They lived in an unforgiving world.
It was cruel to the innocent and the weak.
And cruelest still to those who would fight to defend them.
If a mistake was ever made, there were no promises that one would ever get a chance to make another one—and the awful truth was that they all made mistakes. Only, to the rest of Remnant, her mistake was being born as a faunus.
Every huntsmen academy had rejected her application. Every single one of them, save one.
In a miserable world where people died every day, she was well and truly aware of the rarity of second chances; and with Adam's blessing, she had no choice but to take it and follow in his footsteps. It might not be Atlas Academy as her mentor had once attended, but an opportunity to join the Beacon Academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses would not come twice, and she refused to let it go to waste.
Thus, black, the beast descended from shadows and strode into the light.
"Students, welcome back!"
Blake Belladonna found herself quietly shuffling into a chair near the rear of the lecture hall and opened a book, the three humans that would be her new companions in tow. From here on this upper level, she could easily survey the room and all its entrances; it set her mind at ease to hold abidance toward deep-seated habits.
Sunlight streamed forth from the windowed panes to the right of her, and Blake was almost blinded by the glare of it when she turned to glance at the world outside. The air was still filled with the excited noise and chatter of her supposed peers; her eyes trailed around the room, and and she took notice that no other faunus graced her eyes.
As the students began to settle down, some of her classmates already seated nearby gave her curious looks. Her body tensed instinctively, but she smiled back politely and quickly averted her gaze to look away.
Her eyes wandered about the lecture hall that Professor Port seemingly claimed as his own; the space was gaudily decorated with faux trophies of vanquished grimm, purportedly at the hands of the professor himself, and an assortment of oddities littered along the walls, from tacky banners hung haphazardly to antique weaponry and strange relics. A large map adorned the far side of the room opposite to her, one of the top corners blotched with smears and splatters of a deep maroon—the color of blood, old, dried and stained—and it showed the sharp relief of the terrain surrounding the Kingdom of Vale, as well as the kingdom itself, along with a few landmarks such as the location of certain towns, ports, and other notable locations.
She sniffed the air a moment later, taking in the scents of chalk and ink and leather, and of course, humans, but still no faunus.
It was a futile action, she knew, but she performed it regardless. Routines were ever so dreadfully difficult to break, after all. Even if, as she knew, she shared precisely one class with another of her kind, and she was of a mixed mind in relation to it; as she had been on most matters as of late.
The irony was not lost on her, as she clicked her tongue, that her regular solitary disposition would become so unseemly to herself. Blake's tail twitched with the urge to move at the thought, just slightly, but it could not.
Instead, she turned to face the front again.
Light and shadow played upon her face as the clouds shifted and meandered in the skies above; the sunlight shone and glinted like molten gold awash upon ebony locks, and what spilled past her cascaded down unto the ground and over the top of her head in an array of brilliant auriferous shades that danced across the floor in striated veins.
Blake bathed languidly in its soothing warmth; a balm that soothed her frayed nerves… and another temporary lapse in judgment that she could not afford. Yet, a smile quirked along her lips and Blake closed her eyes anyway, as she savored the peace that enveloped her body; somewhere midway between wake and unwaking, more of a zoning out than true sleep.
It did not last long.
"Our main focus for this week will be on a return to the basics of land navigation; where a map, compass and protractor are all you need," Professor Port began, "and in addition, we will be touching on the historical military importance of the subject matter by reviewing the Vacuean Campaign, and notably the stratagems used over the course of its duration, during the last years of the Great War."
Her eyes flicked toward the side as her team shuffled about and seated themselves anew next to her, and she noted how the other two females on her team had pointedly put themselves between Blake and Jaune, as they had consistently done ever since the incident two weeks prior. The fact did not escape the young woman's notice, but she chose not to acknowledge it. Her gaze drifted to the front instead, where Port was gesturing toward the chalkboard with an enthusiastic hand.
"Harsh terrain, foreign geography, and a shortage of adequate maps; this, combined with outdated tactics have seen many of our most formidable foes' forces fall prey to needless dangerous mishaps. In fact, it was such disastrous ill-preparedness that ultimately led to the defeat of the joint armies of Mistral and Mantle in the deserts of Vacuo! As Professor Oobleck would say, it is imperative that we learn from history to help us avoid such errors in the future," he explained, pausing for breath. "However, more applicably to our class: huntsmen should be able to navigate from one point on the ground to another with or without a compass and map if necessary! But for now, we'll start off simple enough, so I hope that you are ready to tackle today's lesson—first, a thought experiment in navigating over treacherous terrain. Next we'll move onto a refresher on map reading after discussing last week's assignment. Then finally, I would like you all to explore the area surrounding us using a map provided by the academy."
As Professor Port concluded the introduction to his lecture, Blake felt her attention drift towards her sole male teammate, a mere three seats apart from her; past Pyrrha who was staring intently at the blackboard, and next to Ruby, who had the tip of her tongue poking out from between her lips as she doodled something on a piece of paper.
Jaune Arc.
When she had first encountered Jaune, she had of course contemplated killing him and disposing of the body. It would be a lie to say otherwise. However, of course, things had evidently not worked out in her favor to that regard; it seemed as though life just couldn't stop making things complicated. Blake had missed the opportunity to quietly do away with him during the initiation and now, he… was her teammate.
She was almost certain that this circumstance was a ploy by the headmaster of Beacon.
Her eyebrows knitted together as a thoughtful expression crossed her face; she turned her head and looked up at him, only to find him looking right back at her. Jaune waved, and there's something hidden behind those eyes, some terrible secret that only he was privy to, that he didn't want anyone else to know; the guilt, nervousness, and an abstract sense of inadequacy swelling just beneath the surface—but he hid it well. All humans had those, wretched creatures that they were.
Their eyes met, and she averted hers, returning her attention to the open book she held in one hand, the other, fiddling about at the edge of the desk. Blake was not sure whether to be amused at his foolish courage, or rankled by the insolence of his senseless lack of fear; perhaps both? But either way, she didn't want to give the impression that she was watching his every move, even if she was, to a point.
For what reason? He was an Arc. She needed no other reason to be wary of him; to hate him, even. One could call it instinct, almost. The same that had urged her to bury her fangs in his neck and rip his heart from his chest with her claws when he was on the ground, vulnerable, and she had her Gambol Shroud kicked away by Ruby; to bathe and gorge on the blood that would flow freely until their skin was slick with crimson.
Blake carefully turned the page of her book.
There was a reason the White Fang did not have a foothold in Vale, not as it did in the other kingdoms; that Blake had seen only the occasional faunus upperclassmen roaming about campus, and that she shared only one other class with another of her species.
It was the same as why she did not submit her application to Beacon as her first choice; and as to why faunus were not a common sight within Vale City, nor often seen even in the kingdom's few remaining settlements beyond its walls.
The very same said reason that not a single faunus living in the Kingdom of Vale today was native to it; and furthermore, that none currently residing in its borders held the status of citizenship—that the most they could endeavor for were letters of denization, and even that much was considered the crowning achievement of her father's last decade within the White Fang.
None of it was due to any great kindness on the part of the other inhabitants of the kingdom. No, humans were vicious, vile creatures; and of them, the Arcs were some of the worst butchers around.
They had slaughtered them all and wiped the slate clean.
Blake blinked and slowly returned her attention to Port's speech once more. She closed the book with one hand and stared ahead, the other still gripping the edge of the table and gouging deep grooves into its wooden surface.
It did little to distract her.
She had long since learned to navigate the treacherous wilds out of necessity, as any faunus who couldn't, would soon find themselves dead otherwise. Weakness, be it of the body or the mind, was not tolerated in a world of bloody evolution.
Blake instead glanced at the tarnished wood, and at her still tense fingers. If she truly put her mind to it, she could still act on it. There were countless opportunities available to her by the circumstance of their placement as teammates for the duration of their time at Beacon.
Not that she would.
Doing just that would defeat the purpose of her being here, and Adam would be sorely disappointed with her lack of control as it was when he eventually caught wind of it.
Blake shook her head. What happened last time was a fluke, a lapse of mind that she wouldn't let happen again. Unlike a human, she, as a faunus, could not claim the archaic excuse of a duel; not to mention, this wasn't Mistral, nor was it even Atlas. And yet still, rules and regulations had to observed in the midst of those, in the name of tradition; as if violence could be dressed up and made civilized. One needed to only look back at the Great War to see the farce that line of thought was. Vale, meanwhile, had little tolerance for such things nowadays, or so it seemed. And besides that, there was already too much scrutiny upon Blake for her to cleanly get away with it, both from the headmaster and other, much closer individuals.
A fact that was all too clear, she noted, as silver irises flickered up at her from the peripherals of her vision; a sight that triggered a response that dilated her own eyes, raised her own hackles, and quickened her breath. She detested the color, even as she reveled in the negativity they spewed.
Ruby Rose was… interesting.
The small waif of a girl was not at all what she would have one believe from the sickly sweet and rotten veneer of false cheer that was donned to hide the crumbling foundations that seemed to lie just below the surface. Fear, anger, hatred—and so much more; however, like a child wrapping itself in one great cocoon of blankets: it obscured everything else within from view, and Blake's senses were not nearly so finely attuned as to tell what more hid beneath the guise of innocence.
It was bemusing, at first, to receive a glimpse beyond the masquerade in the aftermath of her own little… altercation with Jaune in what was supposed to be a friendly spar.
In the days after, however, it had been much less so as Ruby's behavior had grown steadily worse; and ever since, Blake and Jaune had been all but forced by the aforementioned teammate to keep a wide distance between them whenever they crossed paths. It had quickly become an irritation at that point. They shared classes. They ate together. They lived in the same dorm and slept in the same room.
That was not something she wanted to deal with for the next few years.
In hindsight, she was forced to admit to herself that perhaps avoiding Pyrrha's earlier awkward attempts at reconciliation hadn't been the most pragmatic of actions, and in the same vein, neither was ignoring the overtures from Jaune himself; of which, were likely at the behest of Pyrrha as well.
He'd been persistent with each and every passing attempt he made at talking to her, trying to initiate a conversation with her during class or at mealtimes, and even during their class's remedial lessons with Professor Goodwitch after she caught wind of that whole fiasco.
Blake had ignored him of course, having been thoroughly unimpressed and quite frankly annoyed by his shallow antics, but that was no longer an acceptable course of action. In truth, it had never been in the first place. She needed to integrate herself into the team as best she could, and to do so, she would need to be more… personable.
She could almost envision both Adam's snide remarks at her lack of conversational prowess, and Ilia's laughter ringing out at the thought of Blake's nonexistent gregariousness. The corners of her lips upturned despite herself. No, that had never been her forte. Yet, she would have to make do regardless.
"Mister Lark! Mister Winchester!" Professor Port suddenly called from across the lecture hall, which Blake took as her cue to begin paying attention once more. "While I do suggest that you had best take this lesson to heart with the utmost of seriousness," he stared intently at the aforementioned student, "I will not begrudge you if you do not do so. However, if you continue to interrupt my lesson, I will have to ask you to leave, and you will not be returning." The professor paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "Is this understood?"
Both students immediately nodded their heads, flushing red.
"Very good," Port replied after receiving their affirmations and turning back to the chalkboard. "Now, as I was previously saying: this is a mandatory five-day exercise that will occur within the bounds of the Emerald Forest and will begin starting this weekend on Saturday."
An audible groan arose throughout the classroom but quieted down as Port cleared his throat.
Blake, however, merely deigned to glance at Ruby. The negative emotions simply overflowed from the girl at the best of times, and at the worst of them, it was nearly overwhelming. And unlike Jaune or Pyrrha, Ruby had thus far shown herself to be unable of adequately handling it. The girl was a liability. A danger; this was not Atlas, with its readily accessible combat drugs to suppress emotion, nor Mistral or Vacuo where the black markets run amok with everything under the sun. One slip up, and they would be swarmed. It was unfortunate, as despite the danger she represented, Blake found herself quite unusually fond of the human girl.
She would still leave her behind all the same should the situation call for it.
It was simply the world they lived in.
And Blake would never forget it—least of all for a human. However, that would hardly be beneficial towards further inclusion to her team. In light of her earlier thoughts, perhaps… she might be able to offer Ruby some assistance.
Something had to be done about her, after all, if they all wanted to survive.
Did that make her a hypocrite, like her father? Perhaps. And if that was wrong, then so be it; there was no principle she was unwilling to compromise, if it meant she succeeded.
"You should expect to face several challenges on your journey through hostile territory, and as such, I would recommend that you spend time out of classes to familiarize yourself with the various types of grimm you may encounter; and while we're on the subject of the Creatures of Grimm, please bring out last week's assignment on ursai. If there are no questions, then we'll begin our discussion before moving on to our refresher on maps."
However, a wave of hands shot up among the gathered students, followed by various mumbles and murmurs about their weekend being unfairly taken from them.
"Mister Winchester?"
"What time on Saturday does the exercise start?"
"Team leaders will be given timetables corresponding to their team's arrival and then subsequent departure of the staging area for this exercise at the end of the lesson. Now then, Mister Thrush?"
"Does this mean we won't have to turn in any homework due next week, or will we get extra time to complete them?"
"You are still responsible for completing and turning in any assignments from other classes that you may have, Mister Thrush, and no additional time will be allotted. That said, the other professors are well aware of the first year's obligations this weekend. Miss Carnelian, you had a question as well?"
Blake watched as the other girl jolted in her seat, her hand still lifted tentatively; however, when Port called out her name, a blush appeared on her cheeks, and she lowered her arm and changed her mind. "Never mind Professor, you just answered it—sorry!"
Professor Port shook his head, "Any other questions?"
Blake raised her hand without hesitation, earning her the attention of both her team and the professor.
"Yes, Miss Belladonna?" Port questioned, giving her a curious look.
She took a moment to consider her response before she spoke. "Just to clarify, Professor," she began carefully, shifting in her seat as she continued, "you stated that each team leader will receive a timetable corresponding to their team. Does that mean that everyone has a different schedule, and that we will not be deploying with members of our class outside of our own team?"
But she didn't stop there.
"Additionally, will the school be providing the necessary supplies for the assignment, or will we have to procure them ourselves?"
There was silence for a beat as everyone absorbed her words.
"Ah, yes, very astute of you." Port gave her a considering glance. "To answer your questions, Miss Belladonna, yes to both—or at least in part. Each group will have varied times of arrival and departure; as such, you will only have the individual members of your team with you when you begin the exercise. Bear in mind, over the course of the five-day examination period you may come across your peers, and that it remains your choice on whether you assist them or are to work on your own; and as always, we will be watching. However, we will not intervene in this test, come what may." He paused, tilting his head slightly. "Beacon will provide basic provisions to be given at your arrival to the staging ground for this exercise, including tents and basic camping necessities. Ammunition and dust, on the contrary, are something you must contend with managing; the stipend Beacon has given you should prove to be more than sufficient in that regard, so bring as much as you think that you might require."
"However!" Port's blunderbuss rose into the air in exclamation to mark his next words, "in the future, you will all be expected to procure and prepare these supplies yourself! Do not become complacent, students—you can hardly expect that everything will go smoothly for you if you cannot even manage your own resources!" A loud bang reverberated throughout the room as the professor slammed the butt of his weapon against the ground. It caused the entire class, save Blake and her partner, to jump in their seats.
"Thank you, Professor," Blake nodded politely.
The professor returned her show of gratitude with a shallow bow, "my pleasure, Miss Belladonna. Now then, it's time to get on with the rest of the lesson…" he drawled, "Mister Lark, start off the discussion with what you've learned about ursai since the last time we convened, would you?"
Blake tuned back out once more. Instead, she allowed herself the luxury of being reacquainted with the familiar hobby of reading and opened the pages of her book once more. This item in particular, The Third Crusade, was one she had long since memorized the contents of; though its familiarity did nothing to alleviate the ever-present uneasiness within the pit of her stomach whenever her eyes skimmed across its pages.
Her eyes darted toward Jaune Arc.
No, she could not kill him now. It was a shame, but the White Fang, Blake and Adam, would merely have to wait for the opportune moment to strike—as they had done to the Schnees.
It was by no means uncommon for huntsmen to simply… disappear, to vanish in the wilds of Remnant beyond the borders of the four kingdoms. And, if that mysteriously absent huntsman just so happened to be heir to a family line of abhorrent monsters, well, wouldn't it be all too convenient?
Blake would be patient, because, the thing was, she had a different sort of mission to carry out. An important one. It had been entrusted to her by Adam, and she would see it through.
She fought the urge to fidget with her ears—the inhuman pair; but the itch of white-bone plate slowly growing did not subside. The stumps twitched beneath a prized gift from her mother, a black bow, as the new growths overtook the older fragments of plate that already sat there. It wouldn't be long now before they regrew in full.
Yes, Blake was all too well aware of the rarity of second chances, and she would not waste hers, nor would any other faunus. The humans would regret their actions and, soon enough, they would all suffer the consequences for their many transgressions; that was a promise she made every day, and every night. They would pay, and they would be made to pay dearly for their sins.
Humans should have finished off the faunus when they had the chance—her people would not be nearly so weak-willed.
The world was unforgiving.
The world was cruel.
The world was heartless.
It had no place for innocence nor the meek, and so they would make it anew.
The vessel of revolution would arrive at port only on a sea reddened by torrents of blood.
"As you have all proven to be competent in not only the basic life support techniques and procedures that should have been learned either at preparatory combat schools beforehand or elsewhere otherwise, but additionally have shown promise with the intermediate life support skills taught thus far—and so now we will now be moving on to triage, initial care, and tactical considerations in mass casualty events and disaster response as per the combat lifesaver course here at Beacon Academy."
Professor Peach stared long and hard at each and every single one of her students.
"This is a mandatory class for the first year at Beacon, and I expect you all to take it with the utmost of seriousness. As huntsmen, you can only rely on yourself and your team when you are in the field. The nearest medical facilities are often hundreds of miles away, and medical evacuation is often nothing more than a pipe-dream. The lessons taught here will at the least, if you survive the traumatic event in the first place, allow you to live long enough for your aura to kick back in and take care of the rest. So with that in mind: while my colleagues might tell you otherwise, your safety comes first—and it comes before all else." She leaned forward slightly, leering at them all with baleful eyes. "You cannot help anyone else if you are dead, or worse yet, drag others down alongside you because you wanted to play the hero and wind up needing to be rescued yourself."
Ruby sat at attention, watching Professor Peach intently as the teacher lectured. It was a rather start difference from the professor's detached demeanor in Plant Sciences. Beside her, Ruby heard Jaune yawn quietly and rub at his eyes; the redhead could empathize with the blonde's weariness. It had been an exhausting morning in the academy's amphitheater with Professor Goodwitch and Professor Port. Not only did the students have to contend with each other, but captive grimm were mixed into the fray midway through (and just where did Professor Port get all those grimm from?) and the duo had made the surprise joint lesson into a spectacle for the upper-years to watch—it had been embarrassing to see them point and laugh, even if it wasn't at her specifically, probably.
Anyway, when that was done and the impromptu gladiatorial free-for-all had been seen through to the end, they had been forced to run with a full load until muscle failure; and that was, while easy in theory, still very much difficult when put into practice in the aftermath and with their aura having already been, for the most part, exhausted.
It was still a pretty fun event though, and it kind of reminded her of the amateur circuits some of the kids back on Patch would sometimes organize and set off when the mood struck; which typically coincided following one of the more impressive showings televised from the folks on the mainland.
Not that she, or Yang for that matter, ever participated in one. Yang was always off somewhere doing something else with her friends, and as for Ruby herself? Well, she was never invited. To her sister's outings or the matches.
She turned her eyes away from Jaune and returned her attention to the professor.
"—event may disrupt infrastructure or result in loss of essential equipment or key personnel. The chaos of a catastrophic event such as the one presented typically impedes decision-making and effective treatment of patients. It requires a paradigm shift from the application of—"
Ruby hummed in thought, listening as the professor went on, and so class continued uneventfully until it was time to leave; she split ways with her team and traveled alone to her last two classes of the day, forgoing lunch to work on a few last minute additions to her designs for a new and improved breast-plate before she started forging it tomorrow.
Lie Ren.
That was the name of her newest acquaintance.
It was a meeting borne of happenstance; something that occurred purely by chance.
Their paths first crossed in the hallways outside her dormitory this morning, when she went on her run; and again, outside of the cafeteria in the afternoon as she searched for her team. In the former, she had merely uttered a passing greeting, and in the latter, he greeted her with a small smile and a nod of acknowledgment—after that a brief exchange of names followed, and nothing else.
The two went their separate ways, and Pyrrha continued her fruitless endeavor to reunite with her team.
On some days, they had no choice but to split apart as their elective itineraries varied, and while the classes didn't make up the majority of their schedule, they also were not the only ones that their team attended separately.
Pyrrha herself, had to contend with additional instruction on combat against other huntsmen earlier this afternoon, that, alongside classes on advanced aura control, were courtesy of Professor Goodwitch. It was a condition that her father had laid upon her in return for permitting Pyrrha to attend an academy outside of the Kingdom of Mistral, and it was a necessary one at that, she had to admit.
She wanted friends, yes. People outside of the social circles she grew up with in her childhood; people she could actually trust, if she permitted herself to be frank. However, she wouldn't let that whimsical desire dull her blade.
Eventually, she would have to return to her homeland. Perhaps not now, and almost certainly not in the next four years, but one day; and then, she would have her part to play, lest the Kingdom of Mistral irreparably fracture, just the same as the Kingdom of Vacuo had in the aftermath of the Vytal Peace Accord.
There were many dissidents, remnants of nations that Mistral had subsumed into itself in its time as an empire without peer, who would eagerly work toward such a thing in the face of the kingdom's clear decline.
It would be her duty to prevent that; destiny, even, and a role she had been born into.
There was no weakness tolerated in a nation at the brink of a war with itself. No mercy to be shown to those who opposed the throne of the Kingdom of Mistral; to be sure, while they paid lip service to the thought of abolishing their nation's political structure and form of government as imposed upon them by the Kingdom of Vale, it in truth still held the reins of power no matter how tenuous it currently was, and everyone who was anyone knew that.
She may not have chosen this path, but it was hers; and there was no changing that fact, and thus she would accept it and bear it with dignity.
Even if, were she to be frank once more, she yearned for more.
She glanced down at her food, pushing it towards the edge of her plate listlessly as she set aside her scroll. None of her teammates would be making an appearance in the cafeteria today.
There would be no idle conversations at lunch over the table they had first gathered around on their first day at Beacon; none of the fast-formed routine of exchanged greetings and small talk. Discussion over classes, assignments, and professors alike. The mundane topics that would warrant a change in the breadth of their talks—trivial things, really: the weather; stray thoughts and a comment overheard here or there; a question posed to one another; or merely any other little tidbits to which their curiosity percolated. Occasional encroachment upon more profound subjects: from Blake's recent choices in literature, or Ruby's surprising breadth of knowledge regarding Mistralian media, and most recently, the opining on Jaune's eccentric palate and sense of fashion. Rarer still, on those precious few times that they would speak directly of their pasts, she had managed to learn in such a manner, that Ruby had a corgi by the name of "Zwei;" such discussion more often than not tended to come to an abrupt close before too long and never really amounted to much more.
It was a familiar and awkward affair, but she held it dear to her heart nonetheless—and it was something she would not be experiencing today. Both it's positive aspects, and… the negative ones.
Pyrrha wasn't sure when exactly she had realized it, only that she did now.
She was the only person who really talked to everyone.She was the only one who tried to get to know everyone. Ruby and Jaune largely kept to themselves, despite the latter's odd attempts now and then to include Pyrrha or Blake—and Blake herself, if she said anything at all, would only rarely contribute.
To say the least of her own interactions with the other two young women on her team; a team, that was not at all a team in everything but name. When she had approached them to try and initiate some form of reconciliation despite her better judgment, or at least an explanation: Blake either dodged around her questions or simply brushed past Pyrrha with an indifferent shrug, Ruby, meanwhile, would simply follow suit; and when pressed, acted like nothing was wrong. Not until the next time she happened upon Blake, that was.
It was maddening.
Even Jaune, who Pyrrha got along the most amicably with, was unable to put forth any form of real effort to interact with her or Blake beyond what was the bare minimum that one could expect toward individuals that one's self would be living with and fighting alongside for the next few years to come. He was kinder than Blake, perhaps, and seemed to care greatly for their teammates at face value more than Ruby did; yet there was an aloofness in his actions that made her wary to approach him even as he vanished off on his own to parts unknown whenever he wasn't with his partner.
Pyrrha might have been the only one who cared about making a genuine bond with all of them.
And… for what?
Maybe it was all pointless, and no one really cared about being friends, or even just functioning as a team. The only reason all of them interacted with each other was because of the academy assigning them to an arbitrary group in the aftermath of the initiation, and perhaps that was all that they would ever be without any other point in commonality.
She yearned for more than that, though, but her destiny and the expectations placed upon her were too heavy for such wishful, childish sentiment to hold sway over her.
A champion stood alone.
It was as her father said. And so, Pyrrha supposed she would merely have to settle with the shallow comrades-in-arms she had, for the moment; transient as they might be. She exhaled sharply. She might as well have stayed in Mistral and gone to Haven for all the good that coming to Beac—
"Do you mind if I join you?"
Pyrrha was brought out of her daze by the sound of someone speaking. She turned her head up, a rejection and an apology already on her lips, before seeing who it was. "Ren?"
"Is that a yes?"
"Ah, no! I don't mind, you're welcome to sit here." She fought to keep her voice level as she gestured towards the bench opposite of her and took a moment to recompose herself.
"Thank you. I'm afraid my team has seen fit to leave me to my own devices today, and I found myself… unprepared for the sudden quietness," Ren replied with a wry chuckle at some unseen joke. "It's rare that Nora ventures off on her own without me." He moved carefully, balancing his tray as he placed it on the table, before taking a seat himself across the table from her.
"Nora?" Pyrrha asked, glancing at Ren curiously.
"Oh, she's… a friend; someone I've known since childhood," Ren explained, picking up his utensils and beginning to eat his food with a calm demeanor that didn't quite match how Pyrrha could see the tension in his face. "We were fortunate enough to be placed on the same team together."
Pyrrha nodded silently, deciding against prying further and instead focused back on her meal.
There was a pause.
"I apologize for intruding upon your meal in such a manner."
"No need for that," Pyrrha assured him, and despite herself, she couldn't help but smile. "You know" she said casually, leaning forward "I'm actually rather glad to have some company today."
"Likewise."
"You don't belong here, Atlesian dog."
She bore it stoically throughout the weeks, ignoring the jeers and japes of her peers. As a Schnee—and any citizen of Atlas—should. She would not shame her family, nor her kingdom.
"Doll."
"Freak."
"Bitch."
Gaggles of girls whispered as she passed by them. In class, through the halls, and in the cafeteria; there was no reprieve wherever she went. However, she had kept her head held high as she marched past their group, ignoring the jeering laughter and japes at her expense.
She would ignore them all. They were not worth listening to. The Schnees didn't have friends, they had connections. They didn't regret their actions, they moved on and learned. They certainly didn't socialize with their lessers or people whose ancestors fought against them.
"Pretend all you want, but you and yours, Schnee, will always be soulless Mantle scum."
Perfect. She must be perfect; perfection embodied. She was perfection. Nothing more, nothing less. That was how it always had been. That was how it should be, and that was the way it was.
Even as she continued to endure the verbal assaults from her classmates, day in and day out, and as a Schnee, she remained strong; picture perfect in her charade of a dignified demeanor. But, the longer that this carried on, the greater the temptation became to break the façade.
"What do you think you're doing, Schnee?"
"I am attempting to enter class. Now, if you would, please excuse me." As she reached for the door handle, however, a hand caught her wrist.
"Don't you know that this class is for fighting grimm—not creating them?"
She froze, glaring up at the person who had touched her: it was yet another jumped-up remnant of Valean nobility. Her blood boiled as the fingers of her other hand curled tight around her rapier, her knuckles whitening.
"C'mon, don't play dumb with me, Schnee; we both know that's what your kind do. We know how your little suppressionist family semblance works, and yet here you are, strutting around Vale like you own the place after Mantle was humbled. As if someone like you could ever be a huntress."
Her grip tightened around the handle until she felt as though the metal was beginning to bite into the palms of her hands. "How dare you speak to me like that—how dare you even look me in the eye, let alone touch me—" she breathed deeply, resisting the urge to lunge forward, to strike that boy down where he stood.
She had to be better than that. Perfect. She must be perfect, as was becoming of a Schnee. The thought of anything less made her stomach churn in disgust as she turned towards the door once more whilst she attempted to pull her hand away. "Excuse me, I must—" Another hand shot forward to grab at her shoulder, this time harder than the grip on her wrist.
A snarl nearly ripped its way from within her throat, but instead she clenched her teeth so tightly they ached. She took another deep breath and raised her eyes back to her target, standing before her in all his arrogant glory, and glared. "Let go of me," she said, her voice calm and steady, devoid of emotion.
His eyes narrowed, his grip loosened. But he did not release her wrist nor shoulder.
"And if I don't?"
He stepped closer to her now, and Weiss couldn't help but recoil from the proximity between them. His indigo eyes seemed dark despite the sunshine streaming through the windows behind them.
"Leave," she demanded again, her voice low. She was a Schnee; immaculate, dignified, calm, and collected. To be anything less—it simply wasn't done. But, that didn't mean she was left with no recourse.
A sneer spread across his lips. "What are you going to do about it, weakling?"
As surely as the snow fell upon the callous cobblestone of the forgotten city beneath Atlas, fallen short of heaven created; so too did her emotions begin to seep through and overtake her—and the gentle rasp of steel against leather pierced the silence between them as she drew Myrtenaster and wrenched her hand away with enough force to deform and detach the doorknob from its frame.
"Retract your words, and get out of my way," she commanded, her voice barely above a whisper. " I won't repeat myself again."
Even laid low as they were, a Schnee had no equals, let alone betters; however, action would have take the place of mere words in this moment, no matter how unworthy this cur was. Denied thrice, she would not entertain a fourth; the next would be a duel, and by the end of it he would either repent on his knees in apologetic supplication, or die. That was the simple truth.
Her—the Schnee's— honor would be satisfied with nothing less. Her father taught her that. Just as he had taught her she needed only herself. She would not be weak, not like… her sister, and not like Whiteley had been. She would not be like her siblings. She would not be left beholden to the fancies and pitiful ambitions of worthless men, nor thrown to the cruel mercies of mindless beasts.
She was a Schnee; that was what made her superior.
"No."
He spat on her.
Then, before she knew it, her rapier was drawn, and the tip of the blade came to occupy the space that scoundrel's head sat carelessly unguarded; there was no declaration of a challenge—he no longer deserved even the magnanimous pretense of equal standing with her, and would be punished as the misbehaving child that he was.
However, before she could carry out her threat in full, the sound of metal colliding on flesh echoed through the hall as the boy was knocked back; the distinctive ripple of aura coiling around his body at the point of impact.
She slowly blinked.
She was Weiss, and she turned her eyes from the head of the war-hammer beside her, to the cheery face of her teammate; a single hand waving casually as the other gripped the extended shaft of their weapon.
"Heya partner, want me to break his bones?"
Partner.
Her partner.
She'd consistently come to Weiss' assistance time and time again.
It was for that reason alone that Weiss Schnee put up with an uncouth individual such as Nora.
Ruby hummed the song from her dreams every time, and it's the same every time. The song always entailed the same, but still she hummed the song.
She wandered about the campus, absentmindedly loosing a tune of notes in her wake while she aimlessly walked the meandering stone paths. Alone. Thoughts of her sister ran rampant throughout her mind. Be it a case of conflicting schedules or by simple chance, Ruby hadn't seen Yang in well over three weeks, leaving her feeling more than a little uneasy—and in fact, couldn't help but feel that Yang's absence was entirely due to Ruby's snub of her prior invitation—though she supposed that it wasn't unusual for the blonde to be unavailable whenever Ruby needed her assistance.
Especially when Ruby needed her assistance.
Like right now for example.
She was bored. And bored people tend to do strange things. Like wish that Professor Goodwitch didn't rescind sparring privileges for their class and that they didn't have to wait around doing nothing with the big fat empty block of time in their schedule now, or that they had cookies to eat, or that their sister was here, or…
Well, she was pretty sure those sorts of things weren't entirely unreasonable.
She had no idea where she was heading, honestly, and nor did she have any real idea of just how long she'd been roaming around the campus, but it felt like hours, and she'd still barely scraped the surface of it. It boggled her mind to try and visualize the scale of the academy; it was inordinately large. Vastly more so than all of Patch together, from end to end (a trip she could make in under an hour with her semblance) and all around (which would take a bit longer). So, she had just kind of walked along wherever her feet took her, as she had been doing for quite some time now. Which is why it came as a surprise when, suddenly, as she rounded yet another corner, she saw the familiar face of her: the girl who had lost her temper with Ruby after that accident aboard the ship.
Ruby froze mid-step, a lump settling itself firmly in her throat as the other girl stumbled backward from the impact; she could still see the sheen of aura shimmering from the force of the collision. Ruby always had moved faster than most even without her semblance, and that came with all the consequences it entailed. She hadn't meant to run into her (especially not her), at least not like that. But, here she was, and Ruby couldn't help but feel a sliver of annoyance uncomfortably worm its way across her, alongside the niggling diminutive measure of guilt that had festered since their last meeting—but it did not outweigh the former.
She knew, logically, that she it was her own fault and that she should have been paying more attention to where she was going; and yet, now, at the thought that she might be facing something like that all over again, well, that was embarrassing and frustrating in equal measure.
They stared at each other, neither moving, neither speaking. The tension thickening between them as the silence grew.
Ruby swallowed.
Where was Yang when she needed her?
"Uh…" it was now or never, she thought to herself, suppressing a grimace that threatened to overtake her face. She plastered on a smile instead. "O… oh, hi!" she finally forced herself to stutter out what she hoped came across as a friendly tone of voice.
It sounded more like a squeak than anything else, and the girl in white merely impassively stared back.
Her heart loudly pounded in her chest and thrummed in her ears while a cold sweat broke out across her forehead as the tension continued to build up between them. Ruby's mouth felt dry as sandpaper and she could feel the anxiety-induced perspiration gather on her palms. Why was it that these sort of things always happened to her‽
"Um," Ruby began, shifting in place on her feet. She took a deep breath. Dad always told her that people appreciated apologies, even if—and she knew it wasn't—her fault. "Look, what happened on that airship was a complete accident. The same as today, really. I… I–ah. I'm sorry about that." It wasn't her fault. The vials of dust should have never been that easy to set off. They had to be improperly stored and secured. So what if she had knocked them down and sneezed? It still shouldn't have blown up. She nearly huffed, only catching herself at the last second.
Okay, maybe it was a tiny bit her fault, but she apologized!
Ruby took another breath, and slowly exhaled.
"Do you think we could, y'know, start over… and maybe be friends?" she inquired as she fiddled with her fingers, her gaze trained solely on the floor in front of her.
"Friends?" the girl whispered, voice barely audible to Ruby even though she stood right next to her.
"You want to be… friends?" Echoed the near monotonous voice, though to Ruby's ears there seemed to be a noticeable tinge of curiosity in her voice.
Ruby blinked confusedly. "Yes?" she answered, looking up.
The girl in white had a contemplative expression on her face, looking directly at Ruby with icy blue eyes that seemed to study her. "… friends, hmm?" she murmured, her lips quirking upwards ever so slightly; the sight was fleeting and soon faded, leaving her lips once again pursed and pressed together, a single brow raised. "We do seem to keep running into each other, quite literally, do we not…? Okay then."
Ruby gaped. Had she heard her correctly? Was she actually considering it? Did she want to be friends? Could she be—!
"In fact, we'll simply be the best of friends. Talking about cute boys, going shopping together, sharing our secrets; all the little domestic activities one could imagine. We will become inseparable. Isn't that a wonderful idea?"
"Really‽" Ruby squealed as her whole body seemed to shake with joy; that was normal when you made a friend, right? Yang was going to be shocked! She giggled to herself happily at the thought. She knew that her older sister thought that Ruby wasn't exactly the greatest at making friends, or social situations period for that matter, but she had proven Yang dead wrong! And now, she'd have two friends—more people to hang out with the next time Yang ditched her.
"As if—"
And then everything went wrong.
"I'd sooner befriend a grimm than spend another moment in your insufferable presence," she heard the girl scoff. "What pathetic fool would be friends with someone like you, a pest? Hmph! How laughable. Now, kindly mind yourself," she added sharply, shooting Ruby a cold, hard stare. "I am not interested in a friend, let alone being yours." With that, she brushed past Ruby and made to disappear down the path around the corner.
"But… but—what of we became friends, like really great friends‽" Ruby called desperately after her retreating figure. Yet, as she knew to expect by now, no response came from the silhouette of the girl; only the squawking of a nearby crow was there to fill the silence left in her wake.
Ruby could already feel the tears prickling the corner of her eyes.
She hid her face with the hood upon her cloak, quickly tugging it down and covering herself. Veiled anew, she tried her best to swallow down the sob building up in her throat, fighting valiantly against her urge to cry—it shouldn't have hurt this much, but it did. Before long, she regained her composure with a deep breath. Taking another, she wiped away the stray tear that was slowly starting to slip down her cheek despite her efforts. Then, she turned around and marched off resolutely, her chin held high and a small smile set on her face.
Who would become grimm chow today? Nope. Not Ruby Rose, no sir!
Ruby hummed the song every time, and it's the same every time. The song always entailed the same, but still she hummed the nameless tune.
She had no idea where she was going, still, but she wouldn't stay here any longer. Who knows, maybe she'd just go back to the dorms; and the quicker, the better! She didn't want to run into any more mean people. Maybe, if she was lucky enough, she'd come across Jaune again. He was out training or something, wasn't he? She thought that was what he'd meandered off to do on his own after class. Or maybe, even Pyrrha. The older girl was a bit scary in a fight—and outside of one—but she seemed nice enough otherwise.
Ruby wouldn't say no to Yang either right now. She might have even been her first choice, if she were honest, but she didn't hold out any hope on running into her sister anytime soon. Ruby would even take Blake, and that was something that she didn't consider lightly.
Anyone was better than that girl.
A large part of her though, was really hoping for her partner. Jaune had been nothing but kind so far, and not to dismiss the rest of her team, but he was also easily the most amiable member whenever she wanted to do something fun like visiting the shooting range or workshops. It was almost comparable to Yang's allowances, and even then, she wasn't as willing to play along with the latter.
Either way, she could use something fun to distract herself with right now.
Once more with the vibrations of a soft melody filling the air, Ruby found herself kicking a pebble for comfort with her shoulders hunched. The sound of the rock bouncing aimlessly on the paved stone of the campus pathway did little to ease her conscious, nor did the gloomy overhead clouds make things much better.
She attempted to cheer herself up, telling herself that at least this time she had tried to follow Yang and dad's advice to make friends. Even if it hadn't worked out in the end and only seemed to make the other girl angrier. It appeared that Jaune was more of a fluke than anything else; exceptions existed, she supposed, but they were still just that.
Exceptions.
Ruby should've known better. She really, really should have—but, she wanted to one up her older sister and prove that she could handle herself in the process; and let that get the better of her. "So much for making friends," she bitterly muttered to herself as she kicked another stone. It started to drizzle in that moment, and soon her clothes were wet and cold and sticking uncomfortably to her skin, as with every passing second, the rain only fell harder. Like cats and dogs, as the saying went.
"Great, just great," she remarked miserably, pulling her hood further down onto her head to try and drown out the raindrops falling on her face. "Why am I not surprised? Just what I needed; of course it's raining. Stupid stupid stupid—"
Her foot slipped on the slick stone and she fell flat on her rear.
"Oh come on!" she exclaimed irritably. "This isn't fair! Why don't these things happen to Yang, or… or anyone else instead‽" She sat there motionless for a moment, only for her eyes to widen when she realized the grip she had on the soft red cloth surrounding her. There's a wetness on her face too, that she could feel from the harsh gusts of wind as she remained on the damp ground.
Her arms wrapped around her legs tightly and she rested her chin atop them, well and truly losing any of the composure she had managed to haphazardly slap together earlier. She looked to the ground instead, letting her head fall forward until it touched the top of her knees as she rested there dejectedly.
This was… not how she had wanted to spend the rest of her day.
A light tap on the shoulder interrupted her brooding.
Startled, Ruby jerked upright near instantaneously as she scrambled to her feet and turned, almost toppling backwards once more in the process. If it weren't for the hand that reached down to her side and carefully helped her regain her footing, she may have done just that. "Ah! wha—" Ruby immediately stopped panicking when she saw who it was.
Standing before her was none other than her teammate and partner, Jaune Arc.
"Ruby?" He stood in front of her, squinting down at her, a worried look on his face. "Is everything okay?"
"Jaune!" Ruby gasped, throwing her arms around him in relief. "Thank goodness!" she exclaimed as she squeezed him tightly. "Sorry," she mumbled quietly into his chest a moment later as she loosened her grip, face flushed red.
"Uh, no problem?"
She glanced up in time to see a confused expression flash across his face, but also saw as he smiled nonetheless. His arms wrapped around her in a warm embrace in turn, patting her gently on the back. "Are you alright, Ruby? You were sitting there for a while," she felt, more than heard him question; her arms still firmly latched around his waist and her head nestled against his chest. The rumbling of Jaune's voice was surprisingly soothing, reassuring even; like an anchor in the storm.
She liked it.
"Ruby?"
"Hah? Oh…" It took Ruby a minute to finally pull back and answer, her cheeks still pink. "Yup, I'm fine. I'm just—uh, well… " she trailed off, unable to form a coherent sentence.
"Okay, good. Are you sure? You can tell me anything."
Ruby shook her head. Of course she wasn't sure, but she couldn't say that. After all, she had failed spectacularly at her attempt to make a new friend. That would be pretty darn humiliating to admit out loud, even she knew that much. So, she didn't say that. Instead, she abruptly changed gears. "You're soaked!" Ruby complained, pulling away from Jaune and taking a step back.
"Yeah, I know," he laughed sheepishly, "but you are too."
"Then let's go somewhere dry!" she announced enthusiastically, plastering another grin that wasn't entirely genuine on her face. Without waiting for a reply, Ruby grabbed his hand and began dragging him toward the first year dormitory, her boots squelching slightly every time she took a step, but she couldn't care less about it in the moment.
"W–wait, Ruby! Slow down a bit! You're too fast!"
"Nope, nope, nope!" she retorted haughtily as she continued to pull him along. Silly Jaune. She wasn't too fast, everyone else was just too slow. "What are you doing out here anyway?" she asked curiously a second later.
"I was training, remember?"
"Oh, right!" she paused. "How'd that go?"
"Eh," he replied, stumbling as he tried to keep up with her. "I don't—uh, think that Professor Goodwitch likes me all that much. She walked in on me mid-way through and was just staring at me. It was really uncomfortable."
"Hmm," she replied nonchalantly, "well as long as you didn't vomit on her too, I think you'll be alright."
"Ruby!" Jaune shouted exasperatedly, laughing as they blew past someone opening the door to the building, a slight blush settling on his cheeks. "That's not funny! I think she'd kill me if I did."
"It kinda is, actually," she retorted, giggling as she watched him attempt to hide behind his own soaked hoodie while they ran through the building's lobby and up the stairs, skipping right past the elevators. They breezed past two floors, then three, five; and they were at the right level now, still in the concrete passageway—this place was built like a fortress.
Ruby looked back to see Jaune roll his eyes as they finally arrived at their dorm. The water was still dripping from his clothing. She looked at herself in delayed realization at the next moment. They're hoodie-buddies, both of them. That thought alone was enough to bring a real smile to her face as she walked forward.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he sighed, stepping through the doorway after her; past a plaque with the letters "BNAR" emblazoned upon it.
Ruby didn't wait up for him though, even as he rested for a moment; slightly out of breath. She let go of his hand as she continued toward the team's shared bedroom and left the door open as she passed through, bee-lining straight for her corner of the room.
"Oh, hey Ruby."
She glanced up to see Pyrrha casually greet her from her place on a bed, opposite of both Ruby and Jaune's own.
"Is Jaune here too?" Pyrrha inquired, turning her focus back to her scroll.
"Yep!" Ruby chirped. "Jaune's here too, he's just right outside," she told Pyrrha while scrounging around her bedside, looking for dry clothes or at the very least, a towel.
"Hi Pyrrha!"
Ruby idly listened as her two teammates conversed while she still shuffled about her belongings.
"Hello Jaune, nice weather today, huh?"
"Yeah, something like that I guess."
The sound of something being jostled about drew Ruby's attention, and she briefly turned to see Jaune shrug off his soaked hoodie and drop it to the ground; the article of clothing squelched as it landed to the floor with a thud. She laughed a bit. His hair looked like a wet dog—and she would know, considering she grew up with Zwei.
Her focus returned to her previous task a second later, ignoring the soft footfalls behind her.
"Blake is in the shower, by the way," Pyrrha's voice rang out. "She was caught out in the rain as well."
Ruby heard the click of a tongue, and the annoyance in Jaune's voice as he replied. "Alright, thanks Pyrrha."
A low hum was his response from their teammate.
Ah ha! She found it. Ruby grabbed a hold of both a towel and some clothes. Sweet victory was hers! But then, she glanced at her scroll in passing and felt the guilt that still gnawed away inside of her make a resurgence. Well, Yang had given her dorm room number to Ruby, so… why not take her up on that offer to visit?
"Hey, Jaune, Pyrrha," Ruby began. "Do you guys wanna come with me to visit my sister's room in a bit? It's…" she stopped for a second to look down at her scroll. "It's, uh… just across the hall from us." Ruby hadn't expected that.
"Of course we do!" came Pyrrha's bright response.
Ruby couldn't help but return the enthusiastic grin the other girl gave her. She turned to look at Jaune then, and watched for a moment as he rubbed his drenched hair with a towel of his own. "Jaune?"
It took a second longer for him to reply, as he struggled with his attempt to dry himself. A quick hopeless sigh later, followed by a nod in Ruby's general direction, and she had gotten her answer. "Sure, just when I'm not a walking puddle."
"Awesome!" Ruby cheered, and then she took off running. The shared bathroom was her destination, and she was intent on claiming one of the unoccupied shower stalls. She snickered as she passed by Jaune, the lone guy in a team full of girls, and stuck a tongue out at him as she closed the door behind her.
Ruby hummed the same motif every time, and it was the same every time. And now the melody didn't end the same, but she still hummed the song.
The door clacked open, and a cry echoed throughout the room as soon as the door shut closed.
"Yang!"
Yang blearily blinked open one eye open, briefly peered at the entrance, and let out a disgruntled sigh as she realized who was here. "Go away Ruby." And she sprawled back onto the soft cushions she had been laying on, comfortably cocooned in a blanket.
Her sister, of course, ignored her. All the warning Yang had was the stampede of footsteps making their way in her direction, and a short-lived glimpse of an exaggerated mischievous expression overtaking Ruby's face mere moments before she landed atop of Yang—she yelped.
"Sorry sis," Ruby said with an abundance of faux innocence and doe-wide eyes.
Yang grit her teeth. That brat was totally not sorry in the slightest. Ruby put so much effort into blending in with people, these days. It looked a little awkward to Yang—she'd never seemed to have learned to emote in quite as natural a way as everyone else could—but then, Yang had known to look for it. She doubted many others would be able to tell that almost every gesture and expression were a conscious decision.
"Guys, this is Yang and she's my sister!" Ruby grinned abashed and continued, "though, most of you already know that. Yang, these are my teammates!" She pointed at each one of them as Yang sat up and followed along languidly, disinterested, but keeping up with the appearance of politeness.
"Hello again, Yang," a familiar face greeted. Pyrrha, wasn't it? "Thank you for inviting us to your room."
"Huh? I didn't—" Yang received an elbow to the side for her troubles, and she shot a cursory glare at her sister. "Ahem, no problem P-Money. We were bored anyway." Her eyes roamed about the room, and coming across Ruby's partner, she let her gaze linger.
A quick wink and smile later, and she had him blushing. "Um, hi!" That was the extent of tall and scraggly's own awkward acknowledgment before he looked away. No salacious gestures necessary; not even a hint of skin or the occasional sly touch on 'accident.' Really, he made it too easy.
She smiled at Ruby's faint giggles, but they, nor her smile, lasted long. A throat cleared. Her attention shifted as she saw Ruby tense, and then Yang looked up at the last member of her sister's team.
"I'm Blake Belladonna," the newcomer greeted quietly.
This was the errant team leader? She had been absent the first time Yang had met the group. Her eyes flittered about the girl, and narrowed. She was pretty enough, if somewhat pale, like a porcelain doll, and had wavy ebony hair—and just what kind of person wore a bow on top of their head like that nowadays? That hadn't been in fashion for decades—not to mention her striking amber eyes; but there was something unsettling about it all (and Ruby's own clear unease didn't help matters any).
Yang forced back a grimace, and grinned. "Well, aren't you a cutie?" She leaned back into the couch, stifling a chuckle as Ruby lost her balance and thinking quick, Yang pulled Ruby along with her and held her sister to her side.
"Gah!"
"Name's Yang Xiao-Long. Nice to meetcha!"
Blake appeared taken aback, face flushed and ducked her head as she shyly glanced to the floor. "Uh, likewise." From her sister's raised eyebrow, Yang figured something was unusual about it—not that she could put a finger to it.
"Ugh, leave her alone, Yang!" her sister scolded.
Pulled out of her thoughts, Yang was pushed down onto the cushions below her as Ruby tackled her. "Hey!" Yang protested her actions indignantly. "Get off of me already, Rubes!" she huffed in frustration as they wrestled.
Ruby cackled—the slippery little grimmspawn that she was—and nimbly avoided Yang's attempts to pry her off her. "You started it!" she shouted with glee, and proceeded to tickle her older sister mercilessly, causing Yang to shriek with laughter as she squirmed and thrashed around.
"Ruby! Stop it now!" Yang cried out through fits of hysterical giggling. As she struggled fruitlessly against her sister's iron grip, she revealed her trump card: "or you're not getting any sweets later."
Shifting her weight a bit, Ruby relented and gave her sister an innocent look—a look that, unfortunately, Yang could see through like a window, and promptly burst into exaggerated laughter. "You deserved it," she remarked afterward, sticking her tongue out childishly at Yang.
Yang scowled and combed out the petals from her hair. Anyone who thought that Ruby couldn't handle herself in close quarters was out of their mind. "Whatever, you little menace." Sure, Yang could probably beat Ruby's ass with one hand tied behind her back, technique for technique, but she didn't fancy the collateral damage her own semblance might cause to the dorm room.
With a heavy sigh, Yang pried Ruby off of her, who now looked rather smug as she stood on her own two feet and rejoined her team. Yang made notice of how she bee-lined right between Jaune and Blake, and filed it away for later consideration.
"Well," Yang drawled out,"now that all of you have been introduced, it's their turn." She flippantly drew attention to the duo silently watching from the other corner of the room with a pointed finger. "That one over there, the real chill one—he's my partner and team RYNW's leader, Ren."
The aforementioned Ren inclined his head politely and offered the group a small, polite smile and wave before shifting his focus away; his eyes dropping down to his scroll.
"And that one, the…" Yang paused, trailing off. "Y'know, I'm not really sure how to describe her." How exactly did one encompass all that made oneself Nora? She'd proven herself to have a rather unique disposition over the last few weeks. Ah well, at least Nora wasn't boring like the other two.
"She's, well… that's Nora Valkyrie!" Yang gestured grandly. "She and Ren are old childhood friends, or lovers, or something," she chortled, "but they don't like to admit it. Although, if Ren is on the market—"
"Keep it up and I'll break your legs," the girl, Nora, suddenly interjected.
Yang snickered as she eyed her sister's owlish blink at the threat. See? Not boring in the slightest. "She's kind scary, huh?" Yang poked more. "Makes me wonder just how Ren handles her in bed, y'know? Or is it her that handles him?"
"Yang!" Ruby chastised sharply. Her face was bright pink, and she averted her gaze quickly towards the floor.
"What?! How dare you—" Nora started off furiously, and Yang sat back to watch the fireworks; disappointment was all she received instead, however, as she noticed Ren exchange a glance with Nora. The two teammates shared some quiet communication in a hushed whisper, and after exchanging a few words, Nora seemingly settled down. "Bimbo," she scoffed, crossing her arms in clear offense and pointedly looking away.
Boring! Buzzkill Ren was at it again. Ugh, whatever.
"Don't worry about it Nora." Yang winked at her sister as soon as she heard the exasperated groan and despondent mutterings that soon followed. Ruby worried too much sometimes. "You know I don't mean anything by it. He's all yours."
She turned to face Ruby and her team in full then, pointing a finger at her cute baby sister to single her out. "She likes to act tough, but you should see her around pancakes. It kind of reminds me of 'ol Ruby here and her obsession with cookies." Ruby would would eat any that crossed her path without a second thought if the food happened to be in her vicinity, and Yang couldn't blame her for her love of them either, even if they didn't quite match up to the standard they had once been accustom to—their mother had spoiled them with the most delicious cookies Yang had ever tasted.
Yang looked around her, noting everyone's reactions. Well, everyone except Ren who looked unamused and disinterested; he was a total stick in the mud. If the guy wanted to play that way, she wouldn't stop him. She just wished that he'd let her have her fun. Besides, there were plenty more interesting people around for her eyes to peruse like P-Money (positively beaming); tall, blond and scraggly (Yang decided she didn't have the heart to rile him up further); or… Blake (Blakey or Flakes? No, those both sounded weird). Yang wasn't sure what to mentally catalog the last one as just yet.
She stopped short when her gaze fell upon the crossed expression that lined Ruby's face. Calling it an obsession might have been a step too far; Yang knew full and well of the bittersweet remembrance behind it. She would apologize later. For now, a change in topic was in order.
"Anyway, my team is pretty awesome, isn't it Rubes?"
Ruby absently nodded, mumbling out a reply a second later. "Um, yeah." She shook her head and quickly changed tune, looking around the room. "So, uh. What do you guys want to do? Do we play video games, or do we pick a board game, or…"
"We can watch a movie," Yang suggested, "I was think—" before she could get her words out in their entirety, however, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed loud throughout dorm; more stomps than steps, really.
A door slammed open.
"Would it kill you to cease this racket for two minutes!"
Everyone's heads turned, Yang's included, as a shrill voice snapped from further inside her team's residence. "Have you all no shame, nor any sense of common courtesy‽ I had clearly mentioned earlier that I would be studying, did I not?" Weiss stormed into view, souring everyone's mood.
"And that's Weiss, our fourth and final teammate; you can just call her Weiss Cream or something like that. Don't mind her though, she's a bit of a grumpy pants."
If Ren was a stick in the mud, that girl had a stick in her ass.
Yang didn't care who did it—the same as she didn't care where Weiss came from—but someone ought to teach that girl a lesson for acting like such an entitled brat. She had never seen someone so uptight before in her life.
"Snow Angel?"
Huh—wait, what? Yang glanced at Jaune incredulously. Did he seriously just say what she thought he said?
"Wow, it really is you. I didn't think I'd run into you here again. You know, I never introduced myself the last time we met. The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."
She didn't know where to start.
From the looks of it, Weiss had been left speechless—Yang too for that matter, and so had everyone else in the room. She didn't think he had it in him. Tall, blond and scraggly has been upgraded to Lady Killer.
"Snow Angel?" Jaune repeated again, querying in the silence that followed his outburst.
It took all Yang had to keep a straight face. "Snow Angel," she echoed after him. "Oh man. That… that's perfect!" Any sense of decorum had faltered. "Hey, hey. Snow Angel—" an outburst of giggles echoed throughout the room, "—say hi to my sister and her team, would you?"
"Never call me that again, Yang."
Yang waved her off, too preoccupied with her guffaws. Oh god—why the heck was Jaune calling Weiss something as dolled up as "Snow Angel," when she was literally the definition of frigid? It didn't suit her in the slightest, and the irony of it almost drove Yang to tears. Almost. "Snow Angel," Yang continued with the moniker that had become increasingly ridiculous. "Please accept my eternal apology."
Weiss huffed and turned away. "As for you—what are you even doing here? No, never mind that, just stay away. And I swear if I hear you say that name one more time…" Weiss' voice trailed off. "Now, Yang. You said we had guests, and your sister was among them? This is hardly an opportune time, but I suppose if I must then I will introduce myself. I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee family with all that entails. Yes, the same Schnee as in the Schnee Dust Company," Weiss stated simply and preemptively, slowly turning to face Ruby and her team. A pause, "and who might you all—" her eyes narrowed, "oh, it's you." Weiss was frowning deeply, brow furrowed with evident displeasure, and her mouth set in such a way that seemed to suggest that the young heiress was in serious thought.
"What a persistent pest."
That was directed toward Ruby, Yang shortly realized. She glanced at her sister; at the scowl marring the younger girl's beautiful features. Weiss' reaction was strange—even stranger seeing her little sister so upset. She turned back to her teammate, sneaking a glance, and then returned her attention to her sister.
She didn't like the look on her sister's face.
Yang frowned.
She knew that face. Ruby always made it whenever she was having a particularly bad day—and sometimes the sweetest apples… had the foulest worms inside. All trace of amusement vanished from Yang's features; she stood up and walked around the couch. The scowl on Ruby's face deepened and her fists clenched, nails digging into her palms; she opened her mouth to speak, but Yang beat her to it and interrupted her little sister.
"Hey, Ruby. Why don't you go ahead and take the sweets I left for you on my desk over there? I got them for you last weekend in the city, but haven't had a chance to hand 'em over. Oh, and I think there's also some strawberries in the fridge, so help yourself to them too if you want."
"Okay."
Yang watched as Ruby meandered over to the other side of the room, nearing Ren and Nora—"Watch out you two, having her around you is hazardous for your health."—and then immediately turned her attention to Weiss at the outburst.
"I dunno what this is all about," she announced abruptly, hissing as loud as she dared with Ruby still in the same room. "just remember this—if anyone calls Ruby by the wrong names like 'pest,' if they try to bully her, or otherwise make any violent moves towards her, I will hurt them, and they will regret it. I don't know why Ruby is so upset with you, and frankly, I don't much care either. So, I'm going to give you a choice: you can leave, behave, or you can take it up with me."
She raised her eyebrows in challenge, waiting expectantly for Weiss' response.
The heiress, seemingly unaffected by the previous exchange, regarded her with icy eyes and said nothing. Instead she looked past Yang, and spoke. This time her voice was laced with an unmistakable amount of biting vitriol as she turned and walked back into the room she had come from. "Try not to kill anyone around next time you explode again. I won't be there to keep them safe from your idiocy. "
The door slammed shut.
Expl—Ruby exploded? What? And why was this the first time she was hearing anything about this?
Her head snapped back around to her sister, just in time to see her drop the container of strawberries back onto the shelf it came from and look up. Yang saw the traces of fear that lined Ruby's face as she flinched away, and her eyes burned. Her gaze returned to the door Weiss withdrew behind. The two of them, Yang and Weiss, would be having a conversation later.
After she got the entire story from Ruby, because apparently Yang couldn't give her the space she needed long enough to grow into her own person without Ruby exploding in Yang's absence, whatever that meant. Exploded. By the Brother Gods, please don't let that be literal.
She took a breath, and felt a sudden sense of tranquility overcome her.
After a moment, Yang shrugged inwardly and turned to face everyone else, not wasting another minute on Weiss. Or the possibility that her sister really did blow herself up somehow, which was now becoming more and more likely with every passing moment she pondered it—Ruby, what am I supposed to do with you?—and spoke to the awkwardly gathered group of people instead.
"Sorry about her," she motioned to the door Weiss had retreated behind with a wave of her hand. "She's kinda… temperamental, moody; might even be that time of the month for her. Ren and Nora already know how she can get, and now you all do too…" she grinned. "So… movie, anyone?" With these simple words, the tension eased, allowing for some semblance of normality to return.
They were going to have a great night!
Yang was sure of it. Now it only remained for them to make the most of it while they could. "You guys wanna pick?"
While they figured that out, Yang walked over to her sister and wrapped an arm around Ruby, guiding her closer to the couch; she whispered into her ear: "Rubes? Are you okay? You seemed a little angry—"
Before Yang could finish her sentence, Ruby cut her off with a short, curt nod.
Not sure if she should press on, or push her luck a bit further, Yang decided to drop it, if only for now. She had plenty of time to ask her sister questions later. And so, she opted to change the subject.
"Leave some for tomorrow," Yang advised, seeing the rate at which Ruby was working through her haul before they'd even made it to the couch.
"I don't tell you to leave some of your lunch for dinner, so don't tell me how to eat my cookies."
"False equivalence. Strawberries and cookies aren't proper meals."
"Everything can be a proper meal if you eat enough of it," Ruby decreed, mouth full and eyes closed, supremely unconcerned. "And you're not the only one who inherited mom's stomach, so strawberries and cookies can too be my breakfast, lunch and dinner. Deal with it."
Their mother would have scolded Yang until her ears were ringing if she'd known she'd bought Ruby so many cookies in the first place.
Then again, she thought, as the two settled down next to each other on the cushions, away from the rest, and Ruby slowly reverted to the smaller and quieter expressions she favored when they were home and it was just the two of them—the ones she didn't have to think about, more natural, but today no less content, not in the slightest...
Then again, maybe not.
This chapter kind of ran away from me, to be perfectly honest.