Chapter 3: The Flashy Beacon
1 week later, Beacon Academy
The airship touched down at the landing platform and laid down the ramp. The white haired pair walked out of the Bullhead, and were subsequently mesmerized by the sight presented to them. Unlike the citadel-esque look Atlas Academy rocked, Beacon Academy came off as very archaic to the both of them, resembling a castle from a time long before the kingdoms were established and it certainly did a good job impressing two of its new students
"Damn, they definitely don't build buildings like this in Atlas." Nero whistled, and Weiss could only nod in agreement. Once their feet touched the ground, the pair began to walk in the direction of the school's amphitheater, accompanied by a team of four butlers.
Nero carried two duffel bags on his shoulder and the butlers trailed behind him and the heiress, while pushing trolleys full of Dust cases each, one of which had a large case with a sword insignia on top. "Sheesh, went a little overboard with the expenses, did ya…?" the young man asked rhetorically while looking back at the butlers pushing the heavy loads.
"Of course I did. If we're going to be attending this academy for the next four years, we're going to need to use Dust of the highest quality available to us… Besides, half of those belong to you, so you won't need to worry about running out of Dust ammunition 'till next semester." Weiss informed him.
"You don't say? Well then, I humbly thank you for your generous donation, milady." Nero teased her with a bow, which earned him a light punch from the heiress.
"Enough of that coy attitude of yours…" she scolded him, but smiled nonetheless at her friend's gesture. Despite still maintaining her usual demeanor, the giddiness she felt several weeks ago at the revelation that Nero was going to be attending classes here with her still left her riding a pleasant high. Ever since the hot-blooded youth followed in Winter's footsteps and enlisted in Atlas's military, it became considerably harder for the both of them to see one another, thanks in no small part to the fact that her father-
*CRASH*
A loud crash interrupted the heiress' train of thought. A few feet behind them, a girl wearing a red cloak could be seen lying on the concrete ground and was crushed by both Weiss' luggage and Nero's case. Immediately, Weiss's expression turned to a displeased one as she marched in the direction of the scene. "Oh boy, here we go…" Nero groaned to himself, already knowing where this interaction was about to go, before trailing behind her.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Weiss demanded angrily, but the only response she got from the girl was a weak, strangled noise, the weight of all the luggage -Nero's case especially- slowly choking the life out of her. The young man in question quickly went to the poor girl's aid, lugging his case over his shoulder like it weighed nothing.
"Ooof! Oh, T-Thank you! I thought I was gonna black out for a second there…" the girl thanked him as she quickly sat up, taking a moment to realize the heiress' presence in front of her.
"O-Oh! Uh, sorry…" the young girl, having silver eyes and black hair with red highlights apologized, sitting up from her current position.
"Sorry? Do you have any idea of the damage you could've caused!?" Weiss scolded. "I, uh…" the girl tried to answer, only to see a hand offered to her.
"Are you hurt?" the Specialist asked casually.
She looked up and her silver eyes met with Nero's blue ones, before accepting his offer to help. "N-No I'm alright, thanks for the help…! But, uh, sorry that I made a mess of your stuff…" the girl apologized again as Nero pulled her back up to her feet.
"No big deal—" "Yes it is, Nero!" Weiss interrupted her companion's words.
"She could've blown us all to bits before we could even graduate Beacon! If not that, then all of our Dust reserves would have been wasted because of her!" the ponytailed heiress listed off a few of the possible scenarios that could have happened. She then picked up one of the fallen Dust cases and inspected the contents for any possible damaged vials.
"Eh, well nothing like that did happen, so no harm, no foul in my book…" Nero said, merely shrugging his shoulders at the thought before turning his gaze back to the red-hooded girl. "So, what's a kid like you doing here at Beacon? Early school field trip or something…?" Nero decided to ask, a bit curious with the young girl's presence within a top-tier Huntsman academy.
"Well, uh… it's a long story, really." The younger girl told them, fidgeting in place. But before she could elaborate on her presence at the academy, Weiss was quick to cut in, still none too happy at her mishap.
"Oh, I'm sure it is. Let me guess; does it involve you blowing up immeasurable amounts of Dust?" Weiss asked accusingly.
"N-No, of course not…!" Ruby defended, her face red from sheer embarrassment. But after an awkward silence nearly took over, "But… it did involve a Dust Shop in Vale and a few explosions." Ruby admitted bashfully, kicking a pebble on the ground.
Nero's face went from neutral to an amused one in seconds and said, "Huh, guess I spoke too soon."
Weiss, on the other hand, crossed her arms against her chest before she harrumphed loudly. "As expected from a naïve child." The ponytailed heiress commented arrogantly, which didn't please Ruby at all.
"Hey, I said I was sorry 'Princess'!"
"It's heiress actually." Another feminine voice replied in a calm tone.
A girl Weiss' and Nero's age walked up holding the bottle that had rolled in her direction. The main characteristics that made her stand out was her waist length black hair and a bow tied on top of her head, all topped off by a set of amber eyes. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company; One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world." The girl in black explained to Ruby.
"Finally, some recognition" Weiss smugly stated. Nero, on the other hand, was much less oblivious to where this conversation was going. Turning away from Weiss, he closed his eyes, braced himself and began counting down in his head.
'Three… Two… One…' and as if on cue, "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners. Not to mention, the same family that lost their status among the Duodecim*…" The raven haired girl finished in an insulting manner.
"Wha— how dare you-!? The nerve of…"
"Nailed it." Nero cheered to himself as Weiss kept trailing off with her words, while Ruby giggled in silent delight.
"Nero, are you just gonna let her get away with saying all of that!?" Weiss said to him angrily, clearly displeased with the newcomer's insult towards her family company.
In response, Nero could only shrug his shoulders in a manner that said 'hands are tied' before responding. "Well… I mean, I thought we both agreed your old man's kind of a..." 'colossal, crooked jackass.' He trailed off, making sure not to say that last part out loud, which was likely for the best considering Weiss was already in a sour mood in the first place. At this, she swiped the bottle from the girl and went ahead of Nero, letting out an annoyed huff as she walked away.
The Specialist could only let out a small, exasperated noise before turning back to Ruby. "I-I promise I'll make it up to you!" Ruby called out one last time, only to cast her gaze towards the ground. Sighing in defeat, the cloaked girl fell to her knees before collapsing onto her back. "Welcome to Beacon…" she muttered and closed her eyes to block out the sunlight. Fortunately for her, Nero stood beside her and provided her with shade.
"First impressions aren't exactly your strong point, are they?" the white haired young man asked casually, to which she responded with a slow nod.
"Eh, well… don't stress yourself out over all that. She always does that when she feels like she's gotta sulk for a while, and it doesn't last. Give her a day or two and she'll cool off on you." Nero offered in an attempt to ease the silver-eyed girl's own bout of sulking and angst.
"O-Oh! You really think she's not gonna hold all that against me...!?" Ruby asked as she quickly sat up, a painfully hopeful look and tone in her voice that caused the white-haired youth to recoil slightly.
"Well, uh..." Nero trailed off, suddenly having difficulty looking Ruby in the eyes. While he was certain that Weiss would've forgotten her anger at him next time he saw her, he honestly couldn't say the same for the silver-eyed girl. If there was one thing Nero found out about Weiss in all the years that he knew her, it's that first impressions always left a bit of a mark on her, whether they were good or bad. All things considered, it would probably take a bit of work to make the heiress forget the stigma she now gained against Ruby.
Still… he couldn't bring himself to outright say this when she was looking at him with such a desperately hopeful look on his face now could he? "Tell you what, I'll put in a good word for you next time I see her."
"R-Really!? Oh thank you thank you thank you so much! The last thing I wanted was to start my first day at Beacon with someone hating my guts!" Ruby cheered in visible excitement and relief, quickly taking his left hand with both her hands and rapidly shaking them up and down in gratitude. "Oh, and by the way, if I didn't say it already, I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose! It's really nice to meet you!"
"Uh… Rodin Nero, and yeah, sure. Man, she's really starting to remind me of her…" Nero thought to himself before tuning back to their conversation. "Still, think I could ask you for a favor in exchange?" Nero managed, his request causing Ruby to slowly bring her enthusiastic handshaking to a halt.
"Yeah, of course! Just name it!" Ruby declared happily.
"Just do me a favor and try not to hold all this against her, alright? Weiss can be seriously frosty starting off, but she really is a good person if you can get past that. She's just not as good with meeting new people as she likes to pretend is all, so she… tends to get a bit hostile if shit goes south, kinda like it did in your case… uh, no offense." Nero explained. Given that he could count the number of people Weiss was close to on one hand, it came as no surprise to him that she always acted along these lines when meeting someone new and if something went south. "But uh... you didn't hear any of this from me, got it?"
"O-Oh, yeah! Of course! Don't worry!" Ruby responded quickly, all while a look of understanding crossed her face.
"Alright, glad we're on the same page there. Well," Nero began, taking a moment to stretch his arms behind his head as he looked towards Beacon. "might as well get going. You can tell me about how you ended up here while we walk."
***O***
"...And then, after I realized those guys were trying to rob me, I crashed through the front window, took off my headphones, and went all 'WHA-CHA! WOO YA!' on them!" Ruby explained excitedly, taking a moment to stop in her stride to do a variety of exaggerated kung-fu poses with Crescent Rose in front of Nero, who could only watch on with an amused look on his face.
"Huh… sounds like you had a busy day, but I guess if you got brought in here several years early because of that busy day, that's a given." Nero said, looking at Ruby with curiosity. "So what happened then?"
"Well after taking care of all those goons, I went after that Torchwick guy, but then he got one of his criminal friends to come in riding a bullhead and then they almost blew me up, but that's when Professor Goodwitch came in and started having this awesome magic duel with the lady in the bullhead!" Ruby rattled off excitedly, the events of that hectic night in Vale still fresh in her mind. "They kinda got away anyway, but I still got to see a professional huntress in action, so I'd still call that night a win in my book."
"And I'm guessing all those stunts you pulled caught her eye, huh?" Nero assumed, only for Ruby to respond with a meek chuckle, closing her eyes and rubbing her arm before clarifying.
"Not… really. She was actually more interested in taking me to the nearest police station, yelling at me for a bunch of stuff, and sending me home. It was actually Professor Ozpin that was interested in me and wanted me coming to Beacon." Ruby clarified. Nero merely nodded silently in response before speaking up once more.
"Man, talk about one hell of a lucky streak on your end. With how enthusiastic you seem to be about the huntsman lifestyle, I bet coming here several years early is a dream come true, huh?" The white-haired youth asked rhetorically, only to get a response he didn't expect when Ruby merely looked away and rubbed her arm slightly. Upon bringing up her early admission to the school, the silver-eyed girl's previously enthusiastic demeanor was replaced with a meek uncertainty.
"...Honestly? I'd've been a lot happier if Professor Ozpin just offered me a… I dunno, the assurance that I'd get into Beacon after I graduated from Signal. I just kinda feel… out of my depth being here now." Ruby admitted "I mean, everything looks bigger and scarier than ever, the assignments are probably gonna be a lot harder than anything I got at Signal, and I don't got any of my friends with me! I thought that I'd be okay since my sister was gonna be attending classes with me, but she just ditched me on that walkway the first chance she got! Then I bumped into you and your crabby friend Weiss aaaaand… you know how that went…" Ruby listed off, growing more and more animated before deflating at the very end upon mentioning her unfortunate run-in with Nero and Weiss.
"You really don't got much of a thick skin, do ya Ruby?" Nero asked dryly.
"Can you blame me!? This is like an anxious first day at school with everything going wrong made a billion times worse!" She exclaimed defensively, comically collapsing to her back as she finished.
"Right… okay," Was all Nero had to say in response to her melodramatics, raising a brow at her comical despair before helping her back to her feet. "Well hey, silver lining, I think you're pretty good company, so you gotta be doing something right."
"R-Really…!? N-N'aaaaw, s-shut up, you're just… s-shut up~..." Ruby was quick to fluster up at Nero's words of reassurance, blushing and trailing muttering off various ways of saying 'shut up,' all while not meaning a word of it. She quickly realized that she was rambling though, much to the white-head's amusement, and quickly recomposed herself before continuing. "So uh… how'd you even get to know a crabby girl like Weiss in the first place?"
"Well, me and Weiss happen to go way back. Back when I was a kid, some crazy shit happened to me that ended with her big sis taking me in." Nero explained, continuing before Ruby could ask for any details regarding his affiliation with the Schnee family. "As for why I'm here with her… Well, that's classified info, sadly. Has to stay under lock and-"
*BOOM!*
"...key." Nero finished after a moment's confusion, looking ahead of him where he heard that explosion shatter the comfortable atmosphere that settled around the campus.
"What was that?!" Ruby asked in surprise, scrambling to her feet. Feeling curious, Nero sprinted in the direction of the sound with the red hooded girl right by him.
~o~
***O***
~x~
Around the courtyard,
The sound of shotgun rounds being fired came from the crowded area as the duo arrived at the scene. Turning towards a random student, "Hey, you know what's going on here?"
"Some guy with a giant sword and blonde chick just started fighting in the courtyard. It's crazy cool…!" The student closest to them replied, recording the whole fight using their Scroll.
"Giant sword?!" Ruby asked, eyes glimmering at the thought.
"Some blonde chick…?" Nero also asked.
Upon hearing that get repeated by Nero, Ruby immediately stiffened up while her mood soured. "Oh no."
Without warning, a yell of anger sounded off from the area followed by the sound of two shotgun blasts and a yell familiar only to the ears of Ruby Rose. In the middle of the crowded area, two individuals could be seen matching one another blow for blow with their weapons.
The first was a young blonde student with red eyes wearing a tan vest over a yellow top with a black crest that resembles a burning heart. She also wore black shorts under her belt, which resembled a pleated skirt in the back, along with an orange infinity scarf around her neck. On her arms were a pair of yellow gauntlets with black linings that have several shotgun rounds within its chamber, which was obviously the blonde's weapon.
Opposing said blonde was a boy with hair the same shade as Nero's and dual colored eyes, the left being green and the right being red. His attire consisted of a vibrant red sleeved jacket over a black long sleeved shirt with a white lining, all of which had a number of belts and metallic parts littering it, as well as wearing a black hakama and steel-toed red boots. He also wore black gloves, with the right one having a red shell on its back. Gripped tightly in his hand was his weapon, a large sword, which he wielded with great ease.
'!?' Almost instinctively, Nero's hand darted towards Blue Rose's handle at his thigh holster, the primary features of his fellow swordsman instantly causing the Atlesian specialist to associate him with Ironwood's would-be killer in an instance of knee-jerk reaction. However, a second of closer inspection caused him to realize that it wasn't that annoyingly lax and playful man.
Not only was the red coat different, but the rest of this guy's outfit was distinctly Mistralian, providing a stark contrast to the assassin's Vacuan cowboy attire. Then there was the fact that the assassin also wielded a gothic claymore with a screaming skull acting as the guard, whereas this guy wielded a sword that was more of a sleek, oversized knife. Finally, one look at the irritated scowl on the swordsman's face was all Nero needed to know that despite their surface-level similarities, this guy was the assassin's antithesis.
"Will you piss off already!? I don't have time to deal with your bullshit, Yang!" The white haired swordsman barked while the two of them were stuck in a deadlock.
"Not until I pound your face into a bloody pulp, you prick!" the blonde threatened, holding back the sharp blade with her gloved hands.
With a horizontal-slash, the young swordsman delivered a devastating blow to his opponent, but the brawler, now named Yang, managed to block using her gauntlets and was merely pushed back a couple of feet. Coincidentally, she skidded to halt right in front of the newest arrivals.
"Friends of yours…?" Nero asked dryly, raising a brow at the brawl ensuing in front of them.
"Yang, what are you doing?!" the younger of the two called out, her eyes quickly darting between her sister and her opponent. Curiously enough, there seemed to be a brief spark of recognition in Ruby's silver eyes as she took in the red-clad, scowling man.
"Getting payback sis, that's what!" Yang answered, not bothering to look at her sister. Using her gauntlets, the blonde propelled herself towards the one who opposed her.
"Alright, if it's a fight you want…" he trailed off, clenching his fist. Rearing back her dominant hand, Yang made to punch the swordsman with all she's got, only to clash with her opponent's open hand, which quickly closed around her fist. "Huh?"
The initial impact had stopped the blonde in her tracks, and the young whitehead managed to overpower and forcefully shove the opposing fist back, throwing his blonde opponent off balance. Seizing the chance, the young man wielded his sword in reverse-grip to perform an upper slash that broke through Yang's guard.
"Ah!" The blonde brawler exclaimed, the force of the slash draining a portion of her aura and sending her flying and tumbling back to the edge of the crowd that circled them. Planting both her hands on the ground, she skidded to a stop and quickly leveled her red-eyed glare at her opponent, who kept his own scowl trained on her as he swung his sword back into position.
"THEN THAT'S WHAT YOU'LL FUCKING GET! BRING IT!" With that furious exclamation, the scowling man lept toward Yang with his sword drawn in a furious lunge. Never one to balk in the face of a challenge, the furious blonde met him and his sword head-on.
*CLANG! Skkkkrsh!*
Bringing one of her armored forearms up just as the blade was about to crash into her, Yang blocked the blade and stood strong despite the staggering level of strength in that sword swing. Gritting her teeth, the brawler proceeded to dash forward along the sword's length, her Ember Celica gauntlets grinding up against stainless steel of the knife-like blade and sending sparks flying everywhere. Rearing back her other fist, she aimed a crippling blow right for her opponent's center of mass.
"Try harder!" However, the red-clad man saw this coming and merely scoffed in response. Twisting his body to the side, he handily avoided the punch, much to Yang's shock. Stumbling forward, she was forced to take the brunt of a roundhouse kick to the face her opponent sent her way, subsequently sending her back several feet.
Skidding back and growing angrier with each passing second, Yang didn't hesitate to throw herself back into the fray and bombard the swordsman with a series of fast and powerful punches, a glowing yellow aura slowly but surely beginning to radiate from her. Once again though, he was able to either dodge or block the blows with his sword, occasionally swinging his blade at her to counter. She was able to either block or dodge those counters herself, but regardless couldn't land a single blow on her opponent, much to her increasing ire.
Blocking another punch with his blade, the red-clad whitehead let out an irritated and uncomfortable grunt when Yang didn't let up in her pressure, instead gritting her teeth and pouring more power into it in a bid to break through his guard.
"Will you… just… FUCK OFF ALREADY!?" However, as strong as Yang was, her opponent still had the strength to outclass the ever-growing power her semblance gave her, swinging the blade out and once again sending the blonde brawler flying back. Skidding to a halt for the umpteenth time in this duel, Yang's aura was now flaring up without restraint as she kept her red-eyed glare on her perpetually pissed off adversary. However, after a brief moment, the blonde couldn't help but let out a pleased chuckle as her scowling glare turned into an eager smirk, her blood-red gaze boring right into him.
"Right when things are getting really fun? Not a chance!" And it was with that eager, anticipating remark that Yang pumped her fists back, reloading the shotgun shells in her gauntlets and charged the whitehead once more, her fists reared back to strike. The man in question could only let out a growl of distaste before mirroring her action, sword raised.
*BOOM!*
However, before things could escalate any further, the impromptu brawl came to a screeching halt when a small explosion that could be likened to a cannonball firing echoed through the campus. Both Yang and her opponent froze up mid-swing at the sound for a brief instance before simultaneously looking towards where the noise came from.
"Now children, I understand you're all very excited to be here and eager to see some commotion, but let's try to exercise some restraint for our first day at this prestigious institution, shall we?"
And what they saw was a portly old man with a comically large mustache in a red double-breasted coat, and despite his eyes seemingly being closed and how that mustache of his completely obscured his mouth, he seemed to radiate a calm but firm air of authority. In his hand was a smoking weapon that looked to be a cross between a blunderbuss and an axe.
'Guess that guy's part of the staff…' Was what was currently going through Nero's head, remaining silent as he passively watched the portly man stride into the middle of the crowd. Out of the corner of his eye, he also noticed that several nervous students on the outer ends of the crowd took this chance to discreetly slip away should the man try to evoke any kind of punishment for the commotion.
"I do hope that none of you have forgotten that there's an opening ceremony that you all need to attend to. You should all spend less time playing audience to what's essentially a street brawl and more time ensuring you aren't late to your first mandatory assembly here at Beacon Academy." The professor pointed out, tucking his blunderbuss under his armpit as he watched several students in the crowd squirm under his gaze… which was quite curious, given how the man seemed to keep his eyes perpetually shut. However, his tone and demeanor quickly began to lighten up, letting out a few jovial chuckles before gesturing towards the school's amphitheater with his unoccupied hand. "Now go on! Run along! You don't want to keep your headmaster waiting, now do you?"
With a collective sigh of relief, all the students with the exceptions of Nero and Ruby were quick to accept the out the portly professor gave them, disbanding in seconds. Yang and her red-clad opponent still remained though, mainly due to the fact that after seeing the initiates disband, he cast his gaze in their direction.
"Now then, you two… if these were normal circumstances, then I'd be forced to leave the both of you with a week's worth of detention for initiating combat outside of the proper classes. In fact, if Ms. Goodwitch was privy to what the two of you were just doing, that would still be the case… with much more than just detention in mind for causing a commotion and potentially damaging school property on your first day here, I imagine." The portly man explained, a firm but calm tone in his voice as he explained what exactly the consequences of their actions would normally be. Yang, at the very least flinched slightly as he spoke, seemingly recognizing that she was in trouble, while the heterochromatic swordsman just continued to listen with that annoyed scowl still on his face. "Fortunately for the both of you, however, the school year hasn't even begun yet and I am not, in fact, Ms. Goodwitch, so I'll be willing to let you both off with a warning so long as you both exercise some actual restraint from this point onward."
"Uh, got it, teach. Won't happen again." Was Yang's quick response, showing clear relief that she'd just be getting off with a slap on the wrist.
"No complaints here. I was minding my own business up till she decided she came in outta nowhere and tried to kick my shit in." Was the swordsman's blunt and annoyed take on the matter, his words getting him a glare from a still-pissed Yang.
"Ho ho! Very well then! Well, like I said to your impromptu crowd, I'd recommend making sure you're not late for Professor Ozpin's speech. More often than not, they're quite the inspiring bunch of words to listen to." And with that jovial statement, the mustachioed instructor turned around and went on his way, leaving the four remaining Beacon initiates standing there. For his part, Nero just wasn't sure what to make of this entire experience while Ruby found it to be an immense relief that not all of Beacon's teachers were as scarily strict as Ms. Goodwitch.
Regarding the two people that were the center of attention just a few moments ago, the red-clad young man just let out an annoyed breath before finally sheathing his blade on the small of his back. He was about to take his leave as well when the voice of a certain, grating blonde caused him to stop dead in his tracks. "Well! Looks like it was your lucky day, edgelord."
Turning around, the swordsman didn't hesitate to level an icily furious glare at Yang's flippant remark, who was merely standing there with one hand on her hip and an infuriatingly smug smirk on her face. "You wanna say that again, you psycho-bitch?"
Ruby couldn't help but wince at the venom in that man's tone, and the uncertain look of anxiety on her face only worsened when that remark wiped the smirk off Yang's face. Refusing to back down, the blonde instead marched right up to the red swordsman and returned his glare with full force, staring him down. "What, are you starting to go deaf or something? Well alright, I'll make it extra clear to you this time around; you're awfully lucky that the school staff bailed you out before I fed you a balanced breakfast of your blood and teeth."
In response to that venomous statement, the red-clad young man's eyes went wide for a brief moment, and Yang smiled in bitter satisfaction as a result, but that soon went away when she heard the distinct sound of snickering coming from him. Eyes wide in disbelief, Yang could only watch as his short chuckles soon evolved into full-blown laughter, like he just heard an absolute knock-out of a joke. Blinking away her surprise, the blonde gripped her hands tightly before angrily demanding "What the hell are you laughing at!?"
"N-Nothing! I just…! SNRK-! I just think it's hilarious that you're so amazingly fucking stupid and overconfident, to the point that you seriously think that's how things would go down if we fought for real." The swordsman managed to get out after suppressing his laughter with much difficulty. Yang looked as though she had a furious rebuttal in mind for his insults, but she was beaten to the punch when the heterochromatic man looked her in the eyes and continued. "Believe me, Yang; if I really wanted to, I could've left you as a bloody, unrecognizable mess on this walkway."
Yang could only recoil in shock at the venom and utter lack of joking in the red swordsman's words. But before she could even try to formulate a response to his threat, he once again beat her to it. "Having said that, as much of a pain in the ass as you are, can't really say I'm out for your blood. With that in mind, how about you do us both a favor and leave me the fuck alone from this point onward?" And with that statement left hanging in the air, he turned around and began to walk away.
Finally, upon letting that question sink in for a brief moment, Yang managed to think up the best possible response from her perspective, and that was to let her aura flare up with her own affronted temper, her hair taking on a golden glow and her eyes turning dark red once more. "Do you really think you could beat me that easily!?"
In response to feeling her aura flare up, the gruff man stopped for a moment before turning back towards her with a sideways glance, looking more irritated with her at this point than anything. "Tell you what; meet me outside this school or in the arena a few days from now and I'll gladly hammer that fact through your thick skull." And without giving the floored blonde a chance to respond, he continued in the direction the rest of the initiates and students went, leaving this part of the courtyard empty save for Yang, Ruby, and Nero.
At this point, the blonde in question could only stand there, watching where Ragna walked away with an utterly infuriated expression on her face and her aura only getting more and more pronounced. Frankly, at the rate she was going, Nero halfway expected the incensed blonde to go nuclear.
"I… better make sure she calms down." Was all Ruby could manage, she and Nero being the only ones that stuck around to witness the scene that played out in front of them.
"...Yeah, that's probably for the best. After hearing what that other guy just said, I'm half-expecting her to start demolishing this place." Was Nero's accurate observations on the whole matter. Giving Ruby a pat on the shoulder before continuing. "Let's talk more later."
Ruby could only fluster up in slight giddiness at Nero's word -and assurance that they were indeed friends as a result- before giving him an eager wave and smile despite the ticking powderkeg that was her sister standing a few feet away from them… although it was worth noting that she seemed to have caught on to their presence and subsequently calmed down a bit at the sight of her little sis having a friendly talk with someone. "A-Alright! I'll see you later, Nero!"
And with that, Nero left Ruby to try and calm her irate sister down, absent-mindedly bringing out Blue Rose and twirling it with his finger as he walked further into the campus. 'Talk about a rocky start. Granted, even Atlas and its schools had its share of eccentrics… Guess it's no shocker there'd be more of that here times a dozen.'
As he continued on his way, passing by a few students and initiates in the process, Nero eventually spotted a familiar shade of white standing over one of the bodies of water that littered the campus outside the school's amphitheater. "Hey there. I was wondering where you stomped off to." The young man greeted, re-holstering Blue Rose as he approached. As he expected, Weiss still didn't appear to have gotten over what happened on the walkway with Ruby and that black-haired girl, instead letting out an annoyed huff and refusing to look at him.
"Oh, so it seems you're done cavorting with that red and black pest, are you?" Weiss grumbled, crouching down so she could get a better look at her clear reflection in the water. For his part, Nero could only raise a brow at the girl's choice of words before responding.
"Yeah, and I see you're still using flowery words like 'cavorting' without any bit of irony." Nero pointed out dryly, only to get a sharp look from Weiss immediately after.
"If you think you can just joke and smart-mouth your way out of things like usual, you're sorely mistaken, Nero. It was one thing to encourage the behavior of that dolt, but another thing entirely to do the same when that disrespectful girl started bad-mouthing my family!"
"I mean, it was less bad-mouthing your whole family and more just bad-mouthing your dad and his shady, under the table bullshit." Nero pointed out. When Weiss's look of upset annoyance didn't fade, he could only sigh before continuing. "I don't get what your deal here is. We're both in agreement that your dear old dad's a dear old dickhead, so why're you getting so worked up over what she said about him?"
"Because if you paid any bit of attention to the way she spoke, then it was obvious that she thinks the rest of my family and I are no better than my father. More to the point, regardless of my relationship with him, it's still going to be grating when she blatantly insults him and my family's company to my face." Weiss explained pointedly, finally getting up from her kneeling position in front of the water to properly address him.
'Well… acting as haughty as you usually do will do that.' Nero thought, but wisely opted to keep his mouth shut regarding that particular train of thought. Plus, while he'd never miss out on an opportunity to badmouth Jacques Schnee, the douchebag that he is, he could still see where Weiss was coming from on this, so he instead opted to go about things a bit more tactfully. "Well… hey, all the more reason to prove her wrong once you inherit the throne."
"Obviously! I've told you this before, and I'll say it again; things are going to change for the better once I'm at the helm of the Schnee Dust Company, Nero." Weiss exclaimed, her bent out of shape demeanor finally taking a turn for the positive as she puffed her chest up with pride. The rare show of energy behind her words combined with their sincerity caused Nero to let out a muted chuckle, an amused smile growing on his face.
"I got no doubt about that, Weiss. Anyway… while your dad's always gonna fall under the camp of 'unlikable douche' in my book, I… uh, wouldn't have sat back if she started badmouthing you too." Nero explained, his tone growing a bit more hesitant as he continued, all while he found himself suddenly unable to look Weiss in the eye.
"I suppose that's as close to an apology as I'll get from you on this matter, is it?" Weiss asked, giving him a deadpan look as she spoke. When Nero opted to not respond, instead just shifting around uncomfortably while still refusing to look at her, the heiress opted to roll her eyes before smiling lightly. "You're very fortunate I know you so well."
"Yeah yeah, you sure do… anyway, can we get rolling now or what?" Nero muttered, tapping Weiss's shoulder with his right hand before gesturing towards the amphitheater, where all the other Beacon initiates were going.
"Very much so." Weiss affirmed before taking a moment to look at where Nero touched her. After another moment, her bright-blue gaze shifted to Nero's completely concealed right arm. With curiosity now gnawing at her, the heiress opted to simply address it upfront. "By the way, Nero… why haven't you taken those wrappings off your arm yet?"
The way Nero came to a sudden stop and stiffened up in response to her question wasn't lost on Weiss. Looking at him questioningly, she continued. "Given that it's been weeks since that accident and you don't need that sling anymore, I'm guessing those injuries must have healed by now. So… why have you opted to keep it bandaged up since?"
"Right… that…" Nero began, looking much more uncomfortable than Weiss expected as he looked over his right arm, lightly picking at the black masking tape wrapped around it. "Uh… basically, I am back to a hundred percent now, but uh... Fact is, those injuries left some pretty nasty scars on this arm. They… don't look like they're gonna fade any time soon, so I'd rather keep them under wraps, figuratively and literally, and avoid any attention they'd get altogether."
"Oh, I see." Weiss nodded, making sure not to let her skepticism show. In reality, the uncharacteristic way Nero froze up when she brought up his right arm raised more than a few red flags in her head. That type of behavior was highly uncharacteristic of her normally cocky and hot-headed friend. But at the same time… if he really felt so uncomfortable regarding whatever the issue with his right arm was, then she wasn't going to press the matter.
Quickly opting to lighten the mood and get his mind off the matter, a playful demeanor overtook Weiss with her next statement. "And here I thought you were just making a fashion statement."
"What? Can't it be both?" Nero scoffed, returning her playful smile with a teasing smirk of his own.
And so, with the mood considerably lightened, the white-haired duo continued on their way to the Amphitheater.
~x~
-XxXxXxX-
~o~
Beacon Amphitheater,
Once the pair arrived, they found the building to be loaded with students from different kingdoms, with the majority being residents of Vale itself. Both Atlesians weren't fazed by the sight, however, since they were familiar with environments similar to this back at home, with Weiss being a famous singer in Atlas while Nero joined the kingdom's military at a young age.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you. Have you been through any kind of initiation before in Atlas…?" the heiress asked him.
"Nope. I got in through recommendations from Winter… Had something to do with 'being so talented at such a young age' or something like that…" the Atlesian boy replied, adding a sarcastic comment at the end.
"Drop the sarcasm. You don't have to be a jerk if you refuse to tell me…" Weiss ordered him and glanced away from him, hiding her pouty face from Nero's view.
"It's not really sarcasm given I'm just stating the truth. I'm really just that good." The Specialist bragged and stopped when they finally found an unoccupied spot to stand within the crowd. However, not two seconds later, the heiress was already sick of the crowded atmosphere she was in.
"Ugh, is it always like this in all Huntsmen academies…?"
"Not in Atlas. Thanks to their strict no fun policy, most of their students have some kinda stick shoved up their asses… Some more so than others, so I prefer something livelier than what Atlas has to offer." Nero answered while giving his honest opinion of the different atmospheres both Beacon and Atlas create.
"Well…" Weiss thought about it for a moment and took another look at her surroundings. "… I suppose it does feel considerably more comforting than being surrounded by silent statues." The ponytailed girl said to him, causing him to smile and nod slowly.
"Exactly—" "I wish!" a familiar voice cut him off, earning both their attention.
"I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I started choking, and then I was saved by Nero, and then I apologized, and then she yelled again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me." From the beginning to the end of that sentence, both Nero and Weiss slowly turned their heads to see Ruby and her sister from the courtyard.
A vein appeared on Weiss' forehead as her anger from earlier returned. "'I take back what I just said.' She growled before stomping up to the oblivious Ruby. "You!"
"Oh god it's happening again!" the young girl cried, leaping into her sister's arms in fright.
"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss scolded her without hesitation.
"Oh my god, you really exploded." Yang remarked with a look of worry.
"Actually, we didn't. It was a close call, but ultimately we lived." Nero reassured, but didn't really lighten the mood with that fact.
"It was an accident… It was an accident!" the red-cloaked girl defended herself as she landed back onto the floor. However, her face was met with a pamphlet within the hand of said heiress.
"What's this?" Ruby asked.
"Ugh, not this again…" Nero groaned, annoyed with the heiress' antics.
"The Schnee Dust Company is notresponsibleforanyinjuriesordamagessustained,whileoperatingaSchneeDustproduct,althoughnotmandatorytheSchneefamilyhighlyencouragestheircustomerstoreadandfamiliarizethemselveswiththiseasytofollowguideonDustpracticeandapplicationinthefield." Weiss explained, although to Nero and Ruby, her voice got more high pitched and faster as she gave the information to Ruby.
"Umm… What?" the young redhead asked simply, confusion dripping from her tone.
"You really want to make things up to me?" Weiss asked, and Ruby responded with a hesitant nod. "Then read this and don't ever speak to me again." The ponytailed heiress explained and shoved the pamphlet into Ruby's hands, to which Nero decided to cross his arms.
"Weiss, come on. Just give it a rest, you're making a big deal outta nothing here..." He advised the heiress, only for her to ignore him.
"Yeah, what he said! Look, uh, it's pretty clear you two just got off the wrong foot. Why don't you both try starting over and be friends, okay?" the blonde brawler suggested, trying to mend things between the two.
"Y-Yeah, great idea sis!" the young girl agreed with her sister's, named Yang, idea before turning back to Weiss, clearing her throat a bit.
"Hello again Weiss, I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies." Ruby re-introduced herself and asked the heiress.
"Oh yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys like tall, blond… and scraggly over there!" Weiss replied with mock enthusiasm, gesturing a hand to a blond boy standing a few feet behind them, earning his attention.
"Wow, really?!" Ruby asked in a hopeful tone, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm dripping from the heiress's tone.
Weiss glared at the girl in dead silence before answering with a blunt 'No.' all while Nero could only sigh in exasperation behind the heiress, bringing a hand up to his face. Just then, someone coughed lightly into the stage microphone and earned the students' attention.
Upon the said stage, stood a man with silver hair and bright brown eyes, clad in a green suit, small round glasses and equipped with a cane. This man is Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy. "I'll… keep this brief..."
o~o
-XxXxXxX-
x~x
(Several hours later)
'Alright, this is more like it…' Nero sighed, taking a seat on the roof of the ballroom as he looked up at the skyline. The sight of Remnant's many stars and shattered moon were complimented by the otherworldly green glow of the CCT tower in the distance. 'No way in hell was I gonna get any sleep if I had to spend it stuck with that many people.'
While Nero was a bit reluctant to leave Weiss alone in that ballroom, especially if there were any showboating punks that would try to put the moves on her, the anti-social side of him that loathed being around most other people won out and caused him to seek out some other place to spend the night that wasn't jam packed with initiates. His search eventually led him to the entrance to the ballroom's roof, giving him both fresh air and all the personal space he needed.
'Eh, whatever. Myrtenaster isn't just for show. She doesn't need me to teach some punk eyeballing her some manners.' The white-haired youth thought as he slid his headphones on and blasted his favorite hard rock song. Sliding off his white specialist overcoat and unbuttoning his black undershirt, leaving his upper body in a black tank top, Nero took a seat on the edge of the roof as he enjoyed the music.
"Hm… this place is definitely a far cry from Atlas and its shitty weather…" The swordsman mused to himself, appreciating the feeling of the light breeze on his exposed arms… or rather, just his left arm, given that the entirety of his right was still concealed in its red bandages.
Now reminded of the ever present issue he'd been dealing with as of late, Nero couldn't help look down at his concealed arm with a sense of apprehension, all too aware of what those bandages were concealing. Ever since his right arm changed into that… scaly, monstrous appendage, he'd been feeling an ungodly mixture of emotions and thoughts towards it, mainly that of fear and apprehension, but after his encounter with that man in the red coat, he now had an equally large amount of questions and confusion surrounding it.
"Just what the hell's happening to me…?" Nero thought aloud, reaching over and slowly beginning to undo the bandages on his arm, revealing more and more of neon blue skin and red scales.
*Creaaaak...*
However, before Nero could completely unwrap the bandages, he was stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the door opening. Well-aware that it was likely someone coming onto the roof, Nero quickly got to his feet while simultaneously hiding his arm behind his back, his posture tense. The last thing he wanted was some random asshole getting an eyeful of his messed up arm.
"Ugh, great. Figures someone got here before me." A gruff, mature voice groaned out, his tone conveying mild annoyance. As he turned to address whoever came in, Nero got a better look at their features. A quick look over caused the youth to realize it was the same guy that got into a brawl with Ruby's sister, albeit with that vibrant red jacket of his slung over his shoulder. He currently had an annoyed scowl on his face that seemed to be his default expression as he eyed Nero.
"You again…" Nero muttered, eyeing his fellow white-head with a mix of skepticism and curiosity.
"The hell is a greeting like that supposed to mean? What, am I supposed to know you or something?" His fellow swordsman barked out, returning Nero's skeptical gaze with one of his own.
"Not really. You're just looking at someone who got a front-row seat to that brawl of yours earlier."
"You too!?" The gruff man was quick to let out an annoyed groan in response to this, slapping a hand to his face as he did so. Judging by his reaction, it seemed that Nero wasn't the only one that recognized him from his fight with Yang. "Great, not even a day in and that bipolar bitch's already getting me unwanted attention."
"...Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. So who the hell are you, and what're you doing up here, anyway?" The specialist asked bluntly, his demeanor guarded. He wasn't sure what to make of this guy yet, but regardless, he wasn't going to let anything show.
"Sounding a bit judgmental on that second question, aren't we?" The man noted, giving his company a questioning look. When Nero's suspicious, questioning gaze didn't falter, the black-clad young man merely shrugged before speaking up once more. "Well, if you're really so curious, then between some of the company downstairs being a bit too loud and annoying for my liking and spending more time sleeping outdoors than in, I was hoping to get a change of scenery for bed."
Well, it was certainly reasoning Nero could relate to, he'd give him that. After finishing his explanation, the black-clad man began to address him once more, his gaze both questioning and casual. "Anyway, I could ask the same thing about you. Why are you up here?"
"Same as you. I'm not much of a people person myself, so I figured it'd be a good idea to find somewhere a bit less stuffy to call it a night at." Nero explained casually before turning around, sitting back down and placing one of his headphones up to his ear, taking care not to expose his right arm as he did so. "Anyway, I already called this spot, so go find somewhere else."
"Oh what a crock of bullshit. Who the hell says you can call this entire rooftop to yourself?" The white-haired man questioned in irritation, subsequently getting on Nero's nerves as well.
Reacting almost instinctively to argumentative words, Nero quickly slid off his headphones, got up, and turned to better address his unwanted company, the latter's annoyed expression mirroring his own. "If you don't like it, then maybe you should've come up here before me! You didn't, so why don't you do us both a favor and take a hike!"
The man looked as though he had a similarly heated remark in response, but before he could get the words out, his heterochromatic eyes subtly drifted downward till they noticed something curious in Nero's direction. Forgetting about his previous irritation, the next sound that came out of the man's voice was one of subtle confusion. "Huh?"
His eyes following his company's gaze, Nero felt his heart skip a beat when he realized that the man had noticed Nero's right arm and the peaks of scales and bright blue flesh peeking through the bandages.
"You see something you like?" Nero demanded, his tone deathly serious and his posture tensing up considerably as he angled his body in a way that blocked the view of his arm.
"...Well I'd be lying if I said your arm didn't catch my eye just now." The man answered simply, his tone neutral, neither suspicious nor curious.
"And what the hell's it to you, huh!?" Nero growled, feeling his temper flaring up more and more with each passing second. However, to Nero's surprise, rather than rise to his angry, defensive question, the man merely held up his hands in surrender.
"Look, whatever the deal with your arm is, I'm not gonna ask, it's none of my business anyway." The gruff young man said, his tone surprisingly calm. "Sorry if I was bugging you. If you wanna be alone here, then I get it. I'll just find somewhere else to set up camp."
And with that said, the man placed one of his hands in his pocket, secured his grip around his jacket with the other, and began to walk away, leaving a surprised Nero at a momentary loss for words. However, he quickly regained his voice a quick moment later.
"Hey!" He called out, causing him to stop in his tracks. Without turning around, he waited for whatever it was Nero had to say. "...Why the sudden hospitality?"
"Well… in your particular case, I guess it's cause I can probably relate to whatever it is you're dealing with. Call it presumptuous, but I got this hunch that you and I got similar problems in that regard."
And without waiting for a response, he walked through the doorway leading back into the building, once again leaving Nero alone with nothing but the moon and starlight for company.
"'We got similar problems?' What, he speaking from experience or something?" Nero thought aloud, contemplating what exactly the man was referring to before clicking his tongue when he realized the pointlessness of such questions. "Ah, whatever. Why the hell do I care anyway?"
Trying to take his mind off what just transpired, Nero properly set up his sleeping bag before lying down on it and once again blasting the music into his headphones. That being said, despite his best efforts to forget about it, the hot-blooded youth couldn't pretend that the slight curiosity about the fellow white-head and his cryptic words gnawed at him.
To be continued…
-xXxXx-
The Schnees and the Duodecim* - That's right, you've read that correctly. In this AU, Weiss' family was part of the Duodecim. Reason being that, we didn't think that Weiss' reasons for leaving home and becoming a huntress make sense. CEO and being a huntress are two entirely different professions, after all… So why not make her family part of something bigger, like the Duodecim from BlazBlue?