Weiss stood silently in a small building on the grounds of her Estate. Previously, it had been a barracks of sorts for her father's "security force". It was more like a private army than anything. This was where they were previously based out of, "previously" being the key word. When Weiss had taken over the company and, in turn, the estate, she had laid off almost the entirety of the Manor's workers, leaving the upkeep of her family home to hardly a skeleton crew.

Weiss knew what the "security" was for. It was an intimidation tactic. Her father showed everyone who came into their home that he could have them killed at any moment. It made him feel powerful. It made him powerful.

So of course, the first chance she could, Weiss tore it to the ground.

Now, the building stood empty, devoid of all human life but herself. She had long since replaced her security force with Drones. Machines like the Atlesian Knights were so much easier to handle that people. Not that she handled them, as they remained in charging stations scattered around the grounds, ready to be automatically deployed should the need arise. Now though, this room of the old security building was abuzz with movement, though none of it was human. She had a small group of AKs constructing an obstacle course to the specifications Winter had sent her in what she assumed was a Gym of some sort for the previous soldiers inhabiting the building prior to Weiss's inheritance of the Company

Winter would be arriving shortly to aid Weiss in the selection of her new bodyguard. She managed to be relieved of her post for the day, no doubt due to her relative closeness with General Ironwood. Whether it was due to a slow week for the Specialist or some other factor, Weiss decided that any reason for the White Fang not bombing one of her trains was most likely a good one.

Winter knew combat much better than Weiss did, for obvious reasons. She had experience the CEO could only approximate from books, so the second opinion would greatly help with the selection process. A brief flash of a memory of silver eyes and a sad smile flitted through Weiss's mind as she remembered that she was already more than a little biased towards one candidate. She really hoped Ruby proved herself today. Winter would play a large part in choosing who should be the CEO's personal security guard, though Weiss was still the sole decision maker when it came to picking her assistant.

Granted, she did have the final say for who became her bodyguard as well, but Winter's approval would make Weiss's justification so much simpler. The course was almost complete, and Winter would soon be arriving, so Weiss prepared to take her leave of the building. It would be a busy day.

Today, Weiss and Winter would whittle down the candidates that made it past the previous day's interviews. It was a simple method of selection. The candidates would make their way through the obstacle course in the fastest possible time. The two sisters would watch on from the second floor catwalk, and judge their performance, eliminating some. Then, they would move on a firearm's course. Armed with only a pistol, they would shoot a series of moving and immobile targets. The candidates would be rated based on accuracy and time, and more would be eliminated. The final stage of selection would come in the form of a small tournament. The remaining five or so candidates would come back into the gym, but this time would spar on the mat with a series of either wooden weapons or their bare hands. Each loser would be eliminated, until only two remained. Those two would fight for the top spot in the rankings. Those who made it to the final phase, whether they won or not, would be considered based on their ratings in all challenges, and the most qualified would receive the job as Weiss's bodyguard. As there was no real quantifiable way of judging business skill, Weiss would simply decide on an assistant.

Hopefully, this Ruby Rose woman would make that unnecessary.

I guess I will see.

Weiss pushed the worry from her mind, deciding instead to let the cards fall where they may. There was nothing she could change now. The only sounds in the wide open room was metal-on-metal, wood, and plastic as the Knights began finishing the construction. With a final clank, silence fell over the room. Weiss felt it begin to weigh on her, and, dreading the cold in her gut, turned and stalked out of the room.

Winter would be here soon.

The gym where the competition would be held was formerly used to train the thugs Weiss's father had called Security. Manicured, Militaristic thugs, but thugs nonetheless. It had a new use today. Weiss wasn't sure why exactly there was a catwalk above the gym. Perhaps it was so her father or an officer of some sort could oversee the training? Regardless, today it's function was for the Schnee sisters to stand atop it, and watch the candidates' performance. It ran the length of the walls of the building, and allowed them a clear view of the entire course.

Stage one, the obstacle course, was set up to specifications Winter had sent, based off of the design used by the Atlesian Military non-enhanced Special Forces division. The older of the two remembered a course almost identical to this one with an almost morbid sense of fondness, as she had become quite intimately acquainted with it's colder, muddier equivalent in Fort Mantle, before she was selected to be trained in the use of Aura and Blade as a Specialist. She had ran a course like this hundreds of times, but these people would only get a single run.

She certainly hoped for their sake that they had been keeping up with their workouts.

The course consisted of several different stages. The first stage is a series of low hurdles, roughly 2 and a half feet off the ground, which leads into the second, a high bar eight feet high that the candidates will be required to haul themselves over. The third obstacle is a 15 foot wall tilted at a steep but manageable angle with a series of scattered handholds, not dissimilar to those of a rock wall. The candidates would have to scramble up the wall, then climb down the vertical back side to continue. Next is a log five and a half feet in the air that the candidates would need to climb up and over to get to the next set of four foot tall log vaults, spaced closely together. They would need to keep a rhythm going over those; Winter remembered how crucial it was to getting a decent time. Once that was completed, the candidates would need to climb a rope suspended from the ceiling of the Gym, a knot tied twenty-five feet up that they would have to touch, then climb back down. The final section of the course was a fifteen-meter dash leading to a flat, vertical wall ten feet high that candidates would need to use their momentum to scramble up and over to the finish.

"Well," the older sibling broke their silence, "this will be interesting if nothing else. When will we be starting?" The candidates were already here, waiting in the lobby of the security building. They would be going in blind, their adaptation to unexpected circumstances a major point of consideration.

Weiss cleared her throat and said, "About now, actually. I'll call in the first person. " She turned to the small intercom on the wall, activated it, and called for candidate one to come in.

As they waited, Winter asked, "So, is their anyone in particular you are looking at?"

Weiss was quiet for a few moments. She thought about it, and didn't see any harm in at least telling her older sister. Weiss cleared her throat and said, "Well, there is this one woman. Unlike the others, she is a former huntress, not military or police. She retired due to an injury, but said she is still more than capable of acting as my guard." She decided to withhold the fact that Ruby would be filling both positions if she was chosen.

She doesn't need to know everything, after all. She'll know eventually.

"An injured Huntress...interesting," Winter said, leaning against the railing, "I'm curious about how this injury will affect her performance. Did she say what the injury was?"

Mimicking her sister, Weiss leaned against the railing too as she said, "No, actually. I tried to broach the subject, but it seemed rather unpleasant for her. She assured me several times that it only affected her skills fighting creatures of Grimm, not people."

Winter gave a curious hum. She was about to press further, but fell silent as the first candidate walked in. He was an older man, maybe in his early forties, but had obviously been keeping up with his training. He had close cropped brown hair, and a heavy build. They had been told prior of the three challenges, so neither of the women felt the need to reiterate the instructions. Weiss simply informed him to begin when ready. As he moved toward the starting line, Winter primed the small stopwatch in her hand, beginning the timer as he sprinted towards the first few hurdles.

Yes, today would be interesting, indeed.

There was only one more candidate left who had to run the obstacle course. The other men, as well as one or two women, Winter noted, had completed the course with average or somewhat subpar times, as was to be expected from this crop. There were a few outliers of course, on both ends of the spectrum, but nothing too severe or impressive. As an out-of-breath ex-Vale SWAT officer walked out of the exit, the older Schnee turned to her sibling and said, "She was moderately decent. That Rose girl is next, right?"

Weiss nodded, a bit of trepidation forming in her gut as she said, "Yes, the final one. I have high hopes for her, but I guess we will see." "What if she fails?" Weiss thought, "I don't think Winter would understand why I want her if she is below the others. What if...no. This is stupid. I won't know until I see how she does." Succeeding somewhat in calming herself, Weiss let out huff.

Winter noted the frazzled state her sister was in. She gave a suspicious hum, and was about to question her younger sister, but instead fell silent as the double-doors to the gymnasium opened once more. Winter's eyebrows rose slightly as the woman's small stature and unintimidating appearance, but shrugged it off when she remembered the woman was a huntress. Her type of warrior could rarely be judged based solely on appearance, as most of their superhuman strength and agility came more from their aura, and less from bone and muscle.

Ruby Rose strode through the door, wearing a simple outfit consisting of a blood-red tank top, as well as a pair of mid-thigh length running shorts. Neither Weiss nor Winter missed the holster she had around her waist, but it was too far and too small to see clearly what was in it. Regardless, Winter allowed a single hand to lay on the pommel of her Saber, on the off chance this Rose woman decided to try anything stupid.

Weiss watched intently as her only hope to retain some portion of her secluded lifestyle went through her stretches several feet below her. She actively suppressed any of the nervous ticks she knew she had, and managed to maintain the collected facade she had perfected over the years.

Ruby

As Ruby finished up her preparations, she walked up to the line of tape on the floor that signified the start line. The huntress looked up to the sisters on the balcony, noting the "casual" way the older one, Winter, she remembered vaguely from some newscast or another, rested her hand on her sword. She pushed away the budding interest she had in the older Woman's weapon, and instead turned her gaze to her potential employer. Weiss said simply, "You may begin when ready."

Ruby looked out over the course and almost smiled. She had been worried coming into the security building that the course would be some incredibly difficult setup attuned for that of her previous profession. In her state, she knew she would fail at anything requiring the acrobatics she had used during her training years.

The left side of her chest ached, and she rolled her left shoulder to alleviate the stiffness. It didn't help. The wounded huntress pushed the sensation and the emotions tied to it down, and focused on what was in front of her.

She may not be a huntress anymore, but Ruby was confident she could handle this. At least, she hoped she could. As she stretched her arm back one final time, she felt the muscles across her chest contort painfully under the slight stress, and she winced. "Alright, Ruby, you can do this," she thought to herself, "Just favor your right arm, and you'll do fine. You saw those guys out there, you used to be a huntress, you can beat a bunch of old army dudes."

Only somewhat succeeding in psyching herself up, Ruby dropped low into an athletic stance, breathed in, and breathed out. Then she was off.

First came the hurdles. Easily, Ruby hopped over each one, using her right arm as a pivot to get over the wooden logs without losing much momentum. Hardly even breathing hard, the Huntress came up to the high bar. Ruby was thankful for the extra few inches she had grown since Beacon, but still had to jump to reach the pole. Grabbing a firm hold of it, Ruby relied heavily on her right arm to lift herself. Swiftly, she heaved her relatively light frame up and over the pole. Landing with hardly a grunt, Ruby sprinted forward.

Next was the incline. Foregoing the usual method of slowing down and climbing the steep platform, Ruby instead sprinted, building up her momentum as much as she could, and redirected the energy upwards. She managed to carry herself up about half of the way over the wall. As her momentum began to die, she planted her left foot firmly on one of the rock wall handholds. The huntress used the powerful muscles in her legs built up from years of running to kick off of the small grip, propelling herself to the apex of the ramp. On the opposite side, Ruby noted the handholds leading down the ten-foot drop. She assumed they expected her to climb down. "Too slow," she reasoned.

Ruby redirected what little aura she still had into her legs, as simply dropped from the ledge. The ex-huntress hit the ground heavily, and scrambled across the ground to maintain some momentum. Her aura absorbed most of the impact, but a sharp, burning pain lanced through her chest. Gritting her teeth and pushing the pain from her mind, Ruby turned to the next obstacle.

It was a log suspended at about her eye height. Leaping up, she managed to hook both elbows over the log. From there, she swung a leg up and simply rolled over it. Landing on her feet, her next obstacle was a series of closely spaced together log hurdles, four in total. Deciding against the direct approach and once again gunning for pure efficiency, Ruby ran forward, jumped into the air, planted a foot top the first hurdle and used it as a springboard to leap over all the rest. The ex-huntress rolled as she hit the ground, successfully avoiding further damage to her chest.

She sprinted forward, a small amount of dread forming in her gut as she looked up at the rope in front of her. There was no way she could climb that without stressing her arm. Grimacing, Ruby skidded to a halt at its base, before grabbing hold of the rope. Gritting her teeth and pushing through the tugging, burning pain in her left shoulder and chest, Ruby heaved herself up the thick braided rope. Sweat beaded on her forehead as the awkwardly healed muscles almost failed to keep up with her brain's commands. She grinned victoriously, as she got to the top, slapping a hand on the knot. Deciding she had managed to save up enough time with her previous shortcuts, and high on the her achievement with the rope, Ruby turned to the two sisters, who were now eye-level with her on the top of the rope and not more than fifteen feet from her. She grinned and gave a cheeky wave, noting the almost shocked raised eyebrows from the CEO and the almost imperceptible smirk on the specialist's face.

She pushed her fledgling aura into her palms, and used her shoes as well as her aura to prevent burns as she slid nimbly down the rope, completely relaxing her left arm. Landing at the bottom, Ruby attempted to roll her shoulder, only to gasp at the sharp pain radiating from the stuff muscles. With the adrenaline draining from her system, Ruby could feel that she had overexerted herself far too much. She then tried to lift her left arm, getting the same, crushing results. "Shit, I can barely move my arm. It's okay, it's okay, I can work with this. Only one more to go," the ex-huntress thought, as she looked up towards the next item.

Dread pooled in the pit of her stomach as Ruby looked at it. It was a wall. The final obstacle was a wall, about ten feet high, with a long run leading up to it. In her heyday, Ruby knew she could easily leap over the wall, finishing the course with no fuss in seconds. Even now, as weak as she was, Ruby could still simply run, jump, grab onto the ledge, and pull herself over. With only one arm, though...

"I'm going to need a lot of speed. Damn it! " the wounded huntress thought. She took off, using her remaining energy to run full tilt at the wooden wall. Despite having her left arm tucked against her chest, it still screamed in protest at the strain she was putting on her body. She gritted her teeth against the rising pain in her her chest. The burning, tingling feeling from her scarred muscles felt like white-hot lighting inside of her chest, and it slowly worked itself deeper into Ruby, burning and tingling like needles as she squeezed out every last drop of speed she could muster. Suddenly, the burning reached a point, deep within her chest. It was something she knew well, that familiar pit of power buried deep within her heart that she had always relied on throughout her career. It was her aura. It was her semblance. Only, as the wall grew ever nearer, the burning found this well inside of the huntress, and it surged through her. There was no burst of speed, no flurry of rose petals, no surge of energy. Her aura encompassed her like it always had before her injury, but she knew what was about to happen. It was the same thing that always happened since the incident.

Her aura surged across and through her body, but instead of the childlike exhilaration she felt when she was younger, now all this brought was pain. Her aura burned. It stung like shards of glass had been poured into her bloodstream, and she felt it scraping, cutting, burning its way through every muscle, bone, and organ. As she leaped up to the wall and hauled herself over it with nothing but her momentum and her right arm, a shout tore itself from her throat. Landing roughly on the other side of the wall, Ruby Rose, proud graduate of Beacon academy fell to the ground. Her own muscles betrayed her and seized up for a moment. She allowed herself to lie there for a moment, thankful that the wall hid her from her judges. Slowly, the spasms died off and the burning cooled. As the fire and lighting that had replaced the majority of her aura faded from her blood and body, Ruby forced herself to stop shaking. Pushing herself onto all fours, Ruby sat there, panting and gasping. She struggled fiercely to regain the control of her body that abomination of her aura took from her. Managing to force herself up, Ruby stumbled towards the exit. She noted that she was now soaked in a cold sweat. She spared a brief moment to look up at her possible employer and give a thumbs up, before stumbling into the hallway, both proud and utterly disgusted with herself.

The Sisters

"Well that was...interesting." Winter's eyebrows rose as Ruby Rose stumbled from the gym. She was impressed by the performance. Though not nearly up to the standards of a Huntress in her prime, the redhead did beat her competition by an impressive margin. The confidence she showed was also a plus.

Weiss gave a hum and said, "Yes, it was. How did she do?" Personal agenda's aside, the CEO was genuinely curious about the ex-huntress's time.

Looking down at her stopwatch, then at the paper she had been writing the times of the contestants on, the Specialist said, " She beat the next highest by a significant margin, almost ten seconds. I suppose her shortcuts on the wall and he rope helped her along, however dangerous they would be to a normal person. Impressive, but did you see her arm, Weiss?"

"Yes, I did." The younger woman pushed herself from the railing, and began down the stairs to the gym floor, continuing, "Maybe it has something to do with that injury of hers?"

Winter followed her younger sister down the steps as well, and said, "That would make sense. I don't think it will be much of an issue, but I suppose we'll see in the next few tests. What I'm more curious about is what happened there at the end."

"When she screamed?" asked Weiss, as the began making their way side-by-side towards the exit of the gymnasium.

Humming in affirmation, the older sister said, "Yes, that. It could have been just exertion, but I don't think so. Did you notice how she began to speed up just before the started yelling?"

Weiss nodded while they passed the rope, "I did. Odd. It's almost as if..." her voice trailed off as something caught her eyes. It was a small object sitting in the floor, its dark color sticking out vividly on the pale blue floors. She walked towards it, stooping down and picking it up in her hand.

"What is it?" Winter asked, looking over her shoulder. Seeing the item, she remarked, "Where did that come from?"

Weiss shook her head, brows furrowed, "I don't know, maybe one of the candidates dropped it." Something told her that wasn't the truth though. Something about the item seemed...off. Almost unsettling. Her brows furrowed. "Hmm...curious," she thought.

Winter stood and began walking towards the firing range, and just before Weiss followed her, she looked back at the item.

Sitting in the palm of her hand was a single brown, wilted rose petal, dull and dead. Weiss attempted to run her finger over the usually velvet soft surface, only to find it dry and rough. As the slight pressure of her finger fell on the dead pedal, it crumbled to dust in her hand.

The remains of the petal slipped from her hand as she stood and followed her sister towards the range for the next test.

Neither of them noticed how the remains faded into nothing but aura as the petal hit the floor.

A/N

Order- I had originally planned for this to be longer, but I felt I had taken enough time between updates, and this was a good place to stop. I based the obstacle course off of the one used by the US Marine Corps. Of course, I modified it a bit. This story is slowly moving forward, and I have big plans.

I'm curious as to what you all think about my idea with Ruby's Aura and semblance, and I hope I portrayed it well.

Don't forget to review, it helps a ton with both helping me improve my writing and with motivation to write the next chapter. Hopefully it will be out relatively soon.

If you want to keep up with my progress, I have both and iFunny (RWBY_Order_Of_The_OTP) and a Tumblr (RWBY Order) where I post updates, among other things. I use iFunny almost entirely instead of Tumblr, but if I get some sort of a following, I'll try and learn how to work the site.

The Order of the OTP is always accepting of new members, so come join the Cult!

Until then, until next time!

-The Order

Update (6/21/2018): Grammar and phrasing changes.