In the week following his capture he used his time to research the first year students he would be attending Beacon with, along with making a new outfit and weapon. His new outfit consisted of hooded jacket with the sleeves rolled up over a tactical vest and extended holsters on both thighs, deciding to keep his old greaves and gauntlets to finish it off. The new weapons he'd crafted were a pair of oversized revolver-like weapons that looked more like sawed off shotgun than a revolver. A rectangular encasement held the two barrels in an over/under configuration in front of a break action cylinder system with a pistol grip style handle. He picked both up and slid them into his holsters, feeling a bit off since these were not the weapons he was use to. Heading towards the door he grabbed the ship pass Ozpin had given him, stopping to look back at his apartment one last time before setting the alarm and locking the door. The trek to the ship was a relatively short and uneventful since it was early in the morning.

Once there Nero showed his pass and reluctantly stepped onto the ship. As it took off he looked around at all the other students that crowded the interior. Each one had there own colorful style and weapon, making him feel a bit out of place in his practically all black attire. He recognized a few of them from his research, a busty blonde and her red clad sister, a girl who looked like she was straight of an old western, and another girl whose style could only be described as punk. However the oddest one was a ram faunus wearing a hoodie that concealed her face, as much as her horns would allow, which wasn't a lot. The strange thing that he hadn't seen a ram faunus in his list of first-year students. However, before he could investigate the ship hit some turbulence and a girl, dressed in very colorful clothes, bumped into him, nearly knocking him over. Her pixie cut, tank top, and pants were a deep purple while her knee-high boots, vest and beanie were a soft pastel yellow. The only armor she wore was a spaulder and vambrace on her left arm, colored a light shade of purple.

"Oh I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to bump into you the ship just kinda, pushed me." She began fidgeting with her fingers, blushing heavily as she avoided his gaze. Nero looked down at her, and patted her on the shoulder.

"It's fine," he said as he looked back towards the ram faunus but she had disappeared.

"My name's Xanthia," she said, her voice now more upbeat and perky. She held out her hand for him to shake, causing him to notice the yellow lightning shaped marks that covered her right arm.

"Hi," Nero said, shaking her hand firmly. He turned away and began thinking about the ram faunus. She had reminded him of an undercover White Fang operative he'd worked with a couple months back. Same horns and everything. A bit of an awkward silence filled the air between them until she decided to speak again.

"So... are you going to tell me your name? I mean if you don't talk much that's ok I can talk for the both of us here watch. Hi, what's your name? Well, hey there cutie my name's Coolguns Mcstoneface. That's a really cool name Mister Mcstoneface I—"

"Yin, Yin Daiyu," He said, not giving his real name out of habit.

"See that wasn't so hard," she said, pausing to give him a chance to respond. He made the mistake of staying silent. "Are those your weapons?"

"You mean the guns in my holsters," he asked sarcastically, "Yes, these are my weapons."

"Can I see?"

Nero gave a soft sigh of annoyance as he unholstered one of his weapons. "Top barrel is a shotgun, bottom is a .44 magnum when I switch out the cylinder." He snapped the grip back, which aligned it with the rest of the body. The rectangular encasement rotated down 90 degrees as the barrels slid back inside and a handle extended from the bottom of the grip. "And it's a hammer. What about you?"

Xanthia's face lit up as she reached behind her and pulled out a LMG with large circular thumbhole stock. She grabbed a comma shaped part of the stock, separated it a clicked into the side of the body like an ammo box causing a short barrel to extend from the end of the gun, a foregrip to rotate from the bottom, and a scope to pop out from the top.

"One Hundred rounds of 7.62 hollow points firing at 550 rpm with a dual sight scope and a sexy yellow and purple paint job to finish it off." She clicked the ammo box back into the stock as its parts returned to their places. A long shaft telescoped from underneath the barrel, which hit the ground with a loud clang, and a rounded blade popped out from the bottom of the stock. "It's also an ax named Raikiri. I mean the gun's name is that too not just the ax. That'd be weird if just the ax had a name and the gun didn't huh?"

"Very nice," Nero said, pleasantly surprised. He couldn't help but grin a bit at how confident she was in her weapon, like a child showing off their craft project.

"Thanks, my big sister helped my make it," Xanthia said as she returned her weapon to its carry form and put it on her back. Nero simply nodded and turned his gaze to the window, seeing they had just crossed the edge of the city. She began to fidget with her fingers as her face turned red.

"So, um I hear you have to have a partner," she stammered, "Do you have one? I mean cause if you don't, you know maybe we could be um..."

"Partners," he asked, glancing over at her.

"If you don't want to I totally understand..." Her voice had become a bit sadder as she looked down at the ground.

"Sure." He held out his hand. It took her a second to notice and when she did her eyes went wide, a smile forming on her face.

"Y-you really want to be partners? For real?"

"Yeah."

She squealed and hugged him tightly. Nero immediately pushed her back, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. A heavy blush filled her face, returning to fidgeting with her fingers.

"I'm sorry. It's just… nobody has said yes yet." Xanthia bit her lip, tearing up. He rolled his eyes a bit as he patted her on the should.

"Well someone did so no crying ok," Nero said. "It's kind of annoying." She nodded and gave a smile, her heart beating out of her chest.

'I made a friend,' she thought. Xanthia was barely able to contain her excitement, occasionally letting out a small squeak, causing Nero to look over at her. He chuckled, seeing how giddy she was just to have a partner. They stood there in virtual silence until a blonde boy in jeans, a hoodie and very simple armor pushed Xanthia out of the way, while holding his mouth, in an effort to get somewhere. Nero grabbed his hood and pulled him back.

"Hey, watch where—" He cut himself off when he realized why this boy was in such a hurry. His face was a sickly green color and his cheeks were puffed out, desperately trying to hold something in. Nero then shoved his head into the nearest trash can and held it there as the boy threw up. Xanthia's face scrunched up in disgust. Once he was done Nero let go of him, allowing him to stand up. He opened his mouth to say something but got interrupted.

"You owe her an apology," Nero said, crossing his arms. The boy looked over at Xanthia who was blushing. She was happy the he was defending her but still felt a bit bad for the boy. He was holding onto the trash can as he looked back at her.

"Sorry, I didn't wanna throw up on anyone," he said.

"It's ok I get it," Xanthia said, "I wouldn't want to barf on anyone either if I had to. Well, I wouldn't want to barf at all cause you know it's super gross but I mean if I have to I—" She stopped when she noticed Nero giving her a look of annoyance, which made her giggle. "Sorry."

"It's alright," Nero said with a chuckle.

"My name's Jaune—" The boy tried to speak but the ship hit some more turbulence as it began it's decent, interrupting him and causing him to return to the trash can. Nero shook his head as he made his way to the other end of the ship with his new partner close behind him.

Once the ship had landed the students began to funnel out into the large open courtyard, scattering and then grouping up with their friends. Flag-draped lamp posts lined the long, wide avenue that lead up to a large amphitheater surrounded by a double ring of columns, split by the main walkway, with the outer ring raising above the inner one. In front of the massive doors were a statue of a Huntsman and Huntress standing triumphantly on a rock, and a set of bright red trees on either side. The most prominent thing however was the set of buildings behind the amphitheater. A large central tower loomed over the others around it, a bright green beacon shining from the top.

Nero had stayed in the back of the group to see if he could find the ram faunus from earlier, slightly miffed when he didn't. Xanthia about to say something when an explosion went off in the distance. His hand immediately went to his weapon, but stopped, reminding himself that he was at a school and not on a job. He took a deep breath before the two of them made their way over to the source of the explosion, finding a small girl in a red dress and cape being scolded by a girl in white.

"Huh, not our problem," Nero said as he walked away with Xanthia right behind him, smiling happily as she skipped down the walkway.

"Beacon is so cool huh," she exclaimed, "I mean just look how big it is, I bet there's buried treasure around her somewhere or maybe a secret pirate cove at the bottom of the cliff over there!" Nero stared at her as she continued to voice what ever thoughts came to her mind, wondering if he'd made a mistake accepting her partnership. "I'm so excited to be here my big sister helped out so much. So what about you huh why are you at Beacon?"

"Oh uh, I'm here for my mother," he said, "I got in trouble a lot as a kid so she forced me into school… said it'd be a better use for my skill."

"Aww that's so sweet," she said, playfully punching his shoulder. "What about your dad though?"

"He's a engineer," he replied, "Never had enough time for me or mom. How about your parents?" Xanthia suddenly became quiet, beginning to fidget with her fingers and avoiding his eyes.

"Um, well I… My parents aren't really the best," she stammered, "My mom was really mean and my dad… he..." She covered her face and stopped, getting his attention. He grabbed her and sat her down on a bench on the side of the avenue.

"Hey, what are you doing," he asked, his tone coming across harsher than intended. Xanthia shook her head trying to turn away from him, but he grabbed her shoulders, making her face him. "Xanthia I'm your partner now, you don't hide shit from your partner." As soon as those words came out he realized how hypocritical they were coming from him, but he had to keep his true identity a secret. She slowly lowered her hands, revealing her now deep red cheek and tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry I know you said crying is annoying," she sobbed, "it's just… my dad died like a month ago." She tried in vain to hold back her tears, covering her face again. Nero gave her a bit of a sympathetic look as he put his arm around her, gently patting her shoulder.

"It's fine, I know what it's like to lose a parent," he said gently, "after she sent me to school my mother got in an accident… died on the way to the hospital." Xanthia looked up at him, wiping her cheeks, quickly wrapping her arms around him pulling him close. He was hesitant to return the hug, not really being comfortable with prolonged physical contact. When she didn't let go he patted her on the back, knowing he should say something, but was having trouble coming up with it. "Well, uh, I'm sure your dad would be proud of you for getting here."

"Yeah, y-yeah he would huh," Xanthia said, her voice returning to it's more cheery tone. "Thanks Yin, I'm glad I got you for a partner."

"Thanks," he said, "you can let go now." She retracted her arms putting her hand behind her back, giggling a bit as she apologized. They stood up and continued walking to the amphitheater, with Xanthia trying to put a little spring into her step. As they came to the massive open doors Nero's scroll began to ring, surprising him a bit. He pulled it out to see that Bianca Argento, his now former partner in crime, was calling him, something she almost never did.

"Ooo who's calling you," Xanthia asked, leaning over to see. He pulled the scroll away, giving her a look of mild irritation. "Right, sorry."

"It's fine," he said with a chuckle, "Go on in I need to take this."

"Are you sure," she asked, "what if you get lost?" The look he gave was answer enough to get her to go in, giggling to herself. Once inside Xanthia looked up in wonder at the large oval shaped room. Rows of benches lined the walls high above them like seats in a stadium. In the front sat a stage that rose above the floor illuminated by a spotlight, with a lonely microphone stand it's only occupant. She was so enthralled by the room that she didn't notice that she was headed right for another student, bumping into them and falling over.

"Ah! I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," Xanthia said, "I thought the room looked really cool and—" She looked up to see a tall fiery haired girl, dressed like a Roman centurion, with a gladiator's manica on her right arm. Her weapon seemed to be as old fashioned as her armor. On her hip was a gladius, and on her back was a hexagonal shield that was taller than it was wide. The girl reached down and helped her up, a bright smile filled her face.

"It's alright sweety," she said, wielding a Scottish accent, "I think I can give a pass ta someone as cute as you. My name's Olivia by the way." Xanthia blushed heavily, giggling uncontrollably.

"I'm Xanthia," she said and for the first time in her life, didn't know what else to say. This girl had not only been nice to her, but had called her cute too.

"So I guess you're a first-year student as well?" Olivia was still holding onto Xanthia's hand, pulling it away immediately when she noticed, blushing a bit.

"Yep, I'm so glad to be here I thought it would be really hard to make friends but I already found a really cool partner. He's super cool and cute and um I..." She blushed and started giggling after realizing what she said. A brief look of disappointment crossed Olivia's face before returning to her normal, happy expression.

"Don't be embarrassed, I think it's cute. You'll be with the same team for the next four years so ya might as well pick someone easy on the eyes. So who is he?"

"It's the guy who kinda looks like a skeleton talking on a scroll out front. I mean not a skeleton talking on a scroll specifically I mean he looks like a skeleton and he just happens to be talking on a scroll." Olivia couldn't help but laugh.

"He sounds interestin'."

"Yeah he was the only one who wanted to be my partner."

"Really? I find that a wee bit hard to believe. A nice, pretty burd like you should have people lining up ta be your partner."

"You think so," Xanthia asked, her face getting redder.

"Of course. Ya know I'm actually lookin' for a team myself, think ya two'd be interested?" Xanthia looked at her a bit surprised.

"You want us to be on your team? Like for real? Like you're not going to ask us to join and then change your mind are you?"

"Now why would I do that? I wouldn't have made the offer if I wasn't serious. So what do ya say?"

"Yes!" Xanthia squealed and hugged her, letting go immediately and backing up. "S-sorry, I got a bit too excited." A heavy blush filled her face as she fidgeted with her fingers. Olivia gave her a sympathetic look before patting her on the head.

"You shouldn't have ta apologize, it's good to get excited about things." She continued to caress her head, feeling something move beneath her beanie, rubbing it gently. Xanthia let out a sharp gasp and bit her lip, batting her hand away.

"I'm sorry my uh… my hair is sensitive," she stammered, unable to come up with a good excuse. Olivia looked at her a bit confused. What she felt under her beanie felt like the ears a faunus would have and if that was the case, she wondered why she felt the need to hide them.

"If you're a faunus you shouldn't be hiding it," Olivia said, "you should wear it proudly." Xanthia's face sank into a sad expression, looking down at the ground.

"People make fun of me," she said, "I've been beat up before because of it." She was on the verge of tears as Olivia pulled her into a gentle hug.

"Tell ya what since your on my team now, if any bawbag tries ta mess with ya I'll kick 'em in the arse." Xanthia couldn't help but giggle and return the hug.

"Thanks, Olivia you're really cool," she said.

"Thank ya. Well ya wanna see if we can get a good spot," Olivia asked. "I think the welcoming ceremony is about ta start."

"I kinda want to wait for Yin," she said. "He's my partner. You know the skeleton on the scroll."

"Oh yeah, I guess we can wait for a bit." The two of them sat down on one of the benches and began to wait patiently.

Nero walked away from the crowd, watching to make sure nobody was following him. He looked down at his ringing scroll just staring at the picture on screen. The image was a crescent moon and a diamond shape with two loops on the side contained within the moon. The symbol of Bianca Argento. The two of them had practically grown up together, as much as two kids being put through intense physical training could anyway. She had always been there for him and he for her, but when he came to Beacon, he knew things had to change. Over the past week he'd gone dark, stopping all contact with his criminal cohorts, which included her, and he knew she probably hadn't taken that well. He took a deep breath, answered the call, and braced himself.

"Hello Bi—"

"WHAT. THE. FUCK?!" Her voice, aside from being angrier than he'd ever heard her sounded pained and horse, as if she'd been screaming for a while. He pulled the scroll away from his ear, wincing a bit at the volume of her voice.

"Bianca, let me expl—"

"Oh, you'd better explain you fuckin' edgelord, Ho intenzione di ucciderti!"

"Hey, I don't have any control over this! Ozpin has Amaura's scroll." The line was silent for a moment as she processed the information.

"What? How is that even possible? Does he have anything on The Family?"

"Not as far as I know."

"...Nero, what does this mean?" Her voice had changed to a more worried tone, which concerned him a bit. The fact that he could detect the worry in her voice at all made him uneasy.

"Well, as long as he doesn't have anything on The Fam—"

"No. What does this mean for us?" Now it was his turn to be silent for a moment, trying to pick his words carefully.

"You know what it means."

"Yeah, it means you're just gonna leave me in the fucking cold! Did you just forget about rule number one? Don't screw over your goddamn partner!"

"I know the rules."

"Then why didn't you follow any of them?!"

"Because if I play along I have a better chance of getting that scroll back. Besides I never broke any of the rules, I just bent them."

"Oh fuck you. You broke rule three. For the past week I've been trying to contact you and got nothing, I... I needed you." Her voice broke a little as she finished, only adding to his concern for her.

"Bianca, I don't plan on staying here long… as soon as I have that scroll I'll come back ok."

"You fucking better… it's no fun doing this without you."

She hung up before he could respond, frustrating him a bit. Nero ran his fingers through his hair. He was already frustrated with his current situation, and her being angry at him certainly didn't help. Taking a deep breath he shoved his scroll back in his pocket, and headed back into the hall.

The second he stepped foot inside Xanthia ran up to him, practically tackling him to the ground. He pushed her off as a heavy blush filled her cheeks.

"I'm glad you didn't get lost," she said, making both of them chuckle.

"Yeah Beacon is such a maze," He said sarcastically.

"So this is Yin," Olivia chimed in, looking him over. "She's been goin' on about ya this whole time." Xanthia blushed a bit.

"Shut up," she said as she playfully punched Olivia in the arm, "I didn't talk about him the whole time."

"And you are," he asked, feigning ignorance. He knew full well who she was, or at least who her profile said she was. Olivia Aeronwen was a successful athlete with a good number of tournament wins under her belt, along with being one of the top graduates from Sanctum Academy in Mistral.

"My name is Olivia," she said, holding out her hand, "It's nice ta meet ya." He shook her hand firmly and couldn't help but smirk a bit when her grip was just as firm.

"Your last name wouldn't be Aeronwen would it?" He crossed his arms and looked her over, trying to sell the fact that he didn't know her.

"Yeah, it would," she said a bit nervous, "How'd ya know?"

"Can't exactly be a well known athlete without—"

"Shhh, Shut yer geggy ya bampot," she said in a hushed tone, "I… I don' want people knowing who I am here."

"What do you mean," Xanthia asked, oblivious to who she was. Olivia sighed, rubbing the back of her neck, blushing.

"Back in Mistral I'm kinda famous," she said, "I've won a bunch o' tournaments and even got an acting roll as a cereal mascot's sidekick."

Xanthia let out a sharp gasp, pointing at her. "I knew you looked familiar. You're Lieutenant Lazuli aren't you? Oh, that's like my favorite commercial ever!" Olivia shushed her, causing her to begin fidgeting with her fingers. "Sorry."

"It's alright sweety," Olivia said in an apologetic tone, "It's just people treat me different, because I'm famous, even some of my old friends..."

"Well, we pinky promise not to tell anyone you're famous. Or how super cool it is to have Lieutenant Lazuli on our team." Xanthia held her pinky out. Olivia couldn't help but smile at her silliness as she wrapped her pinky around Xanthia's, then pulled her into a close hug.

"And I promise ta keep yer secret too," she whispered, "if ya want." Xanthia looked up at her and smiled back.

"Thanks but..." Xanthia reached up and slowly removed her beanie, shaking a bit as she did. A pair of small squirrel ears popped up. "You're right I shouldn't be hiding it." She looked over to Nero expecting him to be surprised, but he just had the same stoic look he always had. "Y-you're not surprised?"

"About you being a faunus, no," he said in an almost monotoned voice, "I don't care, as long as you can use your weapon." Her face lit up and tried to hug him but he held her back, chuckling a bit. "Uh-uh."

"Aw come on, please," she pleaded, making as cute a face as possible. Even he had to admit it was she was already cute enough already, but the addition of the ears put her over the top. He sighed heavily and gave her a brief embrace.

"No more of those though," he said, "I don't like being touched." Xanthia rolled her eyes as she giggled.

"Ok, mister party pooper," she said.

"Alright you two let's head on in," Olivia said with a chuckle. The three of them headed in and found a spot near the back since most of the other students had already filled the room. They didn't have to wait long before Ozpin walked up to the microphone with Glynda not far behind.

"Ahem… I'll keep this brief," he began, "You have traveled 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."

He walked off stage as the students whispered amongst themselves, a little confused. Glynda then stepped up to the microphone.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight," she said, "tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." As she hurried off stage Nero thought he saw her shoot an angry look his way, but dismissed it as paranoia. The students began funneling out of the room, scattering across the Beacon grounds to explore and familiarize themselves with the campus.

"Onward team," Xanthia exclaimed, "let's go find that treasure!" Olivia laughed, looking over at Nero to see if had had an explanation.

"She thinks there's buried treasure somewhere on campus," he said.

"Hey, you never know until you look," she shot back playfully. Olivia put her arm around Xanthia.

"Well, it will give us a chance to get ta know the school," she said.

"Yeah, now we just need shovels," Xanthia said. And with that they headed off, exploring all that Beacon had to offer. However, as they walked Nero couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched by someone, trying to tell himself it was just in his head. That he wasn't in that line of work anymore. He looked over and listened to Xanthia's ramblings, finding it strange that it actually did calm him.

'Maybe this won't be so bad,' he thought to himself.