Ruby Rose looked at her acceptance letter to Shade Academy. She noted the coffee stain on one of its corners. It was easy to tell that this school wasn't the most prestigious of Remnant. The way to apply was surprisingly easy as well. It barely required any form of validation nor research in her person. No contact beyond the letter upon in her hands.

That didn't stop her from sending everything she had, of course. Better safe than sorry.

She took a breath before looking around the airship, taking her to the city of Vacuo. The ship was shoddy, at best. The glass was scratched, the wood floorboards were creaky, and the metal was damaged in multiple senses. It's surprising that it was moving at all. Individuals of all kinds of backgrounds and styles stood within the flying death-trap.

She turned away from the interior and took in her first view of the city below. The city of Vacuo was atop a mound of rock amongst a sea of sand. In the distance, just below the horizon, she could see the foliage of an overgrown rainforest.

The buildings were awfully similar to the images of Menagerie that she had glimpsed at, once upon a time. Although, there were more watchtowers dotting across this city's skyline. The C.C.T. Tower was an even bigger difference. It stood towards the center of the city and its pristine condition made it stick out amongst the rustic cityscape. A pitch-black train of reinforced armor speeding across its tracks was a noticeable difference as well. She could tell it was leaving the city as it left a giant cloud of displaced sand in its wake.

Her heart skipped a beat as the airship suddenly jerked around. She took a deep breath, looking about the airship. It had begun its descent into the city below. Their destination was towards the north cliff of the rock.

Shade Academy stood tall; decorated with palm trees and metal. It was a temple-like building with sections of it shrinking in size as you ascended. While there were several smaller buildings of varying sizes surrounding it. She could spot the courtyard before the main building. It consisted of a single pathway of stone leading into the building with twisting extensions leading elsewhere. It was decorated with plant life befitting of the climate alongside two pools of water. These pools were rectangular in nature, laying symmetrically on either side of the courtyard.

The airship creaked as it landed with a thud and a horrific noise that sounded like something had fallen off followed. She stumbled for a moment before its electric doors opened with creaks and hisses.

Ruby was one of the first ones off the bucket, "Thank the Brothers… Solid ground…"

She raised a hand to shield her eyes from the blazing sun. She could feel the dust laced in her clothes pull at her aura. The blazing heat was negated by the cold, finding a sweet center. She took a deep breath as she stretched. "Getting used to the weather shouldn't be that hard…" She looked around, walking amongst the crowd of students. She didn't notice from the air, but she could now see the decorated benches that sat beside the main path. And that observation led to a realization, there was someone just napping on one of the benches.

She could see his monkey tail slither out from underneath him, swinging between his legs. It flicked and sprung in the air, drawing her attention. She didn't even realize that her head followed its movement as her walk went in his direction. Left, right, up, and down—so on and so forth. Her head was drawn upwards before going down, smacking her forehead on a metal nozzle.

Ruby let out a yelp as she stumbled back. Her gaze landed on his smirk before actually looking at his face. He was her age—probably. His blond hair was spiky, his eyes were an ocean blue, and his skin was tanned—no doubt from the weather. His muscular build was clear for all to see due to his choice in clothing.

Speaking of clothing: the Faunus's top consisted of an open denim vest with a hood that was, overall, decorated with graffiti-based designs in vibrant colors: yellow and white currently. Underneath she could spot a leather shoulder-holster which held a shotgun of sorts. Red gauntlets adorned his arms and a chain wrapped around his waist, taking the place of an actual belt. His legwear was simply a white pair of jeans which cuffed just below his knees. Bandages wrapped around his calves before yellow and black sneakers covered his feet.

The object she had smacked her head upon was a strange hilt of sorts. At first glance it was merely a hilt, but her eye caught the nozzle that her forehead had met. A Dust emitter and by the design of the lengthy hilt, she could tell there was one on the opposite end. Her first thought that it was some sort of laser sword, but then she spotted the type of Dust held by the emitter: ice, fire, earth, and gravity.

She blinked when the gunmetal hilt waved before her eyes. "Hey~. You okay there?"

Ruby blushed, "O-Oh, s-sorry!" She coughed, "I was just looking at your weapon…"

He twirled the hilt in between his fingertips, "Heh, this guy?"

"It's a Dust-emitter based bow-staff, but um… It doesn't seem to be designed to just create Dust. It produces the elemental effect, but uh… I don't know how it works." She tilted her head, "Which is rare, I don't see a lot of weapons I don't understand." She straightened, blinking, "Wait, I mean… Not like I'm completely clueless. You know, I have some theories, and…" She trailed off before slowly speaking, "I'm rambling."

He let out a chuckle, "A little bit." He held the silvery hilt in the air, rubbing his chin whilst looking it over, "If you really want to know… Hm…" A brow was cocked, "I mean do you really want to know?"

Ruby stepped forward with her eyes glittering, "Yes!"

He stumbled for a moment, "Uh, oh, alright…"

He twirled the hilt before activating it. She could see a transparent, violet hue emit from the ends of the hilt. She heard a hiss before columns of magma sizzled and flowed from the hilt. Another hiss before a blue aura passed over the lava before it steeled into a pitch-black metal with hints of red buried underneath it.

His fingers twisted and blurred as the staff spun. His free hand latched onto the grip as he spun the staff. She could feel the heat as it spun, but she flinched when she saw his hand fell upon the formed metal. No sizzle, no scream of pain. The metal was perfectly formed.

Ruby gasped, "Woah…"

He smirked, "Yeah…" He twirled it before tossing it into the air, "It's pretty good."

"How do you holster it?"

He blinked as his tail caught it, "Oh, uh…" He retook his hilt before twisting it slightly. A blue aura formed over the metal before its transparency burned with more and more intensity. She could hear the frost form and the crack of the metal as it turned brittle. He then raised it before smacking the ends against the bench. The extensions shattered into nothingness.

"Oh, that's pretty simple! Nice." She rubbed her chin, "Maintenance must be a pain though."

He blinked in response, "Uh… Yeah, sure…"

His pause caused hers, "O-Oh, I'm sorry!" She shook her head, "I didn't even ask your name! Oum, I'm such an idiot." She extended her head, "I-I'm Ruby!" She smiled with a tilt to her head, "Ruby Rose."

The Faunus shrugged as he shook it, "Heh, don't worry about it. The name's Sun—Sun Wukong."

They parted before they slowly walked after the crowd, "Are you a student here?"

Sun smiled, "Yeah." He muttered off to the side, "Sort of…"

Ruby nodded, "Well, um… It's nice to meet you."

"Same here." His eyes wandered past her for a moment before his eyes widened.

The reaper followed his gaze, "Huh? What is it?"

He quickly shook his head, scratching behind his ear, "Ah, nothing…" He shrugged, "Probably just… nothing…" His mind wandered, "No way… No way someone like her would be in Vacuo…"

-\ XXX /-

Weiss Sch—or rather Sieben was in Vacuo. She looked about the area, shifting past students. Her boots gave her some height to compete with those around her. She could feel the heat pickled at her fair flesh—luckily, she had sunscreen. And while the long hair brought heat, it protected her neck from the blazing sun.

She adjusted her flowing, white hair from her face. Her bangs were held partially back by a black headband, but that didn't stop the locks framing her face.

She looked upon herself—a dress wasn't that practical of a choice in wardrobe, but she couldn't quite part with the idea. The long-sleeved dress was white with hints of blue decorated its surface. The sleeves clung to her arms like a second skin, and, in response to the heat, blue runes glowed upon them, cooling her off. Upon her shoulders, she had an open, double-breasted vest colored in white lined with a dark red. Black stockings befell her legs with runes similar to the ones upon her arms, serving the same function. And, the legwear slipped into her fore-mentioned boots.

Weiss looked about the courtyard, bringing a hand to her chest, "This place is quite beautiful, actually."

The crowd were directed through the halls by an adult bearing heavy black armor. The armor was too encompassing for anyone to get a good look at their face. The pitch-black armor was decorated with similarly colored feathers and white fabrics bearing the city's symbol.

The feathered knight led them to an amphitheater. The ceiling bore immaculate paintings, possibly depicting the capital's history. Surrounding the opening area that the students stood in, there were raised bleachers arranged in a circle around them. Around the bleachers, the walls and floor were made up of brown stone and accented with wood. The lower walls and floor were made up of marble with varying earthy colors. Before them and within view of the bleachers, there was a stage of marble where a woman stood.

She was in her late thirties or early forties. Her dark green hair was long; tied up into a braided bun, and her eyes were a deep shade of violet. Her outfit was a long dress that separated into six coattails once its length passed her mid-thigh. The colors of her dress consisted of shades of green alongside embellishments of gold metal running throughout it.

She smiled patiently at the crowd of teens who were talking amongst each other. Voices piled on top of others, creating a smorgasbord of sound. Soon the dark knight stepped onto the stage to stand beside her. The knight raised their foot before slamming it against the marble. The crack caught the attention of a few and they, in turn, passed the message to the rest. Soon, the crowd went silent.

The woman raised her hands, "Fighters, brawlers, knights, and rogues… Welcome to Shade Academy." She made a small bow, gesturing to herself, "I am your Headmaster, Theodora West." Her pose relaxed as she paced the width of the stage, "You've all come here for your own reasons and beliefs. Your skills unique to yourselves. You believe that what you have is enough to place you within this school." She came to a stop, turning to the crowd, "But… I'm not so sure." She chuckled, "If you cling to your acceptance letters and grades, then prepared to be disappointed. You've been allowed to enter this school, but now you must earn the right to attend it."

The crowd held varying reactions. A few verbally showed their outrage with gasps and shouts. Others maintained their composure despite the horror on their faces. Some remained silent; almost as if they expected this. Weiss was thrown by the idea, but quickly recovered. It only made sense to ensure the best of the best ended up within these walls. Not to mention, she already had a good idea of the mentality of the society here, and, with hindsight, this wasn't that surprising.

She reached behind her back and showed the crowd two decks of cards, "There's over one-hundred and fifty of you within this theater." She looked between the decks, "But within these two decks, I only have one-hundred and eight cards…" She smiled at the students, "The Culling begins." She pinched the decks, causing the cards to fly from her hands and into the air. The former heiress blinked as several students flew into the air, snatching cards from their fall.

Weiss pulled her saber free from her waist. Her old blade was no longer by her side, so she had to utilize her older sister's forgotten blade. Some modifications were necessary to make it similar to Myrtenaster in terms of elemental power, but otherwise, it was the dueling saber of her sister's design.

She quickly created a glyph beneath her feet. She launched herself ceiling-ward. Another glyph was willed underneath her feet, becoming a surface for her to leap once more. She snatched a card from the fingertips of another leaping student. She flipped over some man's extended hand before creating another glyph and lurching back into the crowd.

The former heiress winced as card burned in her hand for a moment or two. The surface of the card fluctuated, causing her to blink. She landed with a slight fumble as she looked over the device. Its design was unique, and, in a large font, it bore the number five. She turned it to see its suit of Spades.

A pair of students practically fell on top of her as they had tackled each other out of the air. The center of the crowd was chaos as it became a mosh pit over the falling cards. She zipped away from the body of the crowd. Her eyes widened as her hurry launched into a Cat-Faunus. They both let out a cry as they met the ground.

Weiss groaned as a boot landed beside her head. The slam shook all the grogginess from her mind, quickly yanking herself from the floor and pushing herself onto her feet. Her eyes landed on the recovering Faunus before looked at the falling students. She quickly helped the cat onto her feet before she used Myrtenaster to send them both to the outer edge of the room.

She straightened as she turned to the Faunus, "Are you okay?" Her eyes drifted to the second set of ears upon her head, "I…" She shook her head before bowing it, "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

Blake Belladonna stared at her in stunned silence of the bowing Schnee.

XXX

AN: Howdy, everybody! Gonna keep this simple. I'm safe and fine. I hope that all of you keep yourselves fine and healthy as well. I'll try and maintain my current posting schedule and I'll keep everyone updated if something happens on my end.

And so, criticize away, leave your comments and thoughts in a review, and thank you for reading!