Chapter 1: New Faces

"…The sudden commotion caught many bystanders by surprise. The event is believed to have been an accident caused by an oversight in the self-piloting AI of a…"

As she looked at the footage of the events that had transpired just a week prior, Ruby yearned nothing more than to be swallowed up by the earth and remain there; perhaps for a century or two. Her likeness had fortunately been censored in all articles and reports covering the incident, and Ozpin had been clear that no further action would be taken against her. But the lack of serious consequences didn't do much to alleviate the burden on the girl's conscience; in fact, it only seemed to be making it all the worse on her. Ruby desperately desired to make up for her blunder somehow and prove that she really belonged among the ranks of the aspiring huntsmen and huntresses that were all around her. Indeed, despite everything that had occurred, Ruby had still managed to complete the application process to Beacon and was on board of a ship headed toward the most prestigious academy in all of Remnant; though part of her was questioning whether she really deserved it.

Most of the candidates were hanging around in the spacious lobby of the aircraft, which had been set up with furniture, appliances and equipment meant to allow the passengers to relax and mingle. Standing beside Ruby, Yang was looking at the holographic screen and listening to the news while trying and spectacularly failing to contain her mocking giggles. Ruby felt quite irritated at the paradoxical situation she found herself in: her big sister was the one person in the world she really wanted to hide her mistakes from, and yet she somehow ended up being the only one who was actually informed about the situation by the police. Feeling a hand roughly ruffling her hair, Ruby pouted and looked up at the amused expression on her sibling's face.

"Come on sis, cheer up! I was told that as your – Yang cleared up her throat in a comical manner and spoke in a sarcastic tone – 'legal guardian', I'm supposed to make sure you don't get into any more trouble. But as your big sister it makes me glad that you turned out just as daring and bold as me. It seems the daredevil attitude really runs in the family!"

Yang then let out a hearty laugh, her voice accompanied by the one of an orange-haired girl who happened to be right beside her. The stranger wrapped her arm around Yang's shoulder and they both shared a moment of light-hearted jubilance and laughter before the blonde finally turned around and calmly inquired:

"Who are you?"

Still chuckling a bit to herself, the other girl responded in a nonchalant manner:

"Oh, me? I'm Nora. Nice to meet you! I didn't mean to eavesdrop, really! I was just trying to watch the news. Nothing more exciting than mayhem, you know? I mean, not that I'm a threat or anything; I wouldn't want you to see me that way. This hammer here is a weapon of justice; it's meant for Grimm and bad guys only! …Unless you try to mess with Ren of course, because then I may need to consider pummeling you. Wait, you don't even know who Ren is, duh! Ok so basically picture the most handsome boy…"

"NORA!"

From the small crowd behind the girl emerged a serious looking young lad. Grabbing her arm and separating her from Yang, the man took a deep bow, an unusual gesture which stood out quite a bit to Yang and Ruby.

"I don't know what she was telling you, but whatever it was, I'm sorry and I apologize for the trouble."

He then straightened his posture and hurriedly walked away while dragging Nora behind him. Before they went too far off, both sisters were able to hear them mumbling to each other:

"What have I told you about running off and approaching people out of the blue like that?"

"Come on Ren, I'm just trying to help you open up to others! I was just about to get to the part where I explain how totally awesome and cool you are!"

"…I appreciate the sentiment, but still, stop that."

Ruby and Yang were left a bit perplexed, yet somehow also content. After a brief pause, Yang once again addressed her sister: "You know, maybe I could learn a thing or two from that Nora."

Ruby then raised a very concerned eyebrow, "And what do you mean by that exactly?"

Yang turned to her with eyes filled with malicious intent: "You've always been more focused on weapons and grimm than on people your age. Well, now we're surrounded by freaks who want to go on adventures and fight monsters just like you, so it's the perfect opportunity for your popular big sis to finally teach you how to socialize!"

As an arm reached toward her, Ruby barely had the time to verbalize her concern.

"Wait, no, please don't-"

Her words fell on deaf ears: the blonde girl was already pushing her around the room and trying to find a target to engage in conversation. Although Yang could sometimes come off as brash or abrasive, Ruby knew that she could be genuinely good at understanding and approaching others. In fact, her big sister had always been surprisingly adept at making friends quickly, a kind of talent which she most definitely did not share. Ruby always preferred to keep to herself: she often found the intricacies of dealing with other people to not be worth the hassle, especially when compared to the ease with which she could lose herself in solitary activities such as reading journals on grimm or crafting weaponry.

Figuring she might as well give it a shot, Ruby tried to take note of the people around her as her sister kept pushing her along. She imagined that the applicants of a prestigious academy like Beacon, many of which came from outside kingdoms, were bound to be an interesting bunch, and her expectations were most certainly met and then some. Some standout individuals were a cool looking girl with sunglasses and a girl wearing very beautiful golden armor… "Wait, could that be? Nah, no way" – Ruby brushed the thought aside. The poor young lad barfing into a paper bag in the corner of the room also stuck out, though not quite for the same reason as everyone else.

Though, far more than people's faces, Ruby's gaze was drawn to their hardware. A diverse group of huntsmen and huntresses meant an absolute buffet of weapons, armor, gadgets and trinkets that ignited the girl's curiosity. Ruby practically salivated as she laid eyes on the spears, swords, scepters, daggers, batons and axes all around her… most of which were also guns. But the world almost came to a halt when Ruby saw it: a magnificently crafted white rapier with state of the art dust modules on its hilt and elegant engravings along the length of its pristine blade.

With no hesitation, Ruby freed herself from her sister's grasp and began marching toward the divine item, being driven towards it almost by instinct. Before she could reach it however, she was snapped out of her trance by a commanding voice:

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Directing her gaze upwards toward the source of the noise, Ruby's eyes were met by a couple of crystal irises. Suddenly, she came to the realization that, all along, the rapier had been positioned on the waist of a girl clad in an impeccable white dress who was now staring straight at her with a look of pure indignation. Both of them remained frozen on the spot. After an awkward pause the girl addressed Ruby once again. "What are you staring at, you creep?!"

Jumping up, Ruby tried to explain herself in an apologetic manner: "O-Oh! I'm so sorry! It's just I... I uhh... I just thought that it was very beautiful."

Ruby said that while pointing at the other girl's leg, to which she responded by flinching back in repulsion. With blood rushing to her checks due to the embarrassment, a flustered Ruby began frantically gesturing with her arms:

"The sword! I mean the sword! Your weapon is very cool. I… I like weapons. …I'm sorry."

Once again the two remained silent for a time span which to Ruby seemed like a painful, unbearable eternity. Finally, the other girl responded while looking away: "Thank you."

Ruby allowed herself a sigh of relief. Despite the disastrous nature of the whole ordeal, it seemed like she could end the interaction in good terms. Or, at least…

"Hey Sis! Why did you run off like that?"

At least so it had seemed at first.

Yang arrived, stared at the two girls and, completely ignoring Ruby's silent pleas to go away, she loudly added herself to a non-conversation that was supposed to be over.

"Man, I thought I would need to help you out, but the moment you decide to take the initiative you manage to make a new pal in record time! Hello there, Ruby's friend, what's your name?"

Gripping her vest with two pleading arms, Ruby begged her sister to stop:

"Yang, please, don't-"

"My name is Weiss."

"Huh?"

Yang was pleased and Ruby was taken aback by the girl's surprisingly good disposition, but before the positive feelings could settle in, Weiss quickly turned around.

"I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust empire, and I am NOT friends with that creep."

As she walked away, Ruby felt a bit sad and dejected, but a hard slap against her back snatched her out of her thoughts.

"Ha! She's totally your friend now."

Delivering an elbow to Yang's side in retaliation, Ruby responded: "Don't tease me!"

Locking Ruby in a pseudo head-lock, Yang responded: "I'm not kidding, little sis. I've met the stuck-up princess type before and I know what rejection sounds like. That was not it. She's probably just embarrassed. Remember to always trust your big sis' feminine intuition."

The two continued to tease and hit each other until they were interrupted by a male voice:

"Hey, you're that girl!"

Seeing the person approaching the pair, Ruby immediately blurted out: "Barf boy!"

Both Yang and barf boy were confused.

"What?"

Ruby brought a resigned hand to her face. She was on an incredibly bad streak that day. Indeed, the young man approaching them had been the same she had seen in the corner of the room just a couple of minutes before. At the time, she had found the image of someone dealing with motion sickness to be reassuring somehow, and so she conceived the nickname as something positive… at least in her mind.

Thankfully, the young lad didn't seem particularly hurt by the comment. In fact, the look of acceptance in his eyes made it appear as if he was used to being referred to in derogatory terms. Without much strength in his voice, he spoke, "Please don't call me that. My name is Jaune."

The sisters shared a knowing look of shame, but before Ruby could apologize, Jaune continued:

"You're the girl, from the other day, right? The one chasing around that guy wearing the hat. I saw you going after him; well, maybe I should be saying that I felt you going after him. You hit me in the back of the head with your scythe and then you sent me flying with your semblance…"

All the alarms went off in Ruby's head as she screamed internally: she hadn't even managed to set foot in the academy proper and her secret had already been uncovered. Yang understood the seriousness of the situation as well, and her attention hung on the young man's every word. Unfortunately, both sisters were also horrendous at being subtle, so while they thought that they were concealing their emotions, it was incredibly obvious to Jaune that they were growing increasingly tense. The young lad felt the need to reassure them.

"Hey, I didn't come here to tell you that I hold a grudge or anything. I also don't have any intention to go around and spread rumors about you if that's your concern. I guess… I guess I was only curious about you. Part of me wants to feel resentful for what happened, but another kind of admires the courage that it took for you to go after a villain even though you were only a complete amateur. Part of me wishes I was also that brave."

The words fluttered in Ruby's head and made her feel a peculiar sense of elation; she couldn't help but put on a goofy smile. But a firm tap in her shoulder from Yang made her come crashing down from that high.

"Thanks a lot for not holding it against my little sis. But still, I wouldn't recommend considering her a good role model just yet. She's got a lot to learn about responsibility, as you were able to confirm yourself."

The young man brought a hand to the back of his head, "Oh yeah, sure. I wasn't really planning on doing that, ah! Eh… no offense. I guess I just wanted to get a closer look at the maniac I saw running rampant the other day."

With a sly smile, Yang gripped her sister's shoulders and bent down.

"And?"

Jaune then stared at Ruby, causing her to be very self conscious of her appearance all of the sudden. She tried to keep a straight face as the young man she had just called 'barf boy' gazed at her with a serious expression. A brief moment later, the young man responded:

"Well, she certainly looks more harmless than I thought."

He then extended a hand towards her.

"Nice to meet you. Once again, my name's Jaune. What's yours?"

The girl's face lit up, knowing that she had been presented the precious opportunity to greet her first ever friend in her path toward becoming a huntress. With great enthusiasm, she met the man's palm with her own.

"I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose, and I'll be the best huntress in the world! I'm very glad to meet you!"