a full sprint towards the nearest restroom, nearly knocking aside a girl in black and white who was apparently about to enter herself, and shut himself in with a thunderous SLAM.
The sounds of vomiting from inside were audible on a cartoonish level.
Ruby felt her heart sink from her throat to her stomach, and then down to her intestinal lining.
Turning around, she saw Yang standing with her eyes bugged in shock, hands covering her burgeoning laughter.
"Oh my god..." Yang muffled out as Ruby stalked toward her. "I was not expecting that!"
"Thanks a lot, Yang." Ruby pushed past her and started to sulk away.
"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa - hold on, sis!" Yang quickly got in front of her, shoving down her laughter as she did. "Okay - so maybe that didn't exactly go as planned..."
"I told you it was a bad idea."
"No, it - Ruby, you're not gonna land every shot you - "
"I made him throw up, Yang!"
"Oh my god - no, you did not. That is one hundred percent social anxiety bullshit, and you know it. He probably had some spoiled milk for breakfast and was trying to hold it in. Or, hell - maybe he was even more scared than you were! Do you really think you're the only person who's nervous about going to Beacon Friggin' Academy?"
"I - " She sighed in defeat. "...Okay, sure, I guess I can believe it. So...now what?"
"Try again, duh!"
"Yang..."
"Hey - this is nothing but practice. And you of all people know what to do when you screw up during practice: you get up, you suck it up, and you do it again."
"Yeah, except Crescent Rose or my combat routines don't hate me when I mess up on them."
"What, and every failed social interaction results in a new mortal enemy? Will you just cut the crap?!"
"I just don't want this to be Signal all over again!"
They were quiet for a moment.
"Well," Yang said finally, "If you keep at it like you've always been, it will be."
Ruby had to grudgingly admit to herself that her sister was right (for once).
"Alright," Yang broke the silence again. "This time, you pick a person. Who knows, you just might meet your best friend for life! And even if that blows up again, it's just like Dad says: every failure is a new opportunity in disguise!" She motioned to the bathrooms for emphasis (from which the blonde boy still had not come out). Just as she did, the girl in black and white exited another door and began making her way down the airship corridor. Yang immediately fixated on the cat-eared girl, and a sultry grin formed on her face. "...Just like that," she muttered. "Damn...would you take a look at her!"
"What," Ruby snipped, "You never seen a Faunus before?"
"Not with a caboose like that, I haven't! Oh, man...I'm gonna go talk to her!"
"Goddammit, Yang..." Ruby facepalmed.
"Hey, what can I say?" Yang grinned. "You see something you want in life, you gotta go after it! I'll catch you later." And with a cocky flip of her golden mane, she sauntered her way over towards where the girl had sat down, leaving her sister standing by herself.
I wonder if she thought about how that Faunus girl could probably hear everything she just said with those ears of hers, Ruby thought to herself. Oh, who am I kidding, of course she didn't. Idiot.
With nothing better to do, she glanced around the airship as she slowly mustered up the courage to interact with a random stranger.
It didn't take long for Yang to reach the girl, who was sitting against the window with only her cat ears and long, black hair visible from behind the book she was buried in. Well, that, and her gorgeously shaped legs.
Ohhh, yeah...
Yang slightly exaggerated the sway of her own hips as she approached, hoping to get the girl's attention. She didn't look up, but Yang was not dissuaded in the slightest.
"Hey."
The girl blinked twice and turned her head towards the newcomer. "Oh. Uh, hi."
"Mind if I sit here?"
"...No, go ahead." A bit hard to read, Yang had to admit, but she was at least polite.
"Is that kid still in there?" she said, motioning towards the restrooms. The girl looked back up from her book to where she was pointing, then shrugged.
"I dunno, is he?"
"I didn't see him come out. Poor guy."
"Yep."
"Hey, coulda been a lot worse though, am I right? Good thing he kept it all in, or you'd be in black, white, and green."
"Yeah, guess I would."
Not too talkative, is she... Yang thought, and then realized:
"Oh, crap! I'm Yang. Probably shoulda said that up front, huh?"
"...Blake. Don't worry, you're fine." Hmm, interesting name for a girl...
Blake's constant glances back to her book didn't escape Yang's notice, and she knew she had to pump some juice into their dialogue if she wanted to keep it going.
Thankfully, she knew from personal experience that everyone's favorite subject of conversation was themselves.
"So - where you coming to Beacon from?"
Again, Blake looked up from her book. "...Menagerie. Well - I've lived around Vale for the last couple of years, but yeah, that's where I grew up."
"Really! Cool. So, what brought you up north?"
"Uh...work."
"Work, huh...as in...?"
"...You could say it was of the volunteering sort. Can't disclose much more than that; safety reasons."
Well, this was interesting! More so than before, anyway. Yang made a note to find out more at a later time, thinking it better not to press; she had more immediate goals in mind, capturing Blake's attention being at the forefront.
"So, what's that you're reading?"
"What? Ohhh, uh - nothing, really." She suddenly seemed furtive. "It's super boring, but I have to read it. School, you know."
Yang noted the book's blank, canvas cover, and how it didn't quite seem to fit perfectly. Hmmm...suspicious, indeed.
"Well, you know what they say - one girl's boring is another girl's interesting." Yang's smile at her play on the saying was self-congratulatory. "What subject is it for?"
"...History."
"Oh." Damn...the girl was obviously lying, but there was no way Yang could fake an interest in that particular subject, much less pretend to know anything about it. "Yeah, that is pretty boring. See, I always figured I'm the type that's a lot better at making history than studying it."
Blake raised an eyebrow - and, to Yang's delight, cracked a half-grin. "Well, I'd say that everybody makes history in some way or another. What matters is what kind of history we make, which is why we try to learn from the past."
"Huh, I guess that makes sense."
"Yeah, it's something I try to apply to my life in general. Learning about history's important to me because of that..." She raised the book a tad higher. "...which is why I'll need to finish this book before school starts."
Oof...blunt and smooth, thought Yang. Didn't even know that was possible. But, she realized, she'd probably outstayed her welcome here; Blake clearly wanted to get back to whatever definitely-not-history book she was reading (probably some weird porn or something), and wouldn't be amused if Yang pushed it.
"Good on ya for that," she said as she rose. "Study hard, don't be like Yang." She winked and flashed a self-deprecating grin, at which Blake rolled her eyes. "Good talk, though! Catch you sometime later, huh?"
"Sure thing," Blake monotoned as Yang gave a short wave goodbye and walked off.
All in all, Yang considered her venture a success. Whether Blake was playing hard-to-get or simply not interested at the moment wasn't of any concern to her; the important thing was having pulled off the introduction successfully, and she was willing to play the long game. Especially for this girl...damn! One look at her, and Yang had just known she was just...something else! What exactly that something was, she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but damned if she didn't like it.
Things were looking up for Yang Xiao Long.
Not quite so for Ruby Rose.
It had taken her some five minutes looking over the same three people within thirty feet of her to pick one with which to interact, all while trying very hard not to stare and look creepy. She finally chose the least intimidating option - a girl with stark white hair in a lopsided ponytail - and then spent the next three minutes in a constant flip-flop of either inching her way towards the girl, or just standing paralyzed with inaction. Again, she tried (futilely, she was all but convinced) to avoid looking like a creep. Thankfully, the girl didn't seem to notice anything going on outside of her scroll...or, maybe, she was just pretending not to notice out of politeness. Just like everybody else always does...why can't they just get it over with, just out and say what they really think of me? Even if it feels like crap, at least Yang's honest about it.
Ruby snapped back into reality as a holo of Professor Goodwitch flickered to life nearby, giving a short welcoming speech. She ignored it; nothing there that she wouldn't know already. What she couldn't ignore was the fact that the white-haired girl had taken her eyes off her scroll to look at the holo, and was now making eye contact with her.
"Yes?"
Ruby gasped, realizing then that only about seven feet separated the two, and that she'd been staring in the girl's general direction for a good minute.
Ohhh, god...she thinks I'm a creep, she thinks I'm a -
"Do you want something?" the girl asked again, her tone dispassionately expectant.
"I...um..." Ruby's gaze darted all over the airship, trying desperately to explain herself. "I was - I mean..."
The girl's eyes narrowed. Oh no, I made her mad, she thinks I'm a creep, I screwed it up like always, I -
Even Ruby's own thoughts degenerated into a stuttering chaos, somehow less coherent than the words coming out of her mouth.
"Sor- I...sorry..." And with that, she rocketed off with her Semblance, searching for some dark, lonely corner to hide in.
Weiss Schnee was left by herself, staring bewilderedly at the cloud of rose petals that had burst into existence. She blinked twice, then looked around to see if anyone else had seen the strange, disappearing girl; to her relief, it seemed that some apparently had.
Good to know I'm not just seeing things, she thought. That wouldn't do at all.
She plucked one of the slowly falling petals out of the air and held it close to study it. Within a few seconds, it disintegrated into nothing.
"Huh," she said aloud, then shrugged it off. She'd seen stranger things before.
Stranger things, indeed, she thought, but then something occurred to her. That girl's eyes...they weren't silver, were they?
Probably not true silver; that was the stuff of legend. Even if such people had existed at some point, they were most likely gone. Still, though, she couldn't help but wonder...
Ah, well. It was a curiosity that would have to be indulged at a later time. She returned to the half-finished text message on her scroll; she knew that her sister loved to get quick responses.
The sun poured down over Beacon and through the airship's spacious windows as it touched down at last. Yang, having spent the last ten minutes on a fruitless search for her sister, found herself standing amongst the few dozen or so students who had amassed towards the exit. She'd given up looking for Ruby at this point, figuring she would turn up eventually. After all, there were only so many places to go on the airship, and she doubted Ruby would have had any intention of jumping off; her sister hated social interaction, but not quite that badly.
To her right stood a boy and girl who were speaking to each other in low tones - though what with their accents, it was hard to make out what they were saying. (Not that Yang made a habit of eavesdropping, of course...) By far the more interesting of the two was the girl; judging by their outfits, they had both come from Mistral, but hers looked as if elements of that culture had been added to another design entirely, and one that Yang wasn't familiar with. And contrary to the boy's easily recognizable Northern Mistralian accent, hers was an odd mix of that and something else she didn't recognize. This girl was quite a strange case, the more Yang thought about it - hell, she couldn't even figure out what color her eyes were! (Jade? Aqua? Turquoise? Those were her best guesses.) Well, this warranted an introduction, Yang decided, and she was about to say hello when she suddenly caught a splotch of red in the corner of her left eye. Naturally, she headed in that direction, weaseling her way through the small crowd until she found herself in a small alcove in the wall, barely ten feet square and populated by a sole vending machine.
Well, a vending machine, and the girl who had squeezed herself into the small space between it and the wall. Ruby sat curled in a ball, tightly clutching Crescent Rose in front of her with her red hood pulled completely over her head.
"Aha!" Yang exclaimed, pointing at her sister. "Found you!"
"Yang!" Ruby hissed, glaring out from underneath her hood. "Don't do that, people are gonna stare - "
"Awww, come on - nobody's staring at you. Look!"
She gestured out towards the crowd, and Ruby made the mistake of peeking out that way. There were, in fact, more than a few people staring in her direction - well, mostly at Yang, but now she had made herself visible and was almost definitely the focal point of their attention. Oh no...! the singular thought shot through her mind, and she quickly drew back into her corner, covering her face as she heard ripples of laughter.
"Nice going, Yang," she said, seemingly on the verge of tears from embarrassment. "Now everyone thinks I'm a...a - "
"A weird kid who hides in corners? Uh...yeah, sorry, but that's all on you." Yang weathered Ruby's glare. "What happened, anyway?"
"...I don't wanna talk about it."
"Why - was someone being a jerk to you? 'Cause if - "
"No, I - I said I don't wanna - "
"Ohhh..." Yang's grin widened to ridiculous proportions. "You chickened out and ran away from somebody, didn't you?"
She couldn't understand Ruby's answer, buried deep as it was inside her cloak, but she could guess it was nothing friendly. A snicker escaped her, despite her best intentions.
"Shut up..." This time Ruby was slightly more coherent.
"Come on, little sis, you know that's impossible! I thought you'd have known me better by now."
Yang wasn't sure if she got a response at all, which she decided to take as simply silence on her sister's part. She pulled out her scroll and tapped it over the vending machine's scanner, then took a moment to pick out a drink. The machine dispensed a can of Strawberry Sunrise (non-alcoholic, of course). She cracked it open and took a sip, propping herself against the machine with her free arm.
"You're gonna have to come out of that corner eventually," she said with a sigh. "Or are you just gonna wait until everybody else leaves the ship?"
"...Go away," said Ruby - or, that's what it sounded like, at least. In any case, Yang ignored the comment.
"You know, I honestly can't believe you sometimes," she went on. "You're a kid who goes out in the wilderness by herself to kill Grimm for fun - for fun! - and who tracks down - " She lowered her voice to a whisper. " - guys like you-know-who, just to get some information. Hell, even I'm not that gutsy! I may not look it, but I know I'm pushing my luck every time I go into Junior's. And..." She half-sighed, half-laughed. "...and then, you turn around and you're just scared half to death of talking to other people, as if that was somehow more dangerous than - "
"I said go away!" Ruby snapped. "Just - just leave me alone..."
Yang shrugged. "Psh, alright. Suit yourself, I guess." And she walked off, heading towards the boy and girl she'd noticed earlier.
Ruby collapsed into herself once again, keeping a balance between blotting out the background chatter and listening for when the coast was clear. (Yang had, annoyingly, been right about her intentions.) Even above the low din and through her cloak, she could hear her sister strike up an animated conversation with some other girl. Eventually, she heard the hiss of the ramp lowering and the tramp of footsteps, and decided it was safe to come out. Looking around carefully, she saw that the ship and landing area was just about empty, and she began making her way down - after getting some mini cookies from the vending machine, of course.
She made it to the ramp when she stopped; in front of her were two students who had lingered at the bottom. In the instant before the jolt of panic shot through her, she noted that mag-clipped to the girl's back was a compact grenade launcher with the tell-tale signs of a mecha-shift - it's second form being a hammer of some sort, Ruby surmised. The boy had a pair of bladed, holstered pistols whose construction she would have loved to get a closer look at; by the looks of it, the blades could definitely shift position to some degree. Thankfully, the two of them seemed to be too busy taking in the view to notice her behind them, so Ruby turned around and began inching her way back to the vending machine -
- and the restroom door, located conveniently near the exit, burst open with a cinematic outpouring of smoke that smelled strangely like a grocery store. And who should emerge but the boy whom she made throw up, puffing furiously on a Mister Mist vape device and looking generally worse for wear.
Nope. Ruby wasn't so much as showing her face near him again. She sped blindly down the ramp in a burst of petals, forgetting in that critical moment about the two people she'd been trying to avoid in the first place. It was only after all three of them were sprawled out on the ground that she realized her mistake.
In the two seconds before Ruby's mind could properly scold her for her stupidity, she saw the girl shoot back to her feet while unclipping and arming her grenade launcher in one swift series of motion, her cry of, "BANDITS! AMBUUUSH!" trumpeting out across the school grounds.
Thankfully, her male companion was a bit better at evaluating the situation at hand.
"Nora, no! There's no bandits! It's just a girl who bumped into us."
"...Wha?" Nora looked around, then relaxed when she laid eyes on the still-prone Ruby. "...Oh." She grasped her forehead and groaned, "Goddammit...", before muttering something else Ruby couldn't make out. The boy went over to her, taking her hand and whispering something consolatory. After a brief dialogue, he looked back at Ruby, saying, "Are you alright?"
Ruby would have loved to be able to say yes, she was okay, and to apologize for scaring his friend. She also would have loved to find a nice, big rock to hide behind and entirely avoid the two students' scrutiny. Unfortunately, she was so mortified that, as was typical of her stupid brain, words completely failed her. Running away with her Semblance wasn't an option either, though; whoever that girl was, she'd clearly seen some shit. Further unnerving her by suddenly disappearing would be both very insensitive and, considering her heavy weaponry and fearsomely strong build, potentially disastrous. And also, there weren't any big rocks nearby, and going back on the ship wasn't an option.
So, of course, she was left with her default setting of staring ahead like a deer in the headlights and mouthing some vaguely coherent words that were never given voice to.
The boy and girl shared a questioning glance after a few seconds of this, then bid her a terse farewell before continuing on their way towards the Academy.
Ruby got up to her knees, thinking briefly to call out a hastily scrambled apology to them. But they were out of earshot, at least as far as her small voice was concerned; the words died in her mouth, save for a pathetic squeak.
Oh, fuck me...
She face-planted into the dirt, unable to stand herself anymore.
Why did she have to have screwed up so badly? Why couldn't she have just waited for a better opportunity to find someone who knew about her mom? Or, hell, why couldn't she have just forgotten about the whole damn thing, and carried on with her life?! But now, she was stuck at Beacon with her sister, from whom she'd hoped to have a nice escape for a couple years. Now, she'd be the weird kid who got let in early and who stares at people awkwardly.
And the worst part was that it was entirely her fault.
Why am I like this?
She lay there, hoping God would just make the ground swallow her up. It seemed a rather peaceful way to go, now that she thought of it...
No, she thought. Can't give up now. I'd just be even more of a disappointment...and if I fail here, I fail here. Not like there's nothing for me besides this.
So despite how the ground tempted her, she picked herself up, brushed the dirt off of her face, and began the long walk to Beacon -
"I swear to God, that wasn't what it looked like!"
"Ahh!"
Ruby fell on her butt in surprise at the figure who'd just sprinted in front of her, kicking up a cloud of dust as he skidded to a stop.
It was the boy who she had made throw up. He seemed to think about what he had just said, and then cleared his throat.
"Uh, sorry - I'm Jaune." He held out his hand with a friendly smile. Hesitantly, Ruby took it, and was surprised at the strength of his grip as he pulled her up; he'd seemed rather unassuming at first glance. Suddenly, she remembered:
"Oh! Uh...I'm - "
"Ruby? Yeah, you told me earlier."
"I di-? Oh..."
"And, to answer your question from earlier..." Jaune continued, then held out his hand again. "Why, yes, Ruby - I would like to be friends."
AN: I have shamelessly borrowed the title of the first chapter of "In RWBY's Shadow" by TheGoose2012, to whom I am thus dedicating this chapter. Their practical, well thought-out writing style has been a major influence on my own, and their example has pushed me to greater heights. (And they even let me use their OCs for my Self-Insert OC RWBY Fanfiction!)
Credit to my beta, Commissar Arty, from whom I could learn a thing or to about the art of promptness!