Ash drifted aimlessly through her dreams. Much like the previous night, she couldn't make sense of any of it. However, she did see images of her time since waking up in Forever Fall.
A woman's voice filled her head. The voice was soothing… yet full of malice. But she couldn't understand what it was trying to tell her. Luckily, she didn't have to listen to the voice for much longer.
A loud whistle made Ash sit bolt upright in bed—or rather, her spot on the floor. She'd stayed in Team RWBY's room the night before since she didn't really have anywhere else to stay. Except for Team JNPR's room, apparently. The least they could've done was provide an extra bed or something, but from she could tell, there wouldn't have been enough space for it anyway. Instead of a bed, Ash simply rolled out her sleeping bag near the far wall of the room. The amnesiac might've set up her sleeping bag closer to the others, but truthfully, all she knew about them were their names and what she learned during the previous day, which was to say, not much. Ash didn't really get the opportunity to properly introduce herself to teams RWBY and JNPR.
She chose RWBY's room because Ruby asked her to and, well, she just couldn't say no to those big pouty silver eyes. Now, she was regretting staying.
Ruby blew her whistle again. "Good morning, Team RWBY!"
"What in the world is wrong with you?" Weiss demanded.
"Now that you're all awake, we can begin our first order of business!" the team leader announced.
"What?" Weiss asked.
"We still have to unpack," Blake lifted her suitcase. Then the suitcase lid fell open, and its contents fell onto the floor. "Aaaand clean."
Ash blinked several times, trying to process the four other girls.
"Alright! Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ash, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission!" Ruby raised her fist into the air. "Banzai!"
Yang and Blake appeared at Ruby's side and mimicked her pose. Ash, suddenly wanting to show out also, hurried to Yang's side and raised her fist into the air as well.
"Banzai!" they all said, with Weiss still sitting up in bed watching them incredulously. She facepalmed, sighing heavily.
. . .
Ten minutes later, the five students unpacked their things. Hanging posters and pictures on the walls, putting clothes into drawers or closets, stacking books in bookshelves, and generally putting stuff away. Ash's only belongings were her clothes, but she took the opportunity to hang them in an empty closet and toss her empty duffle bags into the bottom of it. She put her few pairs of boots onto a shelf inside the closet, then pulled out one of the Beacon uniforms she was given. Ducking into the bathroom, she quickly changed out of her pajamas and into the patterned red uniform. She wasn't a fan of the skirt, but she put it on, nonetheless. But once she had the new uniform on, she didn't hate how she looked in it.
Ash straightened the brown jacket and stepped out of the bathroom. What she saw next was rather puzzling. The room was decorated, and the team's belongings were unpacked, but the beds were piled up in the middle of the room. There was hardly any room left.
"That's not going to work," the amnesiac stated, crossing her arms as she approached her team.
"That's what we were just discussing," Weiss replied.
"Bunk beds!" Ruby cheered.
"That would be…" Ash said.
"Incredibly dangerous?" Weiss answered, looking to her fellow white-haired teammate as if she would agree with her.
"Totally awesome," the amnesiac finished.
"Huh?" Weiss said.
"Super awesome!" Yang agreed.
"We already took a vote. You can guess who won," Blake said.
"Now, let's get to it!" Ruby pumped her fist in the air.
Precisely ten seconds later, the bunk beds were created. One of them was held in the air above the one below it with ropes. The other bunk beds had books between them, rather than just being stacked on top of each other.
"Well, that looks… safe," Ash noted.
"It is! Look!" Ruby jumped on top of the bed being held aloft by ropes. To their surprise, the ropes held. "Now! Next order of business is… classes." The team leader said unenthusiastically. She opened a notebook in her lap and chewed on the eraser of a pencil. "Looks like we all have a few classes together at nine. We've got to—"
"Did you say nine? Like nine o'clock?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah?" Ruby said.
"It's eight fifty-five, you dolt!" the heiress rushed out the door, grabbing her bag and running down the hallway. Yang and Blake followed her example, and Ruby almost fell off her bunk trying to get down.
Ash was about to grab her own bag, then she remembered that she didn't have one. Nor any other school supplies.
"Hold on!" she ran after them. "Wait for me!"
"To class!" Ruby announced.
Ash ran out of the door, chasing after the team of girls. Just as she passed, team JNPR poked their heads out of their door and chased them as well.
"We're gonna be late!" Jaune shouted.
They exploded out of the dorm building and sprinted across one of the courtyards of Beacon. The students had less than five minutes to run across campus.
Off to the side, Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch had been going on a walk when they saw nine students running through the courtyard.
"It's the first day, and they're all going to be late," Goodwitch sighed.
"Cut them some slack, they had a long day yesterday. Their time in the Emerald Forest was certainly more exciting than all the other students'." Ozpin took a sip from his coffee mug.
"Are you sure it was the best idea to lump that Ashley girl in with those two teams? Or did you just want to make sure that her and Miss Rose would stay close? I know you think there's something more to each of them."
"There's definitely more to Ruby than meets the eye, and I shouldn't have to explain why. As for 'Ashley,' we do have to keep a close eye on her, after all," Ozpin replied coolly.
"You never did say why you were so suspicious of her," Glynda said, her eyes softening.
"Let's just say she looks like someone I knew in a previous life," he took another sip of coffee, his eyes following Ash as she ran across the courtyard.
To any eavesdroppers, what Ozpin said would have been relatively normal. But he and Glynda knew what he meant by his 'in a previous life' statement, and Goodwitch knew exactly who her boss was talking about.
. . .
They made it just in time. As soon as they sat down, the bell rang. Down at the front of the spacious classroom, a boisterous old man with a bushy mustache and caterpillar eyebrows stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Large, detailed pictures of various species of Grimm were pinned to the large chalkboard.
"Welcome!" he announced, his voice booming. "My name is Peter Port, and this is your Combat Tactics class. You will learn how to fight Grimm, and the best ways to eliminate your prey."
"We already know how to fight Grimm!" a random student shouted. "How do you think we got here?!"
The other students chuckled, but Port only raised his bushy eyebrows and scanned the crowd.
"Very well," he said. "Quick question to the student who said that, can you tell me the weakest spot to strike a Chimera Grimm, the center of its chest or the side of its chest?"
"Uh…" the student responded.
Ash smirked, shaking her head. It was a trick question. She remembered the night before initiation, when she was researching various species of Grimm. Just as she was about to volunteer to answer the question, Weiss's hand shot into the air.
"You, there!" Port pointed at the heiress. "It seems that you might know the answer."
"I do," Weiss nodded. "For the Chimera, neither the center or the sides of its chest are weaker than the other—the correct target to go for is the neck."
"Precisely! Well done, Miss Schnee," Professor Port gave a polite nod. The professor continued with his speech, but Ash turned to her teammate.
"How did he know your name already?" she asked.
"Are you kidding?" Yang asked. "There's no way you don't know just who our Ice Queen is."
"I didn't," Ruby mumbled.
"I'm getting some déjà vu," Blake said.
"Sorry, am I supposed to know?" Ash asked.
"Miss Schnee!" Professor Port called. "Is your team having a problem?"
"No, sir!" Weiss responded. Then Port once again continued.
In a hushed tone, Ash leaned closer. "Sorry! We didn't exactly get the chance to make introductions in the forest. You make it sound like she's famous or something."
"She kinda is," Blake replied.
"We'll do this later!" Yang said. "Now shut it before Port gets onto us in front of everyone again."
Ash rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the front.
"Monsters! Demons! Monsters of the night! The creatures of Grimm have many names, and in this class, you will learn all of them," Port said from the front. "Huntsmen and huntresses—the very guardians of the world who protect those who cannot protect themselves. That is what you all are training to become. But first, a tale of a young, handsome and strapping young lad… me! When I was a boy…"
"Is he serious?" Ash asked quietly.
"Gods, I hope not," Blake said.
When Port continued with his story and was saying some rather odd things, their worst fears had been realized.
"He's serious," the amnesiac groaned. Apparently, Ruby wasn't very interested, either. She was toying with her pencils and doodling on paper. She built a toy out of a ball of paper and pipe cleaners and was showing it to Yang. The longer Ash watched her, the more she realized how childish the team leader was.
"The moral of the story?" Port asked. "A true huntsman must be dependable! They must be honorable, strategic, well-educated, and wise!" he announced. "Are there any among you who believe yourselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"
"I do, sir!" Weiss raised her hand quickly. She looked mad at something, but Ash wasn't sure why she would be. Now that she thought about it, she had been glaring at Ruby pretty hard just moments ago. Perhaps Weiss didn't approve of her childishness.
"Oho! Miss Schnee again!" Port banged his knuckles on a large cage that Ash noticed for the first time. The cage shook and growled, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what might be inside. "Miss Schnee, if you would be so kind as to prepare for battle."
Weiss stood, did a curtsy, then left the classroom, presumably to get her combat gear.
"A fight? In here?" Ash asked.
"Well, yeah?" Yang said, as if it was a stupid question.
"Oh, right. I just didn't think the Professor would do that on the first day," she lied.
"Me either," Blake said. "Maybe Port wants to make a good impression."
"He's made an impression, all right," Ash muttered.
"You can say that again," Blake rolled her eyes.
Someone waved and caught RWBY's eyes—it was team JNPR in the seats further down their row. Jaune cupped his hands around his mouth, "You mind sending Ash down here?" he said in a hushed tone.
After Ruby nodded to her, the amnesiac stood and made her way down the row.
"Catch you later, if you don't wanna come back before class ends," Yang patted her on the arm.
"Yeah, it's cool if you want to spend time with them! They're your team too, after all. Just remember who you made friends with first!" Ruby grinned.
'Yeah, Cerulean,' Ash thought to herself. 'But I haven't seen her since the teams got announced.'
"You got it," she patted Ruby on the shoulder as she passed. She made her way to her other team and took the nearest seat beside Pyrrha.
"Hello!" Pyrrha waved.
"Hey guys," Ash smiled. "What's up?"
"We just wanted to talk with you. Y'know, since you're technically our fifth teammate," Jaune said with a warm smile.
"Yeah! What were you gonna do, just solely hang out with RWBY? You're supposed to help us out, too!" Nora said.
Ash laughed. "What is this, a custody battle? Should we set up scheduled visits on the weekends?"
"Ha… Actually, that might not be a terrible idea," Nora put a finger to her chin.
"It was a joke, Nora," Ren said.
That's when Weiss reentered the classroom in her white skirt and bolero jacket, her rapier in hand. She stood at the front of the classroom with a determined expression on her pristine face.
"What's Weiss so worked up about? She looks madder than an Ursa," Jaune asked.
"I'm not too sure, actually," Ash admitted. "She seemed upset at Ruby, but I'm starting to realize that Weiss might just not like her too much."
"I've been getting that impression as well," Pyrrha murmured.
Port announced for the fight to begin, and Weiss charged. Her foe was a smaller Boarbatusk Grimm.
Her form was perfect. She sliced at the Grimm, but it evaded. The Boarbatusk spun rapidly, then lunged at Weiss. She narrowly avoided it and delivered a flurry of stabs to its side. During the entirety of the fight, team RWBY cheered for their teammate, but Weiss seemed aggravated when it was Ruby cheering.
"Why do you think Ozpin made you a 'fifth team member' for our teams?" Pyrrha asked.
"He said that it was because of an uneven number of students, or whatever," Nora answered.
Ash chewed her lip. She wasn't sure why exactly Ozpin did that instead of just putting her on a normal team, but it was definitely something more than just "uneven students." She considered revealing the truth about why she was at Beacon in the first place, but ultimately decided that she better keep that to herself. For now.
"From what I hear, the headmaster is always doing random things like that. It may not make much sense, but he must've done it for a reason, right?" Ren said.
Finally, Weiss managed to slay the boar Grimm. She used one of her glyphs to propel herself at a downward angle and jab her rapier into its exposed belly, ending the fight.
"Bravo, bravo!" Port clapped. "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress-in-training!" Weiss got to her feet and shot a glare in Ruby's direction before marching up the steps towards the exit. Professor Port raised an eyebrow as she left, then turned his attention back to the class. "Unfortunately, that's all of our time for today! Be sure to reflect back on what you learned during class, and I'll see you next time! Remember—stay vigilant."
Once they were out of the classroom, Ash, team JNPR, Blake, and Yang met up in the hall. Ruby and Weiss had apparently gone ahead.
"What was up with Weiss?" Jaune asked. "She seemed ticked off that whole fight."
"I'm not sure?" Yang scratched her chin. "For some reason, she's mad at Ruby and has been acting pretty negative towards her. And if she keeps it up," Yang slammed a fist into her open palm. "I'll give her a reason to be pissy."
"She did seem pretty upset when Ruby was elected leader of our team," Blake pointed out. "Maybe she feels like she should be leader instead?"
"That's kinda dumb," Ash crossed her arms. "I mean, no offense, but she doesn't stick out to me as the leader type. She didn't exactly do that much 'leading' yesterday in the forest. Jaune and Ruby did all the commanding and strategy, so I think Ozpin was right to make them leader."
"And you, too," Nora pointed at her with a raised eyebrow.
"What?"
"You gave us orders too, remember? That plan you had at the end there?" the orange-haired girl replied.
"I was just trying to help," Ash rubbed the back of her neck. "Nothin' worth making a big deal out of."
"Maybe that's why he gave both teams Ash as a fifth member, because of how well we all worked together," Ren said.
"I still think there's something more going on," Pyrrha added. "Two teams sharing a fifth teammate? I don't think I've ever heard of something like that."
"Could be part of the reason he did it," Jaune shrugged.
The bell rang, reminding them that they still had classes to attend.
"Anyways, we can talk about this later. There's got to be a lunch period some time later," Yang said.
"Yeah, we'd better get going before we're all late," Nora yawned.
The two teams went their separate ways, and Ash chose to follow team JNPR. She wasn't exactly sure if she had a strict class schedule, but she figured it didn't really matter which team she went to class with. After all, she was a "special" student.
. . .
"Finally!" Ash rolled her eyes and pocketed her scroll. She's been out of class for a while now, but she scheduled this meeting hours ago. The amnesiac has been waiting patiently on one of the many terraces on campus, right where she was told to. She hasn't even changed out of her uniform yet, and the cold wind on her bare legs was starting to get unbearable. "I've been sitting here for like an hour, old man."
"All right, all right," Qrow groaned. "I hear ya." The huntsman approached her, his hands in his pockets.
"So, what do you think?" she crossed her arms.
"About why the old man decided to make two teams share you? I'm not sure. Could be something to do with Ruby—"
"Your niece."
Qrow smirked. "You figured it out. Yep, she and her big sis are my nieces. What was the first clue?"
"Well, Ruby reminds me of you. And Yang acts more like you."
"Do they know?" he asked.
"What, about me? No. No one does except for you, Goodwitch, and Ozpin," Ash responded.
Qrow nodded. "Good. Are you going to tell anyone?"
"I wasn't planning on it—not yet at least. I don't know who I can trust," she said.
"Well, you can trust Ruby and Yang. They're good kids. I'm not saying you should tell anyone, but that's your choice. Surprisingly, Ozpin didn't tell you to keep it a secret, so do what you want."
The amnesiac nodded. "Did they find anything out yet?"
"About who you really are? No, not yet. It's been three days, these things take time, kid," Qrow said.
"Well, I'm tired of waiting," she sighed.
Neither of them spoke for a few moments. Finally, Qrow broke the silence. "How's your gear treating you?"
Ash unfolded her arms and leaned against the terrace's stone guard rail. "Pretty good, actually. The clothes all fit and seem to be a good style for me. The sword feels natural, so I think I might have used to use either a sword or something similar to a sword in my 'past life,' if you will. Although, the lack of range isn't to my liking. If I had five Lien for every time I couldn't attack something yesterday because they were too far, I'd have like… twenty Lien."
The huntsman chuckled. "Yeah, sorry about the sword, that was all I could manage with the time I was given. If you want, I can get you a firearm or something to make up for it until you find something that suits you better. Or you could even modify it yourself, just ask Ruby. She'd be happy to help tinker with any weapon she can get her hands on."
Ash shrugged. "That's fine with me. I'd, uh, I'd appreciate it if you find me something. I'm not sure if I can ask just anyone to loan me a gun."
"Hey, no problem. I'm sure I can find something laying around. As for the clothes—I just went by what I found you in and got some stuff of a similar style. Here—" Qrow handed her a few Lien cards of different colors. "If you go into the city and find something you can use, it's on me."
The amnesiac blinked. When she opened her mouth to say her thanks, the huntsman stopped her with the raise of his hand.
"Don't worry about it, kid. Just keep an eye on my nieces for me, eh? Since I can't do it myself."
"Why not? Why can't you stick around here? I think I heard Ruby say something about her uncle being a professor at Signal," Ash said.
Qrow smirked and rested his hands on the rail. "Let's just say that I'm on a secret mission, and the less that anyone knows, the better."
"What about Ruby and Yang?"
"Especially them," he met her eyes. "In fact, I don't want you telling them that I was here at all, got that?"
"Uh, sure," Ash pocketed the Lien. "No problem."
"Good," he unscrewed his flask and took a swig. Ash's lip curled. "That's not good for you, you know," she said.
"Let's just say I've got more to worry about than alcoholism," the huntsman put the flask away.
"Are you always going to be this vague and annoying?" Ash sighed.
"Probably so, Ashley," Qrow smirked. "Stick around with Ozpin and you'll see just how much more vague and annoying he can be."
"I prefer Ash," the amnesiac corrected.
Qrow grinned. "Ash, huh? I like that. Still not as good as 'Snowball' if you ask me, though."
Her eyes narrowed. "Call me that again and your nieces are gonna have their uncle's funeral to attend."
"Oho, I think you and I are gonna get along just fine," the huntsman shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away from her. "Catch you later, Snowball."
Ash rolled her eyes and watched the huntsman leave. After he was gone, she gazed out across campus and at the City of Vale lighting up the night sky. She looked up at the broken moon in the sky.
"Who the hell am I?" she murmured.