The 'Junior's Club' members had never been what one may consider a normal family. Even putting aside, the abilities wielded by two of its members, one would be hard pressed to categorise them as even abnormal. They were, for lack of a better term, weird. They had appeared, from seemingly nowhere, just over twenty years ago, and taken Vale's criminal underworld by storm, wresting control over the largest gang territory in little over a month.

They were eccentric, they were rowdy, and they were well respected. Certain members were legends in their own right; Jax 'The Man of Steel', Joy 'The Miracle Worker' or most renowned of them all, Junior 'The Black Bear'. Yet, even someone familiar with the family's antics would find the scene before them perplexing, and it was exactly this fact that had created a small clearing on the transport around the gathered group of girls.

"Come on Rubes, it's not that bad." Ilia's patience was wearing thin as the transport ship hummed to life, ready for take-of. She had always thought of Ruby as brilliant. Eccentric, obsessive and at times annoying, but brilliant. The younger girl had always seemed to excel at most of what she put her mind too, making achievements far beyond what her age dictated she should be capable of. However, it was exactly this brilliance that was now causing her issues.

The previous morning, the girls had woken to the sound of an ecstatic Nora bursting into their shared dining room. The bubbly ginger had all but thrown herself across the table taking all of them to the ground with her, groaning, yelping and protesting as they did so. Their results had come in and all of them had made into the current academic year at Beacon. They were all a little surprised they would have to attend immediately the next day, but were, overall, happy to have made it. Or at least most of them were.

Ruby's joy had lasted all of a few minutes before her curiosity had gotten the best of her. The letters not only contained their written acceptance from the Headmaster, along with things they may need to know such as arrival deadlines and a few important rules, but also the applicant's placement rank amongst their Year group. She hadn't expected to come near the top, far from it in fact, but she had hoped to perhaps make middle of the table, but as her eyes travelled further and further down the list her heart sank. She had, unfortunately, been ranked the lowest of this year's applicants. She understood; after all, she had missed one of the tests, but she had secretly hoped they would let that go after her performance in the second test directly afterwards.

"That's easy for you to say; you're in the top eight!" Ruby cupped her hands over her face in a vain attempt at hiding herself from the other students who had filed onto the transport ship with them. Doing so muffled her words slightly, but if she minded, she didn't let it show. "How am I even supposed to introduce myself to people? 'Hi, I'm Ruby Rose, nice to meet you'." Ruby feigned excitement as she pretended to be in a conversation with someone. Her voice swapped adopting a deeper tone to imply someone else replied. "'Ruby Rose? Aren't you the one who ranked lowest?'" Ruby groaned and hid her face again. "I'm never gonna live it down."

Ilia, to her credit, managed to hide her mocking smirk at the rather childish display her younger sister put on and simply rolled her eyes in annoyance. Ruby had never been very socially aware, she could hold a conversation just fine and was more than likable, but she had never actively engaged in anything that required the attendance of more than a few people she wasn't familiar with. She would never attend parties with her sisters especially not ones without them. Ruby may have hated being babied and tried to be as independent as she could, but nothing would send her running back to the waiting embrace of her sisters quicker than a large group of people she didn't know.

"You'll be fine; I doubt anybody even bothered to check the names on the list after they found themselves. Besides, it's only where you start, you'll raise your grade in no time." Ruby simply grumbled and muttered something incomprehensible into her hands. Ilia saw her younger sister's momentary distraction and quickly grabbed the twins by their wrists, corralling them into a huddle just out of Ruby's earshot. Both of the girls gave her confused glances but complied when she gestured for them to lean close for her to whisper.

"You know what we have to do right?" The twins simply gave each other blank looks before shaking their heads at Ilia. The faunus let out a tired sigh as she deadpanned at the two. "When we get to Beacon, we should let her try and make friends…" The twins simply stared again, their expressions reading 'well obviously?', Ilia rolled her eyes. "On her own." The pair immediately realised what she was insinuating, Miltia didn't seem keen on the implications.

"You want us to ditch her immediately?" Her voice was warning, not entirely convinced by Ilia's plan. "You know she'll kill us, right?" Ilia groaned at her words.

"Oh, come one. It's for her own good, besides, what's she gonna do?" She looked to the other twin for support. "You at least can agree with me, right Mel?" The white twin hummed, seemingly in deep thought, her eyes adopting a slightly horrified glint as she imagined certain scenarios play out.

"I agree it's good for her…" She had barely gotten her words out before Ilia jumped on the opportunity.

"See, it'll be fine. She'll do great." She moved to continue but Melanie began speaking again.

"But you and I both know what she'll do to us as repercussions. Are you sure you wanna' go through that again?" Melanie looked haunted as she locked her gaze with her faunus sister, who simply looked confused before donning her own terrified look. Ilia began nervously chuckling glancing over her shoulder, thankful to see her younger sister still moping with her face in her hands.

"N-No, she wouldn't resort to… that… would she?" The end came out as a concerned squeak as she once again checked on Ruby out of the corner of her eye.

"She would." The twins said unanimously, no hint of hesitation slipping into their tones. Ruby would resort to that, and she would do it with a smile on her face and a gleam in her eye. Ilia gulped as she scrambled through her brain for a loophole. After a moment, the twins watched as a metaphorical light bulb lit up above Ilia's head.

"All three of us chose to do first aid and combat medicine, right?" The red and white pair slowly nodded, confused. "Well, what if we told her there is a meet and greet seminar for that course? Then she wouldn't be able to come with us and couldn't get angry with us for ditching her." Ilia looked chuffed with herself, prompting Miltia to turn to Melanie for her opinion. The white twin simply shrugged; it was certainly a better idea than just high tailing it as soon as the transport landed. Eventually, Miltia reluctantly nodded her assent to Ilia's plan, though she couldn't shake the feeling she was making a mistake. Perhaps it was the trauma from the last time she had experienced that.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the sound of someone's stomach emptying itself, split through the calm chatting that had previously filled the ship. Miltia looked over to see the sorry remains of a blonde boy groaning and an angry girl squawk at him whilst she tried desperately to save her shoes from the boy's upset insides.

Gradually, the ever-present thrumming of the bullhead's engines dulled as it slowly lowered itself to the ground of Beacon's airfield. Term time had started, and as such the new students had been picked up by the school's airships. It was Beacon's policy, that once the semester started, anyone who wasn't a member of staff, a student or a specified guest, could not enter school grounds. There were several reasons for this, the main one being that a school full of hormone fuelled children armed to the teeth was far from the safest area for the average civilian. However, understandably, this had left some of the students a little nervous.

Ruby found herself being one of those people; there were perhaps forty people on this aircraft, and she knew three of them. What was worse was that those three were all seemingly ready to bolt and wouldn't look her in the eye when she asked what was wrong. As the flight had reached its end all three of her sisters had slowly become more distant, as if…

A sudden hissing filled the air as the large metal doors of the aircraft opened and revealed a walkway leading the way into the airfield and eventually the familiar courtyard of Beacon academy some hundred metres away. Ruby's gaze quickly flicked back to the other three and she immediately noticed they were all ready to turn and leave. Her eyes narrowed.

"Guys?" Her tone was questioning, and she noticed as Melanie winced at her voice. It was Ilia who met her gaze, a little calmer than the others but Ruby could see her footwork was prepared to run at a moment's notice.

"Don't worry Rubes, we have an early meet up for first aid, we'll see ya in the opening ceremony." She swivelled on her heels setting a brisk pace to increase the gap between her and her sister before she could retort. Ruby held up her hand to slow them down and call out but was quickly blocked off as the swarm of new students robbed her of her view of her sisters.

"I… Wait! Hey! Wait Ilia!" She tried to push past a burly boy with ginger hair and a symbol of a bird on his front, only to be shoved back and be sent to the back of the human wave. Eventually she gave up her futile attempts to get off quicker and let out frustrated sigh only to be met by a chuckle from besides her.

Ruby turned to see a tall, blonde boy, the same one who had thrown up earlier giving her a sympathetic look. He was well built she supposed, not anything special, a little underwhelming even, but he had nice eyes though, a calming dark blue. He seemed approachable enough and the fresh handprint across the right side of his face her was absently nursing made her return the amused laugh.

"Women am I right?" He said, a smile plastering itself across his lips only to be replaced by a wince as the right side of his face argued with the movement. Ruby simply laughed and nodded as the two began to walk out of the bullhead. "Yhea, I got sisters too, can be a pain in the ass being the youngest." Ruby simply looked at him surprised; it wasn't often someone figured her relation to her siblings, often they assumed them to be friends, or at least cousins, due to her lack of resemblance to them. Eventually she looked up at him mirthfully.

"Tell me about it. I mean, one minute its 'you're too young for this' and then all of a sudden its 'Your too old to be doing this', I mean at least be consistent." Ruby made wild gestures with her hands as she entered her tirade, causing the boy to laugh heartily, seemingly forgetting his pain. It was at that point that Ruby realised an issue. "Oh, where are my manners, I'm ruby Rose nice to meet you." She held out her hand which he eventually shook.

"Name's Jaune, Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it…" He flashed her a winning smile. She simply looked at him incredulously a smirk clear on her features as she looked at the glowing red handprint on his face.

"Do they?" Her tone was teasing, and he seemed to deflate as she spoke before quickly recovering and replying.

"W-Well they will." He gazed of into the distance for a moment as if imagining the scene before realising he was with company once more. "So, three sisters huh? All of you coming to Beacon at the same time too?" He looked unfazed by the notion, but his tone suggested he couldn't quite figure the situation out.

"Yhea, I'm two years younger than Ilia and Mel and Mil are four years older again, we decided we all wanted to go together so I applied to enter early, and the twins waited a few years for us to be ready." Jaune hummed as he nodded at her explanation before donning a smirk.

"That couldn't be me; no way I could go through school with six elder sisters breathing down my neck every few seconds." Ruby's eyes widened at the nonchalant way he spoke. He turned to see her looking at him mouth agape, a confused look crossing his face. "What?"

"Six?" Jaune nodded.

"All I can say is my Mom's a demon. If my dad had been anybody else, I think he may have died by now." He shuddered as a memory surfaced in his head. "My dad sat me down once, when I asked about it, and said 'Boy When Samantha Arc is in 'the mood', one does not get in the way'." Ruby couldn't help but shiver herself as a very real horror overcame the boy's face. She tore her gaze away, taking in the scenery around them before turning around and looking at them as they walked, walking backwards in the process.

"Soooo… you nervous?" He looked at her confused. "Ya know, about going to Beacon, Teams, Partners, grades etc." For a moment Jaune didn't answer, but his stride notably slowed as the enormity of his situation seemed to catch up with him all at once.

"You know, I hadn't really thought about it much." He paused his bright demeanour from before diminishing slowly as he thought. "Is it true that the bottom two teams of each year have to give up half of their summer break for extra lessons?" The boy seemed terrified at the prospect and Ruby couldn't help but prod the momentary weakness.

"Why? Do you think you'll be one of those teams?" Her tone was teasing but he seemed to jerk away in an all too real fashion.

"What? No. Of course not. I'm just… wondering if the school was as spartan as it's made out to be." He spoke to fast for Ruby to even pretend she believed him. Giving him a knowing look, he eventually deflated again. "Okay, maybe I'm a little worried, but can you blame me? We're at Beacon freaking academy!" Ruby huffed a laugh as he became overstressed.

"You'll be fine vomit boy; the teachers here are the best…" her mind flashed to her uncle Bart and his friend Peter Port who also taught here. "quirky, but the best no less." He looked befuddled for a moment, eventually she returned the gesture. "What?"

"'Vomit Boy', really?" She maintained her confused look as he spoke but failed to keep the hint of a smile from entering her expression.

"Well yeah, you threw-up all over those girls, and that bench, and that one flight attendant and..." He cut her off before she could continue.

"I get travel sick, and the ride was bumpy!" he raised his voice in his defence.

"We were in the air for ten minutes, if even that." She continued.

"We were going to fast!" He tried, losing his confidence.

"It was cruising speed because we were over buildings in downtown Vale." She managed to stop her laugh from escaping but her amused grin portrayed how she felt all the same. Jaune sighed in defeat.

"Alright, so my stomach may be a little…" Ruby met his gaze with an accusatory stare. "Okay, very sensitive to motion." He seemed to gain a second wind from nowhere. "But it won't matter, because one day I'll be a super famous hunter and girls will be lining up to spend time with me." Ruby struggled to walk backwards as she laughed at Jaune's expense, though a few moments later he joined her.

"I guess that mark on your face is just her way of calling dibs then." Ruby managed to get out in between giggles. Jaune simply smirked and took it in his stride.

"Oh totally, I mean she's obviously pinning for me. After all, you don't really know a girl until she nearly kills you for blowing chunks all over her brand-new shoes." Ruby skin crawled at the mental image he recreated, and a dangerous situation appeared in her head.

"Jaune?" He looked at her, her giggling halting but a small smile still clear on her face, though it seemed almost warning.

"Yeah?" He watched as her eyes took on a glazed look as if imagining something.

"Just, please, don't try that with my sisters." He moved to speak but she cut him off by continuing. "This isn't a protective sister kind of thing; this is a I don't want to scrap my first friend at Beacon off the cafeteria walls kind of thing." His mouth hung open mouthing an 'oh' as he got her meaning and nodded.

A few more minutes passed as they wandered, talking about their families, memories and their various courses. Eventually Ruby stopped as she beheld a familiar fountain and looked around to find herself in the all too familiar courtyard, though something was off, she couldn't place it, but there was definitely something different.

"Jaune, where are we going?" She looked back at her new friend who simply shrugged at her.

"I don't know I was following you." He said, unaware of her rapid change of mood.

"What?! I was following you!" She sent an accusatory look which he ignored unsure as to why she was so worked up. After he didn't respond she patted herself down trying to find her phone. "What's the time?" Jaune responded by rolling back his sleeve and revealing a wristwatch.

"Uh, two thirty. Why?" Her expression sunk into horror as she rapid looked around for any sign of directions, realising she had no idea where she was going. "Ruby? You okay?" He asked carefully, confused.

"Jaune, the Headmaster's introduction speech was at two fifteen!" Jaune's expression shifted quickly to panic as he too realised their issue. They were late and lost. It was now that Ruby realised what was wrong with the courtyard; it had no people in it.

"Ah… Well shit." Both took off running to what they hoped was the main theatre, where the speech was being held. Hopefully they could sneak in for the last part.

"I'll… keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your lives to the protection of the people." The headmaster droned on as Ruby only half paid attention, her mind grinding out a plan for revenge on her sisters whilst she searched for any hint of them from the back of the gathered students.

After an awkward few minutes of sneaking into the hall, Jaune and Ruby had gone their separate ways. However, before the blond boy had left, Ruby asked if he knew where first aid was holding their meet and greet so she could find her sisters after the introduction speech finished. Jaune had looked panicked for a moment as he quickly pulled out his phone and rapidly scrolled before eventually placing his hand on his chest and letting out a relieved sigh.

Luckily for Jaune, no such meet and greet was happening and as such he wasn't already skipping classes, as he too was doing first aid. Unfortunately for Ruby's sisters, she knew they had lied to her. Ruby tried and failed to keep her annoyance from showing on her face as the headmaster continued.

"But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, and we intend to grant you this knowledge, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. After all, it is up to you to take the first step." There was a brief moment of silence as everyone listening made sure he was finished with his speech before the low rumble of applause overtook the auditorium, the occasional cheer or whistle joining in from the more excited students. Ruby herself took to absentmindedly clapping as she seethed, almost missing when everyone else stopped applauding and waited for the headmaster to begin again.

"Now, with that out of the way, I feel it is appropriate for me to get to the part I know you have all been waiting for, partner and team selection." He said the final part with emphasis causing the room to be engulfed in a stark, all-consuming silence, even Ruby suddenly began to pay attention. "As I am sure you are all aware, Beacon Academy uses a tried and tested method of training known as the team system. In this system you will be given a partner and then be paired up with another set of partners to form a four-person team, which will have an appointed leader from amongst you. We do this to instil a sense of teamwork and comradery amongst you. You and your partner's grades will be combined and averaged out, meaning that your actions no longer only affect you." There was a slight commotion as he halted his speaking, various students murmuring about being held back by their partners. The headmaster seemed to take no notice and continued on.

"There will be no partner trading, and there will certainly be no team reshuffles, working out issues between you and your partner or teammate is one of the main points of this exercise so excuses relating to such shall hold no weight." The room was once again devoid of sound, though this time the silence was tense and desperate unlike the quiet awe from before. Ruby couldn't help but notice the hint of a smirk pull at the edges of the headmaster's lips as he moved to continue. "I shall now read out the forty pairs and twenty teams who will form today. When your name is called out please come and stand up on the stage beside you partner and team. After all teams are formed you shall be given your dorm number, which you will share with your team. What you do after is up to you, but we highly recommend getting to know your team as tomorrow morning a placement matches will be held to decide your teams ranking amongst your year group, from first to twentieth." A faint hum could be heard as various students hummed and nodded with the new information.

"Here at Beacon Academy we believe in quality over quantity and so at the end of the first year, teams ranked tenth through twentieth will be dropped and asked to apply for the first year again with the new initiates of that year, some of you are people who have already done so. Do not worry, chances to go up and down the rankings will be abundant throughout the year." He paused for effect, but the moment people began making noise he continued, effectively silencing them. "So, without further ado, let us begin".

For the first few minutes the professor called up people Ruby didn't know, she would applaud with everyone else but never paid much attention to detail as she waited in anticipation for her name to be called. Jaune's name had been called a few teams ago but her focus had been elsewhere, and she had lost him amongst the other teams. However, her stupor was instead broken by another's name being called.

"Ilia Amitola and Blake Belladonna." Ruby's head snapped to the walkway onto the stage as she beheld her sister sheepishly walk up the steps with the mysterious black clad girl from the day before following closely behind. "Teamed with Miltia Malachite and Melanie Malachite" She caught the twins filing onto the stage from the opposite walkway. She managed to keep her seething in check, but as Ilia's eyes nervously roamed the crowd, she momentarily locked gazes with Ruby. A sickly-sweet smile spread across Ruby's face as her eyes burned holes into her older sister who quickly tried to look away and pretend she hadn't seen her. Vengeance would be hers.

A few more teams were read out and Ruby found herself amongst a rapidly thinning crowd. Normally this would be fine; crowds did not agree with her, but with the people on the stage staring at her and the few people left, she felt judged. She could have sworn that headmaster Ozpin was purposefully slowing down in order to let her squirm under what was currently sixty plus gazes. She forced herself to look at the headmaster, trying not to acknowledge the opinions that were likely be formed of her as she sat surrounded by empty seats. Finally, her turn came.

"Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee" Ruby's eyes widened as she slowly got up, her body, racked with nerves, moving on its own as she roamed her gaze over the other remaining students. She could hear whispers circulating from amongst the collected students on the stage as she neared and was met with the sight of her partner.

Weiss was around the same height as Ruby, though she was wearing heels, so she was actually slightly smaller, and was a like a moving phantom as she paced onto the stage. Her dress went down to just above her knees, several layers of fabric overlapping near the bottom, with several depictions of snowflakes amongst the fabric in a baby blue along the edges. Atop it was a white bolero jacket with a vibrant red popping out from the few exposed part of its interior. Weiss herself had long, flowing platinum-blonde hair that was tied up neatly in a slightly off-kilter ponytail that trailed down her back with expensive pins holding it in place. Her eyes were of a calm blue that seemed cold as her gaze flicked over to Ruby. Her face was flawless, nary a mark or blemish across even a millimetre of her skin, all bar a single faint, straight scar over her left eye. The scar was new and clean, the flesh around it was pink from being newly remade and replenished. Ruby made a point to ask her later, but the headmaster seemed set on not giving her a moment to think.

"Teamed with Neopolitan and Penny Polendina." Ruby watched as the two approached the stage, smiling as Neo offered her a small wave and a mischievous grin. The small girl was much the same as when she had last seen her, aside from her tiny stature and the colour scheme that took after her namesake, she fit right in with the other students. Whilst the students varied vastly, there were definite patterns Ruby noticed with how they dressed; some like Weiss, Neo and the twins had dressed to impress, wearing suits, dresses and other expensive clothing, whilst others had gone with an edgier look like Ilia and admittedly herself. The same, however, could not be said about Neo's partner.

Penny Polendina was, for lack of a better term, odd. She was slightly taller than Ruby herself, likely around two inches taller, and carried herself in a carefree, loose manner as if she didn't notice all of the people giving her confused looks as she skipped up to the stage. Ruby envied her courage, or perhaps it was cluelessness, as the girl made it to the steps a huge smile plastered across her face. She had short ginger hair, similar to Nora only it curled neatly at the ends, that ended halfway down her neck and bright, almost electric, green eyes which clearly displayed her excitement. Her cloths were plain, consisting of a mostly beige shoulder blouse, that seemed a little out of date, with a light grey pinafore dress over the top with light green streaks around the hips and legs and a golden trimming along the hem. She also sported a pair of black thigh-highs completing the look of a middle-class child from a sixty-year-old movie.

The ginger girl noticed Ruby looking at her and enthusiastically waved as she walked over and stood beside Ruby, though 'stood' was perhaps not the best description as the girl continuously fidgeted and bobbed up and down with an energy Ruby was envious of. The four of them lined up together on the stage allowing the headmaster to continue and finish off with the last two remaining teams, though Ruby paid no attention as she felt a dull ache creep into her mind as the pair slid in next to her.

It had sprung on her rather suddenly and she fought the urge to rub her temples and hiss as a faint ring began to blare in her ears like an electric amp that wasn't plugged in properly. Slowly the ringing was met by a growling that, whilst sounding distant ruby always knew was but a step away. She faced forward to see Ozpin's mouth moving but she couldn't make out anything he said as the rumbling grew louder, angrier, hungrier. Sparring a glance at her shadow she saw the odd flash of white and red eyes blink in and out of existence, a familiar tightening along her arm as the Grimm rose seemed to coil up in suspense.

Whilst the rose had happily attached itself to her mother's cloak, the moment she made to move it had immediately latched back on to her, puncturing a new hole in her arm and symbiotically clung to her once more. She may have been able to get away with her semblance if she really tried, but she would be lying if she didn't feel alien without the Grimm plant coiling along her arm. In order to hide it she had it spread along her arm shoulder blade and back, allowing it to make a few more incisions along its way. Though, it now concerned her as it tensed and the she could feel the beginning of thorns forming.

Her breathe became short as her blood started violently pumping through her body and the ringing intensified. She could hear them; the Grimm. They wanted out, something was there, something they didn't like, something they needed to kill. It was dangerous, it had to be stopped; it would kill them if they weren't careful. Squawks, growls, roars and more flooded her hearing, unintelligible, but she knew what they said.

Rip. Tear…

The familiar sounds filled her mind as her balance shifted unexpectedly and she fought to remain upright and not draw attention to herself.

Rend. Flay…

She had to get out.

Rip! Tear! Rend! Flay!...

She had to leave now!

Feast!

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?"

AN: As always, I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading. Feedback and criticism is welcome and appreciated. As I'm sure you can tell Beacon will have a number of differences in this story, it will still serve as the primary setting for the foreseeable future, but a lot of the regular plot that happens at and after Beacon in the regular show will be different or in some cases removed.

- Tabaxi