Chapter 11
2 months, 22 days later
The sounds of melee combat echoed on the walls of the arena. The classroom itself was not particularly alive per se, and with the lack of a crowd to watch the training happen, it was just the two combatants fighting each other in this empty place.
It was a battle between teacher and student, both using their blades of mercy against each other. The rules were simple enough: fight until one of the contestants had her Aura dropping into the red zone. Right now it was the teacher who was finally (and as usual) gaining the upper hand after fighting for nearly forty minutes. Her student was getting fatigued from the long fight, her sweat being evident on her skin and soaked gym clothes. Her teacher on the other hand was just beginning to break a sweat.
The two circled each other once more, coming up with new tactics and waiting for one of them to strike. To the student, it was more like taking a short breather while she tried to think of what to do next. To her teacher, it was simply a matter of waiting for the right moment to strike. Then, after a minute of circling each other, they both dashed at each other and locked blades.
"Ready to call it quits?" Eileen asked with a leering grin, yet she knew it would never happen. Hunters were just too stubborn to back down.
"You wish," Ella replied deadpan, her teeth bared showing that she was trying to push past her limits. Her muscles ached in protest, but she simply tried to ignore the pain to keep going. Her training as a Huntress simply demanded she keep pushing herself.
Then they broke off, and this time Ella dashed in to cut her down. Eileen prepared herself to parry away her attacks and retaliate, but suddenly Ella did a feint and went around the teacher to slash at her sides. The surprise caught her off guard and she barely had enough time to stop the attack, and was only able to parry one blade while she got slashed by the other. She then dashed back and away from her, but was soon on the defense for a while as Ella pressed on more aggressively, trying to give her no room to fight back. That soon ended when Eileen started pushing back, and the fight evolved into an aggressive dance of blades and kicks, dodging and blocking.
But Ella had expended her last reserve of energy with that outburst, as her increasingly ragged breath let on, her once sharp and focused motions now sloppier and easier to anticipate, a fatal weakness against an adversary like Eileen. Her opponent pressed her advantage, Ella's rapidly degrading stamina leaving holes on her defences that Eileen easily exploited with slash after slash.
It was time to put an end to this lopsided confrontation, and Eileen did so brutally. She ran up to her, giving a kickflip to her chin, then went in and used both her blades to simultaneously slash her twice in the stomach. She ended it with a roundhouse kick to her face and Ella spun to the floor, her blades fallen out of her hands as she fell. A buzzer went off, signaling that her Aura was now in the red and the match was over.
She lied on the ground panting heavily, and what little Aura she had was slowly recovering her stamina. She had lost again for the twenty sixth time, but that was not a surprise to her, considering she was being trained under a Huntress whose experience was that of being one and a half life-times higher than hers. Plus, the fact that she no longer had the 'blood' running through her veins meant that she had to start growing stronger again from scratch, and this time it was going to be the Remnant way. Ella may be powerful in her own way, but compared to the Hunters of Remnant, she was a rookie. She could hardly fault her teacher.
"That was excellent, Ella." Eileen complimented as she walked up to her. "You had me on my toes for quite a while. And we kept this up for over forty minutes no doubt." She folded her blades back to their original form, and extended her hand for Ella to grab. "You even made me break a sweat."
Ella accepted the compliment with a frustrated scowl. "'Almost' having you doesn't cut it. However close, in the end I'd be equally dead." She accepted the offered help and was pulled back onto her feet.
When she first fought Eileen in this very arena, she told her to hold nothing back against her. That literally turned out to be the biggest mistake she had ever made, but one she was bound to learn, one way or another. Within six minutes Ella was down on the floor in defeat by the full force of Eileen's skill and power, showing just how flawed she was without the blood.
"You're pushing yourself too hard," Eileen admonished her. "You still have a ways to go."
That could be true, but Ella had a feeling it may not be much longer. She scolded herself: she had better uses for the time spent whining."So what's next, Aura training?"
She shook her head. "No, not this time. Today is the start of a new school year. The students both current and new will be arriving by airbus soon, so you will need to make yourself ready."
Ella audibly sighed at the reminder. She had been educated by the staff members as best they could throughout the near three months she had been here to be acclimated into today's society, and also to be prepared to educate the students coming here. That was what bothered her, she had never saw herself as an educator and more of a Hunter. Although those experiences would help her in Grimm studies, and her keen eye to combat would be beneficial. It's the masses of students staring down at her that would be the problem.
"I understand that you are nervous about this, but trust me when I say that you'll do fine. Just have faith in yourself." She patted her on the shoulder. "Now then, let's get cleaned up and call it a day."
Ella nodded, although the uncertainty still lingered within her thoughts. After she gathered her blades and folded them back to their first form, they headed to the locker rooms.
—line-break—
After spending their time in the showers, Ella came out with a towel wrapped around to cover herself and another towel to cover her lengthened hair.
Some three months back, Iosefka had asked her why her hair had to remain short. Of course Ella had no clue since she had yet to remember the reason, and so the good Doctor/Head Nurse of the medical wing regaled her of her time on Earth. Whenever she saw short hair like hers, it always reminded her of a ridiculous yet deadly superstition the village folk made up out of fear during the plague. They believed that witches were responsible for the plague, and the only way to tell who was a witch was by seeing their beauty and their long hair. This misconception had the zealous individuals convinced that no common woman should ever be this beautiful during those dire times except for the royalty. Once suspected and accused of witchcraft the people would burn them at the stake. And so, when the girls who lived in towns and villages came of age looking like beauties, their parents would either cut their hair short or make them look ugly.
This unfortunately did not give the Good Hunter any flashbacks, but at least it gave a plausible explanation for her short haircut. Plus it could be the reason why she wore the mask in the first place. Her mind made up, Ella had decided that, since the world of Remnant was more modern and not as dangerously superstitious as Earth, she would let her hair grow.
Eileen came out behind her as they went to their separate lockers. Ella opened hers and unwrapped the towel around her to dry herself off more. Then she proceeded to unwrap the towel off of her head, and her long hair cascaded down to her bare back. Her hair had a few strands sticking out as curled spikes, and the end of her long hair curled halfway. She grabbed a small elastic band, gathered her hair to the back of her head (save for a couple strands which hung loosely over her forehead), and proceeded to tie her hair into a low ponytail. It was simply done so that it would not get in the way in combat.
After taking her time changing into her new Huntress attire, she stood up from the bench and checked her outfit for anything out of place. It consisted of a black form fitting vest zipped all the way up to cover her modesty, with a light laced tank top worn underneath it. Fire dust-infused, elbow length, black fingerless gloves dressed her arms, with Hunter bracers strapped to her wrists salvaged from her former attire. She wore black form fitting combat pants, and two dark gray, ankle length coat tails attached to her vest which covered her backside and wrapped over halfway around her waist, further held in place by a dark brown leather belt, just in case. Her combat shoes were high-heeled and knee-high, strapped with shin guards that had also been part of her original Hunter outfit.
Now fully dressed and with nothing out of the ordinary, she grabbed the last accessory out her locker; her old white mask. Quinn had told her to simply leave the mask behind, explaining that she had no need to hide herself from the crowd anymore. Plus, her time in Yharnam had made her see it as just an accessory to her attire than as a means to hide herself, and more recently she had used it to put on an intimidating appearance when going on Eileen's nightly bounty hunting in the city of Vale. She decided to strap the mask to the side of her belt and was done.
The first time she went out shopping for more clothing, she had been accompanied by one of the students who had a great sense for fashion. That was how she came to wear such a unique outfit, much to her reluctance, and the best thing about everything she currently wore… they were all fireproof. The reason for such a modification was because of an incident in one of their nightly hunts, and her initiation.
"Don't forget to change into your other attire. After all, today is the start of a new school year." Eileen reminded. Ella turned around to see Eileen leaning against one of the lockers in her Crow Hunter attire.
"Yes, I know," she replied.
Her Huntress attire was not the only clothing she bought. Besides the Huntress attire, she had to buy more clothes to get by, such as the casual clothes and the attire necessary for the school's prestige. Since she was still used to the more sophisticated style of fashion which came from the Victorian era, she acquired a few clothes suitable to her tastes and status.
Ella sighed audibly, having her hand holding firmly onto her left arm to try to relieve the worry that was growing. Eileen, with her keen eyes, saw this, too and knew what she was thinking about. "It's still about attending school, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's just that… I know that I signed up for this, even though it's so I can find answers to my past. But the thing is; do you really think I can do this? I never was one for teaching."
Eileen chuckled at her uncertainty. "You'll do fine, Ella. You simply mustn't overthink it. Think of this as more of a test. Now…," she pushed herself away from the lockers. "I believe we've dawdled long enough in here. It's time to get ready to meet the new students."
—line-break—
"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" The newly arrived, messily blond haired Huntsman-in-training explained, defending himself. He was quite tall and toned, having strong muscles in his arms, shoulders and upper chest, and had blue eyes and pale skin. He wore a white diamond-shaped chestplate cut off above his lower abdomen and white spaulders with rerebraces set under them. Underneath the armor, he wore a black short-sleeved hoodie with detached reddish-orange sleeves. He wore blue jeans with a white patch on the left knee, as well as black sneakers. He also had elbow guards with cords strung through them and he wore black high tops.
He had two belts crisscrossing his waist, both different shades of brown, with a pair of small pouches on them. Jaune wore brown wrist-length gloves with exposed fingertips and small metal plates over the back. His sword was strapped to his left hip in a sheath.
Currently the two were walking along one of the outer rings of the inner courtyard, away from the docking area.
"Look, I'm sorry Vomit-boy was the first thing that came to mind." The girl accompanying him apologetically said. She was a fair-skinned young girl with silver eyes and black, neck-length, choppy hair that gradually turned into a bloody dark red near the tips. She wore a long sleeved thick black blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and a black skirt with red trim. She also wore a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and red soles.
Her outfit was topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross-shaped pins. Her emblem appears as a large silver brooch in the shape of a rose and was pinned to a wide black belt slung around her hips on an angle, which also carried bullets and a pouch. She also had a red compacted weapon hidden behind the small of her back underneath her cloak.
"Oh yeah, well what if I called you "Crater Face"? He taunted.
"Hey, that explosion was an accident," she argued, referring to the explosive incident which had happened back at the courtyard. It involved the girl falling over a cart of Dust cases, a crabby rich girl whom the cases belonged to, and a case which had some loose jars of Dust. After the explosive plethora of lightning, ice, and fire, it was sad to say the poor girl made an enemy out of the crabby girl in the span of a minute.
"Well the name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it!" The boy Jaune introduced himself with pride.
"Do they?" She asked nonplussed.
"They will! Well, I hope they will... I mean, my mom always says that… heh heh. Nevermind."
She chuckled nervously to that, but then out of desperation she wanted to change the subject before the silence got more awkward. "So, I have this thing." She pulled out her compacted weapon, and by the press of a button, her weapon began to extend and transform into a scythe that was much bigger than her as she embed the tip of the scythe into the brick path. The act had caught Jaune off guard and jumped in surprise at the sight of the large weapon.
"Whoa! Is that a scythe!?" Jaune asked as he pointed at the scythe in both surprise and a hint of fear.
"It's also a customizable, high impact velocity sniper rifle." She explained in detail as she lifted her red sniper scythe with little effort. For a 5'2" lithe looking girl, she seriously had quite the hidden strength.
"A wha-?" Unfortunately her brief explanation was wasted on Jaune.
She cocked her sniper scythe just to get her point across. "It's also a gun."
"Oh. That's cool!" He exclaimed.
"So what've you got?"
"Oh-uh, I got this sword." He said as he pulled the sword from his white and gold sheath. The sword had been well maintained as it shined under the sun, and razor sharp by the look of it.
"Oooooooh!"
"Yeah, I've got a shield too!" He added as he pulled out the sheath and it detracted into a shield, bearing his symbol which showed two crescent moons.
"So what do they do?" She asked as she felt compelled to reach out and touch it. Suddenly by touching it, the shield malfunctioned and retracted and detracted into a sheath and shield again and again, making Jaune struggle to get a grip on it until it fell to the ground. Once he finally had a hold of the sheath, he detracted it into a shield again to demonstrate.
"Well… the shield gets smaller… so… when I get tired of carrying it… I can just... put it away."
The weapons fanatic, however, saw a flaw in that logic. "But wouldn't it weigh the same?"
"Yeah, it does." He answered in defeat of the flawed logic behind it.
"Well, hehe, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons," she explained as she looked at the weapon of her creation. "I guess I did go a little overboard in designing it."
"Wait. You made that?"
"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons. Didn't you make yours?"
"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." He explained this as he looked down solemnly more and more. When the girl was seeing this happening, she tried to cheer him up in her own way.
"...Sounds more like a family heirloom to me! Well I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."
"Yeah. The classics." He muttered as he slid the sword back in his sheath.
"So why'd you help out back there, in the courtyard?"
"Eh, why not? My mom always says, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."
"Hmmmm…" She pondered in thought about the wisdom in those words, and it might be something she could get behind at some point. Then a dawn of realization had suddenly come upon her when she looked up. "Hey, where are we going?"
"Oh, I don't know, I was following you." Jaune answered, they both looked around for anything that would show them where they currently were… but to no avail.
"You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some sort of recognizable landmark?" He kept asking her as she tried to hold in her laughter yet barely. "Is uh… is that a no?"
She chuckled, "that's a no."
He sighed in defeat yet again. He looked around more, hoping to find someone with directions to the amphitheater until his eyes caught sight of a woman walking by. She had pale white skin and ashen black hair tied back into a low ponytail, but he could not see her eyes for the most part. She wore a buttoned up, crimson colored swallow tail trench coat. She wore black pants along with white socks and black heeled shoes. She had her hands behind her back as she walked by.
"Um excuse me uh, Miss?" He called out as he waved his arm to get her attention. His sudden calling startled her somewhat, as if she had been broken out of her thoughts as she turned her head to face them. He could now see what he guessed were bright amber eyes. She looked to be quite a beauty, he had to admit, but whatever flirtatious impulse he could have died on the spot as he figured this woman was in another whole league. Unknowing to the two however, the woman they found was none other than Ella Fall herself in her civil outfit. "Do you know where the amphitheater might be? We're kinda lost!"
The woman paused for a bit before responding. "You two must be the new students, correct?" They both nodded silently. "I see. Please follow me, right this way." She obliged in kind as she gestured the way and went in said direction. The two ran up to her and kept pace behind her as they silently walked on the path.
For a while the three remained quiet, and since they had come this close they could clearly see in better detail that her coat was embroidered in a sophisticated design. Perhaps she was one of the teachers, but they did not know for certain.
"Say," said the woman, attracting their attention and dispelling the silence, "what do you two think of this academy so far?"
"It looks great here," Jaune answered first.
"It's much better than the view of Vale, I think," Ruby answered a little nervously. "It's like a castle pulled out from a fairy tale."
Ella giggled at her answer, for she had thought the same thing when she first came here. "My thoughts exactly, and what are your names if I may ask?"
"I'm Jaune Arc."
"I'm… Ruby." She answered to the woman rather hesitantly, only saying her first name. After stopping a Dust robbery in downtown Vale a week ago (which got her to be accepted into Beacon two years in advance by Ozpin himself), she did not wish to be seen as special but rather she just wanted to have what she called "normal knees." Suddenly the black haired woman stopped in her tracks as did the other two. Ruby grew more nervous, did she see the news of what she did? What if she praised her? The questions raced in her head of the possibilities of embarrassment.
Ruby was right in assuming that she knew about her. Ella's eyes widened a little in surprise in hearing the girl's name. She had heard about the girl on the radio a week ago. The little reaper wielding a giant scythe who took down the criminals conducting the robbery with no one to back her up. Although she did not catch the mastermind behind the robbery, to her it was quite a feat for a fifteen year old girl. Seeing her on school grounds two years early, this made her believe that Ozpin was involved in this arrangement.
The woman turned to face her, with raised eyebrows telling the little scythe wielder that she knew. "You mean as in Ruby Rose? The one who stopped a Dust robbery in Vale all by herself?"
Jaune looked at the girl in amazement of this new information. "Whoa, you actually did that?"
"Yeah, it was nothing." She chuckled nervously under the praises, but started to feel the pressure as she rubbed the back of her head.
The woman scoffed. "Nothing? I believe you should be proud of what you have accomplished. Not many young hunters at your age would have stepped in bravely to help."
"Seriously, stop! Can we please move on to something else?" She gave-in to the pressure as she said this and lifted her hood up to hide the red embarrassed blush on her face. Ella looked down at her in a bit confusion, until it soon dawned on her. She had to endure such praises as well, telling them that she was just doing her job. Now, she was the one who was embarrassing the poor girl, a Huntress-in-training who was simply doing what was right.
She placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder with an apologetic smile. "Look, I'm sorry that I embarrassed you like that. I'm sure you were doing what you thought was right, right?"
She nodded, still having her hood kept on. "I just don't want to be treated like I'm special or anything. I just want to be seen as a normal girl." She tapped the tip of her boot against the brick floor as she said this. Now Ella was understanding more on what she wanted; to be treated as an equal, not as someone higher than them. Of course, she also figured out that the little girl was just socially awkward.
"Trust me, I know the feeling." Ruby looked up at Ella, seeing the woman in an assuring smile. "When I started as a Huntress, I tend to get praised a lot for the deeds I've done. It did tend to get embarrassing with all the positivity, and I've always told them that I'm just doing my job. Even to this day I'm still trying to get used to it." Although what Ella said was only half the truth, but she could tell she got Ruby out of her embarrassed state somewhat.
"Now as for the fear of being treated as special." Ella gently grabbed hold of her hood as she slowly lowered it down. Ruby did not even protest against the act as she continued to listen. "Well you don't have to worry about that, because here in this academy, there is no such thing as social status among students… well, technically there will be differences in combat status." Ruby started looking a little uncertain, but the woman continued on. "But, no matter what grade you'll be in, everyone must treat each other as an equal, so you'll be able to fit right in. It's going to be a tough school, I will be honest with you, but know that you will not be alone in this."
Her words made Ruby smile, being reassured that she would do just fine with everyone. Jaune, however, became a little uncertain of himself for some reason. Before they continued on their way to the amphitheater, there was something on Ruby's mind which she needed confirmed since the woman had brought up her career. She could have sworn she had seen her likeness on television.
"You really are a Huntress?" She asked in wonderment.
"Of course, my name is Ella," was the earnest answer. "I hear some call me the 'White Mask.'" She had been given that name because of the white kabuki mask she always wore during her nightly hunting with Eileen.
"White…!" Ruby gasped after muttering the nickname, her eyes going as wide as saucers. She then got all starry eyed as she remembered her for being partners with the infamous "Crow Huntress." She also remembered her by another nickname from a viral video she saw on MetaVid months ago; the old fashioned Huntress.
"Oh my gosh you're the Crow Huntress' partner!" She exclaimed hastily in growing excitement until she could no longer contain it. "This is AWESOME!" She screamed the last word as she jumped with a wide smile on her face, her fists clenched and close to her chest. "Can I have your autograph, please, please, please!?" She looked up to the Huntress with puppy dog eyes as she begged.
Now it was Ella's turn to be embarrassed as she chuckled at the young girl's adorable demeanor and look. Quite the innocent karma on her part. "I suppose I deserved that, but yes, I would love to. Do you have a pen and paper?"
Ruby reached into one of her lady pockets and pulled out a pen and a small notepad for her to write. She kindly took the pen and notepad and wrote her nickname in cursive. Once that was done she gave them back to her fangirl as said girl then clung the notepad close to her chest.
"Oh, my friends are gonna be so jealous when they see this!" Ruby said giddily as she lifted herself up and down in her black combat boots.
"Jeez, fangirl much?" Jaune asked jokingly after witnessing the adorkable scene. The joke made Ruby realize what she just did and laughed it off out of embarrassment for the act. Of course, it did cause a chain reaction, making them chuckle in response.
"Sorry about that," Ruby chuckled apologetically.
"Well, as much as I have enjoyed our conversation," said a smiling Ella, gaining their attention, "I do believe we have an amphitheater to head to. We don't want to be late for the welcoming announcement." She added as she finally started walking in the direction to their destination. They soon caught up and followed behind her, though it did not take long as they soon came upon the one section of the academy which designated as the amphitheater. The structure itself looked grandiose, befitting the architecture of the school, with a full circle of fence like columns built inwards like an unfinished roof on the top the building.
"Here we are," she announced as they soon came upon two side doors which were already opened for the three of them to pass through. The inside of the place itself was just as grand and modern, befitting of such prestige. As Ella walked on by while the two future students were going to look about, she heard someone calling the scythe wielder's name out from within the throng of students.
"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" All three looked to see a tall, bright blonde haired girl waving at Ruby, gaining the young girl's attention to come over. She was fair skinned with lilac eyes. She wore a tan jacket, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this she wore a low cut yellow crop top with an emblem on the left breast in black. She had an orange infinity scarf wrapped around her neck, and had black fingerless gloves. She was wearing some kind of yellow bracelet, but to Ella, there might be more to its appearance than meets the eye.
That was all she could ever see of her amongst the people, though, and her emblem was rather blurry from where she stood. She could only hazard a guess that it was some kind of heart. A bit comical to her, and that her outfit seemed questionable, but she was not one to judge in this day and age.
"Oh! Hey I gotta go!" Ruby said as she turned to Jaune. "I'll see you after the ceremony!" After that, she left Jaune to join up with her older sister.
"Hey, wait!" Jaune said to try and stop her, but was already too late when she left. Now he was all alone with no one else to talk to. "Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?" He whined as he went somewhere amongst the crowd. Unknown to him, there was a curious, red haired girl who overheard him and watched him walk by.
Ella, meanwhile, was going about her way through the less crowded back area and stopped right next to a pillar as she scanned the crowd. To her eyes, nearly none of these arrivals could ever live up to the expectations of a Hunter, but she knew better than to pass judgement right away.
Suddenly she heard Ruby's scream amongst them, and looked to see that she seemed to be getting scolded at by a pale skinned girl, with long white hair pulled back into an off center bun tail and pinned with an icicle shaped tiara. By the all white clothing she wore, and with the obvious white hair, this girl must be from the Schnee family she had read about. The Schnee Dust Company, run by its family name, were the largest producers and exporters of Dust in the world, although she also read that they were very controversial or infamous for their business practices. It did not take much to realize this girl was the heiress Weiss Schnee, though why she was here to be a Huntress was a mystery to her. Why she was bothering Ruby would have to wait as the Headmaster was walking up the stage to the mic to give his speech. Glynda was also with him on the stage, standing by as he made his, and what Ella was about to hear was not something she would hear from the man himself.
"Ahem… I'll keep this brief." Announced Ozpin. "You have travelled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
With his speech done he walked off the stage and was replaced by Glynda. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins."
And with that the students began to disperse, wandering off to explore more of the academy. Ella was looking at the stage, speechless of what just happened. This was not the Headmaster she knew for the near three months she had spent here. He sounded like he was not there, or perhaps was disinterested. It seemed quite discouraging to turn away potential students like that, but then she thought, maybe there was something else to it. Perhaps this was his way of testing them. She would never know if she asked, and so she pushed the thought aside and left to wander the halls in search of something to do.
—nighttime—
Night eventually came, and as the students gathered into the ballroom for the night. Ella, after wandering about greeting several students, visiting the library and helping a few teachers prepare for classes (simply put to kill the rising boredom), finally returned to her living quarters. It was spacious enough and very cozy, it had a kitchen to her right and a dining table with four chairs placed in the middle between the living area and the coat closet. The living area was next to the kitchen; it had a couch, a nightstand next to it with a lamp, a glass coffee table in front of the couch, two bookshelves on either side almost half filled with books, and a device attached to the wall that, when turned on, acted as her television. To her left around the corner was a short hallway with a door on either side. The one on the left led to the bathroom, and the one on the right was her bedroom.
She closed the door behind her, locked it and went about preparing for bed. She took off her heels and set them aside. She took off her trench coat and hung it in the coat closet along with three other coats. She then went down the hall and opened the door to her bedroom. It was spacious enough to move around in, with a desk on one end and her single sized bed on the other. It also had a nightstand placed next to the bed with her alarm clock. She took off her undershirt revealing her black bra and went about changing into her pajamas. Fitting snugly in her black tank top and pajama pants she discarded the small bundle of clothes into a basket for laundry.
She tucked herself in under the comfortable sheets and stared up at the white ceiling, her mind still lingering about the events of today. First was the training she had been going through with Eileen. She was so graceful yet powerfully deadly with her Semblance compared to her, and the proper training she had received had made her stronger in both skill, physical tone and Aura, but she still had a ways to go before getting the better of her, that she knew from experience. Plus, the advice Eileen had given her to do well in this academy was somewhat helpful. She still was not sure of herself to be near them, but she was going to have to in order to be mentally better.
Then there was the chance meeting with the little reaper named Ruby. It was not everyday she would meet someone so full of innocence yet ready to do what was right, even in the face of dangerous odds. Sadly, her eyes had yet to see the horrible reality of this world, but at least, or perhaps hopefully, this school would help her be prepared for what was to be expected of her.
Of course that Jaune fellow, on the other hand, was… well rather lacking much to be blunt. By just the look of him, her Hunter senses told her that he did not seem physically or mentally ready for this sort of education. It was like he transferred here with lack of any training. By all rights he did not belong here, and why Ozpin would allow an untrained grunt to be here was another mystery. Perhaps she would have to wait and see what he could offer to the table.
Admittedly, meeting those two had made her feel… normal to be fair. It was the sort of feeling which helped her in times like these, especially for her condition. Simply put, it was being with sane people like these children, people who would not harm one another out of insanity, which helped her cope with her condition. It was one other way of keeping her sanity intact during the hunt by talking to the survivors she sent to Oedon chapel.
Then her mind wandered back to the speech Ozpin made. It still did not feel right with her in how he spoke, like he was trying to scare them away rather than encourage them. She once asked one of the teachers if he had made that speech before, and they did say yes, but they could never explain to her why. Even after nearly three months she thought she knew Ozpin well enough, but then he made himself a mystery to be solved one day yet again.
Her mind all but spent, the comfortable silence and the bed itself soon started to make her eyes feel heavy. Soon they were closed and she fell fast asleep.
—line-break—
A/N: To be honest, this did not take me as long as I thought it would, but it did take a while with the beta reading. I really do hope I got the dialogue between Ruby and Jaune right, so please let me know what you think. The only thing I would complain about in this chapter is the lack of information on Beacon's layout. I really had to look at the available pictures, which were bits and pieces of locations in front of and around Beacon to know just where Jaune and Ruby were. Of course, it was really hard to know where exactly the amphitheater was. You would think that Roosterteeth would have made a map of Beacon for all of us to know but they didn't. My only guess is they only focused on the characters more than the locations. Heck, it was the only problem writing this fanfic.
Anyways, what do you think of Ella's new outfits? I figured that since Ella is back in Remnant, she might as well look the part… to her reluctance that is. As for her civil attire, I'll say that since she had been in that world for so long she simply got stuck with the whole gothic/Victorian charm, so I hope you like it.
I know that there was less action in this chapter, and there is going to be less so in the next one. Well, this is the first volume of RWBY after all, but at some point I am going to be introducing a certain Hunter to Ella… directly.
I would like to give a shoutout to CruxMDQ for his beta reading and suggestion, and DocHoliday0316 for his beta reading.
Anyways, this is kyro2009, signing off.