Chapter 12
The Airship to Beacon finally landed, the hopeful students beginning to pile out. Well, most of them were hopeful.
Jaune was just scared.
And nauseous. Oh, so nauseous.
This wasn't how going to Beacon was supposed to go. The plan was simple: Get accepted, learn to fight, become a hero and live up to his family name, and maybe even get a girlfriend.
Instead, he was defeated by his motion sickness before he even stepped foot on campus. He was doing such a great job of holding in his vomit, too. But then this gorgeous older woman asked him if he was okay. And how did he answer her?
By puking on her shoes.
It totally wasn't his fault. He was just distracted from keeping his lunch by the beautiful woman. Of course, he was never going to say that to her. With how furious she was, he figured blaming her for him puking on her wasn't going to go well. Especially if the reason was because he thought she was beautiful. His sisters had always told him that he was as dense as a sack of rocks for reasons he couldn't understand, but he knew he'd be signing his death warrant if he verbalized his thoughts. Thankfully, he didn't have to deal with her yelling for very long before the airship landed, and he rushed out, still clamping his hands firmly over his mouth to keep the rest of the vomit in. It didn't take him long to find a trash bin and finally expel the contents of his stomach, just glad that the flying metal deathtrap had finally stopped. When he had finished puking, he looked up to see if he could find the woman so he could apologize, but he only managed to catch her stomping away, followed by two girls closer to his age.
"Welcome to Beacon," he grumbled under his breath.
"I don't think I've seen Mom this mad since that waitress tried to flirt with Uncle Qrow," Yang said as she and her sister observed their mom continuing to rant about Vomit Boy.
"Should…Should we do something?" Ruby asked nervously.
"I'M NEVER GONNA GET THE SMELL OUT!" Mom roared furiously.
"What do you think?" Yang deadpanned.
"Yeah, we should probably just leave her be." Ruby started looking around the area, desperate to change the subject away from their irate mother. "So, uh, nice view, huh?"
It really was a beautiful school. It was essentially a fancy-looking castle straight out of one of the books Yang used to read to Ruby. The castle was situated on top of a cliff, and its centerpiece was a tall tower that doubled as Vale's CCT. Normally, she would actually be able to admire the view, but she was a little distracted by her mom's temper tantrum, despite Ruby's best efforts to change the subject.
"Yeah," Yang sighed. Luckily, it didn't take long for Mom to calm down.
"Alright," she said, "I'm gonna go wash this crap off my shoes and go meet with Ozpin. Will you girls be okay by yourselves?"
"Ugh, yes, Mom," Yang groaned. "We're not little girls anymore."
"You'll always by my little girls, though," she said, causing the said girls to blush in embarrassment. "I'll see you both later. Love you."
"Love you, too," the sisters said at the same time as Mom walked toward the main building.
"Well, that could've gone better," Yang said. Ruby started looking around at the other students, and got excited seeing their weapons.
"Oh! Oh! Yang! That girl's got a collapsible staff! Oh! And he's got a fire sword!"
"Oh, boy," Yang sighed, grabbing Ruby's hood to stop her from following the other students. First there's Vomit Boy puking on Mom, and now I gotta deal with this. Wasn't she nervous on the ship? "How are you this obsessed with weapons?" She asked, yanking Ruby's hood over her face. "You've got a freakin' Keyblade. How can you think any other weapon is cool after that?"
"Just because the Keyblade is the coolest thing ever doesn't mean I can't find other weapons cool, too," Ruby said defensively. "Weapons are like an extension of ourselves."
"Says the girl whose weapon literally came from her Heart."
"So? Everyone else puts a little of their personalities into their weapons, too. I love seeing new weapons. It's like meeting new people, except they won't judge you."
And there it was.
"Are you still nervous about the other students?" Yang asked.
"What if they hate me?"
"Ruby, don't be ridiculous," Yang scolded. "No one could actually hate you. Anybody who could find any reason to legit hate you probably also kicks puppies in their spare time and thinks ice cream tastes bad. And I'm pretty sure nobody is that evil."
"The others at Signal seemed to find plenty of reasons to hate me."
"Yeah, and I told them where they could shove it. Those douchebags would probably puke at the sight of a baby."
"I guess."
"You want some sisterly advice? Just be yourself, Rubes. Don't bother trying to make friends by being something you're not. The real friends are the ones that will like you for you, not for who you're pretending to be. If that's not good enough for them, then fuck 'em."
"Swear," Ruby said automatically.
"Ruby, we're not six anymore," Yang groaned. "Just, uh, don't tell Mom I said that." Ruby gave a small laugh, which Yang figured was a good sign.
"Alright, I won't."
"We should probably go sign in. You coming?"
"I think I'll stay here for a few minutes. I'm still trying to process everything."
"Alright. I'll save you a spot." With a playful wink, Yang turned around and walked toward the main building.
She really hoped that this whole thing went well.
Ruby was still trying to wrap her head around what was happening. She was going to school at Beacon, the most prestigious Huntsman Academy in the world, with both her sister and her mother going with her. She wasn't sure exactly what she did to get this lucky. After what happened at Signal, she was sure she would never attend another Academy at all, let alone be personally invited by the Headmaster himself. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Every single student here worked their butts off to earn their spot at this school, and she got to skip that process entirely. And she did it two whole years early. Would people accept her?
If they didn't, she would just have to make them. If she gave it her all, and proved to people that she deserved to be here, they would have no choice but to accept her.
She took a deep breath, and steeled herself to give Beacon everything she had. She turned towards the main building, a look of fierce determination on her face…
And immediately tripped on a luggage cart, spilling white cases everywhere.
"What are you doing?!" a shrill voice yelled.
Well, so much for that. Ruby shook her head to clear the daze and looked up at the source of the grating voice.
White.
That's all she saw. Everything about this girl was white. From her long hair pulled into an off-center ponytail, to her pale, porcelain skin, to her thigh-length dress and bolero jacket. Even her wedge-heeled boots were white. The only other hints of color were the red underside of her jacket, and the piece of black fabric at the neckline of her dress. Her eyes were blue, and interestingly, there was a vertical scar going over her left eye, which was the only scrap of imperfection in an otherwise perfect appearance.
And boy was she mad.
"Uh, sorry!" Ruby attempted to apologize, but the girl was having none of that.
"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?!" she continued to shriek at the Keybearer. Ruby picked up one of the cases, looking down at it uncertainly. Knocking those cases over couldn't have been that bad, right? "Give me that!" The girl continued to shriek, snatching the case from Ruby's hand and opening it. "This is Dust—mined and purified from the Schnee quarry!"
"Schnee, Schnee, where have I heard that before?" Ruby mumbled quietly, too quiet for the girl to hear her. The girl picked up a glass vial in her perfectly manicured hands and started waving it around in Ruby's face, not realizing that it wasn't sealed correctly, causing Dust powder to spill out into the air.
"What are you, brain-dead?!" The girl yelled. Okay, that was just rude. Ruby attempted to tell her as such, but she suddenly found the need to try to hold back a sneeze. While this completely careless snooty girl in front of her was waving Dust around, some of it was starting to get into Ruby's nose. "Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!" Evidently, the girl, still not realizing she was leaking Dust everywhere, thought Ruby's stuttering was from not knowing what the stuff was.
Ruby tried to explain that yes, she did know what Dust was, but more of the stuff got into her mouth.
"Are you even listening to me?! Is any of this sinking in?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"
Ruby answered her. Oh, she answered all right.
By finally sneezing, setting off the Dust in the air and causing a fairly large explosion. When the smoke cleared, the girl was covered in soot and sending Ruby the most hate-filled glare the fifteen-year-old had ever seen.
"Oh, no," Ruby said sheepishly.
"You DOLT!" the white-haired girl screamed. "What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"
Any remark Ruby was about to make died on her tongue. She knew she would have to deal with people questioning her abilities because of her age eventually, but to have it happen this soon caught her completely off-guard.
"This isn't your ordinary combat school," the girl continued to berate her. "It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters! Just run along home, little girl." That did it.
"Hey!" Ruby shouted, finally finding her voice and seeming to take the other girl by surprise. "I've been fighting monsters for years! I'm not gonna let some stuck-up Princess disrespect me like that!"
"Princess?!" the girl went back to screeching. "How dare—"
"It's heiress, actually," a new voice chimed in. The two girls looked at the source and saw another girl approaching them, holding the vial that caused this whole mess. She had long black hair and a bow on her head, and was dressed in a strange black-and-white outfit. She was wearing a white crop top under a black vest with tails, both leaving her midriff exposed. Adorning her legs were short white shorts over black tights that gradually turned purple, and a gray flower, probably her emblem, was printed on the right thigh of her tights. Finally, she was wearing black boots, a detached black sleeve on her left arm, ribbons on both arms, and a black scarf. The girl had purple eye shadow, but her eye color gave Ruby pause.
Her eyes were amber.
Cinder? Ruby thought, her eyes widening. She so desperately hoped it was her, but on closer look, it became obvious it wasn't. She was too young. Cinder would be 22 by now, so there was no way she would be attending a Huntsman Academy. She would have graduated already. If she was alive. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Qrow didn't seem to think she was, but Ruby and Yang knew better. They always had a feeling she was still out there somewhere.
They didn't know how they knew, but they just felt it. This girl, sadly, wasn't her.
"Weiss Schnee," the new girl said, introducing the white-haired girl, "Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."
"Finally, some recognition," Weiss said, crossing her arms and smiling smugly at Ruby. The new girl narrowed those perplexing eyes of hers at the heiress.
"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." The new girl's statement caused Ruby to start giggling, while Weiss just sputtered angrily. She finally had enough, snatched the vial from Not-Cinder's hand, and stormed off, leaving her butlers (Butlers? Really? Ruby thought) to gather her stuff and put it back on the luggage cart.
"At least her first day sucks, too," Ruby said, looking to Not-Cinder. She attempted to ask for the girl's name, but she was already walking away, her nose in a book, not even sparing Ruby a look. Exhausted, Ruby just slumped to the ground, letting herself lie down on her back. Why was dealing with people so hard? Just once she wanted to meet somebody who was just nice to her and didn't judge her. Why was that too much to ask for? "Welcome to Beacon," she said sadly. She just stared at the clouds for a few seconds before a shadow loomed over her. She looked up and saw a blond boy with blue eyes holding out his hand to her. He didn't look like much. He was just wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans with a few pieces of white armor over it, and a sword strapped to his waist.
"Hey," the boy said, "I'm Jaune."
"Ruby," she said, taking his hand and letting him pull her up. And then, before she could stop her mouth, she asked, "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"
Aqua had to physically hold herself back from investigating that explosion. It most likely didn't involve her. One of the new students probably mishandled their Dust or something, she convinced herself. Oh well. If they were that careless, they probably wouldn't last long.
Besides, it wasn't like either of her daughters were caught up in that explosion. Ruby didn't even use Dust, and there was no way Yang would be that unlucky, especially with Qrow not on campus. She sighed internally. She really shouldn't make jokes about her husband's Semblance when he wasn't around.
She missed him. He had been gone on a mission for the past few months. All she knew was that a previous mission to protect some very important person failed, and the VIP was attacked. Afterwards, he was sent out to figure out who the assailant was, and she hadn't seen or heard from him since.
After spending several minutes trying to wash the vomit off her shoes (and she was going to have words with that boy when she saw him again), she made her way to the main auditorium, where she was supposed to meet Ozpin and Glynda. She saw them standing near a stage and approached them.
"Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch," she greeted, causing the teachers in question to look at her.
"Glad to see you made it, Mrs. Branwen," Glynda returned the greeting. "But please, we are colleagues, so call me Glynda."
"Okay, Glynda," Aqua said, a little surprised at how friendly the blonde woman was. From the constant glare and the fact that Ruby called her a dominatrix (which Aqua had to admit was a little funny), she assumed that Glynda was always that stern. "In that case, you can just call me Aqua."
"Well, then, Aqua," Ozpin said, stepping towards her and extending his hand, "Let me be the first to officially welcome you to Beacon Academy." She offered her thanks and shook his hand, but she didn't miss the subtle sniff. She frowned deeply.
"If you noticed the smell, I really don't want to talk about it."
"My apologies. I didn't mean to offend you."
"No offence taken. I'm just going to have to give a certain someone a stern talking to." Ozpin and Glynda visibly recoiled at the malice in her glare, and she backed off, blushing in embarrassment a little bit. "So, anyway, what do you need me to do today?"
"The Headmaster is going to be giving an orientation speech, so you and I will be keeping an eye on the gathered students. I don't expect anything will happen, but there are sometimes clashing personalities on the first day that we must deal with."
"Got it," Aqua said, smiling confidently. If all she had to do today was discipline the rare unruly student, then this first day was going to be easy.
"Hey, all I'm saying is motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" the blond boy named Jaune argued, causing Ruby to laugh. The two of them had wandered off randomly, and had ended up near the gardens.
"Look, I'm sorry! 'Vomit Boy' was the first thing that came to mind," Ruby said, trying to defend her earlier insult and even she could tell she wasn't doing a very good job at it.
"Oh, yeah? Well, what if I called you 'Crater Face'?"
"Hey, that explosion wasn't even my fault! That mean, prissy girl got Dust in my nose!"
"You know what?" The boy said. "No more insulting nicknames. The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue- ladies love it!"
Oh, no. This boy was trying to flirt with her, wasn't he? He clearly didn't realize that the woman he puked on was her mom, otherwise he wouldn't be trying. Wait a minute. Why would he tell her what ladies liked about him? Did he not see her as a lady?
The nerve of this guy.
"Do they really?" she asked skeptically.
"They will! Well, I-I hope they will. My mom always says that…never mind." There was no way his game was that weak, was there? Maybe she was wrong about him.
"Well, my name is Ruby Rose. Short, sweet, and I don't use it as a pick-up line." Jaune started stuttering in embarrassment, his face as red as Ruby's cloak.
"Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "I wasn't trying to flirt with you or anything! I-I was just trying to make conversation." Of course. Why would anyone want to flirt with her? Yang was the one everyone wanted. Even before things got really bad at Signal, she was just "Yang's sister". And then Jaune kept talking.
"I mean, it's not like I don't think you're cute or anything. I do. Beautiful, even," he said very fast, but Ruby still caught what he had just told her, her face turning even redder than his.
Yang's eye twitched.
Why do I suddenly have a feeling that someone's trying to make a move on my sister? She thought.
"But that's not why I talked to you," Jaune continued rambling, "It's just, I was having a rough day, and I saw you were having a rough day, so I figured I should come talk to you. Sorry if it felt like I was trying to flirt, but I honestly wasn't." Ruby had stopped walking and was just looking at him, and intense blush on her face. "Ruby?" he asked, and turned to look at her in confusion.
"No one's ever said that to me before," she whispered.
"Said what?"
"No one's ever called me beautiful." Growing up, there was a distinct difference in the way people talked about her and her sister. Yang was always "hot", "beautiful", "gorgeous", and some particularly daring boys even called her "sexy". But Ruby?
"Cute". "Adorable". If she was really lucky? "Pretty".
Never "beautiful".
"Really?" he asked.
"Yeah. I was always just 'the hot girl's kid sister'. So, thanks, Jaune."
"No problem," he said with a smile.
"So, you just saw a girl in trouble and decided to talk to her?"
"Well, yeah. After all, my mom always says "strangers are just friends you haven't met yet".
"I like that," Ruby said with a giggle.
"So, uh, do you know where we're supposed to be going?"
Oh, right. Orientation. Where was that again?
"I was following you." Oh, no. They couldn't be late to orientation on the first day!
Pyrrha couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by her experience at Beacon so far. Don't get her wrong, it was a great school with a sterling reputation, the teachers seemed wonderful, and the students were probably really nice. There was just one problem.
"That's Pyrrha Nikos," she heard someone whisper behind her in the crowded auditorium.
"Hey, isn't that the Invincible Girl?" another asked.
"Do you think she does autographs?"
Pyrrha sighed. This was all she heard since arriving in Vale. She had chosen to go to school at Beacon instead of Haven back home in Mistral precisely to avoid all this attention. While she was grateful for all of the opportunities her celebrity status earned her, including getting to go to any Huntsman Academy on Remnant with a full scholarship, she had always felt so alone. No one thought they could be friends with her, either out of a misplaced feeling that they didn't deserve to be friends with someone like her or out of some mistaken belief that she felt herself above everyone else. She knew she had zero chances of making any real friends at Haven, so she jumped at the chance to go abroad to study, hoping beyond hope that her fame wasn't as wide-spread in Vale as it was in Mistral.
She was wrong. Vale was no different.
Just once she wanted someone to see her as Pyrrha. Not "Pyrrha Nikos, the Campion". Not "Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl". Just Pyrrha. Why was that too much to ask?
A pair of students caught her attention. It was a blond boy in white armor and a girl in a red cloak that, if Pyrrha was being honest, looked a little young to be attending Beacon. They were both panting heavily, implying that they had run to the auditorium to avoid being late. She couldn't hear their conversation, but the red girl was clearly saying her farewells to the blond boy, who slumped his shoulders in disappointment before slowly walking to his own spot. He walked past Pyrrha, and she could hear him muttering something.
"Great. Where else am I gonna find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?"
Pyrrha was nice. She had quirks.
She opened her mouth to speak to him, but someone tapped her on the shoulder. She frowned for a split second before the carefully-crafted friendly smile found its way back onto her face.
"Yes?" she asked the student that got her attention.
"You're Pyrrha Nikos, right?" the girl asked.
"Yes, I am. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh, no, the pleasure's all mine," the girl said happily. "I'm such a huge fan."
"Thank you," Pyrrha said, using that same rehearsed line in that same rehearsed tone she used thousands of times.
"Oh, man, I really hope we end up on the same team."
"Yes, that would be lovely." Despite the smile plastered on her face, Pyrrha wasn't sure of the last time she had been this miserable.
Welcome to Beacon, she thought sadly.
After parting ways with Jaune, Ruby made her way to her sister, who was waiting in the crowd of new students. Yang waved her over, and greeted her with a smile.
"How's your first day going, sis?" Yang asked.
"I exploded," Ruby said with a sigh.
"Yikes," Yang said with a cringe. "Meltdown already?"
"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school. There was some fire, and I think some ice…"
"…What?" Yang asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"After you left I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and I tired to apologize, but she yelled at me, and then she started waving Dust in my face, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I just wanted her to stop!"
"YOU!" a scarily familiar voice yelled behind Ruby, causing her to jump into her sister's arms in fright.
"Oh, no, it's happening again!" She yelled in horror.
"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss yelled in that shrill voice of hers.
"Holy crap, you really exploded," Yang said, allowing Ruby to step out of her arms and glare at the heiress.
"It wasn't my fault," Ruby said, leveling a glare at Weiss for deciding to continue the argument.
"How was it not your fault?"
"You were waving an open jar! Dust got in my nose," Ruby argued. "What were you doing waving an open Dust jar around? I don't even use Dust and I know that was stupid!"
"How dare you!" Weiss continued yelling. "If you hadn't tripped, none of this would have happened!"
"That was an accident, and I apologized for it! But no, you decided to rub it in how much 'damage' I could have caused!"
"Yes, because knocking over cases of Dust is a great idea!" Weiss yelled sarcastically.
"How was I supposed to know the cases had Dust in them! Besides, it was an accident!"
"Well then, you should watch where you're going, you dunce!"
"Hey!" Yang yelled, finally getting involved in the argument, her eyes turning red and her hair beginning to glow. "Nobody talks to my sister that way!"
"Great, one's an idiotic child and the other is a trashy brute," Weiss said derisively. "Quite the family you've got there."
"Who the hell are you calling trashy?!" Yang yelled, getting even angrier.
Uh-oh, Ruby thought. There were a few ways to make Yang really angry. One was messing with her hair. Two was messing with Ruby. And three was calling her any variation of "slutty" or "trashy". She was neither of those things, and both sisters knew that. Sure, she wore revealing clothes, but there was a reason for that. After awakening her Semblance, she realized that it caused her body to give off a lot of excess heat, so she had to start wearing shirts that either were made from material that breathed better or bared her stomach to let some of that heat out. As she got older (and bigger), her body became a point of pride for her, and she wanted to show it off more.
But that in no way made her trashy. There were plenty of boys at Signal who assumed that and got a black eye for their trouble.
Weiss looked like she was headed for a similar fate at this rate.
"Oh, I don't know, how about the girl walking around half-naked!" Weiss yelled.
"Oh, it's on, Princess!" Yang yelled, cracking her knuckles.
"THAT IS ENOUGH, YOU THREE!" a familiar voice screamed at them. With an intense amount of shame, both sisters looked at the source and saw Mom marching towards them, an angry look on her face. Even Weiss it appeared had the sense to look sheepish now that a professor was approaching them about their argument. "What is going on over here?" she demanded.
"Uh," Ruby said, crumbling under Mom's glare. Weiss and Yang simply turned their backs to each other with a huff, crossing their arms. "Uh, there was a misunderstanding. There was an accident and then we started arguing about whose fault it was."
"Well, knock it off," Mom said. "Since it's the first day, I'm going to assume the nerves are causing emotions to run high. Just don't do it again."
"Yes, Mo—uh—Professor," Ruby said, almost forgetting that they were supposed to keep their connection a secret for now.
"I guess," Yang said in a huff.
"Of course," Weiss said in that haughty tone.
"Good," Mom said with a smile. "Now why don't you three start over? I'm sure you'll be great friends."
"Okay," Ruby said, and Mom walked away, clearly satisfied with how she handled the situation. She turned to look at Weiss, who still looked annoyed. Ruby held out her hand. "Let's give a shot. Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby, and this is my big sister Yang."
"Yo," Yang said with absolutely zero enthusiasm.
"Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies."
"Yeah!" Weiss said. "And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!" she pointed behind herself, and Ruby noticed that she was referring to Jaune, who looked over with interest.
"Really?" Ruby asked.
"Of course not. Don't talk to me." Ruby and Yang growled in anger at the bratty heiress when they heard Headmaster Ozpin tap on the microphone to get everyone's attention, with Professor Goodwitch standing next to him.
"I'll…keep this brief," he said with very little emotion in his voice. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." What was that supposed to mean? It almost sounded like he had little faith in his students. The crowd around the girls started whispering among themselves nervously. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." He simply left it at that, allowing Professor Goodwitch to walk up to the microphone.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight," the blonde professor explained. "Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." Both professors walked off the stage, leaving a general air of confusion among the new students.
"He seemed kind of…off," Yang commented.
"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "It's like he had something else on his mind." In their confusion, the three girls didn't notice Jaune approach Weiss from the side.
"I'm a natural blond, you know," he said in a clear attempt to be smooth, causing all three girls to facepalm. They may not like Weiss, but even they could agree that was just pathetic.
Aqua wasn't really sure what to make of Ozpin's orientation "speech", if it could even be called that. Weren't speeches like that supposed to raise students' morale, or something? Granted, she had never been to one of these things, but she had seen enough T.V. to get an impression. After the speech was finished, Ozpin and Glynda had collected Aqua and walked with her to the school's ballroom, where the students would apparently be spending the night.
"So, anything else I need to do today?" Aqua asked the Headmaster.
"Yes, actually," Ozpin answered. "The students will be staying here overnight, as you are aware, and we will need your help to chaperone them."
"Chaperone?" Aqua asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Yes. Both male and female students will be co-mingling in this room, so you will be required to make sure nothing 'unruly' happens."
Aqua's eye twitched.
"So, let me get this straight," she said. "You have a bunch of 17-year-old teenagers all sleeping in close proximity to one another, and think it's a good idea?"
"Well, how else would we do this?" he asked coyly. "We only have the one ballroom."
"You could at least put a wall up to divide men and women."
"Why would we need to do that when we have you? Besides, the dorms are co-ed, so sleeping near the opposite sex is something that the students will simply have to get used to."
Aqua's eye twitched twice this time. Was this man really telling her that her daughters, her sweet, beautiful, innocent daughters, might have to sleep in the same room with horny, perverted teenage boys?
"I know what you're thinking, Aqua," Glynda said, noticing the anger beginning to simmer in Aqua's gaze. "I assure you that we take assault very seriously. The people who share rooms are all on the same team, and we encourage team members to view each other as family and watch each other's backs. In addition, it is very difficult to force a Huntress or Huntsman in training to do something they don't want to do. There are several policies in place to prevent something from happening in the first place, and in the event that the unthinkable does happen, it will be dealt with swiftly. You can rest assured that the perpetrators will be punished to the fullest extent."
"Well, I guess that's a little reassuring," Aqua said, calming down a little.
"Teams are always comprised of exactly four students, and it often happens that members of both sexes end up on a team together," Ozpin explained. "In order to foster a sense of family and camaraderie, we have them live in the same space. It would be detrimental to their performance as a team if we required male and female members to sleep in different rooms, while mono-gendered teams could all sleep together."
"Okay, that makes sense. I'll just have to make sure that if my daughters end up with any male team-mates, they know exactly what will happen if they mess with my little girls," Aqua said, the intensity returning to her gaze. Aqua heard footsteps behind her, and turned around to see a rotund man in a burgundy suit, white hair, and a bushy white mustache.
"Ah, here's the other chaperone," Ozpin said. "Peter, this is our newest professor. She will be chaperoning the students with you tonight."
"Ah, stupendous!" the large man said in a deep, boisterous voice. "Welcome to Beacon, my good lady! My name is Professor Peter Port, and I teach Grimm Studies!" He offered his hand, and Aqua shook it happily.
"Aqua Branwen," she said. "A pleasure."
"Branwen, you say? Any relation to Qrow?"
"Yes. I'm his wife."
Peter seemed to stop functioning for a few seconds, simply staring blankly into Aqua's eyes.
"…That's preposterous," he said finally, taking Aqua aback.
"What do you mean? What's so preposterous about that?"
"I find it very difficult to believe that Qrow of all people found it in himself to settle down."
"Well, I wouldn't necessarily say we 'settled down', but we've been together for 8 years, and I love him. Is there a problem with that?"
"No, not at all," Peter said quickly, realizing that he'd upset her with his incredulity. "I am truly happy that Qrow managed to find happiness, and I hope that the two of you continue to support each other for many more years. I was simply surprised, is all. I truly apologize for upsetting you."
"Apology accepted," she said.
"Well, now that introductions are out of the way," Ozpin said, gesturing towards the entrance to the ballroom, "I believe you two should set up. The students should start arriving soon, and you have a long night ahead of you."
Ruby was lying on her stomach on top of her sleeping bag, rustling through the small backpack she had brought with her into the ballroom. She was clad in pajamas that were somehow both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.
They were comfortable because of the material they were made of. However, wearing them in public made her feel super self-conscious. They were very simple: a black tank top with a cartoon Beowolf printed on the front and white pants with little roses dotted all along them, and a black sleep mask resting on her forehead. While they were very comfortable to sleep in, she had gotten them a few years ago. She had grown since then (not as much as she would have liked, mind), and the tank top was now a little small on her, to the point that a little bit of her stomach was left exposed. She had only brought the one pair of pajamas, not expecting to have to sleep in a room full of people she didn't know that would obviously judge her, and showing off skin was not something she liked doing. That was more Yang's thing. To her great discomfort, she actually had noticed a couple of boys look in her direction. So, she was reaching into her bag to get something to distract herself from the knowledge of all the prying eyes, and after a few seconds of looking, finally pulled out what she had been looking for.
It was a homemade book, with a plain white front with the words "For Ruby, From Cinder" written in red. She smiled at the old gift, and started flipping through it, looking at all of the hand-drawn pictures that had been colored in long ago. Seeing that other amber-eyed girl earlier had made Ruby think a lot about Cinder for the rest of the day, and she felt that she really needed to look at the present the older girl had made for her all those years ago. Even to this day, going back to look at the pictures still brought her comfort.
She was taken out of her nostalgia when her sister plopped down onto the sleeping bag next to her.
"It's like a biiiiig sleepover!" Yang declared, dressed in her far less modest pajamas. All she was wearing was an orange cropped tank top with her emblem emblazoned on the front and short black shorts. Ruby just knew that the self-confidence problems she was feeling from her own pajamas were about to get a whole lot worse now that her sister was lying down next to her for people to compare them. And of course, sweet little Ruby would come up short, as always.
At least one person thought she was beautiful, though she was sure Jaune's jaw would drop when he saw her sister. She sighed.
"I don't think Uncle Qrow would approve of all the boys, though," Ruby remarked, thinking back at how overprotective their uncle was when it came to boys spending time with the two of them, even before everything went bad at Signal. The common stereotype was for the dad to be the one to scare off potential boyfriends, but, and no offense to Dad, he had nothing on Uncle Qrow.
"I know I do," Yang said with a purr as she looked over at the boy's side of the room. Ruby followed her gaze, and saw that several of them were shirtless and either wrestling or flexing, clearly trying to get the attention of the girls. But then they saw Jaune.
He walked across their field of vision in a light blue onesie with a cute rabbit head printed on the front, and when he saw them, he stopped to wave. Ruby waved back, while Yang simply cringed.
"So, whatcha got there?" Yang asked, scooting over to look over Ruby's shoulder.
"The book Cinder made me."
"You brought it with you?"
"Yeah. I know it's silly, especially since we haven't seen her in 10 years, but looking at it makes me feel less alone." Yang wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulder and pulled her closer for a hug.
"Hey, you're already making improvements there," Yang said.
"What do you mean?"
"That Jaune guy. He seems…nice. First day, and you already made a new friend!"
"Yeah, but what about Weiss?"
"What about her?" Yang asked with a scoff. "Just remember what I told you about people who don't think you're good enough."
"Screw 'em?"
"Yup. Besides, I think Jaune might be a real great friend for you."
"What makes you say that?"
"Earlier, when he walked past us? He waved at you. He didn't even look at me."
"Are you sure he didn't?"
"Rubes," Yang said in a slightly scolding tone. "Trust me, I've learned how to follow someone's eyes." Well, of course she did! She constantly had people staring at her chest! "He was only looking at you." Ruby smiled a little bit at that information. This was a first. When she had first started at Signal, even before…that…happened, there was a regular problem of people always thinking Yang was better, cooler, more attractive. There were a couple of boys interested in her during her first year, but their focus quickly changed when they saw Yang. Some boys had even pretended to be her friend just so they could get closer to her older sister.
The fact that Jaune seemed to completely ignore her half-naked and far more attractive sister meant he wasn't like those other guys and genuinely saw Ruby as a friend.
And that made her very happy.
"He did call me beautiful," she said absentmindedly, completely forgetting for a second who was lying down right next to her.
"He said what?" Yang asked, the redness of her eyes completely betraying the calmness of her voice. Oh, no. Yang was going into "protective older sister" mode.
"Yang, please," Ruby pleaded. "Don't scare off my first friend. He didn't mean it that way. He wasn't trying to flirt. He told me so himself."
"Boys say a lot of things, Ruby."
"Yang, I can handle myself." The sound of a small flame being lit caught Ruby's attention, and she looked up to see the black-haired girl from earlier, clad in a short black yukata, and still wearing her bow. She had lit a small candelabra, and was using the light it gave off to read a book. "That girl…" she thought out loud.
"What, you know her?" Yang asked.
"Who does she remind you of?" Yang squinted her eyes to get a closer look, and then widened them after a second.
"Cinder?" she asked.
"It's not, but I thought so too. She saw what happened with Weiss earlier, but left before I talk to her."
"Well, now's your chance," Yang said, grabbing Ruby's arm and dragging her towards Not-Cinder.
"Wait, what are you doing?!"
The sleeping situation in the ballroom was even worse than Aqua thought. The genders weren't even divided! The students were just clumped together randomly with no regard for who was near them. As she scanned the room, she noticed several boys looking her daughters' way, and even worse, she had a few eyes roaming up and down her own body!
Screw Ozpin's explanation. There was no way this was okay. She sent another disapproving glare to a shirtless boy flexing to get her attention before turning back to her chaperone partner for the night.
Peter was very good company, at least for when she had to stay up all night to make sure that a bunch of teenagers didn't get frisky. They had spent the last few hours swapping stories, and boy did he know how to spin a yarn. The pair quickly built up a mutual respect for each other from their tales of the Grimm they've fought, Peter supposedly by himself, and Aqua working alongside her husband. Mentioning Qrow got the older professor's attention.
"So, how did you and Qrow come to be together, if you don't mind my asking?" he asked.
"We had known each other for two years before we started dating," she said, smiling fondly at the memory of the night he confessed and they did…that.
She blushed a little bit at the memory.
"I was training his niece, Ruby, and we grew very close, so one day, things just happened."
"Ah, so you've known the family for a while then."
"Yes. Actually, you should probably be informed, but two of the new students this year are my daughters. They're Qrow's nieces, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long."
"Your daughters?" Peter asked in confusion.
"Adopted." His brow furrowed in concern.
"Did something happen to Taiyang?"
"Oh, no, he's fine. I meant they adopted me. It's confusing. I was taking care of them, they started calling me 'mom', and then Qrow and I got together. So, I'm their mom, Tai is their dad, but legally I'm their aunt, since I'm married to their uncle."
"I see. Yes, that certainly sound confusing."
"Obviously, this is something that should be kept under wraps. Don't want rumors to spread."
"Of course."
"So, what can I expect from being a professor?"
"It is wonderful!" he said happily. "There is something so very rewarding about teaching the next generation and preparing them to protect the innocent!"
"What about the students? What are they usually like?"
"They are usually a rowdy bunch, but nothing too bad. There are usually a few inflated egos that need to be quelled, but overall, they are a delight."
"That's good to hear."
"OH NO, NOT YOU AGAIN!" she heard three voices yell in unison, and she saw, to her great surprise and embarrassment, both her daughters and that same girl they were arguing with earlier yelling at each other, disturbing everyone else around them.
"GO TO SLEEP!" she shouted angrily at them, causing all three to instantly pale and dive for their sleeping bags. She sighed.
This was going to be a long four years, she could already tell.
AN: For the record, this is not meant to be the beginning of a Lancaster story. He genuinely was not trying to flirt with her, and they do not see each other romantically. He was just flustered when she accused him of flirting, and was being honest when he called her beautiful. She is not growing feelings for Jaune, it was just a compliment that meant a lot to her with her insecurities. In fact, in regards to other relationships, I'm not really sure which ones I want to do other than the obvious Aqua/Qrow romance. By the way, the ship name for these two is Bluebird. I'm still figuring out what relationships characters will have. I can tell you that it won't be Lancaster.
So, in regards to the list of abilities, I will give a description as Ruby's abilities are revealed and then at the end of each Volume, give an overall list so you guys can keep track. So, so far, we've got:
-Petal: A spell that launches a stream of razor-sharp rose petals from the tip of Ruby's Keyblade.
-Thorn: A spell that launches a few roses at her enemies, impaling them with the stems.
She can use Shotlock, but I haven't shown what they are yet.
By combining Shotlock with her Semblance, she can recreate Sora's Airstep ability from KH3.
Her Keyblade can also Form Change into both a scythe and a sniper rifle.
Thank you guys so much for reading! Next time will be the beginning of Initiation and Aqua getting used to her new role. See you then!