When Ruby and Harry walked into the auditorium, the latter raised his eyebrows in appreciation. The room itself wasn't particularly special, just a big empty area with a raised stage, but the number of students wa actually quite surprising. THere were even more here than at Hogwarts, which was a surprise considering that school had represented pretty much the entirety of Britain's magical youths. Then again, pretty much everything about Remnant was far more advanced and different. He supposed it came from being forced to progress in order to survive, whereas the Wizarding World had been completely stagnant for his life there. Whatever the case, he noticed something about the way the students were arranged, and frowned.
"Well, I suppose this is where we part ways." He said, regret coloring his tone. Ruby had been nice enough to talk to, and considering he had come to Beacon completely alone, he had been looking forwards to making friends, finally safe from the White Fang and any retribution they may mete out.
"What are you talking about?" Asked Ruby, turning to face him with a small pout on her face. Not for the first time, Harry smiled softly at how cute she looked. It was like talking to a puppy. An overeager, hyper puppy, with a weapon fetish. He reached up and brushed her hair lightly, eliciting an annoyed shout of "Hey!"
"Don't worry, little one, I won't be far. The boys are on the other side of the hall." He nodded to the crowd, and Ruby gasped as she realized he was right. The left side was completely male, while the right was female. She could even see Yang among the crowd, alhtough not Luna, waving happily among her. Glancing back to Harry regretfully, trying to hide her blush at her sister's antics.
"Okay, I guess I'll see you later." She glanced up, only to notice that he wasn't looking at her, but was staring off into space. A surge of annoyance ran through her, and she stepped up to stand toe to toe with him. "I will see you later, right?" She asked in her most threatening tone, and Harry's gaze snapped back to her.
"Oh, uh, yeah, sure. Don't worry, I'll come find you after initiation, if nothing else. Someone has to keep you from blowing up the school. Again." He said the last with a sly grin, and Ruby's face burned. With a huff she turned and stomped away, struggling to ignore the rumbling laugh coming from behind her.
His grin still lingering, Harry made for an open spot in the men's side of the crowd, but pretty quickly it was wiped away, and his mouth twisted into a frown. When he'd first caught the familiar scent outside, he thought it was nothing, a figment of his imagination. But then it had been there again, inside the auditorium, and his face hardened as he remembered the last time he had smelled it. Three years had passed since then, and even now, the choice to leave still tore at his heart like a wild beast gnawing on a bone. He had no idea just how much the little girl he remembered had changed since then, and chances were she would be out for his blood. Dammit, and here he'd thought he would be safe at Beacon, beyond their reach. He was drawn out of his thoughts, however, by a cleared throat ringing through the hall, and he looked up to see a man with gray hair and a cane standing at the podium.
"I'll… keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and aqcuire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you, to take the first step."Harry raised an eyebrow at the man as he walked off the stage. Obviously, that must have been the professor Ozpin he had heard so much about. Funny, he thought. The guy almost reminds me of Dumbledore for some reason. There was a sort of power about the man, a regal bearing that told Harry that no matter how old Ozpin might look, he could probably wipe the floor with the teen, without even setting down his coffee, too. Perhaps this place wouldn't be too different from Hogwarts after all.
XXX
Luna was already waiting for the two sisters when they finally made it to the hall they would be sleeping in that night, and Ruby didn't hesitate to throw herself at the girl, wrapping her in a tight hug.
"Hey Ruby," she said, returning the gesture. "Have fun with your new friend, did you?" Ruby, surprised at the sudden question, blushed, stepping back slightly and looking at the floor.
"You saw that?" She asked, and then her eyes narrowed and shot up to look at Luna. "Or did you see that?" Luna's smile widened, and as if to mock the younger girl, reached up and brushed Ruby's hair.
"Both, technically. Although I don't know if the former can quite be counted." She responded, tapping her visor thoughtfully. Ruby smiled at the joke. Luna had such a weird sense of humor.
"You know what I mean but… is that why you left me alone?" She asked, knowing her sister rarely did anything without a reason. Unsurprisingly, the older girl nodded.
"Partly. Harry's a good man." Ruby cocked her head at the response, but before she could respond, Yang decided to butt in by way of appearing behind Luna and wrapping her arms around the paler blonde, leaning her head on Luna's shoulder as she cooed.
"Oooooh, and what's that supposed to mean? Do you know this Harry person, and why have we never heard of him before, hmm?"Luna, having seen the action coming, relaxed into the familiar hug, glad to once again be with her sisters. She was starting to get a headache, as even with her visor blocking out normal vision and sound, her gift was starting to slip out of her control, surrounded as she was by so many fates tied together.
"From a very long time ago, yes. Before dad even found me." She answered, sighing as she anchored her Semblance to Yang and Ruby. Seeing the flow of time constantly was a pain in the ass, especially when surrounded with so many people, each possessing their own streams that tried to force their way into her head, but she had known Ruby and Yang for so long that she could easily focus her gift on them, letting the others fade away as she immersed herself in their comforting presence. Even then, it was distracting, hence the visor to block out ordinary sight and sound. She'd already learned to supplant that by cementing herself within her own stream, bare milliseconds ahead of reality to the point where she could see and hear essentially normally, but sadly she couldn't block out everything else.
"Oooh, childhood crush, was it?" Yang teased, but Luna just smiled softly, used to her sister's playful personality.
"No, but he was a good friend, and an even better ally. He once pulled me out of my shell without even trying. Ruby should be child's play for him."
"Hey!" The younger girl protested, unhappy that her sisters had plotted against her. She went ignored, however, and both girls laughed at her bright red blush. Ruby was so easy to mess with.
XXX
Blake Belladonna as she stepped out of the bathroom and started walking towards the temporary sleeping quarters for students. She really didn't want to have to sit and listen to the ceaseless chatter of her classmates, and would much prefer to find a quiet place to read. She was stopped, however, by a deep, rumbling voice.
"So the housecat has slipped her leash. Or did Taurus finally grow a brain and send you after me?" Frozen, Blake's mind went blank. No, it couldn't be possible. She recognized that voice. It was one deeply ingrained in her mind, a precious memory that she had shoved into the deepest recesses of her thoughts so as not to feel the pain accompanied with it. But he had died. She saw him die!lowly, hesitantly, Blake turned, feeling his eyes on the back of her neck as he waited for an answer. As she did, a smell hit her, the enhanced feline senses her faunus heritage provided dissecting it instantly. The familiar scent of wet grass and leather washed through her mind like a forest fire, warming every part of her as she breathed a name she had sworn never to speak again.
"Harry?" Finally completing the turn, she found his feline eyes, just as vibrantly green as she remembered, and her breath caught in her throat at their beauty. Standing before her was the man she had once thought of as a brother, the one who had practically raised her after she ran away from home. The rugged, lion-like features of his face were so similar, albeit aged a few years, and his hair was still black as sin. Above it, the two large lion ears she remembered playing with as a child were still there, big and fluffy as ever. She couldn't breathe as she looked at him, three years of pain and loss coming back to the forefront of her mind. "B-but… you're dead." She whispered, and then wished she hadn't as his familiar grin stole what was left of her clear thoughts.
"It takes more than a falling building to kill me, Blake. You should know that." The amused rumble of his voice was too much for her, and before she could stop herself, Blake launched at the large man, wrapping him in a bone-crushing hug.
"You bloody bastard, you left me! I thought you were dead" She cried into his shoulder, pressing as close as she could possibly get to him. He was so warm and familiar, tears were already staining the shoulder of his trench-coat, and when his arms finally came around to encircle her, she let out a sob. Oum, he was alive.
"I tried to get to you, Blake. I really did, but Taurus had so many guards on you not even I could get through. Also… I wasn't sure you would come with me." Shocked, Blake looked up to meet his slitted feline eyes, green and gold staring into each other.
"Of course I would come with you! You were my best friend!" Harry winced slightly at the past tense, but he supposed he did deserve it. Before Blake could comment on it though, he spoke again, his voice heavy with regret as he remembered the things that had led him to make those fateful decisions three years ago.
"And leave Taurus?" Blake froze at the question, but Harry didn't give her a chance to respond, pressing on quickly. "No, you still believed in him then, and had yet to see what he had become. I left because I couldn't get to you, yes, but also partly because you needed to see what the White Fang was turning into. I didn't know you would think I was dead, though. Taurus knew I was alive." Blake's breath caught as she heard the truth in his words, and yet another burst of anger swept through her towards the man she had thought she loved. What else had he hidden from her?
"You're right. I'm sorry. I was so stupid then." She muttered the words into his shoulder, but Harry heard all the same, and his grip tightened.
"So you've left?" He asked, feeling ashamed that he would even need to. But if this turned out to be a trick, or a trap? Well, he wasn't sure if his heart could take it. Blake was like a little sister to him, and having her betray him would be a fate worse than death. Hearing his wariness, the cat faunus looked back towards his face, her golden eyes shimmering with tears as she remembered the train where she had finally made her decision..
"Yes. Adam… he's not who I thought he was." She said, and Harry nodded solemnly. He knew just how she had felt about the bull, having watched the young love grow and bloom from seed to fruit, and understood just how much that truth must have hurt to accept. After a few more moments of holding the girl, he released her, smiling softly.
"Well, much as I'm glad to see you again, we should probably getting back… and not together." Blake's head snapped sharply towards him, and her steps back towards the rest of the school faltered.
"Why not?" She asked, suspicion leaking into her voice. Harry shook his head, knowing what she was thinking.
"It's not like that. The White Fang are still after me, and I don't want to risk them recognizing you. We'll have to pretend not to know each other, for a few days at least." Understanding dawning, Blake nodded thoughtfully.
"You're right. So we act like strangers, but slowly grow closer until they think I'm just a new friend." Harry grinned, pulling a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and putting them on, before throwing a hood back over his head, effectively concealing his faunus heritage. "I doubt that my disguise will work for long, in fact they probably already know exactly who I am, but you were very secluded the entire time we were with the Fang. Hopefully, we can keep you hidden for a while longer." Blake smiled at the lion faunus. He had always been so loyal, and she felt almost like her heart, shattered by both his loss and Adam's revealed cruelty, was healed, at least partially, by his return from the dead. Nodding, she turned, and waiting just a few seconds to allow him to get ahead, took the first step into her new life.
XXX
"Harry!" Yang slapped her hand to her ear at Ruby's high pitched squeal of joy, and even Luna winced. Both of the older sisters watched as their third jumped up from where she had been laying in preparation for lights out, running to latch onto the arm of a very large boy, very scrumptious teenager had been walking towards them. Yang's eyes went wide at the sight of him, and beside her Luna groaned as he face stretched into a lascivious smile. The blonde stood slowly, carefully turning her usual boisterous movements much more… sultry, and stalked towards mister Dark and Handsome, her eyes hungry as they raked up and down his muscular body. Once there, she latched onto the arm across from Ruby, cooing as she grinned up into his sunglass-clad eyes.
"So this is your little friend, Ruby? You've been holding out on me!" Unsurprisingly, Ruby groaned at her sister's actions, knowing exactly where this was going.
"Yes, Yang, this is Harry. Please don't flirt with him, he's my first friend at Beacon!" YAng giggled, laying her head on the very solid shoulder of the boy, who looked like he was about to have a panic attack as the two girls hung onto either of his arms.
"But Ruuuubyyyy! How can I just ignore… all of this!" She whined, her mouth twisting into a satisfied grin as the younger girl started blushing fiercely and tugging at Harry's arm.
"Leave him alone Yang, or I swear I'm going to tell dad!" Ruby yelled, pulling as hard as she could, but Harry was like a boulder, completely unmovable as he watched the two girls fighting over him. What the bloody hell was going on? He had just come over to say hi to Ruby like he promised, and now this girl, who it seemed was familiar with her, was now practically groping him. Thankfully, someone seemed to notice his plight, and he sighed in relief as a pale blonde girl wearing some sort of visor over her face pulled both Ruby and Yang off him, smiling gently.
"Looks like you haven't changed a bit, Harry. Still have all the girls after you, I see." Harry tilted his head at the comment, confused.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" He asked, unsure why this girl was addressing him with such familiarity. He didn't remember meeting any blind people before, and he was even more confused by the fact that she moved as if she could see perfectly fine, but that was impossible. Even if she wasn't blind, the visor was completely smooth and opaque. There was no way light could get through.
"Of course you do- oh, sorry. You probably don't recognize me with this thing on." Then, to Harry's surprise, the girl reached up to the visor and, with a smooth motion, pulled it off, shaking out her hair as her hands dropped and she opened beautiful crystal blue eyes to look at him. At the sight, Harry's breath caught, memories of a different life suddenly bursting into his thoughts.
"Luna? You're here too?" He asked breathlessly, struggling to think. Yes, he had known that he wasn't alone in this world due to a chance meeting just a few months prior, but he hadn't even considered that Luna might have crossed into Remnant as well. She seemed different too, much more confident, and dare he say it, sane. There was a sense of calm about her that he had never seen in the small blonde before, despite her features being almost exactly the same as he remembered them from their school years.
"Hello, Harry. It's nice to finally meet you again." Luna smiled, and just like that, the tension which had appeared in his muscles disappeared. It was the same kind smile she had often offered him in their previous lives, and he now knew without a doubt that it was her, and not just some girl pretending.
"Sorry, I got stuck in traffic." He said, smiling widely. It was a comfort to once again be with his old friend, and for a moment he marveled at the fact that this was now two reunions in one day. What else could possibly happen?
"You!" That, apparently. Grinding his teeth, Harry turned around, expecting to see the shrieking harridan that was Weiss Schnee, but when he saw who was actually behind him, he froze in shock. "You have a lot of explaining to do!" Harry winced as the high-pitched yell scratched against his enhanced hearing, having to fight the urge to clap his hands to his ears. Now standing before him was a young woman with a wild man of curly brown hair that could almost match his own, and familiar brown eyes glaring up at him. It was funny, he thought with a chuckle, he remembered a time when she had once been taller than him, but now she barely came up to his chin. Damn lion genes, making him so tall.
"Excuse me? I'm not quite sure what you mean." He said, feigning innocence. As far as he knew, she only recognized him from that one time in the alley, and, with a sly chuckle, he wondered how long he could keep it that way. Luna obviously recognized him, but he wasn't certain if this girl would.
"You know exactly what I mean, you prat! Why exactly did you save me that day?" Harry raised an eyebrow at the fuming woman, chuckling again.
"I'm fairly certain I explained that already." He said, grinning as she ground her teeth. Damn, he had forgotten how much fun it could be to annoy her at times. He had no idea why exactly she was at Beacon, especially since he had last seen her in Atlas, but maybe he could have fun with this.
"Are you sure their wasn't any other reason you wanted to tell me about?" She asked, her eyes narrowing, and a chill went through Harry. What could she mean by that?
"Not at all." He said, but she only narrowed her eyes more. His throat going dry, he glanced towards the three girls standing nearby, but they didn't seem to be inclined to help. Luna, her visor once again on her face, was smiling in amusement, Yang was looking between him and the bushy-haired woman with suspicion, and Ruby just looked confused by her sudden appearance. His eyes snapped back to the girl's in front of him, however, when he felt a hand lightly brush at his bangs, and his stomach dropped as he realized what she was doing. Damn it, she did remember!
"Aha! I knew it!" She said, her finger resting on the small, lightning bolt scar on his forehead. It was a relic of his old life, somehow crossing the veil of death to mark him even in his new body, and Harry cursed its appearance. Now he would have to explain why he hadn't stayed when he first found her. That was not going to be a fun conversation, especially with an audience.
"Look, 'Mione I can explain…" He started, throwing any pretense of misunderstanding to the wind. She knew exactly who he was, so there was no point in hiding it. He stopped, however, when she placed a finger on his lips.
"Oh, you had better hope so, Harry Potter, or so help me, I will make any torture the Dark Lord could have dreamed up look like a game of patty-cake by the time I'm done with you." Harry's throat went dry at the threat, and once again he glanced over to the three sisters for help. Both yang and Ruby were in similar states as before, of course, but Luna, it seemed had some measure of pity within her, as she stepped forward and grabbed the witch, spinning her around.
"Leave him alone, Hermione. He had his reasons." She said gently, smiling at her friend. Hermione, for her part, tilted her head, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
"How do you- Luna?" She gasped, and Harry felt a twinge of jealousy that she had figured it out quicker than him. He ignored it, however, in favor of a sense of jy as the two girls embraced, laughing out loud as they realised they had both been reborn into remnant. They stayed like that for several seconds, until finally they were separated by the loud clearing of a throat. Surprised, all three of the natives of Earth turned to face Yang, who was looking at them expectantly.
"Okay, not that I want to ruin your reunion or anything, but who are you people, and how exactly do you know our sister Luna?" Both Hermione and Harry glanced over at the paler blonde, their eyes wide at the sudden declaration, but she just shrugged her shoulders. They looked back to where Yang was looking at them with her arms crossed and tapping her feet, the perfect image of overprotective big sister, and Harry groaned internally. Well, this was going to be difficult.
XXX
Alright, and that is the second chapter done! I know, this is going up really quick, but what the hell, I've been in a writing mood recently, and I'm extremely excited to finally be pushing forward with the actual plot for this story, even though i wasn't exactly planning on ever doing so. Dammit, this is all you people's fault.
Anyways, there's a couple things I wanted to talk about before I let you guys go. First off, no Blake/Harry will not be a pairing! I know you guys are going to ask, but just no. They will have a very close brother/sister relationship, yes, but they will not be romantically involved. I already have plans for Harry's pairing, and tentative ideas for Blake's. Also, for those of you who haven't quite puzzled it out yet, or the explanation was confusing, I will lay out exactly what Luna's semblance is. Essentially, she can see and hear the future, generally up to about ten seconds for now, not counting the various visions sh will receive of certain events. She can't turn it off, and it can easily become overwhelming if she is using her normal senses as well. However, she can focus it to the point where she only sees a few milliseconds ahead, so it feels like she's just hearing and seeing normally, but there is still a sort of buzz in the background.
Alright, that should be good for now, but if any of you have any questions, comments or concern, feel free to send them to me in either a Review or a PM. For now, though, I will see ya later!