A/N: Codependency is bad, mkay?

Ruby was both excited and nervous at the news. Her eyes widened and she leaned towards me from her position sitting on the bed, "B-Beacon?! Why'd he want you to go to Beacon…? And why me? We're not exactly the best students…"

She was right, I had the same reservations, even with this new untapped power that had also been the bane of my life for years, apparently. I smiled, barely containing my excitement, "Because, Ruby! I'm fucking magic!"

Ruby's face turned red for some reason, she gained this strange look in her eyes that she got sometimes with me, it was hard for me to tell what it meant. She averted her gaze after a second and pushed her index fingers together, "Y-Yeah… you really are…"

I held out my palm, facing upward, and focused. Appearing in my hand were several small points of light that eventually gained lines of light between them, when joined they formed a rose. She gasped in surprise, "Oh! Like the fairytales?!"

Her eyes widened as she watched the rose constellation transform into a small facsimile of a moon before I willed it away. Maintaining even something that small was tiring right now, I just hoped it would get better over time. I excitedly nodded, "Yeah! Oz told me all about it, he even left me a book so I can train it before we go to Beacon. We really are meant to be heroes, Ruby!"

Ruby cast her gaze down and gained a forlorn look on her face, "You mean you're supposed to be a hero… I'm nothing special."

Oh hell no.

I reached out and put my hands on Ruby's shoulders, causing her to look up at me in surprise. I looked into her eyes with a hard stare, "Ruby. I told Ozpin and I'll tell you. You're the most wonderful person I've ever met. You're cool, fun, skilled, and one day you will be the best hero Remnant has ever seen." My gaze softened and so did my voice, "I can't do this without you, Ruby. We're both the chosen heroes, and we'll both make it, because I'm nothing without you. I need you, Ruby… I-I hope that means something…"

Ruby stared at me wide-eyed for a few seconds, and I was worried that maybe my message didn't land. Eventually, however, my words processed in her mind. Her face began to turn red, a steady rising blush at first that quickly became incredibly dark. Her eyes began brimming with tears, and instead of saying anything she just lunged forward and wrapped me in a hug.

I stayed where I was, sitting against the wall of my bed. I started to gently run a hand through her hair, causing her to sigh softly and shakily. Eventually, Ruby spoke gently, "I need you too, Lunus… now and forever."

After that day, I threw myself into studying magic like I'd never studied anything before. Ozpin had notes, spells, training exercises, and other things that were meant to train a fledgling magic user. Ozpin called me at one point to warn me that, even if every spell and practice was the easiest it could be, made for beginners, that I could still tire myself out. If I went too far, I could even pass out.

I didn't even really need that deterrent though, considering anytime I pushed myself with the minor spells like creating miniature constellations, shapes, or otherwise, I always felt my muscles ache, like I had just run a mile or spent the afternoon lifting weights. Right now I didn't know anything I'd consider useful, although the text said that spells could also just be… created by me, I didn't necessarily need to have a specific spell to cite, that was good to know at least.

One particular afternoon I was sitting in my room practicing some harmless spells like 'create water' and 'prestidigitation' when Ruby knocked on the door. "Hey! Can I come in?"

I was sitting on my computer chair, looking at a glass I had just filled with water. I looked at the door after she knocked, "Come in!" There had been a spell I wanted to try that needed someone else for it to work, so she showed up at a good time.

Ruby entered wearing her usual outfit and smiling brightly, "Hey! How's the training going?" She shut the door behind her before walking over to my bed and sitting on it while I swiveled my chair around to look at her, "You've been training really hard this past month, I'm seriously impressed."

I smiled and blushed faintly at the praise, looking down and away, "Ah, well… I figured now that I know what caused all those problems for those years, if I can master it, then the problems won't happen again. Besides, it's magic! It's super cool."

Ruby couldn't seem to agree more, every time I went on excited rants about magic and what I was learning, how good about myself I felt anytime I got a spell right or anything like that, she would listen enraptured with this bright look in her eyes. General excitement for me as well as a few emotions I couldn't place at the time, but overall she seemed to enjoy it. Just like how I enjoyed it when she went on tangents about weapons she thought were cool or about new ideas to improve Crescent Rose.

I turned slightly and took the book off my desk, "By the way, there's this one spell I've been wanting to try out for the past while and I need someone else for it." She nodded excitedly and I grinned, "Great! Okay, just hold still there."

I didn't anticipate anything to come out of using the spell Detect Magic, since if Oz was correct he and I should have been the only two magical people on the planet. Yet, I still flipped through the pages of the book, read the instructions over again, then closed my eyes. When I opened them again, the world took a black and white washed out color to it, the spell worked!

Yet, that wasn't all there was.

Strangely, there was this… silver energy resonating within Ruby, just bright enough to discern from the rest of the room. There was also this…deep red flame within her chest, I had to assume it was her aura. The silver was what caught my attention though as I furrowed my brow and stood up, walking curiously over to her and inspecting her while she looked at me in confusion.

Still curious, I knelt on the bed next to her and leaned in a bit, inspecting her eyes closely. She didn't lean away, instead her eyes widened, she spoke with nervous curiosity, "L-Lunus…?" There was a hint of something else in her voice, but like a lot of things with her, I couldn't exactly tell what it was at the time.

I finally came to a conclusion, "Ruby!" I placed my hands on her shoulders, "You're fucking magic!"

As my vision returned to normal I noticed just how red Ruby was at this point. As red as her namesake. She nervously squeaked out,"H-Huh?" Totally confused and at a loss as to what I was talking about.

I explained, "I don't know how, but you are! Your eyes… it's all centered in your eyes. Well, it's elsewhere too, but it's most noticeable there." I let go of her and stood up off the bed.

She looked disappointed for some reason as she looked down, "O-Oh…" And then suddenly her mood changed as what I told her processed, "W-Wait what?!" She stood up, "H-How? What? Why didn't Ozpin say anything?"

I shook my head, "I don't know, but it looks different than my magic… My magic is all over my body, it's like… a lava lamp of different colors, yours is just silver. We'll need to ask him next time we see him, maybe he can explain?"

Ruby nodded, she seemed extremely curious, understandably so, but she also knew just as well as I did that speculating on it wasn't going to get us anywhere until we could talk with Ozpin again. She changed gears, gasping as she remembered something, "Oh! Want to come look at some improvements I'm making to Crescent Rose?!"

Of course I wanted to, so the two of us left so I could see what she was working on.

Nothing of note happened the rest of the winter. I was still training my basic magic skills, among other things. Ruby and I decided to build the generator that was originally going to be for the project anyway, since it was a fun way to keep ourselves busy when we were doing nothing else.

We finished the generator just in time too, and gave it to my parents. During this time as well, I got some dust-conducting wiring and wrapped it around Moonshot so I could channel dust into it. I wanted to enchant it as well, but I wasn't sure how to do that yet. There was talk about it in the book, but no concrete instructions. I decided I'd have to ask Ozpin about it after initiation. If Moonshot could be enchanted, then it could really be the bat of heroes!

The day arrived for us to board the ship to take us to Beacon, and both Ruby and I were incredibly nervous. We met at the bullhead landing that took us to Vale, and we walked together in anxious silence as we reached the much larger carrier ship that was going to ferry us and every other first year to Beacon.

Luckily, there were a couple familiar faces waiting for us.

Yang's first reaction when she saw us was to race over and wrap us both into a bear hug, "There you both are!" She squeezed and lifted us up while we both squirmed and protested, "My baby sister and her future husband! I always knew you two would start talking again. I didn't think I'd be in my first year at Beacon with you though!"

When she finally let us go and we recovered from nearly having our bones crushed, Ruby protested first by stomping her foot, "Yang! He's not- We're not- Ugh!" She shook her head, annoyed.

Both Ruby's face and mine were burning red, but then I spotted Ven approaching.

Ven is Yang's best friend, she'd known him longer than I'd known Ruby, which was to say an extra year. Needless to say, they were close. He had medium length navy blue hair that fell to his neck. His features were angular, and he was fairly tall, around six feet. Lending to that, he was also fairly spindly, not as muscular as Yang by a long shot. His sea-blue eyes looked in our direction and he smiled gently at us.

He wore a purple shirt with a blue wave decal on it, a pair of black combat pants, and matching boots. Around his neck was a pendant that was shaped like an orange flame. Yang had a pendant like that, same design and everything. Apparently they were friendship pendants they had gotten made a long time ago.

If Yang was the team mom, then Ven was like the team dad, apparently Taiyang and Ven's dad, Venrou, were good friends back during their earlier days at Beacon, so this was an intergenerational tradition it seemed.

Ven's approach gave me an idea as I grinned and crossed my arms, "You're one to talk about future husbands, Yang! Yours is coming up right now."

Yang's face heated up as she stomped her foot much like Ruby did, "You- Why I oughta- Ugh!"

Ven certainly didn't seem nearly as perturbed as Yang did, he just chuckled and smiled, stopping next to Yang and patting her back while looking at us, "Good to see you two again." He turned his gaze to the blonde dragon, "Yang, you should have expected that one, you left yourself wide open!"

Yang grumbled and crossed her arms, "Grr… I'll just get them back later." She huffed and changed the topic, "Hope you two are excited! Beacon's supposed to be the real deal, no more kid stuff!"

As if we needed to be told that twice!

Soon it was time to board the ship, and so everyone who had been waiting piled on. The ship was massive, but there were still tons of people. It was nerve-wracking just standing around! Luckily we had Yang and Ven, so we weren't completely lost.

However, I had to go to the bathroom, so I separated from the group for a bit. When I was done and I was coming back, an unfamiliar girl spoke to me, "H-Hey!"

I turned to the voice and was greeted with a fair-skinned blonde haired girl, her hair was done in a braid and she wore a pair of jeans and a hoodie, with white plates of armor placed across her chest, shoulders, and arms. She was tall at six feet, and she wore a nervous expression on her face as she messed with her braid, "Excited? I honestly never thought I'd get this far…"

I was unfamiliar with people just walking up and talking to me, so I wasn't exactly sure what to say, but after a few moments I cleared my throat, "U-Uhm, yeah. I'm nervous more than anything though…" I cleared my throat and straightened out, "My name's Lunus. Lunus Marigold."

She was about to respond when suddenly the ship lurched. It started lifting off the ground and taking to the skies, and that was the precise moment when her face turned green, "Oh… I-I left my medicine with my brother… I gotta go! Sorry!" She ran off, and was left bewildered. It must have been motion sickness…

Before I could resume walking towards Ruby and the others, another voice called to me, "Hey!" It was a girl's voice, she sounded… preppy, high society, a bunch of other descriptors that I didn't like.

I turned to the source of the voice and saw the girl in question. She had pale skin, white hair done into a sideways ponytail with a tiara on it, a thigh-length strapless dress, heels… I could go on, but you get the idea. This girl looked fancy, and I realized that she had to be a Schnee. I had seen her father on television before, and there was a passing resemblance. I swallowed a lump in my throat, Dad had always told me to avoid Schnees like the plague, because they were the richest of the rich, the haughtiest of the haughty, and everything else.

Yet here was one now, hands on her hips as she gave me an accusatory glare, "You said your last name is Marigold! Did I hear that correctly?"

Oh boy…

I cleared my throat and nodded, straightening out my T-shirt and crossing my arms, "Yeah…"

She huffed, "So you're a member of that break-off branch of Marigolds! I hope you know your father has caused no end of trouble for the rest of your family, their reputation was shaken greatly by one of their scions just up and leaving like that! And to Vale, of all places!"

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, "I uh… I didn't really have anything to do with that. My Dad did what he thought would make him happy, instead of staying in Atlas to do what Grandpa wanted." It was true, he went against the grain to find his happiness, which I admired.

The girl furrowed her brow, "Well, I'll keep an eye on you, Marigold! I, Weiss Schnee, will be keeping an eye on you. Father warned me about your branch, and I-"

That was when another new person entered the conversation, clearing her throat, "I think you've made your point, princess."

I looked, standing at my side was a girl with medium-brown skin and dark red eyes. Her hair is a light, minty looking green with a straight fringe and bangs, with two long locks on each side in the back.

She wore two bronze-colored rings on her middle fingers, although I could only see one at the time because her arms were crossed. She also wore a pair of high-heeled pumps that had straps on them.

She wore an intricate white top, and an olive colored crop top. I couldn't see it at the time, but she had an emblem in the shape of an emerald on her back. She also wore white shorts decorated with a belt that looked made out of gold coins. Four gold chains draped around her back. Her top was shallow-cut, and certainly showed off a lot of her… assets.

I couldn't help but notice that! Although I quickly averted my gaze, thankfully she didn't notice, or at least didn't seem to. The girl continued, "He clearly has nothing to do with whatever preppy rich-family nonsense you're talking about, so how about you shove off huh? You can admire his boyish good looks from afar."

My face turned red at the sudden indirect compliment, while Weiss also gained a blush across her pale face, "Wha- I- You- Ugh!" She clenched her fists, turned around, and walked away.

I cleared my throat and turned to face the girl, "U-Uhm, th-thanks for that. I'm… not exactly good at dealing with people like that… I wasn't sure what to say."

The girl smiled and uncrossed her arms, placing one hand on her hip as she looked at me, "Hey, don't worry about it. I hate people like that, prissy little…" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, for a moment she frowned, but it was quickly replaced with a smile as she opened her eyes again, "I'm Emerald Sustral, good to meet you."

I managed a nervous smile, "Lunus Marigold. It's uhm…. Good to meet you too, Emerald."

Emerald tucked some locks of her hair behind her ear, "Great. Uhh…" She seemed to be kind of losing steam on this whole talking thing as well, her smile grew nervous, "I uh… like your necklace."

I was wearing a necklace, shaped like a crescent moon. I took it into my palm and lifted it up so I could look at it, "Ah-" I had never really been complimented so many times by somebody I had just met, "Thanks, I've had it for a while. My friend gave it to me."

On cue, I heard Ruby's voice, "Lunus! There you are!" She hurried over to my side, "What happened?" She looked a bit worried, but more curious than anything else, especially as she looked at Emerald.

I shook my head, my smile relaxed as Ruby touched my arm, "Nothing, I met some mean girl and Emerald here helped me get her off my back."

Ruby sighed in relief, "Oh… Good thing, then!" She looked at Emerald and smiled nervously, there was a lot of that today, "H-Hi! I'm Ruby Rose. Thanks for helping Lunus."

Emerald waved her hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it. It's no big deal." She looked to the left and saw something, or someone, that caught her attention, "Oh- I gotta go talk to a friend of mine. See you two later." She waved and we said our goodbyes before returning to Ven and Yang.

The rest of the trip wasn't particularly long, and when we landed we were able to get our weapons off. Our luggage was being brought to the ballroom by some people working for the school, so luckily we didn't have to worry about that.

While we were on our way to the auditorium, the blonde haired girl approached us, looking embarrassed. A very similar looking guy that looked the same height as her was with her, I assumed that was her brother. I was walking with Ruby since Yang and Ven had gone off on their own, so it was a bit nerve wracking, but I waved at them anyway with one hand while Ruby instinctively drew closer to me, "Hey! Did you get your medicine?"

The girl nodded, "U-Uhm, yeah! This is my brother! I'm Jeanne, and that's Jaune!" That wasn't confusing in the slightest, but Jeanne continued, "Mind if we walk with you guys? We don't really have any friends here…"

Ruby and I shared a look, the consensus was 'they seem nice' so I nodded, "Sure, come on." I waved them to join us and then we started walking down the path again.

Jaune spoke, "So uh, good to meet you guys! Uhh…" He reached for something cool to talk about, "What're you guys' weapons? I've got Crocea Mors." He drew a sword, "It's got a shield, too."

Jeanne smiled, "I've got Alba Mors!" She gestured to a large claymore on her back, sheathed in a white and gold scabbard. She and Jaune looked at us expectedly.

I cleared my throat and went first, gesturing to the bat on my back, "I've got Moonshot. It's… a bat. It's got wiring on it so I can use dust on it." That was really all there was to say about it.

I saw Ruby's eyes light up as the topic of weapons came up and I couldn't help but smile as she took the five foot long pole that was resting on her back off and extended it to its full size, "This is Crescent Rose! It's a scythe and a high-caliber sniper rifle! It's… not very portable right now, but doesn't it look cool? I've been thinking about some ways I can make it even cooler…"

The entire time we were walking to the auditorium Ruby detailed her plans. She talked about how she wanted to make it fully collapsible, how she wanted the scythe blade to be able to turn into a war scythe, how she wanted the blade to be able to rotate, and a few other things. The way her eyes lit up and she had this genuinely happy expression on her face while gesturing wildly and explaining all of her ideas made my heart flutter.

It didn't happen often, but when she was talking about something she was interested in, something that excited her, the Ruby underneath all of the social anxiety and awkwardness came out, and she shined brighter than a full moon.

Not long after we got to the auditorium, Ozpin gave a speech. He told us that he had high hopes for us, yet right then we were all students who lacked direction. He hoped that Beacon would provide that direction, and that everyone would graduate as fully fledged huntsmen, beacons of hope on Remnant.

After that, we were dismissed and allowed to wander, everyone was to sleep in the ballroom that night, which we had been notified of ahead of time. Ruby and I didn't really feel like wandering around too much, so we just busied ourselves with claiming a spot in the corner of the room away from everyone. We rolled out our sleeping bags, sat down, and started talking aimlessly about what we were expecting to happen.

Eventually Yang and Ven joined us, and we all sat around talking until it was the right time to go to sleep.

The next day was abuzz with activity as everyone started getting ready. The lockers were bustling and filled with people, which meant that Ruby had gotten her scythe out of her locker and then immediately raced out of the room. Weiss was trying to talk up this girl with red hair and green eyes only to be interrupted by Jaune, who tried to hit on her. That didn't work out at all, needless to say.

Jeanne was there, already ready to go, although she looked more lost than anything else. She found her way over to me and sighed, "Lunus, I've been trying to make more friends but nobody's really seemed interested…" She looked down, "Jaune's been pining after the Schnee girl since yesterday, so I can't even bug him like I usually do."

I closed my locker once I slipped Moonshot onto my back and turned around. I felt kind of awkward just wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and running shoes to something this important, but it was the best I had. Besides, Jeanne was wearing a hoodie and jeans! So I didn't feel as bad about it, "Awh, come on Jeanne…" I tried to console her, although I wasn't exactly good at that. I patted her shoulder, "People are just distracted… I'm sure you'll be able to find more friends. Besides, you've got Ruby and I, we're your friends. And… I'm sure whoever your partner is will be your friend!"

Jeanne managed a smile, "You think so?" I nodded and her smile grew as she lifted her head, "Thanks, you're right! I'll get a partner and they'll be my friend, along with you and Ruby!" She turned on her heels, "Alright! I'm going to go get Jaune away from Weiss, and head to the initiation grounds!" She bounced back from her sadness rather quickly as she marched off.

I shrugged and left the locker room, finding Ruby waiting not far away. She hurried over to me and the two of us made our way towards where the initiation was going to be held, starting at a cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest.

Ruby and I took our positions next to each other on what I assumed were launch pads, while I saw Jeanne a bit further on the right. I wasn't sure where her brother was, but I was sure they'd both be fine.

Ozpin was there, with Professor Goodwitch standing next to him, holding her scroll and checking who had arrived so far. Oz took a sip of his drink and cleared his throat before beginning his explanation, "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda cleared her throat and looked up from her scroll, "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… today."

Ruby and I exchanged a look, she whispered quickly to me, "Let's use the old call and response! From when we were kids!"

I smiled and nodded before looking back to where Oz and Glynda were standing. Oz continued, "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, and possibly far beyond. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

Well, that would be easy to solve-

Ozpin cut off my thoughts with the stinger, "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Gasps and panic resonated throughout the students assembled. Ruby and I shared another look, I was worried, but Ruby gained a look of determination as she smiled. She was clearly dead-set on making sure we got on the same team, no matter what.

Ozpin continued, "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will no doubt meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path… or you will die. You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find one of several abandoned ruins at the end of the path, these ruins contain several different relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

I heard both Jeanne and Jaune try to get Ozpin's attention as they raised their hands. Jeanne got called on, "Uhm, sir? How will we be getting down there?"

Glynda spoke next, "Take your positions, students!"

Ozpin smiled, "You will be falling."

At that moment, starting on the far left, my earlier suspicions were confirmed as students began to be launched into the air. I grabbed a hold of Moonshot and pulled it off my bag before taking out a vial of powdered wind dust and sprinkling it onto the wiring of the bat. Suddenly, the bat began to gain a coating of wind as currents whipped around it. I had practiced some basics of manipulating gravity like I did when I was a child unknowingly, but I didn't want to start tiring myself out before initiation even really began.

I could cast two proper spells right now, while smaller things that took no effort to cast were marginally easier, however they still would tire me out if they were used too often. After two actual spells, I would be basically useless for the rest of the day.

…Casting one spell would still leave me useless, just for a short time rather than all day. I had a ways to go to be even marginally good at my still relatively new abilities.

Ruby was launched into the air first after she braced herself. I lowered myself and gripped my bat in both hands as I waited for the inevitable to come to pass.

Sure enough, not a few seconds later I was launched into the air, the Emerald Forest sailing past my vision as I almost felt like I was flying. I knew I wasn't really flying though, no it was more like… falling with style!

Ruby was ahead of me, she was shooting Crescent Rose and using the recoil to direct her descent as best she could. Eventually she turned into rose petals and sailed into the tree like. The tree line I was heading straight for!

I waited, knowing I needed to time this correctly or else I'd seriously feel this in the morning…

Finally, as I started to fall faster, I spotted a clearing. Perfect! I thrusted Moonshot out in front of me, causing it to shoot a stream of air that killed my momentum, then as I continued to fall I pointed it to the ground and had the wind slow my descent.

I landed on the ground with a huff, smiling because of the sheer adrenaline of the whole situation. I looked around, not seeing anyone in sight.

Guess it was time to start walking… I wondered if Ruby would be able to find me, or if I'd find her. If she was looking for me, how hard could it be, right?

My 'searching' was mostly just aimless wandering. I was beginning to worry that maybe she'd landed farther away than it looked, because I'd have heard her voice if she was close by… I swallowed a lump in my throat as a pit settled into my stomach. The idea of getting someone else as a partner terrified me, even if I wouldn't admit it out loud. Ruby and I were supposed to be the heroic chosen partners! The bat said so!

"Calm down Lunus…" I muttered to myself, "It might not be so bad. You could get Jeanne, or Jaune, they're both nice. Yang or Ven! They're both practically family. Yeah… it wouldn't be so bad to have them…"

Eventually I cleared my way through some brush and came out the other side only to lock on to a pair of pale blue eyes staring at me in surprise.

Weiss and I stared at each other in disbelief for a second before she closed her eyes and shook her head, "Ugh…" Then she opened her eyes and turned towards the north, "Whatever. At least this way I can keep an eye on you better, Marigold." Then she started off towards where the ruins were supposed to be.

I rolled my eyes and rested my bat on my shoulder as I followed her, "I'm not exactly happy with this either, Schnee." She cast a look back at me, like she was mad that I called her that, but what did she expect? You get what you give! At least, that's what Dad always told me.

Of course if she actually wanted to argue with me there was little I could do, I wasn't exactly experienced at things like that. I'd never really had to argue with anyone before, most of the time I kept to myself, or only talked to Ruby, and most people left me alone because of that.

Now, however, it seemed inevitable that I would have to get experience via trial by fire if Weiss was my partner. A Schnee and a Marigold working together like this… It was going to be a hell of a story to tell my parents, I supposed, although at that point I'd have much rather had no story to tell involving Weiss at all.

We walked for a few minutes in silence, part of me hoped that maybe we could just walk there, get our relic, and leave. Simple and clean, right? However, as we were walking, the sound of rustling trees and bushes was enough to get us both to stop. Weiss took out her rapier and entered into a fencing position, "Grimm. Just try not to get in my way."

I rolled my eyes once again and took out a vial of lightning dust, sprinkling it onto Moonshot and watching as it began to crackle with electricity. Then, I tossed the empty vial into the bushes and gripped the bat with both hands. What was a snappy come-back I could give? I huffed, "If you're all like this, it's no wonder Dad left Atlas."

She dropped her stance to look at me in annoyance, "What is that supposed to mean?! I'll have you know-"

Before she could complain any further, the howls of a pack of Beowolves cut her off. Emerging from the trees were four of the beasts! At least none of them looked like they were Alpha Beowolves, otherwise we'd have had much bigger problems.

Wait… there were four more in the trees! Plus one that looked bigger than the rest… I realized a bit too late that I really shouldn't have counted my chickens before they hatched. I saw Weiss return to her fencing stance while I just gripped my bat like, well, a batter.

Things kicked off when the Beowolves all howled again, two of them charged, one at me one at Weiss, while the others moved to surround us. Weiss braced herself before launching forward, her rapier connecting with the Grimm charging towards her and sending it flying back into the trees.

Meanwhile, I waited until the beast charging me was close enough before I swung Moonshot, the sound of the bat connecting with the beast's lower jaw resonated throughout the forest before the electricity did its job and sent literal shockwaves through the Beowolf. Similar to Weiss' Beowolf, it got sent flying back into the trees, except with an arc of electricity chasing it through the air. When it came to academics, I might have been awful, but put a Grimm in front of me, and I was ready to hit a homerun!

Weiss in the meantime activated something on her rapier, a glyph appeared in front of her before she gracefully swished her rapier, creating several icicles that shot out from the glyph and peppered into two more of the Beowolves. I had to admit, that was impressive, I'd tell her as much when we weren't fighting for our lives.

The Beowolves began to run in a circle around us, no doubt searching for their opportunity to strike at us while we were weak. In response, Weiss and I ended up back to back, with Weiss speaking in a voice tinged with a small amount of worry, "We need to end this, and fast."

My mind raced as I tried to come up with a solution. I doubted Weiss had some glyph that was strong enough to take out all of these Grimm at once. I did have one spell that might work, but I hadn't really gotten to practice it yet, no time like the present I supposed, "Cover me!"

I held my bat out in front of me and focused. I could feel the energy gathering into it, and when I opened my eyes again I saw Moonshot covered in this purple energy dotted with tiny points of light. The best descriptor I had for what it looked like was a nebula. Then, I gripped onto Moonshot tighter and swung outward, painting the nebula in the air in front of me. A move like this was already making me tired, and it hadn't even gone off yet!

However, the results spoke for themselves, the starry night I painted began to explode outward, the white and purple energy sent several of the Beowolves flying back and into the trees, the smoke they emitted indicated their deaths. Yet there were still four of them left, and I was already struggling to stay standing, my muscles were screaming from the sudden exertion.

Weiss thankfully took it from there, she struck out with her rapier and sent bursts of fire flying out, assisted by her glyph to make them bigger and faster. The remaining Beowolves didn't stand a chance, fire and flame was enough to get them taken down, or to otherwise reevaluate the situation and run away. It was rare that Grimm ran, most of the time they stayed and fought until they died, but Beowolves, when taken from their pack, were usually very quick to retreat.

Which was a good thing, becauseI had to fight to stop my knees from buckling, if only I had something to help me keep balance… Weiss turned to start walking on the path again, and it was all I could do to just start following behind, "Hmph, at least you're passable. Unrefined, but passable."

I wasn't looking for her approval, but I was too busy trying to make sure one foot landed in front of the other to argue with her right now. I didn't want to show just how weak I really was right now, sure I could do some flashy stuff, but… I couldn't even take out all of the Beowolves with that attack, if I had been on my own I'd have been done for.

Thankfully, I started to recover fairly quickly. Although I knew that if I had to use another spell, I'd be entirely useless afterward, so I'd have to make it count.

Just in time too, because not long after that we reached the edge of the forest. Coming into view was one of the ruins that held several different relics up some stone steps and resting on pedestals. We approached, Weiss grabbed the Gold Queen piece, and I could only think about how fitting that was. If nothing else, she certainly acted like a princess.

Weiss held the piece in her hand, before she could speak, from behind us I heard Ruby's voice, "Lunus! There you are!" I turned around and saw Ruby hurrying over to me, with Jeanne not far behind! At least she found a good partner, even if I wasn't so lucky. Once she closed the distance she gave me a hug, "Moon!"

I smiled and returned the hug, "Star. Although it's a bit late for that…" We let go of each other as Jeanne joined us with a grin and Ruby looked around before grabbing the other golden queen piece.

Weiss seemed even more annoyed at the presence of Ruby and Jeanne, "If there's nothing else we should start heading back. There's no reason to-"

That was precisely when we heard a monstrous shriek, and when we all turned to look in the direction of the noise, we spotted a large Grimm. It looked like a giant platypus, easily the size of a Beowolf Alpha, on its back was this armored plating that had a split in the middle, revealing several tendrils that writhed around atop it. It had two webbed feet with a pair of clawed hands, bone armor covering its beak and face.

Like an octopus, a platypus, and a cactus all fused together, this was a Grimm I'd read about before, "Splitback!" I gripped Moonshot in my hands once again, "It doesn't look happy!"

Ruby took Crescent Rose off her back, "Ooh, I remember learning about these things! The talons on its feet are poisonous, don't let it hit you with those if your aura's down!"

Jeanne drew Alba Mors from its sheath on her back, "Uhm, are we sure we're gonna be able to kill this thing? It looks tough!"

Weiss brandished her rapier, which I heard her call Myrtenaster before all of this, "If you can't kill it, then just try and stay out of my way."

Okay, being snide to me was one thing, I didn't care, or at least I didn't have the spine to care, but acting snooty to other people? I scoffed and dryly remarked, "We'll clear this level and be home in time for your dance recital, Ice Queen. No need to drag down an actually good person to make yourself feel better." Weiss and Jeanne both seemed taken aback by my sudden snark, although Ruby giggled and seemed happy to see it.

Weiss huffed, "Ugh! Whatever, let's just get this over with!" All of our attention turned to the Splitback.

The fight kicked off with Ruby speeding forward using her semblance, she managed to cut into the beast's side with Crescent Rose and then fired a dust round into the fresh wound, causing the beast to roar. She was so caught up in this that she didn't have time to react when the beast turned and swiped her with its tail, sending her flying, although luckily she was able to use her semblance to stop herself from hitting any trees.

The beast then turned to us and began charging towards the ruin, which prompted Weiss to create a large glyph in front of it, the Splitback crashed into it and shrieked in anger as its advance was halted.

Jeanne followed up by racing forward, brandishing her sword, as she approached one of the beast's legs she slashed at it and managed to cut into its shadowy hide. Then she pulled back and prepared to stab out in a forward thrust, only to be snatched up by a tendril that quickly wrapped around her waist, causing her to drop her sword. She yelled a complaint, "Awh, come on! It's so gross!" She grabbed a hold of the tendril and struggled to free herself from it.

I decided to join the fray after sprinkling my bat with more lightning dust. With Moonshot crackling, I reached the Splitback and slammed Moonshot into it's clawed hand, the electricity caused the beast to jolt but didn't add much in the way of damage to it. The thing was just too heavy to get sent flying like that.

It responded to my provocation by swiping at me with its damaged hand before I could react, its claws sending me sprawling on the ground as I scrambled away from it so I could get my bearings. It got my face, but it luckily seemed like it didn't break through my aura, no bleeding yet. Although if it hit me again, the story would be very different.

Thankfully it was quickly distracted on two fronts as Weiss sent a wave of ice spikes across the ground that stabbed into the beast's belly. It was growing weaker, but still held onto Jeanne, only for Ruby to dash in from the side in a flurry of rose petals. She leapt into the air and slashed with Crescent Rose, quickly cutting several tentacles in half, including the one holding Jeanne, who fell to the ground with an 'Oof!'

Weiss raced forward, intent on stabbing into it with her rapier, only for the Splitback to twist and rotate in a complete circle, smacking all three of them down in the process! I swore while also thanking the Brothers that I was far enough away to avoid getting hit.

I had to do something to buy the others time to recover, and this seemed like the best time to use my last spell of the day. It would just need to count! I planted my bat onto the ground and preemptively knelt down so I wouldn't fall as hard and started to focus. A few moments later, a purple energy began to gather around it as the beast slowly began to lift off the air.

I felt my whole body screaming at me, the Splitback was said to be as heavy as a school bus and while I didn't actually have to lift it myself, it certainly strained every muscle, "G-Guys! Hurry up and kill it!"

In response, the three girls all gathered and quickly thought of a plan, with Weiss creating a glyph that glowed red as both Ruby and Jeanne leapt onto it. They held it there for a few moments, preparing and seemingly gathering energy. Just when I felt the spell starting to split and the Splitback starting to descend towards the ground again, Weiss gestured forward with her rapier, like how an old-timey general might when they were going to yell 'Charge!'

In response both Ruby and Jeanne shot forward, with Jeanne reaching the beast's chest and sinking her entire claymore into it before starting to slide down, Alba Mors slicing through its chest and stomach. Ruby, in the meantime, reached the Splitback's head and connected Crescent Rose to the thing's neck, the blade digging into it at such a high speed that its head came clean off!

Once Ruby had landed on the other side and Jeanne was safely scrambling away from the creature, I let the spell go. The Splitback crashed into the ground, the black smoke rising from its body confirming what we already knew. Although I didn't have time to think about that as I proceeded to lose my grip on Moonshot and fell forward, my vision blurring. I felt like I'd tried to fight an ursa bearhanded, or more accurately, tried to bench press one. Make that five, or ten actually…

Ruby was the first one at my side, although I only saw part of her as she knelt next to me, "Lunus! That was awesome!" I didn't exactly have the energy to accept a compliment, although before I knew it I was being lifted up by her and Jeanne.

I doubted I'd be able to walk on my own, but at least with their help I was standing again. They were on either side of me, my arms around their shoulders, which was awkward because Ruby was a lot shorter than Jeanne. Weiss walked up to me, regarding me with an unreadable expression. Then, she knelt down, grabbed Moonshot, and held it in her hands, "You did well… Lunus."

Oh, wow! First name basis, a real honor coming from the Schnee!

…Said nobody ever.

Still, it was a step in the right direction, and she seemed to not mind carrying my bat while we all started back for the cliff, so maybe she had some good in her heart after all. That remained to be seen though, and I didn't have the energy to be snarky or thankful.

Jeanne let go of me so Ruby could lead me more efficiently, she was a lot stronger than she looked. As we walked towards the top of the cliff, I could see Ruby smiling even through my blurred vision, "This reminds me of all those times we came up with fake Grimm fights we'd act out… Except we're actually doing it now."

I nodded tiredly in response and managed out, "Y-Yeah… we're the real deal now…"

We reached the top of the cliff and presented our pieces to Ozpin and Glynda. The Headmaster looked pleased to see us make it back, and after he finished grading our performance (a solid B, better than anything I'd gotten at Signal in the past couple years), he sent us to one of the auditoriums the school had.

This one, unlike the last one, thankfully, had theater-style seats for people to sit in. The four of us all sat next to each other, although I was sure Weiss was only sitting with us because she was my partner, and there was no getting around that no matter what team we were on.

Jeanne was talking up a storm to Ruby, who was just trying to follow along. Jeanne was the opposite of her and I, because she seemed to have a lot to say and she had no qualms with saying that. Maybe she'd be a good influence on Ruby, at the very least…

Eventually it was time for team placements to begin. I didn't pay attention to most teams that were being selected, although there were three noteworthy ones. For starters, Jaune got on a team with that red haired girl, an orange haired girl, and a dark haired boy. Ozpin said their names were Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren. The team was dubbed JNPR (Juniper) and Jaune was made the leader, which he looked terrified about.

Poor guy, but at least it was him and not me…

After them, I saw Emerald again. She was with a girl with ashen black hair wearing a red minidress and two guys, one with gray hair and gray eyes who had hair that, strangely, looked slicked back towards the back, but was unkempt in the front. He wore a slate gray and black two-tone partial-zip jacket that covered his upper body, He also wore a notched belt, and on his arms were a set of rerebraces and vambraces.

The other guy had ice blue eyes and black hair that covered his ears and covered his nape. He wore an outfit with a loose-collar turtleneck sweater and a pair of black pants, following that was an orange scarf with what looked like two ice dust crystals embedded with them near the black fabrics at the ends, the scarf rested both tails on his chest. He also wore a white coat with a winter hood attached to it, and a pair of vambraces that had snowflakes and autumn leaves on them.

Ozpin read off their names, "Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustral, and Neve Cadere found the black knight pieces. They will form Team Crimson, and Cinder Fall will be their leader." The letters 'CMSN' appeared on screen, and the woman named Cinder looked satisfied with herself as the four stepped off and left the building, presumably towards their dorm or the cafeteria.

Well, that was better than what I would have named them…

Next up was Yang and Ven's team, the two had apparently managed to partner up. At least they managed it, even if we didn't. With them was a dark haired girl with a bow on and a smaller guy with very… effeminate features. He had fluffy brown hair, a V-neck black and red wrap style top and (strangely) a black pleated skirt, as well as a red obi sash and a pair of dark blue gauntlets on his arms.

Ozpin read off their names, "Ven Yue-Long, Yang Xiao-Long, Blake Belladonna, and Caine Branwen found the two golden golden knight pieces, they will form Team Vibe, with Ven as their leader. Good luck to all of you." The team name flashed on screen, VYBB, and the four walked off, with Yang celebrating, and Ven looking fairly content. Blake looked neutral, while Caine looked nervous, but I had a feeling that was more because of the crowd and not the team placement.

Finally, it was our turn. At this point, Weiss' facial expression had gone through a few different stages of grief before resting on resignation as she realized that not only was she going to be stuck with me, but with Ruby and Jeanne as well. Luckily at this point I was able to walk on my own now, otherwise I'd have been fairly embarrassed.

Ozpin smiled at us as we stepped onto the stage, "Lunus Marigold, Jeanne Arc, Ruby Rose, and Weiss Schnee found the golden queen pieces, they will form Team Mars, with Lunus as your leader. Good luck." He smiled at us while my face paled of color, I could see Weiss look aggravated, while Ruby and Jeanne looked excited.

We all headed off, Glynda was waiting by the door and told us which dorm we'd be staying in, and that our luggage had already been moved there. I had no idea how they managed that so fast, but I wasn't going to complain.

The four of us were all hungry and worn out, although at varying levels, I was certainly the worst off out of everyone, just based on how they were looking. We made our way to the cafeteria first. I was going to need a lot of hot chocolate to calm my nerves…

Once we sat down, we started to eat. Weiss didn't say anything and instead just focused on her food, a bowl of noodles, while Jeanne was eating a large hamburger and Ruby was eating some strawberries. For my part, I'd just gotten some pizza, they had basically everything here, so we weren't going to run out of options anytime soon.

Ruby was sitting on my left, with Jeanne on her left, and Weiss on my right. Ruby nudged me and smiled, speaking softly and comfortingly, "Don't be so nervous, you're gonna be a great leader, I know it."

I smiled back weakly, "I'll try, but I honestly think it was a mistake… You'd be a much better leader." I ate some of my pizza while I stewed in my thoughts.

Jeanne, in the meantime, shook her head, "I think you'll be a great leader too! Besides, even if you make mistakes, it just means you'll learn from it and get better, right? Not everyone comes here out of the box ready to be a hunter, that's why we're here!"

I nodded, knowing she was right, although it still didn't mean this sat well with me. Part of me worried that Oz chose me for this role because of my… special gift. I didn't like the idea of being given this position because I won whatever strange lottery I'd been unknowingly entered into.

Weiss certainly didn't seem to agree, just based on the frown she sported while she ate her food, but she didn't say anything and I was grateful for that. We continued to eat, idly conversing as we did so, although Weiss stayed quiet the whole time.

Once we had finished eating, we started to make our way to the dorms, although I received a text from the school that said I was wanted at the headmaster's office, so I reluctantly had to split from the pack and go to see what Ozpin wanted. It could have to do with my progress with magic, or maybe it was my performance? Maybe he wanted to tell me that there'd been an error and Ruby was actually the leader?

The last one was unlikely, but that didn't stop it from playing out in my head even as I got to the tower that held Ozpin's office and took the elevator up. His office had a clockwork design to it, with several gears in the walls turning, complete with a giant one under some glass in the middle of the room silently working away.

The Headmaster was waiting at his desk, with his hands folded together as he watched me approach with a smile, "You performed well today, Lunus. I noticed that your magic has progressed along nicely, even if you're still a novice. I must remind you to try to limit the kinds of magic you utilize around other people, you've demonstrated two spells, to avoid suspicion you should only use those spells around Miss Arc and Miss Schnee."

I nodded as I took a seat across from him, "I will, and thank you. Was there something we needed to talk about?"

Ozpin nodded, standing up from his chair and walking towards the windows that overlooked the school, where there was a thin square box waiting on it. He picked it up and came back over to me, setting the box on the desk, "I noticed that you don't have proper huntsman gear, so I had an outfit made for you. I think you'll find it far better suited than a pair of jeans and T-shirt."

I blinked in surprise, "Headmaster, you didn't have to…" Yet I was still reaching out for the box, "Uhm… thank you."

Ozpin smiled, "Think nothing of it. Now, you should rejoin your team, you have your first classes tomorrow."

I returned the smile and stood up, "I will, again, thank you Headmaster."

He shook his head, "Just call me Ozpin."

I nodded in response, "Oh… okay, Ozpin. Thank you." I nodded my head gratefully before turning and leaving, he was right that tomorrow would be busy…

Team CMSN's dorm

The four members of the newly christened Team CMSN had already set about decorating their dorm. Although Cinder sat on the side of her bed with one leg crossed over the other, "Emerald, did you confirm what we needed to know?"

Emerald nodded while she put up a framed painting of a forest, "He looks very new, cute, but inexperienced. I helped him get rid of that Schnee pest and that seems to have warmed him up to me."

Cinder nodded her head, "And during initiation? Did you get a good look at his capabilities?"

Emerald once again nodded as she turned towards Cinder, "Yep, some weird cosmic stuff and some gravity manipulation, he's definitely our guy."

Mercury scoffed as he finished putting up a poster of a rock band and turned around to lean on the wall, "What a lucky break for him, huh? If he's who Salem says he is, then he's got the potential to become the most powerful person on the planet, and to think he just looks like some loser with a bat at first glance."

Neve, who had been in the kitchen, came into the room and crossed his arms before he smiled playfully at Cinder, "So, what's the plan, fearless leader?"

She smirked, "Now that we know he's really our target, we move on to phase two. Salem doesn't want us harming him, she thinks he can be won over with sweet talking and… seduction. That's your job, Emerald. He already knows you, and I bet you've already caught his eye with that outfit of yours. Once you've got your finger wrapped around him, he'll be that much easier to bring to our side."

Emerald frowned and muttered under her breath while her face heated up, "That's not what I was trying to do…" then she spoke up at her normal volume, "Alright, I'll see what I can do, although it's gonna be hard to pry that Ruby chick off his arm."

Cinder hummed, "She will be a problem… We will need to get him alone for this, and work on driving them apart. Any attachments to this little idyllic life of his are only going to make it harder to turn him to our side."

Mercury smirked, "I'm sure it won't be that hard. She looks annoying as hell, I bet there's some part of him that wants her off his back."

Cinder regarded Mercury for a moment before looking to Neve, "She'll be your case, work with Emerald and figure something out." She half-lidded her eyes and lowered her voice to a seductive tone, "Can you handle that Coffee Boy?"

Neve's face heated up as he looked away nervously before clearing his throat and looking back at Cinder with some measure of confidence in his voice, "You know I can, Cinder. Emerald and I both know a thing or two about honeyed words, and Em's beauty far outclasses that Rose girl."

Emerald's face heated up a darker red as she looked away, "Uhm.. th-thanks."

Neve didn't seem too fixated on it, though, it was more a statement of fact than a compliment, "Don't mention it." He stated, before walking to his bed and sitting down.

Cinder huffed at Neve's casual complimenting of Emerald, but quickly pushed it off and smiled, "Well, boys and girls…"

"Operation Dark Side is a go."