When Ruby thought of what it meant to be a Huntress she thought of daring battles against Grimm, saving civilians and making the hard choices, the one that would keep normal people up at night.
She thought of it as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world where at any second you could die, she thought of how it was a battle between mankind and the forces that would want to destroy the world.
She… did not think of it like this.
"Monsters! Demons! Creatures of the night! The Grimm have many names, but I call them prey."
She slapped a hand over her face; seriously did this guy really just say that? By the brothers he had a golden bust of himself!
"And so will you as you learn to ways of Huntsmen. Here at Beacon with the aid of people like myself who have journeyed out into the world and combated the beasts. My class in particular will be on the study of Grimm themselves; their biology, killing habits and general behaviour. I hope you all pay close attention to what I am going to teach you this school year."
Well, that was always something Ruby could get behind – know your enemy – and all that. The eight of them were suddenly a lot more attentive than they usually would have been; they had fought against a great number of them after all… and nearly been overwhelmed before they'd had a chance to learn. The other students didn't seem as enthusiastic, in fact most seemed as if they didn't really think they'd need to know that sort of thing.
She could understand it though; as far as most of them were concerned they only needed to know how to kill them. Combat classes were what most of them wanted to be right now instead.
"Now, to begin you must all know that for years the kingdoms of Vale, Vacuo, Mistral and Atlas have been buildings settlements throughout the land for people to live in. the capital cities however have always been the safest places, completely protected against Grimm hordes."
"This is possible due to the work of what has been dubbed 'city defences' for obvious reasons. These include automated turrets, scanners, walled infrastructure and of course, Huntsmen."
He gazed out among the students. "We are arguably the best line of defence against the Grimm. We are also the first. And the last." He said more solemnly. "Huntsmen and Huntresses are people trained to fight the creatures of Grimm. But we are expected to do much more than that; the people expect us to serve them faithfully, protect them readily and to die for them proudly."
There was a series of angry mutters from many of the students, some even whispering under their breaths that they would never die for a civilian.
"But that is where I come in!" the professor proclaimed, back to his jovial attitude. "With my aid I will teach you the necessary knowledge needed to survive against the onslaught of Grimm you will no doubt face eventually. Now, as today is our first class together we will be going over some of the basic types of Grimm, and then delving a bit deeper into one category specifically. First off, can anyone tell me the four main Grimm most common in the Kingdom of Vale?"
Ruby's hand shot into the air faster than anyone else's (thank her semblance for that) this was something she knew like the back of her hand after exploring the wilderness of Vale for so long.
Professor Port smiled beneath his bushy moustache. "Ah! Miss Rose! I applaud you on being so eager to participate, now, what is your answer?"
Ruby nodded, more to herself. "The four most common in Vale, or at least by ratio to other kingdoms are Boaratusks, Ursa, Creep and Beowolves. We can still have a large number of almost any other type of Grimm but these are the most reported seen in Vale."
The burly man clapped his hands together. "Excellent Miss Rose! Yes, as she has said class these four kinds of Grimm are most frequent in our own kingdoms compared to others; while Deathstalkers are more common in places like Vacuo for example."
He gestured to a box behind him. "This is the point in class where I demonstrate one of these four Grimm in particular; the Boaratusks. If you look at the diagram I have drawn out behind me you will see that they have the animal structure of a boar, the thing they are quite obviously named after."
He nodded to the students, who seemed to have finally taken an interest. "For a long time it was thought that these Creatures were slow, in that the only way they were a threat was when they fought you head-on. However it was later established that Boaratusks have almost three hundred and sixty-degree vision thanks to its four eyes."
Ruby winced; she knew first-hand about how their eyes made it almost impossible to sneak up on them. It seemed she wasn't the only one with thoughts like that.
"But sir," Weiss said as she raised a hand. "I've often heard that Huntsmen have been able to surprise them. How is that possible if their vision is as good as you say?"
"A valid question Miss Schnee, one that researchers have been asking for a very long time, however all they have been able to deduce is that every other sense it has is significantly weaker to that of mankind's physiology."
He sighed. "I will be honest with all of you; even after centuries, we have made next to no true advancements in Grimm science. We do not know what their motivations are, if there are truly intelligent beings among them or even where they come from. All we know is how to kill them… However that in itself may save lives, be it those of a helpless civilian or your own. So I hope you pay attention to this, make sure to take notes."
The atmosphere in the classroom was much more sombre after that; students doing as they were told and taking notes as Professor Port spoke. Most of them probably found it boring, like yang and Nora. But whether it was from the feeling of guilt people got from not paying attention or the genuine fear of dying to the Grimm they listened.
Port went into very specific detail about the Boaratusk's; their size, weight, speed, strength. The man spoke about how they were usually found near cliffs or deep in forests instead of open plains. He told them about their armoured plating that was tough enough to fend off most conventional weaponry. And there was so much more; its weakness of an unarmoured stomach, how it was rare to see more than one at a time if it wasn't during a scourge… or how they were documented to crush the corpses of its victims underfoot.
Ruby could give him credit where it was due; the man knew his stuff. That was probably why he was a professor.
Eventually, class ended and the students filed on to their next one. Ruby wasn't really paying attention to where she was going; instead simply content to listen to Yang speak as they walked down the halls.
"Yeah I get what he's saying; know your enemy and all that," the blond shrugged. "But I only need to know how to kill them. Sure it's nice to know where it hurts em' the most but we already showed just how much ass we kick!"
Blake chuckled beside them. "Well… when you put it like that I'm sure they'll teach you something more useful."
"You think?"
"…No."
"Awww." Yang moaned. "Ruubbbyyy, Blake's being mean to me again."
The shorted girl blinked. "What do you want me to do about it?"
Her sister gave her a light tap on the shoulder. "You're team leader; give her a scolding to tell her just how bad she's been."
"Oh no," Blake said in a monotone voice. "Please don't do that Ruby, I never meant o cause such distress. I'm so sorry for what I said." She clearly wasn't.
Ruby gave a dramatic sigh. "Well, despite you saying that Yang's right, I am the team leader. I have to tell you when you should be doing something or not. This has to be done, I'm sorry."
She spun round to face her older sister, on finger pointed as if to chastise a puppy.
"No! Bad Yang!"
"What! Why?!"
Ruby shook her head, her face mock-serious. "For not listening in class young lady."
"I listened!"
She raised an eyebrow. "Really? Then what were the four common types of Grimm in the Vale highlands?"
Yang began to sweat slightly. "Um… heh heh, I uh… well they're… um."
Ruby threw her hands up into the air. "That was the only thing I said that entire class!"
Blake snickered behind them, but the red Huntress wasn't done; she turned to the other girl and gave a scowl that wasn't really that serious.
"And you missus, don't think I didn't catch what you were doing! Reading in class, just awful."
The dark-haired girl froze, her face suddenly turning to a lovely shade of red. She gulped. "You… saw that?"
She nodded. "I don't know what you were reading but it's still not okay to ignore the teacher miss belladonna."
Blake nodded, her face cooling down. They hadn't seen the book, she was fine. Or… she would have told herself that, if Yang wasn't giving her the biggest shit-eating grin she'd ever seen.
Damn her.
The banter between the two older Huntresses-in-training continued as they reached their next class.
Combat training. Yang let out a low whistle
Ruby couldn't blame her:
The room was huge, bigger than even the ballroom. There was a stadium of sorts in the centre, big enough for two teams to go at it, and seats all around the side for other students to watch. The slight shimmer gave a hint at the protective field separating the battle area from the spectators.
In the stands people were already seated, dotted around the room. It was easy enough to pick out their friends up there; Nora was having a bubbly conversation with Jaune on her left and Ren on her right, whatever it was they were talking about it looked like the two boys had come to an agreement on something. It must have been funny because Nora was laughing her head off… or… that could have just been Nora.
Next to the trio was Weiss and Pyrrha, talking about something quietly, Ruby couldn't make out what it was.
"Looks like someone's interested in their teammate."
The scythe wilder blinked and looked at Blake, who had her focus on the duo.
"You can hear them?" Ruby asked in surprise.
A nod. "Bits and pieces, looks like the Schnee is complaining about something… not entirely sure what, but Pyrrha's trying to calm her down. Or maybe emphasise with her I don't know."
Ruby would have asked more but the bell rang to signal the start of class. The three of them going over to the group which, had pretty much become an established thing.
The silver-eyed girl plopped herself down beside her partner, with Yang and Blake taking the seat behind them to look over their heads.
The clicking of heels brought their attention to the floor below, and Glynda Goodwitch strode into the centre for the entire class to see.
"Good afternoon students. Today we will be having our first sparring match. As some of you may know they had been postponed until everyone recovered. Now that team RWBY and JNPR are able to attend we will be testing their might against of few of your own. So without further waiting; Cardin Winchester, make your way down to the combat zone. Your opponent will be Pyrrha Nikos."
Yang let out a tiny little huff beside Ruby. It looked like she'd wanted to be the first one to fight.
Well despite the blonde's wishes, it was the Mistral champion who was picked. The redhead already stepping up to the fighting area, her walk suggested confidence.
Ruby was looking forward to seeing what Pyrrha could do; she'd fought at long range during initiation but judging by Cardin's weapon – a mace – he wouldn't give her that chance.
And by the looks of it, he didn't even see her as a threat if his own stance was anything to go by; his heavy weapon resting in his shoulder, leaving him wide open to any enemy that could cross that distance fast enough… and that smile of his screamed arrogance, like he didn't think the warrior girl would give him a problem.
Pyrrha readied herself; shield raised to protect her face and weapon held at eye level, it was in its spear configuration. The champion's knees were bent, coiled like a spring and ready to kick off at a split-second's notice.
Miss Goodwitch stood at the side, watching them carefully. The audience was silent, waiting for action. Someone could have blinked and they'd have heard it.
"Begin!"
The champion shot off like a bullet.
Fast, that was what came to mind first for Ruby; Pyrrha was fast, not to the same extent as her own semblance, but the way she moved just seemed more direct.
Cardin barely got his mace up as the redhead closed the gap, rushing into his range, but instead of stabbing with her spear she barrelled into him with her shield.
The bigger student let out a grunt as he stumbled back a little but she wasn't done with him yet; the Spartan thrust her polearm into his face with deadly speed. Cardin just barely managed to avoid it by throwing his head to the side, but that was the plan.
Suddenly Pyrrha changed her grip on Miló and smashed the shaft on the side of his head.
A roar of cheering echoed around the room as Cardin stumbled back once again, his aura taking a dip.
Nora threw a fist in the air, somehow managing to appear beside Ruby.
"Gooooo Pyrrha! Kick his butt!"
Ruby heard Yang let out an appreciative noise. "Damn, Pyrrha's awesome! She's trashin' the guy."
Weiss scoffed. "I thought that would have been obvious; Pyrrha is no doubt the most experienced when it comes to combating other people."
She wasn't wrong: the Mistral champion was amazing, her body working like a machine, every movement graceful and without a single wasted effort.
It was no exaggeration to say she was dominating the opposition.
Yang grinned. "Are you jealous of that Ice Queen?"
The Schnee glared at her. "Of course not, I can just appreciate an excellent fighter. We could defeat her easily… with the right leadership… something I am sceptical of"
"Huh?"
Before Ruby could ask what she meant by that the buzzer sounded, signalling the end of the fight. Of course it was Pyrrha who came away with the win.
Pyrrha… didn't seem as happy as she had thought she would have been. She stood awkwardly in the ring as people in watching began to whisper among each other.
The invincible girl
That was what Ruby could hear being whispered under peoples breath. Was that what they called Pyrrha? Was that how she managed to get into the Beacon?
She didn't know; out in the wildlands there was never much of an opportunity to catch up on what regular people enjoyed. So she might have missed out on the opportunity to see what the red-head could really do.
She didn't seem happy about it though… not at all.
Nora cheered for her anyway and when Cardin stomped off the stage her team was congratulating her on the easy win. Ruby would have said something herself but Glynda had already ordered them back to their seats.
Surprisingly none of the others from team RWBY or JNPR were called to fight, instead they simply got to enjoy the matches.
Eventually the bell rang out and they were excused. That was good in her opinion, since they had only been at Beacon for a little while the classes hadn't been as... frequent. It felt like the teachers were giving them time to settle in so that they weren't overwhelmed.
Team RWBY had said their farewells to the other team and they had made their separate ways back to their dorms.
Even though they were literally across the hall from each other Team JNPR had decided to take another route.
They piled into their room, and one by one sat on their beds: Yang practically fell into hers like she hadn't a care in the world; Blake was more subtle, crawling onto the bed and leaning against her wall with a book already in hand. Weiss sat daintily on hers, legs crossed and back straight.
Ruby noticed something.
"Do you guys think this place is a bit… crowded?"
The others looked around, it was true; each of them had a bed at one corner of the room, and each had their luggage crammed in around said furniture. Weiss and Yang had the most, more than a few cases and bags while Blake and Ruby had… very little.
What they did have however had no room to be stored so it was a moot point anyway. Everything was thrown around the room and all in all it just looked quite messy.
Blake shrugged. "What should we do then? It's not like we can ask for more closet space."
Ruby put a hand on her chin in thought and hummed aloud. When an idea struck her head-on.
"I got it! We get bunk beds!"
Weiss scowled. "Bunk beds? Seriously? I don't think any of us would –"
"That's a great idea Ru, sign me up." Yang said with a grin as she hopped off her bed. Weiss didn't look impressed.
"Well you might think it is but it two on –"
Blake snapped her book shut and nodded. "It would be efficient in saving space." She agreed.
The Schnee heiress gaped. "You too?!" she gasped out in shock. "This is ridiculous, not to mention dangerous."
Yang shrugged. "Not really, we have aura so the most we could get if we fall is a bruise or two."
Still she didn't look won over but reluctantly agrees to help as they set to work rearranging their room. Weiss almost immediately takes a shining to the task of telling them what to do. Ruby would have thought that it would make her happy; she seemed like the kind of person who was confident being in control but instead she just seemed to get angrier and angrier.
The youngest huntress-in-training decided not to ask why for fear of her own safety.
A while later they'd finished: Weiss and Blake had taken the bottom bunks at either side of the room while the two sisters had claimed the top as their own domain. It…didn't look safe. Fun! But not safe.
The only thing keeping Yang's new bed up was the plethora of books that Blake had brought with her. (Although she was vicious when it came to them asking just what the books were about.) Ruby's wasn't so much connected to Weiss' than it was suspended by many lengths of rope.
She grinned. "Great job team RWBY! So, what's next on the agenda?"
The white-haired girl perked up with an eager smile. "Studying of course, we were given work to catch up on remember; so now seems a good a time as any to do just that."
Oh…
Ruby let out a tiny little whine that she didn't think Weiss heard, or just chose to ignore it. Blake on the other hand let the corner of her mouth twitch up at the younger girl's expense.
After a minute however they settled down with their textbooks. Specifically; they had to catch up on the information their history teacher – Doctor Oobleck – had espoused to the rest of the class. No doubt team JNPR would be working on this too soon enough.
It was just that… well…
Ruby was lost pretty quickly.
The others noticed too, how could they not?
"Ru," Yang said slowly from her spot beside Blake on their bottom bunk. "Are you ok? You've had this confused look on your face for a minute now."
"Y-yeah," she lied badly. "everything's fine."
"Obviously not." Weiss said with an icy scowl. "Can you not pay attention or do you just not care?"
Ruby looked at her in shock. "What? Why would you say that? Of course I –"
Blake was careful in her defence of her team leader. "I think, that Ruby's having trouble because she hasn't had the chance to study this topic before… she was moved up two years remember?"
Ruby looked down at her lap. For some reason it felt as if it was shameful for her not to know much about the Human and Faunus war. She knew it was, and the little twist in her stomach was just making it worse.
Weiss didn't seem happy about that. "If you had any initiative then, you might have decided to learn a little about it in Signal before you were accepted into Beacon."
"She didn't go to signal." Yang whispered quietly, looking at her little sister with sad eyes that Ruby for the life of her couldn't place the reasoning behind.
Weiss blinked, thrown off and turned to look at her leader straight on. "You went to Sanctum then?"
"No." Was the tiny response
"The academy in Atlas then? I was homeschooled myself so I would not have noticed you. Was that it?"
"No."
Weiss' face scrunched a little. "You didn't go to Vacuo's school of the gifted did you? It's filled with ruffian's."
"No."
The Schnee lost her patience. "Then where did you go?!" she questioned with a slash of her hand through the air. "There aren't many other institutions that –"
Weiss stopped as the pieces clicked together in her head, and she looked down at Ruby with dawning dismay. "You… didn't go to combat school did you Beacon's the first you've ever attended." It was a statement, not a question and when Ruby didn't nothing to deny it – instead seeming to shrink further into herself – Weiss recoiled in shock, moving away from the younger girl.
Blake and Yang watched the confrontation quietly, not sure what to say.
Weiss made up plenty for that as she finally exploded, on her feet and pacing back and forth.
"I don't believe this! I can't believe this! You're not even qualified to be here, you have none of the education that the rest of us have and yet somehow you were picked as team leader. Does Headmaster Ozpin know? He must know if he allowed you to join. This is ridiculous. I can believe this!"
"Well so what?!" Ruby finally yelled back. She had stood up now too, glaring up at the girl. "Why are you so mad about this? You were fine with me when we were put together as partners. Why are you suddenly being mean to me now? And I know you have, I've noticed all the little things you said, and all the looks you've given me. So WHY!"
Weiss growled at her and despite the hostile gesture neither of their teammates moved to intervene, perhaps unaware of what they could do.
"You want to know why? It's very simple so remember it. A Schnee. Doesn't. Follow. I was fine with you as a partner because you were competent in battle despite your age, but thought you were too young, too inexperienced to lead a team of deadly fighters, and now that I find out you haven't even the most fundamental theory work of what they teach you the years leading up to choosing one of the Huntsman Academies I know I was right."
Ruby only glared harder, her silver eyes burning holes into Weiss' head. "So you hate the idea that you have to follow me because you think I'm beneath you is that it? Wow, it must have embarrassed you so much to be paired with someone like me then. I bet you were almost sick at the idea."
Weiss snarled, but didn't deny it. Ruby didn't want to admit it to herself but that stung quite a bit. But the older girl wasn't finished.
"It doesn't matter; I won't follow someone who has no idea what they're doing. It's clear, Ozpin made a mistake. And I intend to take it up with the Headmaster right now!"
Before Ruby could say anything in response Weiss stormed out of the room.
For some reason, Yang decided to go after her without a word or even a look in her younger sisters' direction.
A moment later there was silence. Ruby sank down back onto the bed and let out a long, frustrated sigh. Blake was still here she noticed, and was not looking at her book. Instead she made some kind of noise at the back of her throat that Ruby couldn't catch and moved to sit beside her team leader; resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Meanwhile in the hallway Yang had to jog to catch up to Weiss' furious pace.
"Hey ice queen," she called out. "Wait a sec so we can talk."
She white-haired girl turned to the taller girl with a frosty glare. "What do you want Xiao-long? I'm in no mood for games if you haven't noticed."
The blonde raised her hands in a surrendering gestured. "Look," she said "Can we just have a moment to hash this out?"
She let out a long, suffering breath before schooling her features from furious to stoic but she did not speak.
She didn't need to.
Yang gave a relieved smile. "Alright then."
…
…
Roman considered himself a smart man. That wasn't arrogance talking, even if he was aware that sometimes he tended to lean towards letting his ego show.
He had to be smart; you didn't become a master criminal and world-renowned thief without something working properly inside your skull.
He also was no stranger to betrayal, by colleges, underlings and sometimes clients. Whether it was a shank in the back or a tip-off to the police he had become well aware of the risks when it came to hiring and being hired.
Which was why when he took the job from Cinder, he recognised it as probably one of the stupidest mistakes he'd ever made. It wasn't like he could have said no though; that woman could turn him to ash without so much as breaking a sweat. All his confidence and bravo aside the jaw-dropping, the beautiful woman absolutely terrified him to the point where attraction died a grizzly death.
So when he was scheduled to meet with her he was understandably tense. It was an uncomfortable feeling; his muscles were rigid, his teeth clenched and even his skin felt too tight.
No! He had to be confident when facing Cinder, or failing that he needed to at least fake it. If she thought for a second that he was useless he had no doubt she could arrange a nice and cosy visit to the crematorium.
He took a steadying breath as he came to a small door within the far corner of one of their warehouses. He swung it open with all the confidence he didn't feel and grinned cockily.
There she was, sitting relaxed on one of the luxurious couches he had stolen from across the city of Vale. She didn't even look in his direction as he approached her, so insignificant he must have been to her. Instead she sits further back and pours a glass of wine for herself. Vintage he noticed idly, as if his mind was racing so fast he manages to pick up that insignificant detail.
He stood there, not sitting without her permission (the way she liked it) this woman seemed to have some kind of complex, although Roman hadn't figured it out yet. All he knew is that she loved being in control.
"Roman," she finally said in that silky voice of hers that could either promise a man the world or end it just as fast. "It is good to see you arrive on time. Even for a thief it seems you have good punctuality."
He gave a half-shrug, not trusting himself to say something smart. He did manage something however. "Yeah well, can't be late when it comes to robbing people. Heists are normally very time-specific… teaches you proper manners and all that."
She smiled, although Roman doubted it was because of anything he'd said. Out of the corner of his eye he just noticed her two lap-dogs standing in the corner. Little-miss-pickpocket and her silver-haired boyfriend or whatever; both were shooting him glares.
"Sit." Was all she said, but the order was clear. The thief did as he was told, sitting on the couch opposed to her. His back was stiff even as he pretended to relax, Roman wasn't sure if she'd picked up on that or not.
"Your report over the past month has been rather odd Roman, particularly when you were thwarted in a dust robbery earlier this week. I hope that you did not find yourself in too much trouble."
He shrugged again. "A huntress was closer by than I'd expected and managed to catch me red-handed. I got away clean enough though, even if I didn't steal everything I wanted. That was all he said about it; he wasn't going to tell Cinder that he'd mostly been fought off by two brats barely into their teens. If she heard that she might start questioning his usefulness… and he didn't want to know where that would lead him.
Luckily for him she didn't seem all too bothered by it.
"It is a small setback, so I will forgive it this time," she allowed with a small smile. "But do try to do better next time. You can start making up for the error by meeting with white fang members at our other warehouses. I already have a few White Fang groups moving into a frontier village not far from here, Grainsal I do believe it was called. While they deal with things there I expect you to hold up your own end."
Roman nodded and opened his mouth to speak, before a third voice came from the way he entered.
"So this is where you're hold up in. fitting. I always expected you to delve into the trash of this city, with how much you have failed our lady."
The thief gaped as he turned to stare at the man. Did this guy seriously just say that? To Cinder?!
A second later he realised that the guy hadn't been burned to a crisp yet and turning back to look at Cinder showed that she was anything but relaxed: the corner of her mouth was downturned and her hands had tightened into fits.
"Watts." Was all she said.
The man smirked arrogantly and sat down (without the permission Roman had to seek) he turned to Roman.
"Why don't you run along, thief? This isn't the time for… people… like you."
He hesitated for just a second, but when no words came from Cinder's direction and all he could see from her was a heated glare he decided that perhaps leaving was the best thing for his health.
He left without saying anything, and when he closed the door behind him he sank against it.
That… had been nerve-racking, and it had only lasted a few seconds!
"Neo." he finally called at last and a girl fazed into his sight.
She had hair toned two completely different colours: pink and brown. And her mismatched eyes were no better. She was short, although he'd never say that to her face lest he risk a blade in his kidney.
She was also mute and had a way of communication with just her twisted smiles.
"We need to get this right." He told her. "I have a feeling that if we screw up we won't even see it coming."
Neo seemed to agree.
Just what had they gotten themselves into?
So... I'm back after a long while.
I won't say that it was a planned break but it was a needed one: I've gotten this whole story planned out now and I know where I'm going with it up to VOL 4. Things might change when the next volume comes out but until then this is what I have.
At least I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are willing to stick around for the next one.
Thank you.