In this world when people are questioned on the souls of humanity and Faunus alike, most mention the thing that drives them as an individual. This could mean many things, from their fears and hatreds to their aspirations and goals.

For most people these aspirations and goals come in many different forms, from glory for themselves, honour for their families or protecting others…but those are simply the best of them; the ones that people always like to see in themselves to feel better about their choices.

Unfortunately, the one that suits many people is passion. It is negative for many reasons but the one people can recognize in another person first is selfishness. Doing something for your own gain and pleasure without thinking of anyone else.

An example of these kinds of people would be those who seek the simple thrill of it all.

And so on a day that to many people, would hold no significance, a young woman spends her last day of relative freedom in Vale.

The woman in question is sitting hunched over a bar; her head down and a drink with a little umbrella held in her hand lazily. She has bright blond hair that draped down past her waist.

To someone with modest tastes her clothing could have been considered scandalous; with high-cut shorts and a very prominent amount of her cleavage showing. Not that she cared what people thought of her, especially in her half-drunk state.

The girl was known as Yang Xiao Long; blond badass, soon-to-be huntress-in-training and destroyer of clubs.

Mainly just this one. For some reason she kept coming back despite the owner's protests.

"Hit me with another one junior!" she slurred. The bartender and owner grumbled to himself as he prepared his customer a drink.

"You know blondie, if I get caught serving you this stuff I could get shut down… you are a minor."

Yang just grinned at him. "And you also know that these drinks are the only thing keeping me from goin' to the cops about all the men you employ to help wanted criminals right?"

Junior huffed, actually it could have been a laugh of some kind. "You had a bad day?"

The teenager groaned to herself. "More like a bad week; between the relapses, guys coming on to me and my dad complaining about me going to beacon again it hasn't been fun."

The older man raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, about that… when do you head off again? Tomorrow right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, you'd think it would be kinda late to back out now, but my old man doesn't see it… wait a minute… what are you looking so happy about?"

"What? I don't know what you're talking about." Junior contradicted but the smile on his face told yang otherwise.

"Aww are you that happy to see me go? I don't think my heart can take it." Yang moaned melodramatically.

Junior rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. On the flipside it gave someone else the time to add their own two-lien.

"Well can you really blame him? If you ask me you cause nothing but trouble."

Yang scoffed as Melanie of the Malachite twins sat down beside her and reached for her own drink. The girl was dressed in her usual white dress, her bladed heels signalling that she was still technically on duty. But that didn't really matter when the current biggest threat to her boss was sitting and having a conversation with him.

"I mean, almost every time you come here either one of our patrons gets hurt or you break something that we have to pay for." Melanie pressed.

Yang shrugged good-naturedly. "Well what can ya do? Some people just need sense knocked into em' and for the record, if you don't want to pay for broken glass then make it bulletproof."

Junior sighed. "Listen Yang, if you're leaving tomorrow then maybe you should get a good night sleep, try to get some rest and prevent a really bad hangover." The man said it not only for her own safety but for his; if this girl was ever in a bad mood he was normally on the receiving end of it… or at least his wallet was.

Melanie inspected her nails as she spoke. "Besides once you join up you'll be killing those Grimm right? You could probably take out your stress on them if you wanted to."

Yang raised an eyebrow in her direction. "You speaking from experience or something?"

She shrugged. "Not really, I just know that kicking out people that get a little too handsy can be cathartic."

The blond laughed as she threw back another shot. She got a thought, fishing her scroll out of her pocket and checking the time. Definitely late. Wiping her mouth Yang stood up, dropping some Lien onto the counter and grinning drunkenly.

"See ya Junior! Have fun while I'm gone won't ya?" she slurred as she turned away, stepping towards the exit of the club.

Junior was about to call after her, say something like 'are you she you can make your way home blondie?' when his scroll buzzed. Checking it, he frowned to himself; he turned to Melanie. "Hey, can you hold down the fort for a sec? I gotta take this."

It looked like his problems didn't end with the blondie tonight.

…

…

Yang stumbled out of the club, her head swimming slightly from the alcohol she probably shouldn't have had. But who cared really? She'd just sleep it off.

The young woman made her way over to the other side of the road where her motorcycle; Bumblebee was parked. She didn't bother wearing a helmet as she hopped on and started the ignition.

The vehicle sped forward like a rocket. The wind already wiping at Yang's hair as she took the corners of the town, she didn't know exactly where she was going yet, but it defiantly wasn't to bed.

Car horns blared as she weaved in and out of traffic at reckless speeds. A black and yellow blur to the naked eye.

But Yang had no trouble controlling her bike even with a drink in her system; the ease in which she passed other drivers was impressive to say the least.

All too soon for her she arrived at her destination; the hotel she'd been staying at for the last week until the ships to Beacon came by tomorrow. Yang didn't even bother with going through the lobby, it was a cheap place so she doubted security would care if she checked back in or not, but she didn't want to talk to anyone right now, so instead she made her way around the side of the building, finding a fire-escape ladder for residents that led up to her own window.

Groggily she climbed the rusted metal, opening her window five floors up with a heave. The woodwork scraping, showing it wasn't always maintained properly. It didn't matter to Yang much; she crawled in and flipped one of the light switches, illuminating the small room.

The place was crummy at best; the plaster on the walls was peeling in some places, the table squeaked when it was used and the oven was pretty old. However personally for Yang the most annoying thing was how the light bulb overhead would flicker every so often, threatening to plunge the room back into darkness.

At least this was the last day she'd see it. She could be happy about that. And she defiantly wasn't paying tips, the service sucked.

But enough of that, right now Yang was feeling up for a bit of a midnight snack! Walking over to the tiny cupboard she pulled out a pot of noodles… a little low on the nutritional value but it was an easy meal. Just some hot water and a spoon.

The water itself took a few minutes to boil, and the whole time Yang leaned against the wall, just staring at the window, last in a sort of daze.

Eventually it was ready, and after a few stirs she sat down at the squeaking table. She blew on it lightly before scooping some it up and taking a bite. She winced. Yeah, these things weren't popular for a reason. But food was food, and Yang had blown most of her money on… other things.

Another great thing about joining Beacon; she'd be able to get food and a good bed without having to worry about the money, as it stood she was kinda, sorta, maybe in a small bit of debt.

Yep, things were kind of hard when you left home without a plan for the year, and after graduating from signal Academy that was exactly what she'd done.

But she could think about her problems some other time, looking at her scroll again she could see it was almost one in the morning.

Yawning to herself, she finished her food and walked into her bedroom.

Closing the door behind her she pulled off her shirt and pants easily, but put on a long vest and a light pair of shorts(it was a little too cold to be sleeping without the stuff) and fell onto her bed, pulling the sheets up around her to sleep.

Yang closed her eyes.

…

…

…

Yet sleep didn't seem to want to come to her. Behind her eyelids there might have been darkness but unconsciousness was just out of her grasp. Although even with her eyes closed the world was tilting slightly, probably from the booze.

Yang would have cursed if she'd had the energy. Why was she so restless all of a sudden?

The blond pulled the sheets closer to her body. Not that it helped. There was a sound from outside her room. Probably some kind of animal… those things tended to lurk about the place when you didn't keep the place clean.

Maybe she could try counting sheep? That always worked right? Wait, no it didn't, it didn't work at all. Yang groaned in defeat and shoved a pillow over her face.

She hated doing this… but it had to be done.

Yang reached into the drawer at her side, moving her hand from left to right until she found what she as looking for; two bottles of pills. She squinted at the labels, making sure she didn't take the wrong one by accident.

There was one for insomnia, and one for depression. Not full-on depression thankfully, she wasn't about to compare herself to people who actually suffered through that stuff like she was throwing herself a pity party but every so often Yang would feel so upset she couldn't pull herself out of a rut without the damn things.

Taking a single capsule from the sleeping pills, she threw it back, without water. She winced as it went down, it would take a few minutes to work. Yang really hated the things; it made her feel weak, not just physically. She felt crap when she needed them to help her get through things.

Her Dad hated them too, but he knew she had to take them. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact he had to take care of Yang then he probably would have been on them himself for the past five years.

Probably right after… well… after Ruby left.

Yang… didn't know where her sister had gone, she hadn't seen her or uncle Qrow or her own mom in for the last few years and it just… took its toll on both the blonds.

Ruby had been ten last time Yang had seen her, it wasn't a good day but it wasn't a bad one either. It had been Summer rose's anniversary and Yang had been still processing the knowledge that she had another mother. That her 'real' mother had left her.

Ruby just… didn't come home that night, and Dad had been worried sick. At twelve years old Yang had been old enough to understand that her sister had gone. But they'd found no body, no blood and for some reason Yang knew her sister wasn't dead.

It might have just made it worse in all honesty, it was safe to say that Yang had some abandonment issues she hadn't worked out yet. A year later the depression had set in, and the sleeping problems soon after. The only thing that took Yang's mind off it was excitement. It was one of the main reasons she'd signed up at signal; for the thrill, and the escape. It worked most of the time, but every so often when nothing had happened for a while and she started feeling bored the mood would hit her and the rest of the day would feel like crap.

Her eyes began to droop.

It would be fine though, tomorrow Yang would be going to Beacon, where they teach you to fight monsters, if that wasn't excitement then she didn't know what was!

Yeah, she'd be fine; the pills were beginning to kick in. Her body was feeling a little heavier, not in a bad way at least.

Yang also knew that she was going to be on a team with other hunter and huntresses in training, that could be fun, no chance of it being boring right? She'd just have to wait and see.

Finally, Yang slipped into a deep sleep.

…

…

The alarm clock was like a knife threw her brain. Yang groaned in agony as she was awoken from her slumber, groggy-eyed and with a splitting headache.

Slowly she pulled herself up into a sitting position, clutching her head with one hand. She really should have had that drink. But it was too late now, and she was paying for it. the only saving grace was that the bedroom had no windows… for some reason and it meant that the sunlight wasn't blinding her.

Oh, and the alarm was still ringing. In anger Yang slammed her fist down, and with a crunch the evil thing was silenced. Yang sank back into the bed and let out another groan of misery.

She glanced at her scroll: it was ten am. Why had the thing been set so early?

…

"Oh crap!" Yang yelled, and immediately regretted it as the knife twisted in her head. She was going to be late for the ships. They left in an hour.

Determinedly Yang rolled out of bed, landing on the floor with a thud, before dragging herself to her feet. Ignoring the pain she reached for her clothes, throwing them on without a care if they were clean or not. She managed to get a look in the mirror though, fixing her hair.

"Lookin' good, as always."

Was complementing yourself seen as vanity? Ah what did she care?

Yang reached for her brown coat, and lastly her baby; Ember Celica. The yellow shotgun gauntlets of her own design shining in the light. Clipping the folded versions onto her wrists she made a dash for the door, ignoring breakfast entirely for the danger of being late.

She might make it if she used Bumblebee, but there was an even better way to beat the traffic.

Yang grinned, using the window instead of the door and began to climb upwards, towards the roof of the hotel. She winced slightly as the sun shone into her eyes. Damn hangover.

The morning wind whipped at her hair and she grinned. She extended her arms behind her back and listened as the gears in her gauntlets shifted. She took a breath.

And punched the air.

Yang let out an excited yip as she rocketed into the air, high above the tops of the buildings, she punched again and was pushed dozens of feet forwards onto the next building, where she landed in a roll.

She looked at her fists and rolled her shoulders experimentally before grinning, this could work.

And so was invented what Yang dubbed 'gun travel' where she leapt from building to building like some kind of superhero, far above the unsuspecting populace below. Yang made sure to add a few backflips in there for style points.

Yang blew out a sigh of relief as she saw the airport. The ships hadn't arrived yet, probably still picking people up from other docks around town. She landed at the back of the crowd, with all the chatter about going to Beacon, the few people that did notice her gave only a surprised look or two.

The grin still hadn't left her face as she mingled with the groups. She looked at her scroll; still ten minutes left, gun travel really was awesome. Maybe she should advertise it? But how would it work on a larger scale? Traffic would probably be a lot harder with all the bullets flying around. Oh! Maybe it could be a killer sport instead! She'd pay to see that.

Yang was brought out of her thoughts as a stranger approached her; shadowy figure… a shadowy figure, wait! He had a head of green hair, and brown eyes; A weird combination even for her. Why was he trying to talk to her again.?

The stranger smiled. "Hi there! So you're going to Beacon too huh?"

Yang decided to humour him, even as she noticed that he was staring at her cleavage instead of her lilac eyes. That's a dead giveaway dude.

"Yeah, I'm ready to be trained how to take down any sort of monster!" she said with a grin.

The boy smiled, it was obviously fake, but he didn't seem to notice how easily she could tell. He wanted to play that game did he? Alright then.

"So," he went on. "You look like a girl who likes to have fun."

"Like a champ." She replied with fake enthusiasm.

The guy grinned lecherously. "Well then how about after we get to the school, I show you how to have some real fun." He put as much emphasis on fun as he could and Yang just couldn't help herself, she began to giggle uncontrollably. The guy might have taken this as encouragement if she hadn't bent over and clutched her stomach.

"Hey, what are you-"

Yang stood up straight and gave him an amused look. "Alright that was kind of funny, I mean you tried so hard but you were just so bad. I mean you went straight into the sex didn't you?"

"I… I um-" he floundered.

"Let me give you a tip kiddo, if you're gonna pull something like that then you either need to be in a bar with a tipsy target, which I wouldn't recommend for legal reasons. Or you need to have the smooth moves." She laughed.

"You did it in broad daylight and with no charisma at all. Listen, you made me laugh so I'm going to let it slide, now get out of here. Oh! And one more thing; if you're flirtin' with a girl the try to actually look at their face when you talk to them, K?"

The guy's face was red now, with embarrassment or anger she didn't care.

"Y-you blond bimbo! I ought to-" he tried to reach for her, probably yo save face, maybe rough her up after she stung his pride so much. Yang just leaned back, not really wanting to bother with the k…kid… oh…

In front of her eyes she watched as he took hold of a single strand of her hair. She saw red, and let the whole universe know that if you touched Yang Xiao Long's hair…

You were totally screwed.

In a single instant, Yang's hair looked as if had actually caught on fire as her eyes turned from lilac to blood red. Her fist connected with his chin, and he was sent skywards, sipping wildly in the air for a moment before he crashed back into the ground. Groaning but not quite unconscious.

There were a few disbelieving looks from onlookers, a few took a step back as Yang looked around, calming down she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Well, that was a thing."

The other students wisely decided to ignore her after that.

'Great, good job Yang, make everyone think you're a psycho before day one, that's a fantastic idea.'

It was at that moment that a giant shadow was cast overhead, blocking out the sun. Yang looked up at the offender; a massive construct of metal, the ship that was ferrying new students to Beacon had finally arrived.

Slowly it docked and the doors slid open as a ramp was set down by the crew for them to walk up. Yang allowed herself to be swept away by the crowd as they flowed into their ride. With each minute she was grinning more and more.

She looked around. There were already people aboard by the looks of it, probably from the port over or something.

After a few moments of excitement the swarm of people separated into different groups that made their way to different sections of the ship. There was a rather large screen on one side, showing the news.

Yang watched with mild interest as the news anchor; Lisa Lavender, spoke about a robbery last night. Huh… it was on the other side of town, not too far away from Junior's club. Eh, at least it was stopped. There was a mention of some famous thief that had managed to get away but that was about it. Well, at least things in Beacon had the chance to be fun!

Suddenly there was a shift and the screen became the image of a woman with glasses. Yang wondered who she was.

"Hello students, my name is Glynda Goodwitch."

Oh.

"And I would like to welcome you to Beacon. This place is where you will prepare yourself for life as Hunters and Huntresses. As you have no doubt gathered this is a rare opportunity, and I as well as the staff here are eager to aid you in becoming protectors of this kingdom. At the moment remnant is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsman and Huntresses it will be your duty to uphold it. You have been chosen not only because of your skill but because of your courage. And we here at Beacon welcome you in an effort to use that courage for the greater good."

There was a pause, and Yang noticed even through the hologram how the woman's face seemed to shift from polite… to something else. It was there an instant before it vanished and she was smiling again.

"Welcome to Beacon Academy."

Yang smiled to herself. That was interesting, looked like they were really hyping up this Huntress job. She wondered if-

Yang was interrupted by the sound of someone throwing up their guts. The disgusting noise as someone vomited over the side of the ship brought her attention to the railings, where a blond boy was hunched over.

He was wearing so kind of bare-minimum armour. Not really enough to protect him from anything but who was he to judge. Although he was tall, the whole puking thing really took away from it. Maybe she could go over and ask him why he was looking green. Was he travel sick?

Well, time to find-

Yang was interrupted from her monologue for a second time in five minutes as someone bumped into her shoulder. She scowled as the person stumbled slightly.

"O-oh! Sorry," came the voice. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

The voice was female, their small frame hid under a red hood.

Yang's expression softened and she shrugged. "Eh it's fine, whatever." The girl nodded and moved to turn away. But Yang was in for a little bit of messing around. It was only fair. She stepped on the end of the red cape lightly and watched as it was tugged off the girls head.

She snickered for a second, until the girl turned around.

If there was one thing Yang remembered about the woman who had raised her as if she were her mother, it was her most defining physical feature; her silver eyes. And right now they were staring wide-eyed back at her. There was only one other person with eyes like that she knew, with hair black with that shade of tinted red.

"Ru…" Yang's voice was barely audible, seemingly deserting her at just this moment. She felt herself shake involuntarily. She forced herself to settle as she swallowed. "Ruby? Is… is that you?"

The smaller girl's eyebrows shot up further as she stared back with her eyes wide, showing off sliver even more.

"Yang? You're… here?"

That confirmation just brought Yang's world down around her, reality seemed to shatter into a million shards like glass. In this situation there were only two things a person could reasonably respond with; fainting, or getting angry.

Yang took another approach entirely: moving almost instantly she collided with her sister, wrapping her arms around her and burying her head into her shoulder.

Ruby seemed almost just as shell-shocked. She actually hesitated in returning the embrace as Yang held on for dear life, as if she was afraid Ruby would just disappear.

"Ruby," Yang croaked out. "How… how are you here? I… I thought you were…"

Ruby's eyes flickered around wildly as if searching for an escape. "I um… I was accepted early into Beacon."

Yang stopped, briefly broke out of her desperate hug to blink and move Ruby back a little, hands still of her shoulders as she looked her sister up and down sceptically. Ruby had been accepted into Beacon too? How?

Her younger sister answered her thoughts almost immediately, panic clearer now. "The headmaster met me in town… we um… had a talk and he let me join."

That just raised more questions in Yang's mind, but before she could voice them a ring sounded out, and Ruby was already moving to the window. Yang followed instantly, eager not to separate from her sister.

Ruby made a noise of awe as she looked out over the city of Vale, and to the school down below. Yang just stared at her sister. Her questions could wait, right now; she just needed to stick with Ruby.

Minutes later the ship had docked and the people filed out. Ruby looked around the school grounds with barely restrained excitement. Already hopping around and gawking at the other students.

"Look at that! That kid's got a collapsible staff! That girl's got a flaming sword! Calm down Ryby, don't go over the top, crud what am I even doing people are going to notice."

Yang said nothing, preferring to stare in awe at her newly reunited sister's ecstatic opinion of weapons. Was Ruby just brushing past the whole – just found my sister after five years thing? What was she supposed to do with that?

She spoke up. "Uh, Ruby, don't you think we should talk."

The redhead stopped. Turning to face Yang, her face suddenly apprehensive as she nervously inspected her feet. "Right… about that… what, uh, what did you wanna ask?"

Yang wasted no time. "How about where you've been or what happened. You just disappeared and I had no clue where you'd gone!"

Ruby fidgeted more. "It's… it's a little complicated. It was… doing a little bit of travelling."

"Travelling where exactly?" Yang pressed.

"Oh you know, Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo all over the place really."

The blond gawked. "How could you afford that?"

"Um… it was free mostly, I walked."

Yang was now looking at her sister as if she'd said she was secretly a Grimm. And for good reason; travelling by foot was probably one of the most dangerous things you could do, with the Grimm stalking everything outside the cities it was more than a little dangerous.

"You… but how… what?"

Ruby began to sweat. She grabbed her older sisters' hand and smiled nervously. "Look, can we talk about this when we get inside? I don't want to be late." She urged as she pulled her sister along.

Ruby was in such a hurry to not continue that line of conversation that she missed the luggage cart right behind her. She tripped, dragging Yang down with her as suitcases were sent everywhere, and vials of dust fell out.

Ruby and Yang groaned as they lay there in a heap.

There was a gasp if indignation. "What are you doing?!"

Both sisters looked up to see a girl about their size looking down on them; dressed in expensive-looking white, with even whiter hair and beautiful blue eyes, or ice depending on how you looked at them.

The girl continued. "Do you have any idea the damage you cloud have caused?" she said as she picked up a vial and pointed it threateningly at the two of them.

Ruby recoiled. "Hey, hey! Be careful with that!"

The ice queen scoffed. "You're telling me to be careful? Do you have any idea what you were doing? You… you dolt!"

Yang suddenly flared up. Standing protectively in front of her sister and glared hotly at the girl, red-eyed. The change in colour seemed to shock her for a split second before she glared back with her own icy glare.

"I think you need to step off my sister pal." Yang growled.

The white-haired girl was not to be put off. "Or what? Who exactly do you think you're threatening?"

"I think I can answer that." A fourth voice was suddenly added to the mix. The three girls turned to a girl with raven black hair, black clothing and a black bow atop her head. Even her weapon was black, strapped to her back with a ribbon hanging off it. But her eyes were what really drew their attention; they were wild, dangerous, and bright yellow.

The newcomer gave a sickly sweet smile. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company, one of the leaders in dust use all over the world.

The newly introduced Weiss puffed out her chest and smirked. "Well, at least someone knows who their-"

She was cut off as the girls face suddenly shifted. Scowling as her eyes became sharp, and radiated coldness as she glared. "They're also known for their more than controversial labour forces, and shady business deals."

Weiss spluttered in indignation and Yang grinned. Ruby preferred instead to hide her tiny smile behind her hand. It quickly vanished when she could a glimpse of the hostility the new girl was giving out.

The Schnee seemed to have enough, scoffing as she turned to leave, butlers coming to clean up the mess and follow her.

Ruby blinked and called out to her. "I'm sorry! I'll make it up to you!"

There was an awkward pause as the three of them stood there looking at each other. Until Yang calmed down and put her hands on her hips, grinning at the black-haired girl.

"Thanks for the backup with ice queen there. You got a name sweetheart?"

The girl looked between them carefully before shrugging. "My name's Blake."

She grinned wider. "Yeah well I'm Yang; you're going to be hearing it a lot around here."

Blake hummed lightly. "If you're like that with new people all the time then I could guess so."

Yang laughed and nudged Ruby. "Oh I like her! She has sass."

Ruby nodded. "Um… Hi! I'm Ruby Rose. Nice to meet you." She reached out a hand in greeting.

Blake accepted it. "Likewise."

"Um… excuse me?"

Yang groaned again. What now?

They turned to see the boy on the ship from earlier; he was smiling at them as he scratched the back of her head. "Do you girls know where we're supposed to go?"

Yang was about to tell him to buzz off when Ruby stepped forward. "Yeah, you can follow us! What's your name?"

"Wait a minute." Yang said. "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

His shoulders deflated. "Yeah." He said weakly.

Ruby ignored it. "Well vomit boy! Follow us!" she said, making a complete one-eighty turn for her previous mood, causing Yang to blink.

She really would have to have a talk with her sister later.

And find out what was going on.

Is it over? oh God my fingers, they burn! All four chapters in one day was a bad idea.

But my agony aside, this is thankfully the last Prologue chapter, everything from here on out will be new... well, somewhat. There's still the main skeleton of the RWBY story but expect that to change immensely.

Anyway; Follow, favourite and Review!

BYE!