Chapter 2
Hello everyone and happy Halloween to all those who live in the same time zone as me.
I've read the reviews and hope this chapter can fulfil a number of the critics, hope you enjoy.
Gaster sat behind his desk in his temporary dorm room, flipping through the numerous notes he'd made over the past week on aura, semblances and dust. Truthfully, he didn't have enough, and the whole thing was giving him a headache.
Hadn't had one of those in while. But headaches to a scientist was proof of their minds working effectively.
That, or they've just got a migraine, and since Gaster had gained flesh he probably had a physical brain now, so migraines were always a possibility. He was itching to find the answer to that out, but with a lack of sufficient materials he wasn't willing to crack his head open to do it.
Moving to other matters, ever since the night of the robbery the other week, there'd been next to zero instances where he could freely study semblances. There were kingdoms like Atlas that were actively researching it, but their findings weren't exactly made public, and going over to the kingdom itself without proper preparations was too far to irrational for him.
Still, he needed to gather as much information on how this worlds law of souls may differ from his own and robbing high tech facilities was neither his speciality nor something he enjoyed. Gaster much preferred to work in them.
So to make up for it, the good doctor studied the reactions of various dust types he could get his hands on. Although he didn't have the current finances to procure as much as he wanted, his findings were incredible.
At the moment, he only had three different types; fire, electricity and gravity for now, but he was determined to get more.
The dust reacts in a similar manner to gunpowder. If hit with a great enough force or ignited, like hitting it against a rock, shooting it with a bullet or sending a surge of electricity through it, a chain reaction will follow.
Fire explodes like gasoline, gravity creates a momentary pushing force, and just like the night of the robbery, lighting dust becomes its own little thunderstorm. Forget using this planet's molten magma, this dust would be a far more time saving and efficient power source. The only problem was deciding which dust would serve as a proper replacement.
The original core mostly converted thermal energy to magic power. Skip one step and the best candidate would be either electricity or fire dust.
He couldn't cut out the other dusts, but until he had the sufficient means to experiment he had to move forward with the construction of the new core.
Limited by the resources of his new….circumstances, Gaster had come to make do with what he had. If that didn't work out, he'd probably have to consider more immediate means.
"But I still need research on the fluctuations of the various types of souls and their abilities~," he sighed, setting down the sheets in hand and leaning back into his chair before looking up to the greyish-white ceiling. "In the end, they might be the means by which I can go home~."
Maybe when he returns home, he can use his new research to break the barrier with only half the souls they already had. If killing Frisk, or Chara, doesn't give one the power to break the barrier with the other six souls, then at the very least he could increase their power ten-fold to do so.
Maybe then everyone in the underground can see the sky as well.
A looming shadow blanketed the room. Looking out the window, a massive airship sailed by with two wings on either side harmoniously beating up and down in tangent to one another.
"Is that….. Hmph~, it's about time the kids showed," Gaster mused, getting up and snatching his trench coat off the nearby coat hanger, slipping a glove onto his right hand before picking up a night blue notebook and pen. "I was getting board of just theorizing anyway."
Not bothering to use the corridors, Gaster teleported himself to the outside courtyard behind one of its many pillars so as not to be seen on his entrance. Walking out he watched as five air ships loomed closer to the academy.
"Right then," flipping open his notebook and clicking his pen he scribbled in the date followed by 'noticeable personality traits of new students'. "Which one of you will exhibit strong personality's in proportion to your semblance~? Hmph, wonder if that Ruby Rose girl's going to be here for this."
As he looked up to the closest ship, a stiffening pain shot through his neck, causing him to wince a bit and grip the back of neck. It lasted for a moment, but the pain lingered a little.
This wasn't the first time he felt it either. A number had gone on and off through his joints in the past week. Part of him thought it was just a side effect of the human flesh he merged with on entering the timeline, but he'd never really been able to 'look into it'.
'If this keeps up, I'm going to have even more problems to deal with.'
Earlier
"Woooww~, you can see Signal from up here," Ruby cooed as the airship flew over the city before leaving the last of its building behing. "Guess home isn't too far away."
"Beacons our new home," Yang tried to comfort her joyfully, walking up to beside Ruby and wrapping an arm around her little sisters' shoulder.
They were both interrupted by the muffled belching of someone hurling up their lunch. Turning to the other end of the passenger hold, a blonde boy in white armour was cupping his mouth near the window hurriedly wobble past them in search of salvation in the form of a bin.
There wasn't one.
"Well, guess the view isn't for everyone," Yang shrugged with a wry smile.
"It was a nice moment while it lasted."
"I wonder who we're going to meet at the academy."
"I just hope they're better than vomit boy."
"You mean like your partner in crime?"
"Yang, it was not a crime. Well…. It was, but we weren't the ones committing it. We we're stopping it, and his name was….Wing….Ding…. I think. It's a weird name."
"Wing Ding, huh? Look at you going and making friends before even getting to school," she cheered with a growing grin.
"We hardly talked to one another."
"You fought alongside him, didn't you? That's basically like a full unspoken conversation."
As the two of them continued arguing to one another, and a certain someone beginning to leak the contents of his stomach through his fingers, the first pillars of Beacon academy's courtyard's.
Later
It'd been about fifteen minutes or so since getting off the air ship, and in just that time Ruby had managed to lose Yang, herself, explode, yelled at by an ice queen who turned out to be the heiress to one of the biggest dust companies in Remnant and make a friend.
Cool beans all things considered.
Her new friend in question being the infamous vomit boy from the airship who corrected his name to being Jaune Arc. Though vomit boy would forever be his little nickname.
Walking through the courtyard with idle chatter and the occasional argument of health, the pair didn't waste any time in getting to know each other. Even if Ruby didn't know what to say at times.
"I'm just saying, motion sickness is a much more common thing than people realize."
"I'm sorry, but the moment I saw you the first thing that came to mind was 'vomit boy'," Ruby pleaded.
"Oh yea, well how about I call you 'crater face'?"
"But that explosion was completely by accident."
"And so was my sickness."
"Ah-Eeeeh~. So, do you know where we're going? I think initiation's supposed to start soon."
"I…..thought you might've known…."
A feeling of dread flushed over them both realizing their predicament. As Ruby looked around, hoping to get a better idea of where they were, she found someone in a familiar looking coat with bone white hair standing by one of the surrounding pilllars and scribbling in a notebook.
A sense of hope coming to light, Ruby lead Jaune over to them who still hadn't noticed the pair.
"Hey, Wing Ding, is that you?"
At the calling of his name, Gaster looked up from his notes with a blank expression on his face at seeing her. Slowly it turned to a smile that felt a little forced for Jaune's liking behind his little energetic friend.
"I thought you might be here, Ruby Rose," the doctor addressed in a formal manner and snapping his notebook shut. "That is your name, isn't it?"
"A~bsolutely~. How's your chest doing? Last I saw you that flare really did a number on you."
"Yes, that blast did have a bit of a sting to it," he replied, rubbing where Romans' flare had hit him. After the tussle with the human criminal, the clothes Gaster was wearing then had been burnt next to useless, luckily, he still had the clothes he'd bought earlier then, so there were quick replacements on hand. Truth be told, he was still healing with only minor burn marks on his ribcage. "I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be in a fight with a human~."
Ruby looked a little confused at Gaster's statement but was cut off before she could ask any further.
"I'm sorry but um…. Am I missing something here?" Jaune queried, cutting in. "Hi, I'm Jaune and…. what happened to you face?"
Gaster's smile twitched a little at the question as Ruby lightly elbowed Jaune in the side. Well, it was light for her, but to Jaune who didn't have aura protection it might as well have been a jab.
Meanwhile, the good doctor took this distraction to take a quick look into Jaunes soul.
Normally looking into a soul came naturally for someone like Gaster, but ever since his entry into the timeline and the inclusion of flesh upon him, he hadn't quite noticed he hadn't been seeing souls until recently.
He concluded that with his magic divided between him and keeping his disguise alive, some of his natural functions as a monster had become limited. Now, he needed a little bit more concentration to see into souls.
"Jaune, you can't just ask someone a question like that. It's rude," Ruby told Jaune off whule the blonde rubbed his side.
"W-well I was just curious," he rasped a little, turning to the scientist. "S-sorry for asking, I didn't mean to be offensive."
"Quite alright, just be sure to know what asking questions like that can get you," Gaster ran a hand over his scar running from his eye to his mouth. From the surface of Jaune's soul, the boy wasn't bad or meaning to be impolite. A bit of a goof ball, and a fake, but his LV and EXP were both low.
Though Ruby was a little different than that.
She had high execution points, but a low level of violence. Maybe that's why she's so cheery, because she doesn't have it in her to be exceptionally violent, despite no doubt having many grimm kills under her belt.
The higher someone's level, the more they're distanced from themselves and the easier it is for them to kill. Just like Chara.
There was an awkward silence amongst them until Ruby managed to speak up.
"A-anyway, I think introductions might be needed. Jaune, this is Wing Ding Gaster. We sort of met last week during a robbery, but we didn't really talk much then. Wing Ding, this is Vom - Jaune Arc."
"It's ahhh, a pleasure to meet you," Jaune greeted, holding out his hand.
"Yes, but please call me Gaster," he replied taking his hand with his own gloved right hand and shaking.
Jaune felt a little uneasy at how bony Gaster's hand felt through the glove, and when they released, a feeling of dread lingered over him a little more than he'd like
"By the way, I do believe we've met before."
"W-we have?" Jaune stuttered before he found himself holding his breath a little. He really didn't want another person calling him the infamous 'vomit boy' again.
"Yes, but it wasn't direct. You took a scholarship exam last week, I happened to be in the same combat examination building as you. You struggled quite a bit with your examinee."
Jaune released his breath at the declaration. A ray of hope.
"Ye-yea I did. It wasn't easy, but I managed to catch mine off guard when I kinda…..tripped. Though I could've beaten them without it," he boasted.
"Yeaaa~," Gaster somewhat agreed, remembering what he thought when he saw Jaune flailing around like Papyrus in the kitchen making spaghetti. Difference was, one did it with a passionate smile and the lingering arrival of a fatal cuisine.
'He really got a miracle out of it.'
"So, what are you doing just standing around, are you lost too?" Ruby queried.
"Hm, oh no, no, I'm just collecting notes on the other students that I've seen so far," he replied, gesturing to his notebook.
Ruby's eyes lit up at that. "Ooohh~, are you collecting details on the different types of weapons everyone else has?"
Gaster was taken back by the sudden statement, opening his mouth to answer but was quickly cut off.
"So what have you found so far? How many different types of weapons did you see? Were there any big ones? Can you tell if someone's made theirs themselves? My sister's weapons aren't big, but her gauntlets are just as powerful. Did you get my weapon down? Do you want to see my weapon? What weapon do you have?"
Gaster found himself cornered by the bombardment of weapon related questions by the short girl as she got closer with an ecstatic expression on her face.
"Uhm, sure, I wouldn't mind seeing your weapon again."
Ruby plucked the red box off her belt before mechanically unfolding it to it's full on scythe length, the head clanging into the ground and scaring Jaune a little. "This is my little baby, crescent rose. I made her to be a scythe that's also a customizable, high impact, sniper rifle."
"A wha…?" Jaune asked, sounding a little overwhelmed as though he'd never heard all those words mixed together before.
"I would've thought kids these days were all about guns."
"It's also a gun," Ruby clarified to the blondie, cocking it.
"Oh, well that's cool."
"So what do you have?"
"Me? Well I've got this….. and this," he exclaimed sheepishly, pulling out his sword from its sheath before the sheath clipped out from the sides, extending out to become a shield. "A couple of hand-me downs from my great-great grandfather from back in the war."
"Well it sounds more like a family air loom to me," Ruby laughed uneasily, possibly realizing that she might've accidently insulted him. "Well I like it, there aren't that many people who appreciate the classics these days."
"Yeah, the classics~."
"S-so, what have you got Wing Ding- I mean, Gaster?"
"Me? I don't really have a weapon like those. My hands are more accustomed to less taxing labour than welding toys like those."
"Y-You mean you don't have a weapon? But I thought you were a total weapons geek, like me, with all the notes you were taking on everybody's weapons."
"Mrs Rose, I never said I was taking notes on their weapons. You just assumed I was."
Ruby's expression faltered at the realization dawning on her.
He's right, he didn't even mention the word 'weapon' when she asked, she just assumed he meant it. "So you did~, hehe. But if you don't have a weapon then what was with those floating hands you fought with on the roof top? You were using energy rings that whizzed though the air and everything."
"That? That was my semblance," Gaster lied, sticking with the story he made for himself. "I can do a lot of things with it and by using these," snapping his fingers, seven skeleton hands with a different colour in the singularly large holes in the palms materialized into being around him.
The two humans before him stood shocked for a moment to see bone skeleton hand suddenly materializing without warning.
Ruby recovered quicker than Jaune and before any of them could react she burst into rose petal, whizzing past Gaster before snatching the red hand of determination from the air. Her eyes sparkling again as she turned her prize over in her hands as the bone fingers slacked around.
"Cooool~. Your semblance is to summon glowing skeleton hands? Can you lift objects with them? What can they do? Why are they all glowing different colours? I like this red one, can they all be red?" she bombarded again.
Gaster could hardly hide his rising surprise by her reaction, staring wide eyed at her with a blank expression before lighting up and slowly breaking into a chuckle. He'd half expected her to be in a little more in shock like Jaune over here, but if anything her enthusiasm for the unknown was a sobering site.
He'd forgotten the last time he saw childish wonder like hers. It was probably the same as the first time he let his sons see his lab. Sans didn't exactly show his excitement, going straight for the desk chair with an adjustable back before going to sleep on it under the fan.
Papyrus on the other hand, would not stop asking questions. They practically spent a full afternoon going around the place until Gaster had answered every single one of them. He had to work overtime just to catch up on all the work he pushed back.
But the time he spent with his sons was worth it.
"Hmhm, I'll tell you later," the doctor replied, letting his hands vanish and hearing Ruby's slight wail of dismay at the disappearing of the red hand she held. "But I think we have another problem."
There was a moment of silence until Ruby's eyes widened. "The initiation!"
Jaune gripped both sides of his head before he cried out a bit in shock.
"Don't worry, the halls over there," Gaster reassured, pointing in a direction. "I'd go there myself, but there're a few other things I need to do before that."
"Okay, don't be late."
The both of them turned tail and ran as fast as they could, though Ruby had to hold back a little to let Jaune keep up with her. Soon Gaster once again stood alone in the courtyard, his smile disappearing before pulling out and opening up his not book again.
[Ruby rose; personality seems extremely joyous and positive despite existing EXP status. Semblance so far appears to be moving at rapid speeds with turning to rose petals believed to be a side effect. Further investigation needed. Jaune Arc; personality timid and quiet with low LV and EXP. Is positive but seems to be easily saddened. From reading his soul, semblance hasn't been unlocked, possibility as human test subject].
Closing the book, Gaster looked to his scroll. "I should get going, or else I'm going to miss it too."
Interlude
Jaune and Ruby soon came to a massive building where an amass of student were gathering with thunderous chatter literally echoing from it. Even if they didn't follow Gasters directional's, they might've been able to find the place if they were half a kilometre away or so. Downside was they were well over that back at the courtyard. Pretty easy to see how much more wondering around they would've done before getting into hearing range.
"Ruby, over here! I saved you a spot!"
At the calling, Ruby spotted Yang waving at her from amongst the crowd.
"Yang~. Sorry, I've gotta go. See you after the ceremony~," Ruby quickly called before dashing away and leaving Jaune behind who tried to protest by reaching after her to no avail as she was already gone.
"Ah- ahhh~... Where am I supposed to find a quirky girl to talk to now?" he sighed, dropping his arm in defeat and wondering in his own random direction into the masses.
He would've followed Ruby, but he'd just end up being a third wheel if nothing else. If he was lucky, he could've inserted himself into their conversation, but it would've been awkward enough to just follow her after saying 'see you later'.
No, the best chance for him to introduce himself is when the setting is fresh and he can make a cool slide in. At least that's something his mother would say.
Feeling a sense of hope rise up within him, Jaune caught a glimpse of bone white hair belong to someone in a trench coat amongst the crowed ahead of him.
"That couldn't be…..," pacing over, Jaune took a peak at what was being written in the notebook and failed at hiding his surprise with widening eyes. What Gaster was writing… was nothing he understood. It was a string of hand signs, bombs, mini-pentagrams and a bunch of other symbols stretching across the lined pages. Even a couple of emojis popped up. "Gaster?"
At the calling of his name, the scientist stopped his writing to look over his shoulder with a motionless expression. It looked somewhat bored.
"Jaune, I didn't think you'd get here so quickly," he said, closing the book with the pen trapped the pages before tucking it away into his coat.
"Well you seem to have gotten here quicker than we did. Di-did you pass us by, we didn't see you?"
"Semblance," he replied nodding away. "Comes in very handy when I need to get to places quickly."
"Ah yea, semblance~. They do come in handy, don't they~?" laughed a bit picking up on Gasters' joke, but it didn't look like he picked it up himself.
That, or just couldn't see the humour in it.
"It helps, and I'm interested in seeing how yours will manifest itself."
"Wha-I-I've already got my semblance. It's totally useful. Just not…. For getting to places," he trailed off and glancing to his feet for a moment as the blue and red eyes bore their way into him.
It was almost like they were staring into the depths of his soul.
"Jaune, I have lived for a very long time and I know when someone's lying to me. You don't have a semblance, do you?"
"….Is it that obvious?"
Gaster nodded.
"I-it's not that I don't have one. I just haven't unlocked it yet, and I thought….. if I don't tell anyone outright, and managed to get it myself, the girls would like me with just my confidence. That's what my mom says they all look for in a man."
"I can see where you're coming from, I guess, but trying to get a girl to like you for who you are doesn't happen when you put on a façade"
"I'm not putting on a façade."
The scientist crossed his arms, continuing to eye him for a bit with unblinking stoic eyes.
"Eh-N-Not a complete façade."
"Sigh, well, teenage girls aren't the easiest to understand at times. Behavioural wise they've mentally matured more than boys at their age, including you, so thinking around that can help at times."
Jaune was a little perplexed by that statement. Does that mean he won't get popular with the girls because they see him as too immature? Is there really a way to work around that?
"….yeah~, and we can talk about cute boys~. Like tall blonde and, scraggly over there."
Jaune perked up at the mention of his attire. They both turned to see a girl in a white dress with silver hair tied into a side ponytail jabbing her thumb in their general direction. It seemed kind of mocking, but Jaune didn't get that impression.
Straightening up and combing his fingers through his hair to tidy it up to a certain degree, he put on a confident face. "Seems like my confidence has just opened an opportunity for me. I'm going in."
"You're not going to take anything I just said to heart, are you?"
"I'll be sure to keep it in mind," he declared, not even making it a foot before the hall pierced by loud feedback screeching from the speakers and quieting the room of chatter followed by a cough echoing throughout.
"I'll keep this brief," everyone turned to the stage to see Ozpin dressed in his green suit with mug in hand before a microphone with Glynda Goodwitch behind him.
As Ozpin went on to make his announcement, Gaster tuned out of it, going back to his notebook to continue writing in an entry.
[-With student body consisting of both human and faunus numbering well above a hundred, there are many specimens to which I can work with. So far, out of the seventy-three briefly noted at the dock and hall, all have unlocked their semblances with the exception of one. Taking note of this, it's possible aura can either be unlocked through constant training or let it come naturally under certain circumstances. However, there may be a third condition where the subject needs to be forthcoming and honest with themselves if real progress is to be made as having aura unlocked means the inner self is shown more openly. Would explain why most users of semblance in this timeline are huntsmen followed by less than honest living citizens. Further investigation required with active hypothesis].
"….dismissed."
At that, Gaster was pulled from his notes and before he knew it, Jaune flew away to the group of girls where the one that pointed at him was along with Ruby and a long-haired blonde. Gaster recognized her as the heiress he took note of earlier out the front where she was yelling at Ruby. Of course, he also saw the little explosion she was a part of, but Gaster had at least had a sliver of fondness for the human to not bring it up in their earlier talks.
Watching as Jaune breezed his way in, he could feel himself giving an inward sigh to the apparent delusional human, fully expecting his attempts to fail at coming off as the guy he intended to present himself as.
'He definitely has confidence going for him if nothing else. Though he had to pick the proud Schnee of all people,' he thought before turning away from the show and making head way out of the hall.
'I'm going to need a chalk board if this keeps going on… oh that's right, the new students including myself won't be sleeping in dorms tonight, but in the ballroom. Hmm, this is going to be tricky.'
"I'll have to sleep in my clothes tonight~," he groaned in displeasure.
Later
The ballroom was packed to say the least. Sleeping bags lined the floor with students either wondering around or lying in their pyjamas with others. Unfortunately, Gaster had to be the exception to this, lying on top of his sleeping bag in his turtleneck sweater, trousers and socks, flipping over his notes of the day.
It wasn't his ideal sleeping situation, but given his condition it was best to remain covered less his monster attribute be revealed. He did have pyjamas tucked away amongst the clothes he bought, just they were leaning more towards the summer nights.
Despite it all, the sacrifice of personal hygiene left a bad taste in his mouth, and the tongue emphasized it.
The new pieces of flesh on his body had their downsides, producing sweat at times and having a number of the other bodily troubles with having it. It wasn't like he was tired or exhausted when he sweats, it was just something it did. He didn't even have lungs to even approach hyperventilation.
Eyelids on the other hand, now those he did have, and right now they were getting heavier with each passing minute he Gaster fought to keep them open. Not that he's ever won the fights so much as prolong them throughout his time here.
"Oh dear~, I'll have to worry about the rest of this tomorrow," Gaster mulled, taking a quick look around the room at the other humans.
Tomorrow was going to be the day they'd all be split into teams, but he really didn't want to work alongside any of them. It wasn't so much as he still somewhat resented humans, well, he did to a degree, he just couldn't have any of them finding out he's a monster.
Plus he wasn't really one to work alongside children, they were too immature for his taste, unlike Sans. Now he was a real prodigy growing up, despite his…..lunch breaks.
"Hang on….. there's….four, eight, twelve, sixteen, twenty-five~…thir~, for~, fif~, six~,….an odd number of students here?"
If what he'd learnt was true, first years were to be divided up into teams of four, meaning you had to be able to divide the number of students in the room by four. But there was one above the nearest divisible number.
Was there an error in the school teaming system, or did he incorrectly learn how they'd divided?
Either way, there wasn't anything he could do about it. He had neither the power nor the reason to change the rules. Unless there was another aspect to it he was missing.
Deciding not to delve too much into it, he lay back onto his pillow, letting the eyelids have their way, closing shut and resting the open book on his face. He couldn't explain it, but having an open book on him while he slept helped him clear his mind before drifting off to sleep.
'Children can be so energetic it's ridiculous~, I'm practically the only adult here~. Oh well, I have bigger nightmares to deal with than them~…..'
He wasn't entirely wrong. Most of the humans in the room were too energetic to go to sleep, but another reason why was because they were too restless. For most, it was the first night at their dream school, how could they not be restless with excitement, or let alone filled with nervousness?
At the other end of the ballroom, Ruby was one such person who was filled with a mixture of both. She lay on her belly in black and red pyjamas as she wrote a letter with her sister coming up to her.
"It's like a biiiig~ slumber party," Yang heaved, flopping down beside her little sister who barely got a jump out of it.
"I doubt dad would approve of all the boys though," Ruby replied dryly.
"I know I do~," her sister cooed eyeing the boys strolling at one end of the room shirtless, a couple noticing and flexing, until Jaune came along, fully dressed in ocean blue winter pj's with rabbit slippers. He also noticed Yang and tried to give a silent 'hey~' in a cool manner. 'Tried' being the key word here as his whole attire just made him look goofy, making Yang cringe a little before turning back to her sister. "What'cha writing?"
"A letter for the gang back at Signal. I promised to write to them about Beacon and everything."
"Awww, that's soo cuuute~," Yang chimed before getting a pillow in the face.
"Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends to school with me like you did, it's weird not knowing anyone here~."
"What about Jaune. He's…. nice….. there, plus one friend."
"Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend."
"There's no such thing as negative friends. You~, just made one friend and one enemy," another pillow to the face. "Pretty sure you're running low on pillows there, sis. But what about that Gaster fellow you talked about, you found him, right?"
"Yep. He's…..," Ruby began, sitting up and looking around. She felt a little confused not seeing him at first, until she saw the familiar white glove he wore on his right hand. "Over there with the book on his face."
"That's Gaster? Little weird he sleeps in his cloths with a book on his face. That glove he has makes him look like a conductor," Yang commented as Ruby went to lie back down but stopped herself when she caught sight of the far side of the room ahead of her. "There we go, another friend. Things aren't so bad."
"…That girl," Ruby whispered, still looking ahead. Yang turned as well and saw a girl dressed in black pyjamas with a bow on her head and her face buried in a black book with a red moon on the cover.
"You know her?"
"Not really. She was there when I exploded earlier but left before I could say anything."
"Welp, now's your chance," Yang called happily, grabbing her sisters' hand and pulling her up despite Ruby's attempts at resisting being dragged to where the little book worm sat.
As the pair got closer, she peaked up from the pages of her book to see Yang coming closer with an outlandish grin on her face. Ruby behind her desperately yanking back to set herself free, or at least slow down her impending nightmare of socialization.
"Heelloooo~!" she sang. "I believe you two mayyyy know each other~."
As Yang gestured to Ruby who was collecting herself, the girl in black turned to her and looked Ruby over with golden cat-like eyes.
"…..Aren't you that girl that exploded earlier?"
"Umm, yea. My name's Ruby," she introduced with a half-hearted laugh, holding out her hand for a shake but shyly withdrew to rub the back of her head instead with an awkward smile. "But you can call me crater faay~…. Actually, you can just call me Ruby."
Later
That night, Jaune didn't sleep as soundly as some of the others did. If anything it was more…..peculiar.
Straining open his eyes, Jaune felt the weight of sleep pressing him down. When he looked up, he was met with nothing but darkness, and when he looked to his left and to his right, there was just more of the same.
After lying on the ground for a little bit longer in eerie silence, he sat himself up to get a better idea of what was going on.
"…This is…pretty weird. For a dream," he murmured, his voice echoing. Looking down, he saw that he was partially submerged in dark water. He hadn't noticed before because it didn't feel harm or cold, but it was definitely liquid. "AAAAHHH! Oh no, please tell me I didn't wet the bed again!"
Jumping up, he desperately tried drying off his pyjamas only for a misstep and finding his foot quickly sinking into the deep black waters. He couldn't stop himself before the rest of him was completely consumed.
"What the-ghhhggrr~."
For a brief moment his vision was blanketed by the water, when things came back, what he saw took his breath away. Normally having your breath taken away under water would drown you, but thinking about that was the last thing on Jaunes' mind as he boar witness to the practical universe stretching out before him.
Admits the darkness of his surroundings twinkled what looked like distant stars. Around him as he continued falling stretched glowing yellow pillars, all connecting and branching away from each other as they fell down into the abyss below.
It was like they went on forever.
Jaune reached out and managed to grapple onto one of them, halting his decent with a bone jarring backlash.
"Oh-oh jeez, what is this~?!" he panicked, a tingling feeling hummed on his hand. Looking up to see, his hand grasping the yellow pillar was beginning to glow the same colour before flaking like crunchy-nut cornflakes. Shock filled his heart as it raced down his arm engulfing him completely. "Arrgh-!"
He was cut off short with his vision swirling and the next thing he knew, he was falling again, only this time the ground of a city was rushing up to meet him at alarming speed with the wind whipping through his hair.
After some more screaming of absolute terror, Jaune closed his eyes before crashing face-first right into the concrete pavement with a hard smack. Expecting to be completely liquified, he had a trembly opened his eyes.
He was alright.
He was alive and in one piece. In a little pain, but alive.
Lips trembling into laughter, Jaune slowly brought himself back up to his feet. His landing wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't life threatening, it was like he landed on a pole-vaulting mat
"Haaah-Ah-haha, this, this dream is starting to freak me out a bit~," he half laughed, trying to maintain his sanity.
A shadowy figure passed him by.
Startled, Jaune stepped back a bit and raising his hands in defence. He soon let out a sigh of relief, it was just a person in a suit.
Actually, he was surrounded by a lot of people. Looking around, Jaune found himself in the walk-way of a busy street. No one was even batting an eye to the fact that Jaune had just fallen from the sky like a raindrop and should've been splatted like one.
It made him feel uneasy, a little terrified and he was becoming more and more aware of it by the second. A little unusual to have together in a dream.
Looking around more, Jaune recognised where he was. He was home, this was his home town. "Okay, this is starting to feel like a trip down memory lane."
Making a move, he walked through the streets, noticing that everything was somewhat bleak. Not just bleak as in attitude, but the atmosphere and the people seemed kind of dark, and that wasn't just because of the suits this time. Before too long he found his way home.
Something was odd. There were more cars parked along the street than usual, even a black funeral car parked in his drive way.
'That's…..odd.'
He climbed the stairs and pushing through the door he was again met with eerie silence. Giving a call out for anyone, he hoped someone was home.
No answer.
Jaune didn't like this one bit, quickly pacing to the living room he immediately found everyone in the house at once. Rows of fold-out chairs lined the room facing the front where a podium stood next to an open coffin surrounded by a bed of flowers. Everyone Jaune ever knew prior to the academy was here either sitting in the chairs or standing off to the sides ranging from family, friends to neighbours.
All of them wore the same downcast expressions, some faring better at holding back tears than others.
"Hey everyone, what's going on here?" Jaune called in slight distraught. They didn't answer, out-right ignoring him. A little more worried than annoyed, Jaune went over to one of his seven sisters who was present. "Amanda, do you know what's going on-."
He cut himself short as she looked up to him with teary eyes. She was looking at him, but her eyes weren't focused on him. Turning back around to the coffin behind and without a word, Jaune paced over to take a peek inside.
He choked back on his own breath, almost tripping over himself. The person lying in the coffin was him. Dead. "Wha-what kind of sick dream is this?"
Stammering backwards, he turned wide eyed to rest of the people in the room. Was this his funereal? This was his funereal. Jaune caught a glimpse of his mother amongst everyone with his father by her. She was visually one of the most heart broken in the room.
His father sitting beside her rested a hand on his mothers' shoulder with tearing eyes. She nodded solemnly before getting up and walking to stand behind the podium overlooking everyone else.
"Jaune was….a-a brave boy. Strong, confident, and always wanting to be a huntsman~, sniff~. When I told him being a huntsman wasn't for everybody, and I was already proud of him being himself, I'd already expected him to be a little rebellious for a boy his age. But I-I-I never imagined he'd try and get there by…..by….. oh god….," his mother broke down before she could finish her speech. Her lips trembling as she buried her crying face into her hands.
"Wh-what? N-No, mum, I'm here, I'm alive," Jaune hastily ran to the stage to block her path as she was led off crying. "You don't have to worry, I'm going to be a huntsman an-and make you prou-."
Trying to reassure her, his mum just ended up walking through him. Not in the sense that she passed by him and it only seemed like she went through Jaune. His mother literally passed through him as though he were a ghost.
It freaked him out.
Was he really dead? Was everything that happened at the academy the other day a dream and this was the reality? Glancing to the open coffin, he looked really hard at the boy's face. His face.
"O-Okay, this isn't funny anymore~," he nervously laughed, slowly pacing back down the aisle before turning and breaking into a sprint. "I want to wake up!"
He bolted through the porch and burst through the front door, tripping over a couple of stairs and out into the streets of people. Jaune tried slowing but ended up colliding right into someone. No, through them.
Just like his mum, the person just passed right through him without showing any notice of his presence.
"No, no, this can't be real, it's just a dream," he hyperventilated as more people passed through him. Pulling up his sleeve, he pinched his wrist with all his might. If hitting the pavement doesn't wake him up, then hurting himself has to work, it's basic self-wake up knowledge.
It wasn't working, and he was beginning to think he was about to break the skin.
"Come on, wake up~!"
He released his wrist and started slapping himself in the cheeks till they stung nearly as worse as his wrists. When that didn't work he didn't know what else to do. What could he do? If he couldn't wake himself up from the dream, then he'd just have to wait to awaken.
'Is this even a dream?' the thought echoed in his head and the more he listened to it, the more scarred he became.
Jaunes feet began moving on their own, going back to a run down the middle of the street, cars and people constantly passing through him. He didn't care where he was going, just so long as it was anywhere but here, this nightmare.
"You there~."
Jaune suddenly froze in his tracks as a voice called. Was it talking to him, or just someone passing by? He didn't know how, but his heart was freezing under it. It was like a cold hand was squeezing it from behind.
As people passed by, Jaune slowly turned around.
There was nothing at first, but looking closer, amongst the flowing crowds and cars, a lone figure dressed in black stood tall above the rest. Jaune immediately knew he wasn't like the other people in this nightmare, after all, his face…his head was that of a skeleton with fractures running from his eyes.
That, and he was also looking directly at him.
Or he at least assumed it was based on how the two red and blue lights in the sockets, possible serving as eyes pierced at him.
"No-no I'm not really dead, am I?"
The skeleton just continued to look on at him in silence with glaring sockets. People were passing through him too, just as they were with Jaune.
"B-but I-I was already at Beacon…..I had made it…."
No reply.
"I just…. I just wanted to be a hero. Can't you please just understand that I wanted to help people~. To live up to my family's legacy and be someone they can be proud of….someone, I can be proud of…."
The practical, if not the literal, personification of death itself raised a hand and pointed directly at Jaune, it's voice illegible but somehow came clearly. "Y u d n't 👌e ong h r ."
At his words, everyone immediately evaporated, cars and all leaving only Jaune and death standing in the streets.
"Please…..," Jaune pleaded, turning to run again. "I don't want it to end like this!"
Suddenly a burning feeling encased his right hand as the ground at his feet split in a fine line opening down like double doors to a shadowy abyss. Jaune fell right in to it, screaming into the darkness as the light was snapped shut by the doors above with a resounding boom.
Next day
"Ggh-ahh-hagg-haaa~," Jaune's eyes snapped open, hyperventilating he sat up and rapidly glanced around. He was still in the Beacon ballroom with the other students who were either waking up as well or packing up their sleeping effects. "I-I am still here, I didn't – I didn't die~."
Half grinning a bit in relief, Jaune turned down to his hands which were shacking quite a bit. The right more than the left.
"Ha! Look at that guy over there. Guy's pissing his pants on the big day~."
Looking up, Jaune saw a group of boys laughing amongst themselves and looking at Jaune with mocking grins. Suddenly realizing, he looked down to his lap, under the sheets and patted it down.
A sigh of relief. Dry, no bed wetting last night thank god.
"Hey Jaune, you doing alright?" turning up, Jaune came face with Ruby, still in her pj's with a ridiculous case of bed hair. She glanced over to the boys who were still snicking before back to him. "Try not to let those guys get to you, people like them don't seem to care much about how other people feel."
"Him? Nah, h-he was just joking around~. I just feel a little down from…..a bad dream."
"Well, let's try and stay with a positive attitude. We have our initiation today."
"Y-yeah, let's do our best," Jaune agreed wholeheartedly and feeling a slow blow of a second wind. "We're at Beacon after all."
"That's the spirit~!"
Later
"There's no way I put my gear in locker six-three-six yesterday, I would've remembered to count that high," Jaune whined pacing paced through the locker room where all the other new students mostly stood in groups.
Now out of the ballroom, all the new students were expected to get ready before their initiation in into the academy. They'd placed all their weapons and armour into a locker room which Jaune was assuming he was in now, but he just couldn't find where he placed all his stuff yesterday.
If he really lost his grandfather's sword, he'd live the rest of his short life in shame.
Still in a bit of a panic and not looking where he was going, Jaune bumped into the back of someone and reflex on instinct went straight to apologising. "Ah, sorry, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."
"Watch yourself, buddy~," a voice responded in a malicing tone.
Still bowing, Jaune found a pair of solid black shoes connected to towering legs gripped in silver armour rising out of his view. Slowly looking up, he came face to the person he bumped into towering over him.
He had short cut orange hair combed straight up and clad nearly completely in silver armour with a raven emblem on his chest plate and a mace strapped to his side. His eyes bore down upon Jaune in a threatening gaze that made him shrivel a little.
"Do that again, and there might be more than just an accident next time~."
Three other boys, also clad in armour came up from behind the boy with similar appearances, giggling a little as if the threat just told was some kind of joke.
"I-i-i….," Jaune found himself stuttering on his words a little.
"Ha, the kids got his pants scared off."
"Good thing too, they might still be wet from his accident last night~."
The four of them burst out laughing before Cardin, leading the group pushed past Jaune and heading for the other end of the locker room.
"Cardin Winchester."
At the names mention, Jaune turned around to find Gaster leaning against the lockers opposite him writing in his notebook again. Glancing up every now and again to view the other people in the room.
"Confident, brazen, but the same time an arrogant, short-sighted fool who may never be truly respected if he doesn't treat others with respect."
"That's actually a pretty confident thing, to talk behind his back I mean," Jaune replied, being able to gather himself up.
"It's not gossip, if that's what you're thinking," he said, still writing away, glancing to an orange haired girl who was buzzing around a guy dressed in green like a happy bumble bee. He did not look like he was annoyed at all.
"A-am I written in that book as well like that?"
"Hmm~, you have more common sense, better nature and respect than him if that's what you're worried about."
"That's…. comforting to know~," Jaune breathed, thankful that he wasn't thought of as a loser by one of the only few people he'd managed to befriend in the academy so far.
The academy! He was still looking for his gear for the initiation.
Suddenly remembering what he was originally looking for, Jaune went back down to his paper and looking to all the lockers.
Meanwhile, Gaster, having Jaune spin round on the spot confused was slowly driving him mad.
It was like watching a chicken run around with its head lobbed off. He thought about teleporting to the opposite side of the room. But then he'd have to contend with those delinquents even further, and knowing someone else was seeking answers without him knowing the problem was just an unbearable itch he found just as unbearable.
At least this way, he'd be dealing with human who'd be helping him think in the process. He wouldn't lose imaginary braincells over it.
Taking a deep breath and putting his writing on hold, the doctor looked up to the blonde with a shard of resentment in his heart.
"You need something?"
"No no, it's just I can't find my locker. I'm sure I put my stuff in locker one-three-seven, but my note from the teachers is telling me it's in locker six-three-six."
Closing his book with the pen left as a bookmark before circling behind him.
"You're not wrong Jaune, you did put your stuff into a locker that wasn't labelled six-three-six. But as this is a different locker room from the one you used yesterday, there are bound to always be some changes in numbers."
"This is a different locker room?"
Gaster stopped in front of a locker numbered six-three-six before opening it. Inside was Jaunes sword in its collapsed shield-sheath.
"Yes, and that's why they let you know ahead of - are you listening?"
Jaune wasn't looking at either Gaster, nor the locker but past Gasters' shoulder.
Turning around he saw the heiress Weiss dressed in her white dress Jaune was eyeing in the hall yesterday and went to lay the moves on. He got shot down, no surprise there.
She was talking to a red-haired girl dressed in golden armour with a red sash tied around her waist side as she fitted a shield onto her left arm and sheathing a sword onto her back.
Having already read her soul in his free time before dealing with Jaune, Gaster recognised her as Pyrrha, almost as kind hearted as Ruby with just as much execution points. Impressive for a human, but no where as near as strong as some of the humans during the great war in his time line, or even king Asgore during his prime.
It looked like Weiss was trying to start up a conversation, but Pyrrha looked like she was finding the whole thing a little awkward. Even going as far as to put on a farce comparable to Jaune being an actual accepted student at the academy with a smiling face and contributing to the conversation.
"You're not seriously going to try it again?"
"Hey, some girls just like playing hard to get. If I take what happened yesterday and change it up a bit, I'm sure she'll come around," Jaune went into the locker, fishing out his gear while still looking to Weiss.
"Uh-huh, and tell me, what did you learn?"
Jaune went to pass him by, but Gaster held out an arm blocking his path. He looked to the scientist a little confused.
"I-I learnt something important."
"Nice to know, but that's not what I want to ask you. Lat night, did you happen to dream of anything strange?"
Gaster's question surprised Jaune more than it confused him. What was he getting at, did he know, or was he just assuming? But then why would he ask?
"I-I did….."
"Would you be willing to tell me about it?"
"Not really…. I don't exactly feel comfortable talking about it."
"Then at least tell me, do you recall seeing an endless open space with golden branches growing throughout, like they were part of a tree with no visible trunk, and did you also see a monster? Specifically, a skeleton?"
Jaunes eyes widened at the detailed questions. They were specific, too specific to be simply coincidental. But what does that mean?
"Y-yes," he managed to breath.
"I see," Gaster replied, looking into Jaunes eyes for a little bit longer before lowering his arm out of Jaunes way. "Let me know if you dream about it again tonight. You might have a condition."
"A-a what?"
"Try not to think about it too much. Just be yourself."
Jaune wanted to press more, but what could he say? Gaster didn't look like he was willing to talk about it further, and just thinking about his dream made his heart sink.
Swallowing his questions and taking a deep breath, Jaune put back on his confident face with a smile and glided over to where Weiss and the amazons were. As he went, Gaster trailed his red and blue eyes on him.
'Interesting,' he mused, looking first to the human slide between the two girls before turning to his right gloved hand, flexing his bones beneath. 'It seems the residue is stronger than I thought.'
Ever since the first night he slept after entering the timeline, Gaster had always been dreaming about the void, as though he was in it. After a while he began to believe more and more that they weren't just dreams, he even had the same amount of control in seeing everything as he did before.
With all that, he began hypothesizing when he lets go of reality, he mentally returns to the void.
With just his mental being, Gaster could enter any timeline he wanted, even the ones that hadn't ended, but he couldn't interreact with them. He'd be no more than a whisper in the breeze.
So pretty much the same as before.
He found his anti-core there, decaying, but still fully operational and very much active. But again, he couldn't interreact with it either because he was only there mentally. Also, whenever he got to close it would suck away at his mental magic and drop him back into this timeline.
He figured that because he had come from the void, he was drenched in its non-existence radiation. He called this 'void residue', and it would seem there was more to it than he originally thought. Gaster didn't have the equipment to study it, but it seemed he could spread the residue to others through physical interaction and pass on its effects.
Last night, he was able to sense Jaune fall into a timeline, one where a version of him died on his way to Beacon. He pulled Jaune out of there, and if Gaster could really pass on the residue, then why didn't he see some of the people he touched earlier in there, like Glynda?
Does that mean there're conditions for it to be passed?
"Gasterrr!" the scientist was pulled out of his thoughts, mildly irritated, turning to the side to see Yang waving to him with a smile on her face.
Said Ruby was promptly trying to stop her with an unhappy look on her face.
"Hiii~, you seem to know Ruby a little, do you think she needs to break out of her shell?"
"Her what?" he queried, glancing to the girl in question who was glaring daggers at her sister before turning back. "And does this involve me?"
"Well you're one of the few people at Beacon she's actually talked with. she doesn't have much in the ways of people skills."
"Exscuse me! I do to!"
"Anyway, I was just thinking that from your first impression, you might be able to shed some opinion on the subject."
Incredible, for the first time in history, a human was actively seeking Gaster's opinion. It was absolutely horrible, he had better things to do with his time than deal with a human kids social problems.
At that thought, Gaster got an idea for a new experiment, and this was a good opportunity.
"Well I'd be happy to say, but I don't think I caught you're name," he lied.
"Oh, I'm Ruby's older sister, Yang," she introduced, still wearing that wide smile. "Ruby told me that she met you a while back and I've been meaning to say 'hi'."
"Well, hello then, I'm Wing Ding Gaster, but please call me Gaster," he greeted holding out his right gloved hand.
"Hello~," Yang took his hand and for a moment, her face paled until the both of them shook and let go. The colour quickly soon came back to her face, along with her joyous expression. "S-so, what do you think, does Ruby need to break out of her shell and experience new people through new people in her team?" she said that last part leaning towards her sister.
"Yang, shut-up," Ruby pestered. "Just admit that you're saying that you don't wish to be on the same team as me."
"I told you, it's nothing like that. I'm just saying that growing up means meeting new people and learning to work together-."
"And I'm saying that's exactly how dad sounds."
"It seems you really aren't very fond of meeting new people, Ruby," Gaster spoke up.
"Whaaat~? No, of course I like meeting new people. You get to see what they like, experience their own fighting styles, enjoy laughs together and possibly become friends."
"Then what is your problem with meeting new people?"
"I-I just don't know anyone else beside a couple of people, okay. It's just nerve-racking to jump into the fray like that. I might even end up meeting the wrong people."
"And yet you've met me, Jaune, Blake and Weiss Schnees over there."
"Weiss? But she already hates me."
"Oh come on, Ruby, that's where the greatest hurdle is to be jumped," Yang called up wrapping an arm around her sister. "And who knows, you might bond with someone while getting out of a grimm situation~."
Yang chuckled through her nose, trying to hold in a burst of laughter while Ruby visually groaned in agony. "Now you're really just like dad."
Gaster couldn't help but smile a little at the two. The relationship they had was just so much like Sans and Papyrus, even if their roles were a little jumbled. One seeing the excitement in friends while the other makes puns on the fly only to have the former cringe.
As the sisters continued arguing, a small explosion sounded and a wailing Jaune flew right by the three of them before thudding into the lockers across the room. A long red javelin with gold lining pinning him by the hood.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha called from the other end with genuine sincerity. Weiss stood behind her with a smirk on her face, clearly, she'd been getting annoyed by Jaune's advances and seeing him fly away like that was no short of entertaining.
The speaker over-head crackled to life and Glynda's voice came through. "[Could all students please report to Beacon cliff for initiation. Again, could all students please report to Beacon cliff for initiation]."
'This….. is going to be interesting,' he thought, saving a blank page in his book before following everyone out. Little did he notice the sliver of flesh slip right out from his trouser leg. 'It's about time I got some fresh combat data.'
Later
"For years, you have trained to be warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald forest," Ozpin announced at the ridge of the cliff with the first year students lined before him on compressed launch pads.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard about the rumours to the assignment of teams," Glynda took over. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given team names. Today."
There were a few murmurs amongst the students.
"These team mates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with whom you can work well with. That being said, the first single person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years."
"What!" Ruby cried.
"However, this does not mean that mean that you should spend your time looking for other people. Once you have landed, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way, and do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the forest containing several relics. Each team must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and be graded appropriately. Are there any questions?"
Jaune raised his hand in a meek attempt to get Ozpins' attention.
"Good, now take your positions," he ignored.
Everyone braced themselves to go flying. Gaster had never been launched before, he was a scientist more than a warrior, so this whole thing was new waters for him.
He did fight in the war years ago against the humans, but he was young and scared. There was a reason why he was the last true skeleton monster in the underground.
Not wanting to waste time thinking about it, Gaster looked to the others before taking a knee while pressing his fingertips against the platform not unlike a runner.
"Ahh, sir…. I've got a question-," Jaune tried again with a little more volume.
Before Gaster could hear what he had to say, his own catapult sent the scientist flying.
Quickly realizing he mucked up in his launch preparations.
"Well this is unfortunate. I was hoping to push off like a runner and saw through the air like a bird," he groaned as his whole figure stood straight in the air but was spinning like a stick thrown for a dog. "It would seem I growly miscalculated the angle and timing of the launch."
Still hurtling through the air unfunctionally, Gaster amused the idea of his predicament a little bit longer, catching glimpses of the other students who were sailing through the air with a bit more grace. Except for Jaune, he was in a similar situation to him but screaming like a little girl.
'Alright, enough fooling around. We're approaching the ground, so it's time to get to work,' he thought, teleporting to the first bit of ground he saw and landing with an "Umf."
When it came to teleportation, the motion of travel becomes null-n-void as locations in space are switched rather than flowing through the space between them. What it doesn't always do though, is drop Gaster off on his feet. It's always the position he was in last before teleporting, in this case he was spinning through the so many like a merry-go-round he got one planting him face-first into the dirt.
"Grrrgh-urggh, cough-cough."
Lifting his head, Gaster spat out a couple chunks of dirt and grass. He was not looking to be a cow right now.
As he got up and started dusting himself down with his head still spinning a bit, gunshots echoed through the air followed by shattering trees in the distance.
"I'd better hurry up and find someone if I don't want to miss out on research," he said going, into a sprint before quickly slowing to a stop. "Though, if someone on their own makes eye contact with me, we'll end up becoming a pair, and that would hinder my research."
A bird called overhead, soaring through the sky.
"I'll have to approach this carefully."
Interlude
Ruby broke through branches and scattering leaves before landing onto the forest floor then breaking to a run.
"Yang! Yang!" she called at the top of her lungs as the branches and bushes rushed by. Though at this point, panic was setting in and was all a blur.
She just came from soaring through the sky, and now finally on the ground she could team up with Yang. Problem was, she'd flown off to who knows where.
'This is bad. This is really, really bad. What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first?...There's always Jaune. He's funny…but I don't think he'll do well in a fight. Gaster? Always calculative and we've already fought together before… though he'll probably sit back and watch the fight. What about Blake? So calm, so mysterious…plus she likes books. But I don't think I can hold a normal conversation with her. Blaaahhh, okay, so who do I know? There's Jaune, Yang, Gaster, Blake aaannnd….."
Mentally reciting the people she knew, a flash of white ahead made Ruby dig here heels in on reflex before skidding to a halt with closed eyes. Peaking open slightly, she came eye-to-eye with the pale blue-eyed Weiss. They didn't look happy.
Weiss quickly turned her back on Ruby and stomped off in the opposite direction.
"W-wait!... We're supposed to be team mates~….," Ruby sighed as she got further away. It wasn't long until Weiss came right back, grabbing Ruby by her hoody and dragged away in the opposite direction she'd come from.
"By no means does this make us friends."
"You came back~!" Ruby cheered, completely disregarding the branches she was pulled through. For a moment, she thought she heard someone sounding like Jaune calling out for help, but she was to happy that Weiss actually accepted her to care.
"You can stop your celebrating," Weiss coldly remarked, hoisting Ruby onto her feet before letting go. "Now walk on your own, I have no intention on being the last person to the ruins and get a bad grade because of you."
"Come on Weiss, it's not going to be that bad. We've only just began and we're making great head-way."
"And I'd like to keep it that way," she shot back.
"Awww, you're paranoid, aren't you?"
"No, I am not. I'm just taking immediate actions so as to properly complete this exam."
"Aannd~ worrying about who gets there first."
"Oh I'm not worried. I know I'll get there in a proper, and a highly regarded fashion."
"Gugggh~, I think you already have highly regarded fashion on hand~."
"Are you insulting me?"
"What- No, no I'm not insulting you. I'm just saying that you have a nice sense of style, your dress is very beautiful and….frilly."
"Hmm, I will accept your apology," she boasted with a hum before continuing to lead the way. "But only because you recognise this as proper fashion~."
Ruby whimpered a little at her remark. Her first team mate she was going to spend the next four years at Beacon with. She's…. different, and a little difficult, but if Ruby puts in the effort, the two of them will definitely get along. She has to at least believe that, even if Weiss was a bit of an ice queen with a cold attitude.
Ruby went wide-eyed at realizing what she just did. She just…did she unintentionally make a pun?
Oh no, her dad's genes are starting to kick in! Soon she'll be making puns like Yang and cringe at herself with each one!
As she needlessly panicked, Ruby noticed a looming shadow passing over the forest floor nearby before slowing down to their pace. Looking up, there was nothing above, but when she looked back down the shadow was gone.
Reaching for crescent rose still strapped to her side, she felt a little uneasy. Was there a phantom class grimm in these woods? She spotted the shadow again in the other direction this time, but when she looked again both it and the shadow had disappeared.
See you all next time, though I don't know if I'll get the next chapter up so quickly. Uni and stuff.
Later.