Chapter Two

Beacon

Today was the day...

Three days had passed and, as promised by one Professor Ozpin, I was picked up in a limo by an extremely rude guy with a chip on his shoulder. The drive didn't take long and I soon arrived at the airport. Flipping off the jackass driver and saying thanks, I headed towards the large airship designated for Beacon Academy.

Once again I was dressed in my Dante-esque clothing. The black cloak flowed as I walked and I felt the still somewhat unfamiliar presence of Ebony, Ivory, and Kira on my person. Along with this, I carried my backpack, filled with my laptop, laptop charger and flashlight. The only remaining things from my old life, the bottle of water drunken on day two of hotel stay-cation. Is drunken a word? Whatever, the point is I drank the fucking water okay?

Entering the airship, I feel a sense of... Happiness? Excitement? Apprehension? Perhaps all these things. I stop suddenly causing a faunus boy to bump into me. I apologize before I move out of the way, this seems to surprise the boy and he seems confused if grateful. Little did I know my actions had caught the attention of a certain amber eyed faunus.

I stared around the airship in awe as I made my way to a to a random seat in the far left of the large room and sit down. 'I cannot fucking believe I'm really here! I mean shit, how many people can say that I woke up in an alternate universe!? Practically nobody!'

…

'Unless all self-insert and "O.C." from our world stories are true somehow...'

…

'I think I may have just had a small mental crises for a second.'

As I slide once again into my nasty habit of talking to myself plus the non-existent readers and the singular writer, I am surprised when I feel the airship begin to move and take off. I grip the seat roughly and fight back a small whimper. I fucking HATE flying!

'Author please take pity on me and give me something to take my mind off the fact that I am airborne and could theoretically die at anytime.'

"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"

…

'That'll work. Thanks author, you're the best.'

I stand up from my chosen spot and head closer to who I know is Yang and Ruby. I stand nearby, but pretend to look out the window.

"Please stop...", I hear Ruby wheeze out. 'Yang honey crush any harder and she'll die. Then where would we be?'

"But I'm so proud of you!"

Ruby sounds solemn. "Really Sis, it was nothing."

"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon's gonna think you're the bee's knees." 'Okay, who the fuck even says bee's knees?'

Ruby seems distressed, though not overly so. "I don't want to be the "bee's knees", okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."

"What's with you? Aren't you exited? 'Yes I am Yang. And yes I know that wasn't directed towards me.'

"Of course I'm exited... I just...", I hear Ruby sigh. 'Time to make my move.' "I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."

I place my backpack down on the floor before turning and walking towards them with my hands in my coat pockets. 'Sorry Yang but I'm about to steal and alter your line.'

"You must be special though.", I say and both girls look at me in surprise. "If you got moved ahead two years to attend Beacon then there must be a reason. Ozpin ain't no fool."

Yang smiles and pulls Ruby into a one-armed hug. "See! You are special,"

Ruby still seems uncomfortable and I feel a need to help her calm. "If it makes you feel any better, you aren't the only one here who's here under different circumstances."

My eyes meet Ruby's hopeful gaze. 'Is she really that worried of being considered special.'

"I'm 16 and I've never even been to combat school."

If anything Ruby seems relieved and Yang gives me a surprised look. "Really? How'd ya make it into Beacon?"

I gave Yang a wide smile. "I impressed Ozpin. I also may have been a bit of a badass. But that is neither here nor there!"

Yang laughed and Ruby seemed curious. "How did you do it?" 'What be a badass?' "Impress Ozpin I mean." 'Oh.'

"Killed a pack of Ursa, about ten of 'em.", I said proudly. 'Ursa's? Ursai? Damn, why couldn't Ozpin have answered my question?

Ruby's eyes seem to sparkle. "Wow!"

Our conversation stops and we draw our attention to a loud hologram/TV thing that just now seemed to have started to play the news.

'Wait... Did you delay the network broadcast and lengthen the flight just so I could talk to Ruby and Yang? You are awesome.'

"The robbery was lead by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you Lisa."

"Thank you Cyrill. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony."

The news continues as memories, of racial tensions from Earth, come to mind and I murmur a quote to myself sadly. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Once again, I was unaware of the faunus that had heard me.

The news feed is cut out suddenly and a holographic image of Glynda Goodwitch replaces it.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon."

"Who's that?", I hear Yang ask.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh."

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious Academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace,-"

'That is bullshit. Salem, Cinder, the White Fang... This is so full of shit.'

The hologram disappears and several students seem in awe of the view. 'I guess we're close to Beacon.'

I see Ruby rush to the window and she puts one hand on the glass as she looks outside. "Oh wow! You can see Signal from up here!", Ruby's tone grows quieter. "I guess home isn't too far after all.

Yang moves over to her sister before placing a comforting arm on Ruby's shoulder. "Beacon's our home now."

I hear a retching sound to my left and I remember Jaune and his airsickness. Deciding I wanted no part of that, I retrieved my backpack and moved further into the airship. Now that I'm no longer distracted, I feel my unease of flight returning and I move quickly towards one of the seats.

Then I stop...

Sitting alone in one of the airships many seats, is Blake Belladonna. Her eyes darting across the page of the book she is reading. The book? "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien.

'Huh... Glad to see that still exists here.'

…

'Wait... did you give her a book I know by heart on purpose? If so, I don't know whether to thank you or yell at you.'

Nervously, I move over towards Blake and I stop once I reach my destination. "Excuse me, may I sit here?"

Blake seems surprised but gives me a small smile and nods. As I sit down, she goes back to reading her book. 'Okay. Please let the details of the book be the same here...'

"Which part of the plot are you on?"

Blake looks at me shocked before she responds. "Bilbo is about to engage in a game of riddles."

A line from the "Lord of the Rings" comes to mind and I smile. "Riddles in the Dark. I think that scene is one of the most memorable of the entire book."

I think I'm holding a record for "longest time you kept Blake surprised" because the shocked look doesn't leave her face. 'Do people in Remnant not read that much or something?'

"I'm surprised. It's rare to find a huntsman-in-training that will read a work of fiction. When did you come by it?"

'Great. Now I have to fake amnesia and say I read it last week at some point.'

"Last week actually. I was looking around and stumbled into one of Vale's public libraries, found that book and started reading. I came back every so often when I wasn't busy for the next few day's till I finished it. Do you like it?"

Blake nodded with a smile on her face. "It's a wonderful book. I'm looking forward to finishing it."

'Okay writer, I've decided to thank you. Not only am I having a rather pleasant conversation with my biggest fan-crush ever, but we're talking about a book I happen to fucking love!'

I give her a smile before I stand and put on my backpack, before I leave I bow to her in a theatrical manner. "My name is Toby Lawliet. May I ask yours?"

Blake seems amused by my theatrical display and I see her bow twitch. 'Ah, there go the cat ears.'

"Blake Belladonna.", she says with a smile and nod.

I give her a big goofy grin and give her a two finger mock salute. "Well Blake, I'll let you get back to your book. It was nice to meet you and I hope we meet again!"

"It was nice to meet you as well.", she says with a smile. She returns to her book and I go to rejoin Ruby and Yang.

'God my heart is beating a mile a minute...'

As I join the two sisters, I see that we are about to land. Deciding that it was too late to start another conversation, I instead head for the exits.

'Hey writer? Thanks for keeping me busy on this trip. I don't wanna know what nickname I would have gotten from Yang if I was like Jaune over there. So really, thanks.'

LINEBREAK

I'm one of the first ones off the airship, the other being Jaune who ran for a trash can to vomit in, and I only walk a small amount before I'm stopped by the sight in front of me.

Beacon...

'Mom... Sis... Can you see me? I made it... Now I just have to pass initiation... I can do it. I know I can!'

I am pulled out of my thoughts by the sound, and vibration, of an explosion. 'Wait... an explosion?'

…

'Oh fuckberries I forgot about Ruby and Weiss!'

I turn and run to the source of the explosion, just a ways behind me, back at where the airship landed. Just as I arrive at the source of the explosion, I am as expected, greeted by the sight of an embarrassed and terrified Ruby and an extremely pissed off Weiss.

"I'm really, really sorry!"

"Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon? This isn't like ordinary combat school you know! It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters, so... watch where you're going!"

'Wait, this scene is wrong... Weiss looks way more angry... and Ruby looks like she's about to cry...'

I watch as Weiss continues to yell at Ruby, who for some reason isn't standing up for herself like she should. As time passes, Ruby starts to shake and it looks like she's about to break down.

…

'Alright, I've had just about enough!'

"Yo, back off! She said she was sorry, so leave her alone.", I said as I approached, stopping only once I had placed myself between Weiss and Ruby.

Weiss gives me a look of disgust before she speaks in a haughty tone. "I am simply stating the dangers of attending Beacon and warning her of the dangers of improper Dust handling!"

I glare at the heiress before I speak as calmly as possible. "Be that as it may. You have made your point a little too well."

Weiss face turns to one of confusion. "What ever are you talking about?"

"Stop ranting for ten seconds and just fucking look at her!", I practically growl.

Weiss seems surprised by my language but does what I say. When she sees Ruby, now a shaking mess fighting back tears, her face softens and I see her face take on a look of regret.

"I... admit I may have been too harsh. I apologize for my behavior."

'Okay what the fuck. Blake isn't showing up, this whole scene is different... Author I hope you know what your doing...'

Ruby seems to be calming down and I sigh. "Look, let's just go our separate ways for now and hopefully we can start over later. How does that sound?

Weiss looks at Ruby before she smiles sadly. "I believe that is acceptable. Good-bye for now."

"Bye."

As Weiss begins to leave, Ruby speaks quietly. "I really am sorry. I'll make it up to you."

Weiss gives the young girl a friendly smile and nod before she finally leaves.

'You just changed the entire dynamic between Weiss and Ruby in one scene. What the hell are you planning?

…

'Also, if you change something and make Ruby cry again, I WILL find a way to kick your ass.'

Ruby sighs before collapsing on her back. "Welcome to Beacon...", she says sadly.

I crouch down next to her. "Don't get discouraged just yet little red. I'm sure everything will get better from now on."

Ruby smiles widely and she looks at me. "Thank you for standing up to me, that girl was scary!"

'Thank god she's happy again'

"I don't she meant to scare you that bad. I think she might just be dealin' with stuff we don't understand." I smile before holding my hand out to her. "My name is Toby Lawliet."

Ruby quickly shakes my hand from her position on the ground and she speaks excitedly. "I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose!"

Soon after we finish shaking hands, she does an awesome flip from the floor to a standing position and she moves back and forth on the balls of her feet while keeping her hands behind her back. "So... I've got this thing..."

The next thing I now, I am forced to jump back because Ruby pulled a folded "Crescent Rose"

from its place on her back and activated it. Damn thing almost cleaved me in two. 'Oh yeah, Ruby has mentioned in episodes that she sucks at meeting people.'

"This is my scythe Crescent Rose!"

"Holy shit that's cool!" 'Leave me alone, I just got to see Crescent Rose up close!'

Ruby beams. "Thanks! It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!"

"And it just got cooler!" 'Yep. I so gotta see that in action.'

Ruby giggled and folded Crescent Rose back up. "So what've you got?"

'I am so glad I took my weapons apart at the hotel. Now I can actually explain how they work.'

Pulling out Kira I show it to her and I think I hear her squee. "This is Kira, my short sword. And when you press this switch...", I morph Kira into its sawed-off form. "It becomes a shotgun! The bullets explode on impact with enough power to take off an Ursa's head!"

Ruby's eyes seemed to sparkle as she stared at Kira. "Ooh..."

Putting Kira away much to Ruby's disappointment. I smirked at her as I drew my pistols. "This is Ebony and Ivory, they use dust infused magazines. Ebony fires Flame infused Dust bullets, while Ivory fires Ice Infused Dust Bullets. I keep spare ammo in my coat pockets."

'I am so glad these pockets have zippers on them. I'm also glad Ozpin took pity on me and bought me extra ammo. Thanks author.'

Ruby squee's again. In the background I can see Jaune walking around looking lost. As I put away my pistols, Ruby follows my gaze and sees Jaune. "Hey! That's the guy who threw up on the ship.!"

I nod and smile. "He looks lost Ruby, we should probably help him."

"Okay!"

I chuckle as we make our way to Jaune. Why? Well Ruby was skipping in the most adorable way possible. When we arrived and he noticed Ruby, his face faked a confident smirk.

"Hey there! The names Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue- ladies love it!"

'I swear to god if that's a flirt I will kick your ass.'

…

'Where did THAT come from? Is that cause I suggested to be Ruby's long lost brother? Damn... Well whatever.'

Ruby skeptically raised an eyebrow. "Do they?"

Jaune begins to talk enthusiastically. "They will! Well I-I hope they will. My mom always says that... Never mind.", And finishes talking weakly.

There's silence for several moments before I decide to break the tension. "Well Jaune. My name is Toby Lawliet, this is Ruby Rose." After I say her name, Ruby waves at Jaune enthusiastically. Then she suddenly made a grab for her weapon.

"So...I got this thing!" I chuckle and stand silent and watch as the entire meeting plays between Jaune and Ruby the way it should.

LINEBREAK

"Wait- you MADE that?!", Jaune shouts in surprise.

Ruby grins. "Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?"

Jaune suddenly acts dejected. "It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me!", Ruby giggles happily. "Well! I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

Jaune sheathes his sword. "Yeah, the classics..." Jaune suddenly looks at me. "Oh hey! Did you make your weapons too?"

'Oh great. I gotta pull the amnesia card again. I hope you have a plan for this...'

I pretend to be unsure. "I think?"

Jaune and Ruby look confused. "You think?"

"Yeah. I know how they work and how to take them apart... But I have no memories beyond a week ago or well... two weeks ago now. All I can remember Is all the stuff you see on me is mine and that my name is Toby Lawliet... I think. Not even my name sounds right.", I finish with a sad tone.

Jaune and Ruby gives me sympathetic looks before Ruby spontaneously gives me a hug. I assure her that I'm alright and she lets go.

"Dude, that's rough.", says Jaune.

I sigh. "Thanks guys... Anyway! We need to hurry to Orientation!", I begin to walk in a random direction.

"Ah! I forgot!", Ruby shouts as she and Jaune follow me.

We walk for awhile before Ruby speaks. "Hmm... Hey, where are we going?"

I respond with an unsure tone. "I actually have no clue... Hey Jaune do you know where we're going?"

"Oh, I don't know! I was following you... Y-You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some kind of recognizable landmark?"

Silence.

"Is uh... Is that a no?"

Ruby laughs before responding. "That's a no."

LINEBREAK

Eventually, Ruby lead us into a large auditorium. And as we entered the room full of students and teachers alike, I honestly felt stupid.

'Come on Toby! This is the second detail you've forgotten in an extremely small amount of time.'

The room is loud, full of chattering people, but one voice in particular breaks the sound barrier. "Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" 'Jesus Yang... I'm on the other end of the room and that hurt my ears. I can only imagine what that did to the faunus in here...'

Ruby turns to Jaune. "Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony!" I prepare for Ruby to dash away and as I turn to Jaune, Ruby speaks again. "Come on Toby! You've got to meet Yang!"

'Wait what? Why? She does realize I already have yes? And what's up with this anyway? Is this cause I helped her with the Weiss Bomb?'

…

Heh... Weiss Bomb...

Without warning, Ruby grabs my arm and uses her semblance to dash over to Yang, I of course am dragged along and I feel my arm pop a bit as Jaune shouts "Hey, Wait!", behind us.

Once we make it to Yang and Ruby lets go off my arm, the first thing I do is begin to move my arm around in circles. 'Okay good. She didn't pop my arm out of its socket. That would have sucked. Then I would have needed to ask Yang to reset my arm and it would have been game over."

…

"Yang Over?"

…

I notice that Yang keeps looking between me and Ruby with a strange look on her face. And soon she gets a faraway look in her eye.

'We get it author. Your really trying to hammer in that I am somehow related to Yang and Ruby. Get a fucking move on.'

After several seconds, Ruby pokes Yang on her cheek. "Yang? You okay?"

Yang shakes her head quickly before giving Ruby a very Yang like smirk and she crosses her arms over her chest. "I'm fine! So, how's your first day going, little sister?"

Ruby face becomes annoyed. "You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?

Yang winces. "Yikes! Meltdown already?"

Ruby huffs. "No! I literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice...?"

Yang smile widens and her eyes narrow. "Are you being sarcastic?"

Now Ruby huffs. "I wish! I tripped over some scary girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me! If it weren't for Toby-"

"You!", shouted Weiss. 'I thought I had prevented this...? Oh wait, she's yelling at Blake. Oh yeah! Because Blake gets a hold of one of Weiss's Dust Bottles after the explosion right? And since she didn't interrupt my conversation with Weiss, she must have done her anti-Schnee speech later.'

…

'You just wanted to scare Ruby didn't you. God you're an ass.'

Ruby jumps directly into her sisters arms, who in turn catches her despite the confused and shocked look on her face.

"Oh, God it's happening again!"

I sigh. "Calm down Ruby. We talked to her at the site of the explosion remember? She forgave us, we forgave her. She's yelling at someone else right now."

Yang is quiet for several seconds before my words sink in. "Oh, my God, you really exploded..."

"It was an accident...", I hear Ruby murmur before she gets down from her position in Yang's arms. She then looks between me and Yang before she grins, grabs me and pulls me closer to her and Yang. "Ow!"

"Yang! This is Toby! He stood up to me and made the scary girl stop yelling at me! Toby, this is my older sister Yang!"

'Once again, I would like to reiterate that I had already met her on the ship.'

Yang seems amused by her sisters antics while I'm just in slight pain.

"Hi Yang, my names Toby and I am currently being held hostage by a little red reaper." "Hey!"

Yang chuckles. "Yeah, sorry about that! She grows on you I promise!" "Hey!"

'She already has Yang. She already has'

The room suddenly goes quiet and the sound of a microphone starting up fills the, room. All heads including mine turn to the stage, to reveal Ozpin standing at the microphone, with Glynda a bit behind him.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in the search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far... It is up to you to take the first step."

As Ozpin leaves Glynda takes over and speaks into the microphone, but I just watch Ozpin. This feels... I don't know.

'He didn't even have his signature cup of coffee.'

Glynda finishes what she has to say and leaves the microphone. After several moments, Yang speaks. "He seemed kind of... off."

"It's almost like he wasn't even there.", replies Ruby.

"I agree. This is strange..."

At that moment I hear Jaune from the other side of the room. "I'm a natural Blonde you know!"

'Really? He still gets to say that line? Despite everything that seems to have changed? He still managed to find Weiss?'

I face-palm in annoyance. Ruby seems shocked. "Uh.. Toby? You okay?"

'Oh yes. I just remembered how hard it will be to get Arkos to sail with how apt Jaune is at making a fool of himself. But yeah, I'm fine...'

…

'I am not fine.'

END OF CHAPTER TWO