Here it is! Chapter six! Sorry, it's late, this chapter contains a unwelcome and rather surprising reunion and the resulting chaos which took a while to get right. I am not the greatest at writing point of views, but I gave it me best shot and I hope you like it! (Only Yang's reaction to seeing Ruby is in her POV, the battle is not.)
"So, is that Signal?" Ruby asked, pointing at a cathedral-looking building. "It looks all combat schooly."
"No, no, I'm pretty sure that's it." Crimson said pointing to a set of low buildings with a tall tower in the middle. "I think."
The about-to-be official team was on the huge airship watching as the city of Vale went past them. Skyler was watching the city go past below while Neo was watching Ruby and Crimson try to figure out where Signal Academy was. "You think is that one?"
"I have no idea." Crimson said before leaning forward on the railing. ""You know, I always wanted to go to Beacon, I even took the combat test, aced it too, I just never got around to actually going. Always more jobs coming in." He stared outside for a moment before his eyes narrowed. "I think that's Signal."
Ruby looked over. "That gold one?"
"Yeah."
"Great! Now all we need to do is actually know what it's like, so we won't blow our cover as soon as someone ask about it."
"Wonderful...how do we do that?"
Ruby presented her scroll with a flourish. "Allow me, my dear teammate, to present to you this lovely search engine I call-"
Skyler interrupted. "You are way over-complicating this. Just go with the flow, be cool, don't freak out and start stammering when someone ask where you went and who you were with. If all else fails, act like complete jerk until they leave."
Crimson looked as if he wanted to say something, but didn't. Instead he stretched, "Well, I'm off to see if anything is happening elsewhere on the ship, see you at Beacon."
He walked off, boots clunking and his coat flapping at his heels. Neo took Crimson's place by Ruby and stared at her with her mismatched eyes. "Are you okay?"
Ruby turned her head to look at her. "I'm nervous, but that's all." Ruby turned back to the view outside the windows.
"The weird thing is that I'm more nervous of going to the school itself than what we are supposed to do there." Ruby felt Neo tense beside her, then hesitate, then tap Ruby on the shoulder who turned back to face her. "Yeah?"
Neo pointed to Ruby's stomach, she knew what blemish lay there and who it was created by. "Because of them?"
Even though Neo didn't say it, Ruby naturally curled her arms around her stomach, like she did so long ago when she was struggling to survive that night. Rocking back-and-forth slightly. She returned to looking out the window and remained silent. Neo looked at her with worried eyes, her hand outreached as if to touch Ruby. Skyler noticed the situation. "Hey, is everything alright? You guys seem a b-"
Whatever Skyler had to say next was drowned out in a ear-splitting screech of rage that sounded from the other end of the observation deck.
"GA!" Skyler shouted in pain as he grabbed his ears as to rip them off. "BANSHEE!"
Ruby and Neo both had their hands covering their ears.
"What was that?!" Ruby said as the scream of anger died down. Neo looked just as in much pain as Skyler and as confused as Ruby. She raised her hands up in confusion. Soon, yelling could be heard at the end of the deck.
"You clumsy oaf! Watch where you are putting those ridiculous boots!"
"HEY!"
Ruby's team as a whole put their heads in their hands. "Oh, no." Ruby mumbled. They hurried to the far end of the Airship, standing there was a tall Deathrocker who was glaring at a platinum blond girl who glared back. "Hi, is everything ok?" Ruby asked, her gaze flickering between the two. The girl, who whose as nearly as pale as Crimson, turned on Ruby. "No! Everything is most certainly not ok!' She threw up an arm in Crimson's direction. "This dolt nearly knocked us out of the sky!"
"I tripped over one over her suitcases." Crimson explained to Ruby, glancing over at the large sprawl of white bags and cases. "One of her many suitcases."
"Well, that doesn't sound too bad." Ruby said, wondering why this girl was making it a big deal. "Their just bags."
"Just bags!" The girl nearly screeched again, making the four others wince. "Theses happen to be transport cases for the most valuable substance in Remnant!" The girl snatched one of the cases off the floor and clicked it open, revealing rows of glittering dust crystals. "Dust." She said, a little smugly as if she had just been proven right about this entire dispute. "Now, if you excuse me."
She stuttered away, leaving Ruby's team to stare out after her. After a moment, Crimson wiped away a fake tear out of his eye. "This might be the start of a beautiful rivalry-ship...if I don't throw her out of the Airship first." They turned and walked back to their spot by the windows, but no later then a few seconds had past, they heard the sounds of retching.
"Oh, what now?" Skyler said as a blond teen rushed past them, holding his stomach and turning a sickly shade of green. Skyler stared after him for a moment before turning back to the window. "Well, he's not bothering me."
"That's the important thing." Crimson said with a disgusted tone to his voice. He lifted up his right foot, on the black leather of the platform boot, there on it shined the pink-green glow of vomit. "You know, I beginning to realize why I never went through with coming to Beacon."
The Airship docked at the edge of the cliffs, at the edge of Beacon Academy. The doors open and the ramp unfolded to let the new students enter the grounds of the most prestigious place in Vale.
"Do think he's every going to stop throwing up?" Ruby said glancing over at the teen who was retching into a trashcan, the same teen who apparently violated Crimson's shoes. Neo shrugged and looked around. Beacon itself seemed to be a huge fortress of a castle, set in the center of the grounds, with a soaring glass and stone clock tower above it all. Crimson whistled.
"Very nice, much nicer then Shade academy at any rate."
"You've been to Shade academy?"
Crimson shrugged. "I never attended it, but yeah, I had a job there. Some rival crime lord was hiding out in the academy, under the guise as a teacher or something. I don't know." His eyes seem to fade out for just a moment before coming back.
"What's it like there." Ruby was staring around her in wonder. This place was huge!
"Eh, the Academy itself was some pagan temple before they made it into Shade and, given that it is Vacou's academy, it's boiling hot and nothing green grows there, except these cacti which I believe are some sort of freakish, floral Grimm." Crimson winced at some fresh memory. "The thing snarled at me."
Skyler inclined his head to the side. "Sound like a blast. Now where do we go?"
It was Ruby's turn to shrug. "No idea. Follow the road, I assume-" Words were once again cut off by a large explosion a dozen yards away from them, followed by some awfully familiar screaming. Crimson stopped and put a hand to his ear as if listening for more.
"I believe our little friend from the Airship is practicing her screams of the damned impression, I do believe the girl has a gift!"
Ruby chuckled, as she made out of the group and looked in the direction of the explosion, there was the girl from the ship, covered in gray dust. She appeared to be yelling. She must have excellent vocal cords, who is that she is with though. Ruby squinted, but still needed to be closer to make out the other people.
Gingerly touching his ears, Skyler spoke up. "If this happens often, my ears will never make it out of here alive."
Ruby moved past him and moved in closer, seeing if she could help the people being yelled at-
She stopped dead, her mouth not closing, her eyes widening and her skin blanching. Her hands closed into fist and her body started to shake violently. Her body begin to throb with remembrance of long ago pain. Neo crashed into her. Casting Ruby a quizzical look, Neo tried to see what made her stop and just stared. "Oh my Gods..."
Ruby hadn't been wrong...
She had been right...
In the interrogation room with Professor Ozpin...
Ruby had been right about one thing...
The statement about her...
...
...
Yang Xiao Long was indeed attending Beacon this year.
YANG'S POV
I breathed in the air. Ah, welcome to Beacon. It was amazing, huge, spacious, and the academy itself was a freaking castle! I walked with the rest of the crowd towards it, looking around. Nice, very nice. "Well, that was a fun couple of years, uh Ebon?"
Ebon shrugged. Her short, coal-black hair brushing her ears. "Meh, Signal was okay. But this!" She gestured to the academy in front of them. "This is where the fun begins!" Her sword, a nodachi, swayed at her hip as she looked around. "Damn, this place is cool! Much nicer then Signal."
I snorted. "A lot of things are nicer then Signal, the prison for example." Ebon shrugged in a agreeing sort of way. The crowd around us thinned as we walked closer to the academy. Ebon begin to speak. "Who do you think we'll me-WHOA!" She tripped and was sent sprawling amid an mountain of bags being pushed in a luggage trolley.
"OH MY GODS! Can't people see where they're going around here?!" I turned to see a girl with platinum blond hair fuming at the mess of luggage. "This is a school for the greatest hunters ever! Not for clumsy idiots!"
"Hey, what's your problem?" I folded my arms across my chest. "It was a accident!"
The girl turned to glare at me, she had a crooked scar crossing her left eye. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Yang Xiao Long and that is my friend you are yelling at." Ebon had stood up and was brushing the dust from her black leggings and ragged jean shorts, she waved sarcastically at the platinum blonde. "The names Ebon Winter, by the way."
"I don't care!" The girl snapped at both of us. "You nearly set off a entire batch of these. She picked up a case and showed us the contents.
"Dust!" She snapped again. "Fire, water, lighting, energy! And you nearly set it off!" She waved a vial of powered fire dust around, puffs of it flying out. "If you were any clumsier we might very well be flying off the cliff this very momen-"
"Uugggaa-ACHOOOO!"
The resulting explosion caused by improper dust handling and Ebon's itchy nose engulfed the girl and sent the vial of dust skidded across the road.
"YOU COMPLETE DOLT!" The previously white skin, hair, and dress of the girl were now a dirty gray. A small smile crossed my face. "Careful, princess, don't blow up just yet."
Ebon closed her eyes and sighed. "That was more painful then the fall, Yang."
"Oh, you don't know anything."
"EXCUSE ME!" The girl was brushing herself off, the white returning. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM!"
"Weiss Schnee." A new voice sounded from behind the platinum blond. "Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."
I looked at the newcomer. She was the same height as Weiss Schnee, with long black hair and golden eyes. A wide bow sat onto of her head.
Weiss Schnee preened. "Finally, some recognition!"
"-The same company infamous for its controversial labor force and questionable business partners."
The preening stopped and was replaced by shock and anger. "-What-How dare-! The nerve of-" She grabbed the vial from the newcomers hand. Ugh!" And with that marched off towards Beacon, her apparent valets moving in to clean up the mess. I stepped out of their way.
"Well, that was interesting." I turned to the newcomer only to find her gone. "Umm...ok then." I turned back to Ebon. "Well, that was weird." She nodded, looking over my shoulder.
"Not as weird as that, however."
She pointed behind me. I turned and took in a...something. He was extremely tall and pale, wearing a ripped trench coat and huge platform boots, his hair making the term "messy" disarray a massive understatement. His dark blue eyes surrounded by toxic green makeup. My's eyes moved on down the line of the people he was with. A shorter teenager, well dressed in a suit and fedora. A tiny girl, also well dressed in a white coat and black gloves and carrying a lacy pink parasol. Her hair split down the middle, light pink on the right and dark brown on the left. Her eyes...glaring so much hate at me that I automatically took a step back. What's her problem! On the end of the line there was a taller girl, dressed in a blood-red cloak and had dark, nearly-black, red hair. Her sliver eyes trained on my own.
My mouth dropped open...
My fists clenched together...
A wild feeling rose up in my chest...
Fear...
Confusion...
...
No fucking way...
Distantly, I heard Ember Celica unfolding down my wrists. Ghost or not...
No. Fucking. Way!"
"Yang, that can't be..." Ebon whispered to me, fear in her voice. We told each other everything, always the true, no matter what. It. Is. And if it was true, if that really was her standing there, then there was only one thing to do.
"NO. FUCKING. WAY!"
Finish what we started.
A red scythe unfolded.
Ozpin stood, staring out over the grounds of Beacon. Watching the Airships pull up and the new students unload. Please don't be on it, don't be on it. He thought, his grip on his mug tightening. Decide it's too risky, decide it's too dangerous, decide it's too... Ozpin closed his eyes. There she was, a long red clock billowing around her, a folded scythe just showing under it. She was walking calmly towards Beacon. Ruby Rose was attending. The headmaster turned away and slumped back into his chair, sighing deeply. What now? What could he do now? He tried out a conversation with Qrow in his head. Qrow, you remember when I banned you from looking for Ruby, decided for you that she was dead, which caused you to break all contact with the Xiao Longs? Turns out I was wrong and she's still alive!
That's how far Ozpin would get because Qrow would then beat him to death with his bare hands before dismembering the body and feeding it to a constipated Ursa.
Ozpin sighed again and put his head in his hands. What can he do? The thought of telling Taiyang crossed his mind, but something, a voice of caution, told him not to go anywhere with the news of Ruby's continued existence. But he couldn't just not tell anyone!
His meditation was broken by the sounds of distant explosions. Raising his head, Ozpin quickly flipped up the monitor and open the security feeds. The cameras watching over the main road were the first to come on. Ozpin stared for a moment before slumping back into his seat.
"Oh, dear Gods..."
Ruby twirled towards Yang, dodging the holes on the cobblestone made by the rounds from her gauntlets, Crescent Rose, a near-invisible blur of red and death, blocking those currently been fired by the red-eyed monster. A few yards away, Ruby stopped spinning and fired Crescent Rose at the blonde bitch, or that was Ruby's opinion anyway, Yang blocked the bullets with the top of her gauntlets and fired back, forcing Ruby to retreat. Neo was currently involved in keeping Ebon Winter away from Ruby. Every time, Ebon attacked with her weapon or charged to try and take down Neo simply by plowing over her, she always found herself facing the wrong direction or ending back up where she started. Blood leaked from a gash on her forehead, where Neo had delivered a kick near the beginning of the fight, Neo's parasol was open and she was smirking.
"Get out of my way, you multi-colored freak!" Ebon snarled at the small girl who cocked her head over to the side and smirked wider. "Really, too easy!"
Ebon griped her sword, the blade being the color of a mottled reptile. "Get out of my way! I will not let that little bitch kill Yang!" Instead of getting out of the way, Neo vanished and reappeared in front of the black-eyed girl. Neo's smirk was gone, replaced by a snarl. She swung her parasol in the air faster then the eye could follow and brought it down on Ebon's sword arm, her left arm. The resulting crack could be heard all the way back to the school. She kicked at Ebon's head again, but was deflected by the now aura-less sword-wielder. Meanwhile, Crimson and Skyler stood off to the side watching the fight.
"Snowball, let me ask you a question." Crimson said, watching as Ruby slammed down her scythe in the spot where Yang was standing just moments before. "Did Roman ever give you the order not to ask Ruby about her past?"
Skyler dodged the chunks of flying pavement and bullet fragments. "As a matter of fact, he did." They covered their eyes as Yang's hair exploded into flames.
"Uh, that's something new." Crimson caught a rose petal as Ruby used her semblance right over their heads. "Do you think this fight has something to do with it?" Neo cracked into shards as the now limping Ebon slashed her sword, trying to disemboweled the small girl. Neo appeared again right behind her and brought her parasol down on top of the coal-black head.
Skyler nodded. "Yeah, more than lik-INCOMING!" Skyler ducked as Ebon unconscious body came flying towards them, Crimson caught her.
"NICE ARM, NEO!"
Neo curtsied before running off to help Ruby battle Yang. But before she could reach her, a glowing, violet rope snared both of the fighting girls and forced them apart. Glynda Goodwitch stood there with a terrifying expression on her face. Neo froze, looking in terror at the mature huntress, Skyler made a noise between a scream and a gasp, and Crimson dropped the still knocked out Ebon back onto the road.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" She roared.
Soo...what do you think? By the way, I have been talking to a awesome person named Lucian Naruto and some amazing ideas were introduce for the future of this story. If you're reading this, Lucian, you're awesome! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story and I'll see you in the next chapter!