Countless breaths escaped from Yang's mouth while her back was bent forward with her hands clutching on her knees. Compared to mine, her breaths were shallow and short.

"Jeez Ruby," Yang heavily wheezed like a fish out of water. "Where can I get legs like yours? From the black market?"

"You are more than welcome to steal my legs. If you can catch me that is." A wide smile spread across my lips as I teased her. "Also stop breathing too loud. You're attracting unwanted attention."

Students were stealing glances at us and secretly whispering to each other's ears. Unbeknown to them, I could practically hear every word they say, so they weren't technically being secretive. They were curious of the two students who were brave enough to be late to orientation, especially if it was a prominent school like Beacon. To be fair, we weren't extremely late. We were fashionably late by only 50 minutes.

"It's not called unwanted attention if I want attention," Yang flipped her long mane and winked at a group of boys and girls looking at us. If I could take a closer look in their eyes, I'm pretty confident that I would see hearts fluttering around in a few of them.

I held my face in my hands, shaking my head in exasperation. Through the five years that I haven't seen Yang, I never knew she would be this embarrassing. Whether it was for the better or worse, a lot has changed. I peeked through the gaps of my fingers and noticed that Glynda took the stage for the remaining ten minutes of the scheduled orientation.

During Glynda's long winded speech about rules and proper behavior, I spaced out as soon as my attention span started decreasing. My eyes were heavily drooping, head bobbed up and down, and an unattractive drool slithered down from the corner of my mouth. Dust, she was super boring. My eyes started wandering around to find something more entertaining to look at rather than the dull teacher. Then I noticed a distinct white hair individual sticking out like a sore thumb on the other side of the auditorium.

I shifted a few steps forwards to get a better view of the white heiress and allowed my gaze to soften under her refined elegance. She was definitely better to look at than the professor. To my disappointment, I felt a jab to my shoulder, snapping me back to the uninteresting aspects of reality. I twisted my head to murder the person responsible for ruining such a important moment with my two eyes, but what I saw was Yang smirking.

Oh no... She knows.

"Way to make it so obvious sis," Yang teased. "I'm pretty sure Ice Queen over there can feel you gawking at her."

"I wasn't gawking," I denied, feeling a hot blush coming about. "I was... admiring. Yeah, admiring."

"Whatever you say to make you feel better," she snickered. I wish I could wipe that smile off her face off, but knowingly, I couldn't do that. I just found my sister not too long ago. I wasn't planning to murder her immediately.

"Y-you're not disgusted with me are you?" I stuttered. In my world, love comes in all different shapes and sizes. I even had members in my guild batting for the same team. People didn't care about who you liked or what you mated.

"Nope," she said, emphasizing the 'p'. "I'm just glad to have you back little sis." Yang put me in a stranglehold and ruffled my hair. This time, I tolerated her action as I still had a lingering memory of the lesson learned after tugging a few strands of her hair.

"Wait, Ya-"

"Miss Rose and Miss Xiao-Long," Professor Goodwitch called out from the stage, putting us on blast. Yang and I shrunk back as majority of the student body in the vicinity had eyes gluing to us, now aware of our identification and our faces to go along with it. "I would appreciate it if you girls would appropriately behave. Back to the topic in hand, you students will gather in the ballroom tonight. Be ready and get a full nights rest as your initiation begins tomorrow morning. You are dismissed."

I nudged Yang with my elbow and wiggled my eyebrows. "Well Yang, you did say that you always wanted attention." Yang looked at me with a not amused face and whacked my shoulder.

We were probably both on Professor Goodwitch's bad list now.

Beacon.

A broken moon glimmered down on Beacon, embellishing it with its silvery moonlight rays. The calm chilled breeze blew past the majestic building as it sat on the edge of the cliff over by the river. Sounds of harmonious waves crashed down on the bottom of the cliff, bringing a serene music in the silent night.

I slid my hood over my head to protect myself from the gentle breeze that stung my cheeks as I slipped out of the main building, avoiding the jabbering crowds of student clustered in one room. I navigated my way to the outer perimeter of Beacon in search for a more peaceful sanctuary. Right over at the ledge of the cliff, I sat down and allowed my eyes indulge on the beauty of Vale. Its dazzling city lights glinted over the clamorous river, leaving a remarkable reflection of the night lights. Drawing a deep breath, I inhaled the scent of the river's clear fresh aroma as the water crashed underneath me. This was very nice.

"I knew you would be here."

I hummed in acknowledgement of the recognizable voice and continued to stare out into the distance. "Hey Yang, what are you doing here?" I asked, dangling my legs over the ledge.

"I can ask you the same question," my sister replied, sitting right next to me on the edge of the cliff. "Shouldn't you be inside socializing with the other students and making new friends?"

I didn't have it in me to socialize with the other students and converse about topics I wouldn't really care about. To be exact, I wasn't in the mood seeing that I was still flustered from today's emotional rollercoaster.

"Nah, I'm not use to the whole company kind of thing. Lone wolf had been my style lately."

"A lone wolf no more! I'm adding myself to the pack," Yang shot a smile back at me. She threw her arm over my shoulders and pulled me closer to her. Both of us were enjoying the silence in the air as we were watching the view.

"Can I ask you something?" Yang turned her head to give me her full undivided attention. "Do you..." I paused for a second, hesitating. "Do you think you can take me home soon?"

Yang had a questionable look on her face because of the silly question I brought up. Obviously, I would be able to go home at one point. However, I wouldn't know how soon that would be considering I wasn't familiar with Beacon's holiday schedules. And as of right now, I wanted to go home soon, very soon.

The corner of Yang's mouth lifted up as she released my shoulders from her muscular arms. She gently grasped onto the edge of my hood and tugged it back, freeing my hair from the warmth of my hood. My ears flickered to the smooth movement of Yang's hand as she caressed my ears and my hair in a motherly fashion.

"Of course sis. Dad and Uncle Qrow will be happy to see you again. Zwei too!"

I smiled back to Yang at the thought of finally going back home. Questions circulated in my head as I wonder what dad and Uncle Qrow looked like. Or perhaps, what mom would look like. And how happy they would be to see me.

Then it suddenly dawned on me that one more person was missing from the picture. "How about mom?" I finally asked. "Wouldn't she be happy to see me again?" I curled into my cloak for comfort. My sister never mentioned about mom being happy to see me again.

Yang stopped caressing the top of my head and folded her hands onto her lap. She tilted her head to the half shattered moon in the sky, avoiding my eye contact. "She'll be happy to see you too," she whispered quietly. Letting the gravel sink into my skin, I leaned back onto the palm of my hands with a satisfied look on my face.

"So, what happened on that day?" Yang mustered up the courage to ask.

The smile left my face and was now replaced with melancholy. It wasn't the best memories that I would like to recall, but the topic was inevitable. Yang flinched in response to my facial expression, waving her hands in the air as if the topic was some kind of taboo.

"Um-it's okay if you don't want to tell me," Yang tried to reassure me. But her face said the opposite, she wanted to know. She looked like a kick puppy that was tossed on thin ice with lava right underneath it.

I shook my head. "I was trying to get back to you and dad but then I got ambushed by more White when I woke up, their hideout was gone and I lost some of my memories," I half lied to her with a shrug. I couldn't tell her that I magically got my powers back or massacred and burned the White Fangs to cinders. Hell, I couldn't even tell her that I wasn't even from this world to begin with. "I don't know how I lost my memories. I wish I knew," I honestly answered.

"Thanks for telling me Rubes," she ruffled my hair. "Now that I'm here, I'll make sure you don't lose anymore. How did you come to Beacon anyways?" She threw a different question at me, intentionally changing the topic.

"Ozpin invited me to attend Beacon after trying to stop a robbery in Vale."

"Roman Torchwick?"

"Who?" I cocked my head to the side.

"Some criminal that I saw on the news while I was heading to Beacon today," she lifted her shoulders, shrugging.

Goosebumps formed mountains on my skin, sending me shivers through my body. I wrapped my cloak more around my small but fit body, trying not to freeze from frostbites. Whether it was from my memories of Torchwick trying to blow me up or the cold night, I wasn't sure. Yang flipped her older sister switch as she noticed the bumps erecting on my skin.

"Come on let's go back. It's getting a bit chilly here even though I don't feel it."

We returned to the main building, strolling back into the ballroom. Right at the entrance of the room, I buried my hands into my face, trying to burn the sight of shirtless male students flaunting their muscles. Yang nudged me with her elbow and wiggled her eyebrows, liking with what she sees. I rolled my eyes at her, unimpressed with what I see. The only person I would like to see shirtless is -

"YOU!"

I covered my poor, sensitive faunus ears as my sister exerted her loud voice at someone. Her voice and her furrowed eyebrows were directed at a shaggy blond head. Vomit boy shrunk his head back in his outlandish one piece. He hesitantly turned his head, hoping to see who he didn't want to see.

"You owe me a new pair of shoes!

"Wha-"

"You stained my shoes! Ooh, I'm so going to ki-" I placed my hands onto Yang's mouth, interrupting her, so she can stop being Yang. We weren't really on Professor Goodwitch's good side anymore. Killing a student with a bunch of eye witnesses wouldn't exactly do it justice.

"Nice to meet you vomit boy," I smiled at the shaken blond boy, wiping the slobber from my hand onto my dress.

"It's nice to meet you too Crater face," he crossed his arms on his chest with a sly smile.

"Crater face?" My jaw dropped as I was taken aback to my new nickname. Out of all the nicknames bestowed down to me, it had to be crater face.

"You exploded remember?" He placed his hand under his chin, rubbing the nonexistent facial hair around the area. "Actually a lot of people saw that."

I groaned loudly, thumping my head onto Yang's shoulder. "Yang, please kill me. I think I'm infamously known as 'exploding weird girl on Badwitch's side' all around Beacon." Rather than doing what I told her, my sister snickered instead.

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue - ladies love it!"

"And how many times have to said that before?" My face still planted on Yang's shoulder, mumbling.

From the sound of it, Jaune seemed to be rubbing his neck. "Ah hah... This is actually my first."

"Yang?" I removed my face from her shoulders. She looked at me and read my mind.

"Nope, not working at all for me."

"Me neither. Sorry Jaune, that's zero out of two. That's a failing grade," I shot a grin at him and patted him on the back. He was slumping down in defeat, arms hanging. "But we can still be friends!" I hollered out, while Yang and I walked passed him. My ears picked up to Jaune's voice behind me. He was excitedly throwing a fist pump while saying something about having new friends.

The ballroom was fairly big seeing that it can house all of the incoming students attending Beacon. But out of this whole entire room, there was a familiar scent that I picked up. I directed my attention to the recognizable smell and caught a raven hair girl on the corner of my eyes. It was the same girl that introduced the name Weiss Schnee to me. She was sitting alone and reading a book at the far side of the room, away from the rowdy students. I abruptly stopped and casted my full attention to the mysterious black hair girl.

Suddenly, Yang crashed behind me and we toppled onto the floor with a loud thud. While Yang had it lucky, I fell face flat onto the floor. Groaning, I lifted myself off the ground. Once again, a few nosey students were staring at us as we were causing an abnormal ruckus, further increasing our notorious reputation. I was slightly in daze when I glanced back at the faunus girl.

Silver met amber eyes.

She looked up from her book as she was curious about the commotion happening around her. Picking Yang's heavy body off of me, I decided to be sociable for a change. The secretive faunus shifted her eyes back to her book, attempting to ignore me while I strode to her. By the time I sat down next to her, she was still examining her book. I couldn't tell if she was deeply engrossed with the story, or if she just didn't want to talk to me.

I coughed to get her attention. "Aren't you the girl from the courtyard this morning?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.

"And aren't you that girl that exploded?" She commented as her eyes never left her book. I groaned and held my hand in my face, feeling embarrassed. It was official. My nickname will probably forever be crater face to everyone. Somewhere nearby, I heard Yang snickering as she overheard our conversation.

"Yeah... I have a knack for exploding," I nervously rubbed the back of my neck. The conversation went downhill as another brief silence crept up. "So, my name's Ruby!" I finally broke the awkward silence, trying to somehow revive what was almost lost.

"Blake." She cut it nice and short. If Glynda, Winter, and Blake tried to have a chat, I would bet Crescent Rose that their conversation would die quicker than someone who shaved Yang's entire head off.

"Yang," my sister randomly chimed in, raising her hand in the air waving. To my disappointment, she didn't entirely join in our conversation. She was talking to a few random students, being the social butterfly that she was.

"So why the bow?" I whispered to her, making sure no one was eavesdropping our conversation.

"You should already know why."

I nodded in response. It was obvious that some people didn't take our race too kindly. She was doing a better job avoiding conflict than I was. While I was more out there with my faunus features, she was more conservative. Blake adjusted herself to get a more comfortable position from leaning against the wall too long. Her book shifted, allowing me to quickly glimpse at the book she was reading. 'A Man With Two Souls'. Now that was something worth my attention.

"Hey, um. Blake? Do you think you can tell me what's that book about. I always wanted to read it." I half lied. I wasn't interested in reading, I was interested whether or not it had clues about why I was suddenly in this world.

Startled that I had an interest for reading, she finally took her eyes off her book. "It's about a man with two souls, each one trying to fight for control for his body," she answered. I thought long and hard about it. Maybe I robbed the owner of her body when we were battling for control. Maybe I unconsciously won and took over her body. But guesses were guesses as there were no concrete evidence to prove my assumptions.

My eyes turned away from her and towards the two students not too far in front of me. It was Jaune and Weiss. And if I were to take a lucky guess, vomit boy was going for zero out of three.

"You shouldn't really socialize with the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company," Blake noticed my glances at the two students.

"Why?" I asked, tilting my head. Not all Schnees were bad, at least Winter wasn't. We may have start off on the wrong foot, but we made it possible after a week of forced bonding time. Perhaps Weiss was just like her sister, except more opinionated towards Faunus.

"They're infamous for using Faunus as their labor force and questionable business partners."

"Perhaps you're right about her," I got up and smoothed my dress, getting the wrinkles out. "But I wouldn't completely know without actually knowing her first. Besides, there are Faunus out there that also used controversial labor." I shot her a weak smile and turned my back against her.

I still had that gruesome scar on my shoulder from the incident. It wasn't a scar that I regretted, or a reminder of my wrong actions. It was more of a reminder of who I still was. Even if I may never go back to the world I once considered home, it doesn't mean I have to lose who I was originally.

"Hey Jaune, third time the charm?" I teased, barging into their unsuccessful conversation they were having. Jaune was flustered as I caught on to what he was doing, while Weiss's eyes widen as she recognized my face from this morning. To be fair, I'm pretty sure everyone now recognized who I was after Glynda put us on blast.

"YOU!" The white heiress shrieked, pointing at me. Once again, I had to cover my poor wolf ears. People doesn't seem to understand how sensitive Faunus's ears are. "You're lucky we didn't blow off to the side of the cliff!"

Wow, she was still holding a grudge at me for that. On the bright side, at least she remembered me even if it was for the wrong reason.

"Yeah..." I drifted off. Alright Ruby, initiating plan A, getting on her good side. "I think we started on the wrong foot." I extended my hand out for her to shake. "I'm Ruby Rose, nice to meet you."

"You may already have heard earlier, but just in case your ears didn't pick up, Weiss Schnee." She refused to take my hand as her arms were still crossed. Awkwardly, I pulled my hand back, sliding it against my hair.

Wow, this friendship was crashing and burning really fast.

"Umm, okay. Nice to meet you Weiss. I hope we can be good friends in the future." I mustered up the biggest smile I could.

She scoffed at my comment. "I rather not be friends with someone this clumsy." She turned around and walked away, strutting with her head held high.

And there goes one potential friend down the drain.