Volume 1, Chapter 3: The Badge and the Burden
The morning after initiation, Weiss Schnee was sleeping peacefully. The previous day's events—including the initiation itself, the time in Ozpin's office, and the after-party where her dolt of a leader accidentally spilled her red fruit punch on her clean white dress—left everyone in need of sleep. The girls took the four beds when Simon volunteered take the floor until a fifth bed arrived (turning down Yang's offer to share), since his gear included a temporary sleeping bag.
Eventually, Weiss's eyes fluttered open and she stretched her arms above her head with a yawn. She wasn't paying attention to Ruby, who was dressed in Beacon's uniform, sneaking up beside her until—
FWEEEEEEEEEET!!!
—Ruby blew the whistle she had causing Weiss to fall to the floor.
"Good morning, team RWBYS!" Ruby announced.
"What in the world is wrong with you?" Weiss asked from the floor.
Ignoring her, Ruby continued. "Now that you're awake, we can officially begin our first order of business."
"Excuse me?" Weiss said as she got up and brushed herself off.
Yang, who also dressed alongside Blake and Ruby, was holding a collection of various objects in her arms. "Decorating!
"What?!"
Blake lifted her suitcase in the air. "We still have to unpack." The suitcase opened and dumped its contents onto the floor. "Aaaand clean."
"It'd be best to get it done now than to wait until later where it might be forgotten," Simon said. He must've just entered the room since Weiss hadn't seen him when she first looked up.
He too was dressed in the Beacon uniform, but he had his own small additions to it. Ruby wore her cape while Simon had four pins, one on either side of his dress shirt collar and one on the ends of each jacket epaulet.
Seeing him appear made Weiss instantly recall the discussion the team had with Ozpin.
(Yesterday, Ozpin's office)
"So let me get this straight: Simon is a being from another world or something—who you allowed to attend in order to adjust to this world after you met him about five days ago—and you wanted to know if we still want him on our team?" Yang asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Ozpin said simply.
Simon nodded, still standing next to Ozpin's desk.
The four girls looked between one another, Ozpin, and Simon before they all had their own reaction: Weiss facepalmed, Blake kept a mostly-neutral expression, and Ruby and Yang both laughed like mad.
Ozpin and Simon shared a look before returning the attention to the girls.
It took a few moments for Yang and Ruby to calm down before Yang spoke up again. "Okay… that was a good one; now, really, what did you want to talk about?"
"That's what we wanted to tell the four of you. I'm not from Remnant; I'm from another world called Earth," Simon answered.
"Alright, then tell us about this 'Earth' if you're really from it. What was it?" Weiss asked with a scoff.
Simon took a breath, thought for a moment, and spoke.
"Earth is a planet that is similar to Remnant, but very different at the same time. We don't have Dust, but we do have fuels that run things on our world such as oil, coal, and geothermal energy. Nobody has Aura or Semblances, but don't have the Grimm to deal with either; we have what I would is much worse, and it's currently, but slowly, killing us."
The four-person audience looked on in shock. No Grimm, Dust, Aura, or Semblances? On top of that, what could be worse than the Grimm? They'd been slaughtering people on Remnant ever since Humanity's creation!
Weiss told Simon this herself, and he looked to Ozpin, who nodded. Simon looked back to the girls and continued. "The year on my world is 2097. For 35 years we've been at war with hostile radicals affected by Homo Nosferatu Vampiris." He saw the looks of confusion on their faces, so he simplified it.
"Vampires."
"Vampires? As in the creatures with fangs that feed on blood and sleep in coffins, like in the books?" Blake asked
"The fangs and blood are correct—albeit with some minor details—but they don't actually sleep in coffins, or at least not all the time."
"And you were fighting these 'vampires' before you ended up here?" Ruby asked.
"Yes," Simon said before standing at attention. "Captain Simon Rossi, 163rd Reaper Platoon, Alpha Squad, 2nd Special Operations Division, United States Dayguard Forces. The Dayguard was created in 2079 when the Bat-Blooded People's Armed Forces started to overwhelm the world's military forces. Each country has the Dayguard as a branch in the event of a major vampire assault. Dayguard troops are specifically trained and equipped to fight vampires and survive against them more easily than other soldiers. If needed, think of them as our version of Huntsmen."
From then, the girls took in everything Simon told them. More about Earth, the counties they had instead of kingdoms with the exception of Great Britain. Ruby lit up when Simon mentioned the weapons they used, and he promised her that he'd show the ones he had when they had more time.
At the end, Ozpin stood up and once again asked if they were sure they wanted to keep Simon on their team. They all wanted him to stay, so Simon agreed to do so. Ozpin them gave them some extra details about being a five-member team, their room information, and that a fifth bed would be supplied to them shortly.
Afterwards, they left to go to the after-party with all the other new students.
Weiss was knocked back into reality when Ruby blew her whistle a second time.
"Aaaalright! Simon, Weiss, Blake, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission!" She raised her fist into the air. "Banzai!"
Simon, Yang, and Blake did the same at her sides. "Banzai!"
Yang placed a poster of six guys in various poses in a band named "THE ACHIEVE MEN" on her part of the room.
Weiss hung a painting of the Forever Fall and positioned it perfectly before walking away.
Blake was putting away books on the shelves when she picked up a copy of Ninjas of Love, one of her… private books. She looked around warily before putting it back before someone saw it.
Simon was holding a crate of his stuff open, looking between it and a projection on a data pad. After looking and making sure everything was in order, he nodded before turning it off and putting it away, closing the crate's lid in the process. He then looked over to see Ruby using Crescent Rose to hang some curtains over the window. He rushed over and prevented her from slashing them when she was finished and didn't see the blade heading towards the fabric.
Stepping back, they all admired their handiwork and noticed one problem: the beds cramped together in a heap in the center of the room.
"This isn't going to work," Weiss said.
"It is a bit cramped," Blake added.
"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff…" Yang said but sounded unsure.
"The beds are the problem. Any way to shrink them down or position them?" Simon suggested.
"Or we could ditch them… and replace them with bunk beds!" Ruby said in excitement.
"Umm, that sounds incredibly dangerous," Weiss pointed out.
"And super-awesome!" Yang said, clearly in agreement with Ruby.
"It does seem efficient," Blake said.
"Well, I think we should put it to a vote," Weiss said, seemingly unaware that she was out-voted.
"I think we just did," Ruby said.
In confirmation, and to the sound of three dings and one buzz, Blake gave a thumbs up, Yang made a double-rocker gesture, Simon nodded, and Weiss angrily curled her fists at her sides.
Simon was about to say something when he was stopped by the girls rushing to the beds and a cloud of dust forming. The sounds of jackhammering and sawing came from them until they gathered back to their original spots.
Weiss's bed was on the ground next to her art and luggage while Blake's bed was next to her books, some of which were placed on the posts to support and raise Yang's bed over it. Ruby's bed hung over Weiss's, suspended from the ceiling by ropes with a blanket over it like a tent.
"Allllright! Our second order of business iiiiiiiis…!" Ruby said as she spun around before landing on her bed with a book in her lap. "Classes…" She pulled out a pencil. "Now, we have a few classes together today. At 9, we've got to be—"
"What?! Did you say 9 o'clock?" Weiss yelled, cutting Ruby off.
"Uuuum…
"It's 8:55, you dunce!"
Weiss booked it out of the room and down the hall. The rest of team RWBYS and team JNPR peeked out from their respective doorways to watch her run.
Ruby was flabbergasted and was about to speak when Simon leapt into the hall and said, "We need to go to Port's class! Follow me!" before running after Weiss. Ruby, Yang, and Blake followed him in that order.
"Class…?" was all Jaune could say before losing his balance and toppling Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren onto him. He managed to wiggle his way out from under them and dashed down the hall after the others. "We're gonna be late!" he shouted.
Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch stood in the courtyard as they watched the two teams dash through the school with Simon in the lead. Glynda looked down at her watch as Ozpin sipped his coffee.
"Monsters! Deeeemons… Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" Professor Peter Port spoke, boards displaying various species of Grimm behind him.
Team RWBYS sat in the front row, each member in varying stages of interests; Blake, Yang, and Simon sat up and paid attention, Weiss took notes, and Ruby had fallen asleep, head propped in her hand, but was woken up by Port's bad joke.
Receiving only cricket chirps as an answer, Port continued. "Uhhhh… And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses…" Port paused to wink at Yang, who gave an uncomfortable groan in response, and continued, "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! 'From what?', you ask? Why, the very world!"
A student stood and raised his fist, shouting, "Ayyy-yep!" He stood for a moment and looked at everyone in the room but sat down in embarrassed when he saw that everyone was giving him strange looks.
"That is what you are training to become," Port said. "But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome, man… Me! When I was a boy…"
Ports words faded into the background and "blah"s as Weiss noticed that Ruby was very focused on penciling something on the paper in front of her.
"…Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me…"
His speech once again faded into "blah"s as Ruby chuckled and held up her creation to her teammates: a poorly-drawn rendition of Professor Port with stink lines above him and "Professor Poop" written underneath. Blake and Yang laughed while Simon chuckled, but Weiss looked on annoyed.
Port cleared his throat and waited until he had their attention again before finishing his tale. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"
Port took a bow as Weiss got more visibly frustrated at Ruby's antics and lack of attention.
"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!"
Ruby made a silly face as she used her pencil to balance one of her books with an apple on top of it.
"A true Huntsman must be dependable!"
Ruby, for the second time, had fallen asleep in her first class of the year.
"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!
The final straw for Weiss was Ruby picking her nose, not even being subtle about it.
"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"
Weiss and Simon raised their hands at the same time, with her angrily saying, "I do, sir!"
Port looked at the two students. "Well, then, let's find out, you two! Get your gear ready to face your opponents!"
Standing in front of the class and staring down a cage with something inside was Simon in his armor sans helmet and guns. Red and black plating with pouches covered his torso and limbs. His left arm featured a plate with the logo of the 163rd Reaper Platoon, a dark grey upper vampire skull with red pupils in empty sockets glaring with an angled scythe on either side and "163rd" on the skull's forehead, stamped onto it. Strangely, he also had an armband made of black fabric below it that didn't look like part of his uniform. His right arm featured a stamp of a flag of red and white horizontal bars with a blue square filled with white stars on the upper-right corner. Beneath that was another patch, this one in the shape of a shield with a dagger cut in half by a lightning bolt, "Spec Ops" was written as one word on either side of the blade; "Spec" on the left and "Ops" on the right.
Back to the audience, the rest of the team was cheering him on.
"Gooo, Simy!" Yang said with a raised fist.
"Fight well!" Blake said as, oddly, she waved a small red flag with "RWBYS" on it in white letters.
"Yeah, represent Teeeeam RWBYS!" Ruby cheered.
"Ruby! He's trying to focus; stop distracting him!" Weiss said. She was wearing her normal clothes and had Myrtenaster at her side.
Simon switched his attention from the cage to her. "Weiss, if I can be surrounded by gunfire, explosions, and all-around chaos in the battlefield and maintain my focus on several hostile targets, I can do the same with only one target and some cheering. Besides, Ruby isn't the only one." He glanced over to Blake and Yang, who had quieted down after Weiss told off Ruby, before looking back to Port and the cage.
"Whenever you're ready, Mr. Rosie," the elderly teacher said.
"It's 'Rossi', not 'Rosie'. And I'm ready," Simon corrected before drawing his knife from its sheath and held it in his left hand in a reverse-grip combat pose.
"Allllright!" Port stepped next to the cage and pulled out Blowhard, his blunderbuss with ax blades on the stock. "Let the match… begin!"
He swung down and broke the lock on the cage, dropping the door and releasing the beast within. Out stepped a Beowolf, but not like the ones they'd seen in the forest. This one seemed to be between the Betas they usually found, and the Alphas. Less of a threat than older, larger Grimm but still dangerous to inexperienced Hunters or students.
Ruby and the others worried a bit for Simon. He may have been special forces, but he himself mentioned his obvious lack of experience or knowledge with fighting Grimm—hell, the fighting in the forest was mostly brute force he'd used back on Earth.
Their worries weren't helped when Simon relaxed his pose and put his knife away. He simply stood there and waited.
Waited for the Beowolf… that wasn't attacking yet, for some reason.
It just stood there and looked at him in what seemed like curiosity. It even seemed to sniff in his direction in confusion. Something about Simon wasn't right, and this Beowolf, who never not chase down prey, was trying to figure him out.
Simon either didn't notice or didn't care because he spread his arms to the side and said, "Look, buddy, I know I'm new to you—I'm new to everything here—, but my teammate needs to go after me, so are you going to come here, or do I need to go over there?" He finished with a step towards the Beowolf
His movement seemed to snap the Beowolf back to reality as it roared and charged as fast as it could from stillness towards Simon, who simply stood in place unflinching. When the Beowolf was about to tackle him, he simply stepped to the side and stuck out his foot, tripping it and sending it face-first into the floor and then the wall. He then started walking to the Grimm as it began to get back up.
Simon reached it just as the Beowolf got up and turned around. It lunged at him again, but it was stopped when Simon grabbed it by its neck with his right hand, his left quickly reaching up to grab the Grimm's right arm that was rearing back to swipe at him. They stayed like this for a few moments with the Beowolf making several attempts to bite Simon's face, but he simply held it back with one arm.
A brief tense of his left arm later, a CRUNCH was heard as Simon crushed the Grimm's neck, killing it instantly. He threw the limp body to the side where it began to dissipate into smoke.
Ignoring the looks and mumbling of the other students, he dusted his hands off. "Must not have liked the armor... Alright, Weiss, you're up," he said as he walked back to his seat.
"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of true Huntsmen-in-training!" Port announced as Weiss gasped in relief.
When it was her turn, Port released a Boarbatusk for her to fight. A few minutes of being disarmed, dodging charges of the spike-covered Grimm, and yelling at Ruby—who'd been trying to help Weiss and cheer her on—later, she managed to get it on its back and used a glyph to drive Myrtenaster's blade through the creature's un-armored stomach, killing it.
Back to the present, Port continued, "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and… stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"
Weiss glared and quickly walked to the exit, passing her teammates.
"Sheesh, what's with her?" Jaune asked no one in particular as he watched her leave.
Neither Simon nor the other three members of Weiss's team had a clue and looked at each other with the same question.
Weiss stormed off but was stopped when Ruby rounded a corner and caught up with her, calling her name.
"Weiss!"
Weiss stopped and turned around. "What?"
"What's wrong with you? Why are you being—?"
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a leader, and all you've been so far is a nuisance!"
"What did I do?" Ruby asked with a scoff.
"That's just it," Weiss pointed out, "you've done nothing to earn your position! Back in the forest, you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so!"
"Weiss, where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about 'working together'? I thought you believed in acting as a team."
"Not a team led by you. I've studied, trained, and, quite frankly, I deserve better." Weiss turned around just as Ruby started reaching a hand out towards her. "Ozpin made a mistake." With that, Weiss walked away as Ruby dropped her hand in dejection.
"What she deserves is a serious change in attitude," a voice behind Ruby said.
She turned around to see Simon standing there, watching Weiss walk down the hall until he turned to face Ruby. She looked to be on the verge of tears.
"Is she right? Did Ozpin make a mistake making me leader?"
Simon took a deep breath before speaking. "Honestly, Ruby? I'm not sure."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that there hasn't been enough time or opportunities for you to show your leadership capabilities. It takes more than a day to see if someone is leader material."
"If that's the case, why did Ozpin choose me?"
"Well, let's start from the beginning: Initiation was all Ozpin had to go on for choosing who'd lead the teams. That didn't give him much information to use. Between you, Weiss, Yang, Blake, and I guess I'll throw myself in there as well, you seemed to be the best choice."
"How?" Ruby asked, though she was a lot less doubtful than when they'd first started talking.
"Here's what I think he saw with each of his five options: First, Yang is good fighter, outgoing, and not afraid to speak her mind. Unfortunately, I've seen and heard that she has a temper and lost her cool in the forest; a leader has to be able to stay calm and focused, especially under pressure, or they risk their anger leading the group into trouble.
"Blake is level-headed but doesn't communicate much with the rest of us. No offense to her, but she doesn't inspire much—if any— leadership to me. She connects the least with the rest of us which isn't good; a leader needs to connect with those that follow them so that they can more easily solve situations inside and outside the group.
"Weiss… Weiss is a good fighter and is making her dislikes known, but the problem with her is her entitlement. She hates it when things don't go her way and is putting you down simply because you were chosen instead of her. Leaders expect that things don't go their way, if ever, and don't take their frustrations out on everyone else when that happens," Simon finished.
"W-Well what about you? You have actual experience leading, and you said your rank is captain. I don't see how I'm better than you," Ruby said.
"You are correct, Ruby. I have experience, but it isn't the right experience. You're native to Remnant while I've been here little less than a week; you know more of how this world and what it holds works than I do. Furthermore, my experience is with the military during wartime with vampires. The vampires we fought are far more different than Grimm, and possibly even more dangerous.
"My training before and with the Reapers has helped me survive over six years and did help when I first arrived here, but for the most part isn't what I would need for long-term combat. You, on the other hand, have the training and experience with the Grimm that leader would need to lead a team of Huntress and Hunter trainees." He paused to put a hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"And, between you, me, and Ozpin hiding around the corner, I prefer following you more than I would Weiss."
As if on cue, Headmaster Ozpin came out from around the corner with a cup of coffee in one hand and his cane in the other. "Mr. Rossi is right, Ruby. I do not consider choosing you a mistake. Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility. I advise you take some time to think about how you will uphold it."
"Also," Simon added, "give Weiss some time. I'm sure she'll come around eventually.
Ruby looked at the two of them with consideration before smiling and turning and walking away.
The full moon shone over Beacon's green lights. Weiss's shadow spread over Team RWBYS' room against the hall's light. Blake slept under her covers, Yang was spread out on her bead while snoring, and Simon slept on his sleeping bag (somehow he was able to use his equipment backpack as a makeshift pillow and still sleep just fine).
Weiss walked over to Ruby's bed and lifted the curtain to see her resting her head on her notes, with open books all around and a pencil in her hand. Amazed at her partner's determination, Weiss cleared her throat and gently shook her awake.
Ruby took a second to regain consciousness and started flailing in surprise. "Weiss! I-I was studying, and then I fell asleep! I'm sorry…"
Whatever else she was going to say was stopped when Weiss placed a hand over Ruby's mouth and put a finger to her own, signaling her to be quiet. Weiss looked over to Ruby's pillow and noticed her empty Beacon coffee mug.
"How do you take your coffee?" Weiss asked as she removed her hand.
"I… I don't…" Ruby said.
"Answer the question!" Weiss said with some force.
"Uhh, cream and five sugars!" Ruby answered.
"Don't move," Weiss said with a sigh. She ducked under to her own bed before coming back up. "Here," she said, offering Ruby a fresh cup which she took.
"Um… Thanks, Weiss."
Weiss smiled before giving Ruby an apologetic look. "Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have!" The two shared a smile. "Good luck studying!" Weiss said before she ducked under but came back and pointed to one of Ruby's papers. "That's wrong, by the way."
She ducked back for the last time before speaking from the doorway, ready to enter the hall. "Hey, Ruby?"
"Uh-huh?" she answered.
"I've always wanted bunk beds as a kid." With that, Weiss closed the door.
Ruby looked over to Simon who'd woken up and gave her a thumbs up. She grinned before returning to her notes.
Alright, so I was going to include a description of Simon's armor (and himself), but I couldn't figure out a good way to describe it nor am I good at describing things in general. I'd draw a picture of it, but my art skills are poor and I'm not sure where to put it or link it.
For simplicity, most of the inspiration came from Carver's regular suit (the Special Forces Suit) from Dead Space 3, with some changes like different legs and helmet.
Thank you, and I'll see y'all with the next chapter!