Glynda Goodwitch was a hard, stoic, and altogether no-nonsense type of person. She was one of the greatest dustmages alive and had earned her reputation as a fierce and talented huntress. She had doubly earned her place as a teacher and later deputy headmistress of Beacon Academy, simply because she knew her stuff, and knew it damn well. If she wanted to, she could teach nearly every course that Beacon offered, save for field medicine and weapon-maintenance.
She was strong, independent, loyal and brave. What could only be said to be the perfect attributes for the perfect huntress. But, along with all the accolades she had won, and the exponentially growing reputation she accumulated, all of it paled in comparison to what she felt was her true pride and joy.
Not that she would ever say that out loud of course. She did have a reputation to maintain. Ruby Goodwitch was her daughter. Hers. And no one else's. She may have been adopted, but it was Glynda who had changed every diaper, and calmed every nightmare. It was Glynda who told her stories every night before bed and watched her take her first steps.
And now her baby girl was ten years old. Ten years old and one of the smartest little devils she had ever met. Why was she so smart? Well, Glynda truly believed in the philosophy of 'nurture before nature'. The young Ruby had spent her entire life living at Beacon. So much so that she had begun calling all the teachers uncles or aunts. Ozpin, of course, was quick to endorse his own nickname of Grandpa Ozpin. The faculty and staff had become Ruby's family and all the students who made their way through the academy were her cousins. Being surrounded by teachers who were perpetually excited about their classes and new information, it came as no surprise to anyone when she begun sitting in the front rows of each lecture, practicing her alphabet or basic mathematics, while professors were lecturing about the advanced aspects of being a huntsman.
By the age of one, Ruby was talking full sentences, in her adorably child-like way. By two, she was starting to learn to read words. By five, she was reading anything she could get her hands on. At seven, Ozpin unlocked her aura, and Ruby began learning the basics of aura control. By eight, Ruby had chosen her weapon and unlocked her semblance. While Glynda still was reluctant to allow the very young girl to play with weapons, she did allow Beacon's staff to teach her the basics of weapon maintenance and anything else the girl wished to learn.
And it seemed like she had wished to learn everything. Ruby seemed to live and breath this life. Professor Oobleck had begun giving Ruby little tests to take alongside his own students, though hers were often shorter and filled with her unkempt and messy scrawl, often in pencil crayon with little doodles in the side margins, instead of neat pen or pencil strokes.
Glynda was happy for her daughter. Not just because she was doing well in a school for huntsmen, but because Ruby seemed to actually enjoy being in a school for huntsmen. If Ruby asked for it, Glynda would have no problems in sending the girl to regular day school. Or to ballet, or gymnastics, or any other activity the girl wished to participate in. She had let her know so plenty of times, and would continue to remind her of such, long into the future.
But Ruby wanted to be a huntress. Just like her mommy. Glynda had begun looking into training schools to send her to, once she reached the age of twelve; the minimum age required to attend those schools, but it was hard. Thanks to Ruby's unique childhood education, she was already much further along in her studies than most children. The only place she would be at level with them would be actual combat experience.
And that brought her to her current dilemma.
"Please, please, pretty pleeaase!" Ruby was begging, hands holding onto her mother's own skirt, swishing it from side to side. "I promise to be good. And Grandpa Ozpin already said he liked the idea."
"Well, I don't know if you are ready yet for something like this. It's extremely important that we get it right and do it correctly. You can be really hurt. And I don't want to see you get any injuries. Do you remember what happened when we went to the carnival and you wanted cotton candy?"
Ruby flinched. They both clearly remembered the cotton candy incident. Glynda could still barely believe that Ruby was able to get such a large gash on her forehead. Thankfully, Ruby's aura, as well as her youthful body left her without any noticeable scars.
"Uncle Porty said I got so much better at handling myself."
"We both know that Uncle Porty likes to tell stories," Glynda chuckled, patting the young girl on her head as the girl whined, trying to shake her mother's hand off.
"Mooom! And Uncle Porty's stories are the best. So there." Ruby crossed her arms and gave her a smug look. As if that simple statement had won whatever debate Ruby thought had been going on.
Deciding to let her daughter have her little victory, Glynda returned to the actual issue they were dealing with. "Suffice it to say, Little One, I don't know if you are ready for such an important thing, like this. Not just because you're young. It can be very dangerous, and I don't want you to get hurt. Maybe in a few more years, when you are big and strong."
"I am big, I drink milk!" Ruby proclaimed joyfully. "And I'll be perfectly safe. Grandpa Ozpin taught me where everything is so I don't get lost, and I will have so many people out there looking for me and keeping me safe. And most of the Grimm are gone because Grandpa Ozpin liked my idea and already agreed to it, and they won't treat it like it's real if you did it, and I can run super fast when I need to, and Grimm don't scare me!"
"Except for Creepers," Glynda reminded the girl, with a motherly smile, enjoying Ruby's reaction of an adorable little shudder.
"They're creepy! It's in the name!"
That brought out a full-bodied laugh from the deputy headmistress. A sound very few had the pleasure of ever hearing. Glynda took a moment to think. "Ruby, if you do this, you will need to be running and hiding for a very long time. You can't stop if you're tired or bored. If I agree, then you will need to put in one hundred and ten percent in for an entire day."
Ruby's head nodded as her entire body vibrated with excitement. "Yes!"
Glynda knelt down to Ruby's level and gave her daughter a kiss on her forehead, "then alright. I'll talk with Uncle Port and Uncle Oobleck about clearing out the forest of… Creeps."
"Thank you!" Ruby squealed, rocketing off into the direction of the bullhead docks. Glynda could only grin and shake her head at her daughter's actions.
She was ten years old and too good for this world. The deputy headmistress would make sure that the girl went to bed at a reasonable hour, so she was able to wake up on time, nice and early tomorrow morning. Glynda almost felt sad for the girl. She knew that Ruby loved to stay up with 'the big kids' while they were all together in Beacon's central plaza.
Checking the time, Glynda made her way out into the greater world, smoothing out the creases in her uniform as she made her way to her place near the docks. The first bullhead of students had just arrived, and they would be needing order very soon.
Plenty more bullheads would be arriving soon as well, filled with fresh young faces of the potential students she would have the pleasure of teaching in the coming years. Not to mention the upper year students who would be arriving soon from abroad if they had not stayed on campus during their break.
"So much to do, and so little time to do it," Glynda muttered standing beside her fellow professor; a one Professor Oobleck.
"Good afternoon, Glynda." Oobleck said from behind a tall mug of coffee.
"Bartholomew," Glynda responded.
As the two of them looked over the incoming students, all fresh-eyed and excited for what was in store, the deputy headmistress paused. "Wait… Ozpin already agreed to it?"
I'm me. There was no way I wasn't going to make Ruby a prodigy in some way or another. And a Goodwitch chapter, yay! That was fun. To make things easier, I've changed all the chapter names to the POV character of the chapter. Should be fun. Might give me ideas on who to follow later on.
I decided that it was time for a flashback. So this chapter was a flashback that happened a few minutes before everyone else landed. You all wanted some backstory, so here it is! Lol, I'm just messing with you.
jdoggaming37 - I'm curious as well! Maybe I should start thinking about that...
Guest - Ooh, Illia! I completely forgot about her. That could be a really good idea for Ruby's replacement. I was thinking Neo, or transferring over one of the Vytal tournament characters over to Beacon, but I like that idea a hell of a lot more. Lots of fun stuff I could do with her. (Don't mind me rubbing my hands together and cackling like a deranged psycho. I promise that it's a completely normal reaction)
Midnightwolf64 - Tai and Qrow are most definitely going to appear somewhere down the line. I have an idea for Qrow at the moment, but I have no clue if the story will end up reaching that idea or taking a sudden left into insanity. We'll see. And yes, Yang and Ruby will most definitely interact.
badbloodkiller1 - Nope! All Yang knows is that her mother's name starts with an R or S. Since it's 'Uncle Qrow', she's pretty positive what their last name is.
merendinoemiliano - Thanks!
Psiah - Pyrrha was definitely my initial thought, which is actually why I introduced her last chapter. The big concern I had, was who would take Pyrrha's spot on JNPR, if she joined WBY? I toyed with the idea of scrapping Jaune completely, which I may still do. Who knows? For this, I wanted to try setting it up, as people have partners, but not necessarily fixed teams of four. This way, the school can have en even number of students per year, instead of a multiple of four. What had made STRQ so strong, was that they worked together as a team of 4 instead of just as two pairs. Because what if an awkward number of people complete Initiation?