I am so sorry.

I keep forgetting to post this chapter here. It's just that I'm getting too far ahead of myself trying to figure out what to write. Don't get me wrong, I know what I want to do, it's just putting it into words that I'm having trouble with.

On another note, I'm also writing out a story with my fellow amateur writer and friend LawDog50, who has posted it on Wattpad. Well, the first one is out, I'm helping with the sequal, and that has taken most of my creative attention from here to that. You can go ahead if you want to see it. It's call The Outlaws of Remnant. Just go to Wattpad and look it up. Not going to lie though, half of it hardly makes sense looking back at it and neither me or LawDog are too experienced in writing full length stories, but if you're into that kind of insanity, go right ahead and check it out.

I'll let everyone know when I'm actually going to be able to give this one my full attention. Most likely when I'm finished with the sequal story, but it's almost finished, so hopefully, you won't have to wait much longer after that.

Now then, let's get on with it.


Greetings, it is I, Salvator Tepes.

I am aware that many of you have been waiting most patiently for the next chapter and I thank you for your patience. I apologize for how late it is. As you all know, my state of healthy isn't the best, and my life expectancy is... predicted to be less than average. I will not give an estimate on when, because right now, that's up in the air, but I won't be leaving this plane of existence anytime soon.

I will be honest, I was not expecting to have more than 100 reviews already, considering that it has only been three chapters. However it pleases me immensely that many of you enjoy this fic! I am proud of this story and the fans it has generated.

I also feel my chest bloom with happiness at your support for this story and my health... it really honors me. I thank you all for waiting.

I will admit, it also took me a while to get this done because I decided to watch every episode of RWBY again, including season 3...

...and like many other fanfiction authors for RWBY, I have come up with dozens of methods to find a way to make Cinder die in the most horrible and humiliating way.

Except... well, I cannot act on them as my original plans for Cinder were... different.

And also, spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the-oh who am I kidding, EVERYONE has seen it. Pyrrha? Dying? That.. that just shocked me. I honestly did not expect that. Poor Jaune must be seething with rage on the inside of his soul. It makes me wonder how he will act in the next season. Perhaps he will be less cheerful and.. more brutal and serious? Who knows.

Now then, enough procrastinating, let us get on with the fanfic. Without further ado, A Reward Long Overdue.

At this point though, I should rename the fanfic to A Chapter Long Overdue.

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Chapter 4: The Shining Beacon

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'17 years...'

A lone figure was calmly walking down the streets of Vale's market district, passing by closed Dust shops and clothing stores. The figure was male, a young man with lavender hair and dull red eyes, and a pair of purple furred lapine ears atop his head, the left one bent at the middle. His eyes had dark rings under them, indicating a lack of sleep and a cigarette was in his mouth, a habit he picked up a year ago. He wore a simple white long sleeved dress shirt with a pale purple vest worn over it. His shirt had the first two buttons undone and a red bowtie was hanging loosely around his collar. He wore very dark grey formal trousers and black shoes. A large pale blue guitar case was fastened to his back via a long strap.

Bonnie Fleming was indeed a surly looking individual. Add to the fact that he was a Faunus, and nearly everyone on the streets made sure to keep away from him. While most of the racists in Vale (About 80% of the entire population, thanks to the White Fang), would probably just try and bump into most Faunus walking on the street just to spite them, Bonnie's expression practically screamed 'Mess with me and I'll beat the crap out of you.', so they steered clear. He may have been rather lanky in stature, but the way he carried himself was reminiscent to the gait of a tense predator.

'I can't believe it's been that long since we've been here... I feel so old.' The Faunus mused to himself mentally as he passed by several stores, looking around a bit. He had come here with his other three siblings to make some last minute purchases at the local Dust shops before the big day tomorrow.

The day the four of them left for Beacon Academy.

Needless to say, the four of them were incredibly excited, even Bonnie, though he kept that under his usual deadpan look.

Instead of getting rest for tomorrow, they opted to checking out the stores one last time. Freddy and Foxy had gone off to purchase Dust, while Chica and their mother had decided to head for some final touchups on the blonde chicken Faunus' weapons.

As for Bonnie? He just decided to hang around the music shops.

Being a Rabbit Faunus granted him much sharper hearing compared to normal people and even other Faunus. Which is why he was able to enjoy the art of music far more than others. It also helped him make music as well, as he took up playing the guitar two years ago.

After leaving the music shops, he decided to begin searching for his siblings and mother. It was getting dark and they needed to pack.

He found them waiting for him at the entrance to the park. Except one of them was missing.

"Where's Foxy?" Bonnie asked to the 'Eldest Fleming Sibling'; i.e. Freddy.

Freddy had grown considerably taller and handsomer over the years. He too had dark rings under his eyes but his were not as prominent as Bonnie's. His hair was still neck length and brown, somehow finding balance between messy and tidy with how wavy it was. His outfit was neat and tidy, a dark grey dress shirt with a brown blazer worn over it. Unlike Bonnie, his shirt was completely buttoned up, the bowtie around the collar was very dark grey, bordering on black. He wore long black pants and shoes almost identical to Bonnie's.

"He decided to stay at the Dust shop for a bit longer. He will walk home." Freddy said with a small smile. Their mother who stood between Freddy and Chica, shook her head with a small frown.

"I still don't approve of him staying out late but he's practically an adult so I can't really stop him." Silk said before smiling a bit at the siblings. "You're all practically adults now. It's amazing how time passes by so quickly."

"Yeppers! Chica's a big girl now!" The 'youngest' sibling exclaimed proudly. Her ensemble hadn't changed much. She wore a yellow dress with faint white stripes, resembling one of those dresses that the waitresses in old fashioned diners wear. It even had a big yellow bow with polka dots tied on her back. Her hair was styled into something resembling a bob cut, only her locks flared out a bit at the ends. Her fringe was combed to the left, leaving her pink eyes uncovered./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"As the years passed, Chica's Faunus traits became much more prominent. Her teeth were much sharper and more shark-like and her feet had grown to resemble a bird's talons more, with her toenails becoming sharper and more curved. She wore metal leg braces that were colored mustard yellow, various lines and segmented plates in the armor indicating that it wasn't just a normal leg brace.

As usual, she was barefoot.

"Well, we might as well head home then." Silk said with a sigh. "I shouldn't worry over Foxy coming home late. What's the worst that could happen?"


[Several hours later]


"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Silk said, her teeth grinding together in an agitated manner as she held her phone up to her ear.

"Your son has been involved in a Dust robbery and is currently being questioned by a seasoned Huntress."/em The police officer on the other end of the phone said.

"MY SON TRIED TO ROB A DUST STORE!?" Silk exclaimed, startling the rest of the family members who were peacefully loitering about the library. Freddy was lounging in one of the armchairs while reading a book, Chica was sitting in front of a fireplace, Bonnie was in the process of switching CDs from the music player and Siegfried was sitting on the couch, smoking his pipe. All of them immediately paused what they were doing, staring at Silk with looks of shock and alarm.

"A-ah, I may have worded that wrong. He wasn't one of the robbers, he was one of the ones who attempted to apprehend them. The Huntress found him and another civilian, likely a student from another academy, attempting to fight the thieves but the scoundrels escaped."

"Of for fu-you're damn right you worded that wrong! Jeez..." Silk growls before lowering the phone and looking at the others. "False alarm, he was trying to prevent a robbery, not the attempt it." She said quickly before lifting the phone up again.

"Oh. For a moment there, I thought he actually decided to start being a pirate for real." Bonnie said, sighing a little.

"You aren't the only one." Freddy said with a bemused expression before turning back to his book.


[An hour or so later]


"Okay, what do you have to say for yourself?" Silk said, brandishing her dreaded frying pan of concussions. Thankfully, the huntress mentioned in the phone call had concluded the interrogation rather quickly, due to some intervention by a certain grey haired principal. Foxy was driven home by one of the police officers.

Foxy had gotten taller over the years and his physical build had become much more athletic. His red hair had grown much longer, reaching below his neck in a trio of ponytails which started above the collar. He wore a white long sleeved shirt with a frilled collar and sleeves, dark brown trousers which were tucked into black cuffed boots and a dark red long coat draped around him, his arms neglecting to enter the sleeves so that he could use the coat as a makeshift cape. All in all, his attire was befitting of his pirate obsessed nature.

His right arm's hook was no longer made of shoddy spare parts. It was now a deadly looking metal hook, 8 inches long, ebony colored with various segmented red lines at the base and in the hook itself. The black armored hook's base where the wrist of his right hand would be had a number of red plates attached to it.

Freddy, Bonnie and Chica were standing a good distance away from the irate mother, their father hiding along with them as they observed the scolding. Every one of them knew how painful a scolding from Silk was.

To her and their surprise though, Foxy didn't look the least bit terrified, or even anxious. He had a distant look on his face, as if he was focusing on something else on his mind.

"...EHEM!" Silk clears her throat loudly, catching Foxy's attention at last.

"S-sorry ma', didja say somethin'?"

"I said, what do you have to say for yourself mister?" The rabbit Faunus said, her eyebrow twitching.

"Er... nothin' really."

A moment of silence.

"Nothing? You tried fighting against what I heard was described as armed robbers, nearly got immolated by Oum knows what and you're telling me you have nothing to say?"

"Er... aye." Foxy said sheepishly, that far off look threatening to show up again.

Silk raised an eyebrow at this. She had never seen Foxy this distracted before. With a sigh, she lowers the pan. "Whatever. Just get your crap ready and head to sleep. You're waking up early tomorrow."

"Aye aye ma'!" Foxy says, standing ramrod straight before dashing past her and up the stairs. His three siblings look at each other with confused expressions and shrug before following him.

As they enter their shared bedroom, a large room with four beds in each corner of the room, with sections of the walls near the beds painted a certain color to show who owns it.

Foxy immediately went to his corner and began packing his stuff from his closet into his large red suitcase. Essential things such as toothpaste, some snacks, his fake eyepatch and spare clothes were all being stuffed haphazardly into the suitcase.

"Urm... captain, are you okay?" Chica asked as she stared at the fox Faunus.

"O' course I'm alright, why else wouldn't I be?" Foxy said, a bit confused.

"Well, you were recently involved in an armed robbery, had your first taste of actual battle and for some reason, you have a rather absent minded look on your face. What happened?" Freddy asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Nothin' much, I'm just... thinking... and stuff..."

"Foxy, you're not a thinker. Freddy's a thinker. I'm a thinker. You and Chica, you two don't do thinking." Bonnie said bluntly.

"HEY!" Chica exclaimed indignantly, pouting. Foxy snarled a bit, his eyes sharpening into a glare, to which Bonnie simply replied with his own deadpan expression.

"What he means is that you two are kinetic workers and are more geared towards physical activities. Mental activities are not your strong suit and you two hardly ever engage in long thoughts." Freddy said calmly, placating the two. "So hearing that you are... thinking and stuff... sounds a little odd, especially considering what you just went through. The more expected reaction we expected would be you jumping up and down with pride, boasting about your first battle." Freddy then fell a bit silent before a slightly worried tone entered his voice. "Did you... kill one of them?"

Foxy's ears went ramrod straight as he shook his head quickly. "Oh nononono, nothin' like that! They weren't even worth much effort!"

"Huh, that's disappointing. I would've thought your first battle against armed enemies would be a little more challenging. Is that why you're so quiet, you're disappointed?" Bonnie asked.

"Well... maybe a bit?" Foxy says as he continues packing his stuff.

"According to what mother heard on the phone, you nearly got burnt from one of the robbers' attacks." Freddy said, waiting to see if THAT was what was wrong.

"Aye, when we were chasin' the head o' the robbers up a building, a dropship showed up. He managed to get on and tried to escape when a huntress appeared and started doin'... something. I think it might'a been her semblance. She just started manipulatin' some kind 'o energy and used broken parts o' the building as bloody projectiles. Then the side doors opened and someone in there started using some really flashy fire Dust magic. Explosions everywhere, it was like a bombardment from a galleon!" Foxy exclaimed, a little excited. "The blasted cigar smokin' scurvy managed to get away in the end though."

"Wow..." Chica mumbled as she stared at Foxy in some awe. "That sounds so cool!"

Bonnie whistled a bit, agreeing. That did sound cool. "Hang on though... you said 'we'. Who's the other person?"

Foxy's reaction to this was rather surprising.

His cheeks turned a bit red and his ears flopped down. "A-another student, bout a year or two younger than us. She was browsing the Dust shop when the robbery happened."

'Oh for crying out loud...' Bonnie's eyebrow twitched while Freddy raised both of his amusedly.

"So.. do tell exactly how this robbery failed thanks to you two." Freddy asked with a grin. Foxy nodded before beginning to tell the story.


[Flashback]


Foxy was browsing the variety of Dust types at the store, aptly named 'From Dust Till Dawn'. This was one of Foxy's favorite shops because not only were the prices and the owner himself rather fair, the collection of Dust was enormous. Fire, Ice, Wind, Lightning, all kinds of Dust were here in their different containers. Some came in little packages resembling the ones used for coffee, some came in cans, some came in containers resembling salt shakers, and some came in glass cylinders. A few were in crystal form, to be whittled down into a shape and size fitting for a weapon's special Dust compartment.

Foxy was simply lifting up and studying the different Dust containers when he heard something. Music. Loud but muffled music. His fox ears twitched as he turned to see the source.

A rather short, and most likely female figure due to her clothes, was reading one of the weapon magazines, oblivious to her surroundings. The figure wore a black skirt with red frills and long sleeved black shirt with red frilled sleeves. A corset of sorts was wrapped around her abdomen. She wore black tights, possibly a pantyhose, and black boots with red soles.

The most striking thing about her was the red hooded cape she wore. The hood was partially off, revealing some of her short dark hair with maroon highlights on the bangs and fringe. The source of the music, being the black and red headphones on her ears, was blaring some loud music that even a normal human could hear from a few feet away.

'Is that Jeff Williams an' Casey Lee Williams? Don't recognize the song, must be a new release.' Foxy thinks to himself before his pale yellow eyes lock onto something rather odd looking.

A large rectangular object was strapped horizontally to her back. Seeing the segmented parts and what he assumed was a handle... it must be a weapon. And probably a huge one, like a large sword or a cannon.

Foxy was snapped out of his observation when he heard the door open rather roughly. He turned and moved past one of the aisles' shelves to look at the cash register which was directly in front of the door.

A number of men in matching black suits with red ties and swords had entered. One of them had a gun of sorts as well. Leading them was a slick looking man with a white jacket, grey ascot around his neck, orange hair slicked to the side and a black bowler hat with a black feather on it. He held a cane with a metal barrel of sorts at the end and had a cigar in his mouth.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" the man asked rhetorically before the gun wielding member of his cronies lifted the weapon and leveled it at the old man manning the cash register.

'A robbery?' Foxy frowned as he watched the men load up the high quality Dust in the shop into canisters which went straight into large black briefcases. 'And they're takin' Dust, not money...' He then notices one of the men walking down his way. He quickly hides behind the shelf.

The black suited man walks down, straight towards the hooded girl, who was still blissfully unaware of anything happening.

Foxy sees an opportunity as he looks around, finding none of the others near or paying attention as he sneaks behind the man, who had turned the girl around and made her take off her headphones.

"I said, put your hands in the air! Now!" The man exclaims, lifting his sword.

"Are you... robbing me?" the girl asks with an innocent tone. Her silver eyes catch Foxy sneaking up behind the man. The red haired Faunus puts an index finger up to his lips, winking, making the girl grin a bit before she looked back to the man.

"What're you smiling at?" The gruff mook asks angrily before something hard chops him on the back of the neck, knocking him out.

"Not yer ugly mug, that's for sure." Foxy says with a grin, making the girl giggle a bit.

"Nice hit!" she says with a smile, her silver eyes twinkling at Foxy's yellow ones.

"Thank ye lass, I try my best. No scallywag is a match fer the great pirate Captain Foxy." He thumps his chest with his hook. It was then that he saw her eyes practically sparkle.

"You're a pirate!?" She exclaims loudly with a tone of... awe? "That's awesome!"

Suddenly she's circling Foxy, looking at his clothes and his hook. "Even your clothes are just like a pirate captain's, just like in the storybooks! Oh my God, this thing is beautiful! Is it real?" She pulls up his sleeve, revealing how the hook is completely attached to his arm. "Oh sweet Oum, it is." She then looks at the segments and plates on the hook. "And it's not just a hook, it's a weapon as well! That's so cool!"

Foxy is flustered by her sudden whirlwind of activity and talking. "T-thank you.. um..."

"Oh, I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose, nice to meet you captain Foxy!" She holds out her right hand before realizing her error and raising her left hand instead to shake his.

"Oi, you two!"

The two turn to look at another mook walk towards them.

"I got him!" Ruby exclaims before with surprising speed, she rushes right at the man...

"em...and promptly leaps into the air and dropkicks him square in the stomach, sending them both crashing out the window.

"Bloody hell..." Foxy mutters before running towards the window, stopping as he realizes that five of the men were standing there.

It was then that he saw what the rectangular object she carried was.

She stood up, holding up the object by the base as it shifted, segments realigning and clicking into place, revealing its true form.

A scythe. A GOD DAMN SCYTHE.

Ruby spun the red and black weapon a bit before planting it blade first into the ground, practically challenging the robbers.

"...okay..." the orange hair leader of the mooks said slowly before looking at his men. "Get her."

Just as they were about to exit the shop, two of the men were launched out the window, along with a certain red hair fox Faunus who ran up from behind them and did a leaping clothesline. He landed next to Ruby as he straightened up and raised his hook. "Ye look like ye could use a hand."

"I'm pretty sure I've got these guys but thanks." Ruby says as she pets her weapon lovingly. "Me and Crescent Rose can handle anything."

"Aye, I'm sure ye can. But me an' Jolly Roger will help ye out anyway." Foxy says, petting his hook before he stares at the armed robbers, lifting his hook at them. "COME AND GET ME YE ROTTEN SCURVY DOGS!"

"Well, you heard Captain Crunch, get him!" The cigar smoking leader said with an irritated tone. The mooks complied, rushing out the door and running straight towards the two.

The first one took a swing at Ruby, who simple leapt up and spun her way out of the blade's trajectory before she used her momentum to spin around her weapon and kick the opponent in the face, sending him flying back.

Two more ran straight at Foxy, weapons held above their heads. The first one swung at Foxy, who simply sidestepped the blade and punched the man in the throat with his left hand before grabbing him by the collar and throwing him over his shoulder. He parried the second man's blade with his hook, grinning as twisted the hook around, trapping the blade inside the crook of the metal hook and snapping the blade in half. Taking advantage of his opponents shocked expression, he grabbed the man by the front of his black suit and hoisted him up before throwing him over his shoulder and towards first mook, who was just getting up until his partner landed on top of him.

"Heads up!"

Hearing Ruby's shout, he turns to find a goon she was fighting being smacked through the air and straight towards him. Foxy raised his left fist and decked the flying man in the face as he flew towards the Faunus. The man's sunglasses shattered as he went crashing into the pavement.

The gun wielding goon raised his weapon and started firing off a volley of bullets in a random fashion, aiming at Ruby. The scythe wielder pulled a lever on her weapon, making the head of the scythe fire off, the recoil somehow launching her away from her position as she dodged. Foxy lifted his hook at the gun wielder, gritting his teeth as he used his left hand to twist a section of the hook's base. With a click, the hook started shifting until it was no longer a hook and instead was an arm cannon.

"Heads up ye scallywag!" the Faunus shouted before a small, silver and spherical capsule with red markings was fired out of his cannon. The sphere shot straight towards the ground near the man, exploding into a blast of fire the moment it hit the pavement, sending the man careening off into a wall.

"Wow..." Ruby muttered in awe as she ran towards Foxy and stared at his arm. "That's so cool... I knew it was a weapon!"

"Well you were worth every cent, truly you were." The orange haired leader muttered as he dropped his cigar and put it out with his cane. "Well, Red Riding Hood and Captain Crunch, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening. And as much as I'd like to stick around..."

Foxy tensed as the man lifted his cane and aimed it at the two. His eyes widened as the bottom of the cane flicked up, becoming a crosshair.

"..I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

A bright flare blasted out of the cane, heading straight towards them. Ruby quickly grabbed Foxy by the arm and aimed her scythe's gun end to the ground, pulling the trigger and sending both her and Foxy up into the air. Just in time, as the flare blasted into where they once were and exploded.

Foxy landed rather shakily on the ground whereas Ruby landed rather gracefully. The Faunus shakes his head before looking around for the orange haired shooter.

"Up there!" Ruby exclaims, pointing at the man who somehow managed to get to a building quite far from them and was climbing up the ladder quickly.

"How did he get up there so quickly?" Foxy asked before he broke off into a sprint.

"Hey, wait up!" Ruby shouts as she took off after the Faunus.

As they make it up to the top of the building, they find the orange haired mobster slowing down into a walk.

"You two are really persistent, aren't you?" He mutters irritably before a loud humming fills the area as a Bullhead dropship slowly rises up from the other side of the building. Foxy's eyes widen in shock. No ordinary thief would have access to one of these vehicles. Before either of the two red clad teens could do anything, their target had already climbed aboard the ship through the side shutter door.

"You know what? How 'bout a reward for making it this far?" The bowler hat clad man asks before fishing for something in his pockets, pulling out a bright red Dust crystal. "Make sure you share it!" He yells before tossing it towards them and raising his gun-cane.

"Bloody hell!" Foxy moves in front of Ruby to shield her from the incoming attack. The gun-cane launched another flare which rocketed straight towards the crystal in front of them.

The resulting explosion was quite large, but somehow, they took no damage from it. Foxy opens his eyes to find that someone had intercepted the attack. Standing in front of the two was a rather tall woman with creamy blonde hair, and bright green eyes with glasses. She wore a long sleeved white dress shirt, short black secretarial skirt, black tights and boots. She wore a tattered looking black cape with a purple underside which fluttered in the wind. A pair of aqua stone earrings swayed in the wind as she held up a riding crop which seemed to hold up a large glowing purple barrier with arcane symbols lining it.

"Whoa..." Ruby muttered in awe as the woman pushed up her glasses a bit before swinging her riding crop, causing her barrier to shatter and erupt into a salvo of glowing purple missiles which immediately flew towards the dropship.

"Ah cra-" the orange haired man was cut off when the ship began shaking as the missiles crashed into various parts of the ship, causing him to stumble around and drop his cane.

Foxy grinned. 'This lady's a real Huntress! There's no way that scallywag can get away now!'

Foxy's thoughts were proven wrong when the thief went to the front of the ship and someone else took his place. A woman wearing a thigh length red dress, with her upper body shrouded in the shadow of the ship, raised her arms, glowing yellow symbols lighting up on her arms before thrusting her palm forward, launching a fireball straight at the Huntress. The blonde woman simply swung her riding crop, shattering the fireball into tiny flecks of molten rock which fell harmlessly to the ground.

Harmless, until the woman in red narrowed her glowing yellow eyes and flicked her arm up, causing the flecks of molten rock to light up brightly before erupting into another explosion, causing the roof of the building to gain a large hole and a lot of rubble. The bespectacled Huntress back flipped away before the blast managed to hit her. Once she landed, she crossed her right arm across her chest, making the rubble from the blast to glow purple and spin around, drawing together to become a spiraling spear of debris. With a swing, the Huntress launched the spear towards the Bullhead.

"What in the name of Davy Jones have we walked into..?" Foxy asked to Ruby quietly as he watched the spectacle. The two teens were watching the projectile combat as the Huntress' spear was blasted apart by the woman in red's fire blasts. Even then, the Huntress still managed to make the remains of the rubble turn into more spears which flew at various parts of the ship.'

"We need to help!" Ruby exclaimed as the woman in red obliterated the spears with a huge shockwave of fire. The short girl pulled a lever on her scythe, making it fold partway into a rifle as she began firing at the woman with surprising accuracy despite not using the scope on her weapon.

Despite the accuracy though, the mysterious woman simply blocked each bullet with a palm, ridiculously easily.

Foxy growled before joining in, raising his arm cannon and firing off his projectiles at the ship.

The amber eyed woman saw the projectiles coming and launched her own projectiles of fire to intercept Foxy's miniature cannonballs.

Unseen to all, her eyes imperceptibly widened the moment they locked onto Foxy. She froze for a moment before shaking her head roughly as her runes glowed even brighter and she growled, waving her left arm, causing a number of large glowing panels of fire to light up below Foxy, Ruby and the Huntress.

Foxy stared at the glowing panels with alarm, startled, even as the Huntress near him leapt out of the way.

"Move!"

He was knocked out of his shock as Ruby rocketed into him, knocking him out of the way of the imminent explosion. He coughed and shook the cobwebs from his head as he looked up.

And found Ruby on top of him, her hands holding her up above him as they were planted on each side of his head.

"Phew... y-you okay?" Ruby asked, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks at their position.

Foxy didn't answer as he stared at her in awe. The fire and embers from the explosion were lingering in the air, coupled with the wind and the shine from the dropship's lights, casted an otherworldly glow upon Ruby, like the light of heaven shined on her. Her silver eyes were like mirrors, reflecting all the lights ethereally as they remained locked with his yellow ones.

"A-aye..." Foxy finally said as he got out of his stupor. Ruby sighed in relief before getting off him and offering him her right hand before realizing her error and replacing it with her left. Foxy took her hand as she helped him up. They turned to see the dropship flying away and the Huntress watching them with a stern yet slightly amused expression.

"You're a Huntress..." Ruby started, staring at the blonde woman in awe before she went right up to her, her eyes practically glittering.

"Can I have your autograph!?"

#an hour or so later#

"I hope you realize your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, children. You put yourself and others in grave danger." The blonde Huntress chided, walking around the two teens with a Scroll open.

They were currently in an interrogation room at the police station, Foxy and Ruby sitting in chairs right next to each other in front of a metal table, the only light in the room coming from the ceiling lamp.

"They started it!" Ruby exclaimed childishly.

"If it were up to me, you two would be sent straight home. With a pat on the back..." the Huntress trailed off, not missing how Ruby and Foxy's eyes lit up. "And a slap on the wrist." She flicked her riding crop down on the table, making Ruby flinch backwards with a puppy-like whimper, Foxy flinching back with her, his fox ears flopping downwards limply.

"But... there is someone here who would like to meet you." With that, the woman walked to the side of the room, letting someone else walk in to take her place.

A familiar man with grey hair, light brown eyes and a pair of small round sunglasses. In his respective left and right hands were a plate of cookies and a signature mug of coffee.

"Professor Ozpin!" Foxy said with surprise.

"THE Professor Ozpin!?" Ruby exclaimed, her eyes twinkling again.

Ozpin chuckled before turning to look at Foxy. "Good to see you again Foxy. How are your siblings?"

"They be fine Professor, all excited that we're goin' to Beacon tomorrow." The red haired Faunus said with a grin.

"That's good. And hello to you, miss Ruby Rose." Ozpin said as he turned to face Ruby, his face taking on a curious expression. "Hmm.. you... have silver eyes."

"E-erm.. Thanks?" Ruby said, confused if that was a compliment or a mere statement.

"So, Ruby, where on earth did you learn to do THIS?" the grey haired man asked as he gestured to the Scroll held up by the blonde Huntress, which showed a recording of Ruby fighting.

"S-Signal Academy?"

"They taught you how to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" Ozpin asked with a raised brow.

"Well... one teacher in particular." Ruby said sheepishly.

"I see..." Ozpin trailed off before setting down the plate of cookies in front of the two teens. Foxy picked up one and began to eat it before he widened his eyes in shock as Ruby began devouring the cookies with a single bite for each one.

'Bugger me, she eats cookies like Freddy eats fish...' the yellow eyed student thought before he finished his own cookie.

"It's just I've only seen one other scythe wielder of that skill before... a dusty old crow." Ozpin said as he took a sip from his coffee.

"Thm mr urncl crww." Ruby said incoherently with her mouth still full of cookies.

"Don't speak with your mouth full." The Huntress chided with narrowed eyes, prompting Ozpin to chuckle.

Ruby swallowed her food before grinning sheepishly. "Sorry. That's my uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage until he took me under his wing. Now, I'm all like; hoooa whatchaa!" Ruby exclaimed, making childish Kung-Fu noises.

Foxy stared at her with amusement. 'I'm not sure if that's funny or just plain adorable.'

Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened as a police officer came in. "Sir, we have the Faunus' mother on the phone and Oum above, she is hysterical. What should we tell her?"

"Well, I think we've kept you here long enough Foxy. Knowing Silk, I'm sure she would end up marching right to the station to bring you home if we don't send you back soon. You're free to go." Ozpin said with a smile. Foxy nodded and stood up. Before he walked to leave, he turned to look at Ruby.

"Urm... thanks for savin' me hide earlier lass. I would've been roast fox if ye hadn't pushed me outta the way." He scratched the back of his head with his hook.

"That's okay, I'm just glad you're alright." Ruby smiled at him. "You're going to Beacon tomorrow right? I hope you have a great time there. One day, I'm going to be there as well!"

"With yer skill, I don't doubt that. When ye finally make it ta Beacon, find me. I'll pay ye back for savin' me. That's a promise and Captain Foxy never forgets a single promise!" Foxy said proudly, thumping the blunt crook of his hook on his chest.

"Aye aye captain!" Ruby exclaims, grinning as she gives Foxy a two fingered salute.


[Flashback End]


"After that, I got a ride home from one o' the cops. The rest, ya already know." Foxy said, sighing.

"Wow... she sounds cool!" Chica exclaimed, practically starry eyed. "Pity she's not in our year though... or she'd be going to Beacon with us! Ooh ooh, maybe even be part of Captain's crew!"

"I'm sure Foxy would greatly enjoy being her classmate." Freddy said with a small smirk.

"W-what's that supposed to mean!?" Foxy said, his cheeks burning.

"Nothing at all my dear brother, nothing at all." The bear Faunus chuckled before heading towards his bed. "Now then, I believe it would be prudent if we all got our rest. Let us leave Foxy to pack up. This time tomorrow, we will be sleeping at Beacon Academy." The blue eyed teen then sat himself upon his bed and lied down.

Grumbling, Foxy got back to packing. Chica ran straight towards her bed and leapt onto it, while Bonnie walked to his, yawning.

'Tomorrow's gonna be a long day.'

#The next day, inside a large dropship#

"Whoa..." Chica said as she stared out the huge windows. The Beacon academy's drop ship was flying at a steady pace, high above the city, giving a magnificent view.

"Quite the stunning view, eh?" Freddy asked as he stood to her right, Bonnie and Foxy standing next to him.

Chica nodded as she stared at the city below, entranced by the view. Bonnie shook his head with amusement at her expression.

'It's finally happening. We're finally starting our journey to being Huntsmen.' Bonnie mused mentally.

The four of them standing together were an interesting sight. Yellow, brown, purple and red. A chicken Faunus, a bear Faunus, a rabbit Faunus and a fox Faunus. A diner stewardess, a club host, a musician and a pirate.

Their appearance was enough to draw a few stares and whispers. Bonnie caught a few of the whispers, having the sharpest ears. Not that he cared. He's heard worse before.

"-in't you say that Foxy guy dressed like a pirate? I think I see him right there... wow, they look like a band with the different colors schemes!"

That, on the other hand, caught his attention. He turned his head to the source of the voice to find a pair of girls, one with black hair with red highlights who wore a black combat dress and a red hood, and another, older girl with long and wavy yellow hair and violet eyes who wore an interesting combination of a cropped jacket, gloves, boots and shorts that showed off her voluptuous figure, including her rather generous cleavage.

The two girls' eyes widen a tiny bit when they realized he noticed them. Bonnie simply smirks and points at his Faunus ears before winking. The blonde mouths an 'Ohh' before nodding and grinning. She then begins walking towards the Faunus siblings, the hooded girl in tow.

"So, you must be 'Captain Foxy'!" the busty blonde said loudly upon reaching them, catching the other three's interest. Foxy turns to the girl with confusion before his eyes lock on a familiar face.

"Lass Ruby!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"H-hey there Foxy." The silver eyed girl said with a nervous smile. "I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

"I'll say. I thought ye were a year below us?"

Before Ruby could explain, her blonde companion wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close in a hug. "She was, but apparently she was so kickass in that robbery last night that Professor Ozpin got her to skip a grade and come to Beacon! Now I'm the proudest sister in the world!"

"You're sisters?" Bonnie asked, a bit surprised. 'Guess we aren't the only ones huh?'

"Yep! Oh, name's Yang by the way. Yang Xiao Long. Nice to meetcha!" Yang to the siblings with a smile. "I already know who the pirate is but not the rest of you."

"I'm Bonnie. The brown haired one is Freddy and the short one is Chica. We're siblings too." The red eyed Faunus said, gesturing towards the other two.

"Whoa, really?" Yang looked surprised as she took in their individual appearance. "Huh, guess we aren't the only ones, eh Ruby?"

"U-uh, yeah." The scythe wielder said.

Any more chatter was interrupted as a hologram of the huntress from the previous night popped up in front of the windows.

What followed was the huntress, who introduced herself as Glynda Goodwitch, giving a small speech detailing about how privileged the students were to be accepted into Beacon Academy, and how it was their duty to uphold the era of peace.

Bonnie simply ignored the speech as he turned back to the window, staring out into the distance. A small smile spreads on his lips.

'Yep.. the start of our journey begins now.'

The sound of someone vomiting and a certain scythe wielder exclaiming about how some of it got on her sister's shoe soon graced his ears, making his smile look a bit more strained.

'Its.. gonna be a slow start...'

#A while later#

The odd multicolored group of six teenagers stood in the middle of Beacon Academy's courtyard, one teen in particular gaping and squealing at all the weapons the other students walking around were wielding.

"Alright Ruby, settle down!" Yang chuckled as she grabbed her sister by the hood playfully. "You little weapon nerd."

"Hey! I'm not a nerd!" The shorter silver eyed girl exclaimed, pouting.

"Yeah, she's more of a geek." Bonnie commented off-handedly.

"Not sure if that's a compliment or an insult..."

"With Bonnie, it's hard to tell." Freddy shakes his head in amusement.

"Seriously though Ruby, you need to tone down just a little on your weapon adoration. I mean, talking about weapons isn't a bad way to make friends considering where we are, but your level of weapon talk is... probably a bit too much." The busty blonde grimaced a tiny bit, knowing fully well how enthusiastic Ruby tends to be regarding weapons.

"Make friends? Why would I need to make friends?" Ruby questioned before spreading her arms and indicating to the Fleming siblings and her own sibling. "I've got you guys, right?"

"ActuallymyfriendsarehereandIgottagocatchupwiththemhavefunsisbye!" Yang said incredibly quickly before rushing past Ruby with a group of random people that appeared out of nowhere, making Ruby spin around.

"A-aah! H-hang on, Yan-"

"Racetime!" A second yellow blur rushed past Ruby, making her spin even faster out of control as her eyes became swirls.

"And there she goes." Freddy shook his head, sighing. "Probably took Yang's sudden departure as a challenge of speed."

"Speed? I can do speed! I love speed! But the speed I'm spinning at I don't like at all!" Ruby exclaimed as she started to slow down, looking ready to collapse as she wobbled and wavered. "And I think I'm gonna hurl... oof!" She exclaimed as she fell over, knocking down a few large white suitcases.

"What are you doing!?" A shrill voice nearly shrieked out, causing Freddy to grow a smile and Bonnie to do the exact opposite and groan.

Ruby shook her head dizzily before looking up to see a pale skinned and white haired girl glare at her. The girl's long hair was in a side ponytail and her outfit was a white combat dress. A small but noticeable scar ran down the side of her left eye, the icy globes staring angrily into Ruby's own silver ones.

"E-erm.."

"Do you have any idea what damage you could have caused!? You just knocked over several suitcases full of Dust!" The albino emphasized this by opening one of the suitcases to reveal the plethora of Dust canisters inside. "We could have been blown into orbit as a ball of every known element if you had set them off with your clumsiness!"

"W-well, I-"

"Do you have anything to say for yourself? Do you have any idea what you're doing? Oum above, do you even know where you are? You look barely older than fourteen! What is a child doing out here at Beacon anyway!?"

"Fifteen..." Ruby muttered quietly, choosing not to raise her voice in fear of angering the white haired girl.

"And secondly-"

"My my, you certainly are laying it on her, despite it being a simple accident." A deep voice chuckled out from behind the white haired girl, making her freeze as her eyes widened. Slowly, she turned around, almost mechanically, until her eyes locked on to Freddy, his amused deep blue eyes staring into her lighter colored ones.

"You..." The previously shrieking girl murmured out...

...before her expression immediately took a 180 degree flip as she stood up straighter, patting her dress down as she smiled brightly at the bear Faunus. "Freddy! Why, what a pleasant surprise!"

"Hardly a surprise, we both knew we were both going to be here. We talked about it on my last visit." Freddy said as he smiled at the shorter girl. "Though it is good to see you again."

"L-likewise! I have been anxiou-I mean rather looking forward to meeting with you again!" The girl stuttered a bit, her cheeks a bit pink.

As this happened, Ruby was helped up by Foxy, who grinned a bit. "Ya alright there lass Ruby?"

"Y-yeah... jeez... who is that girl anyway?" Ruby asked quietly, her face full of confusion at the turn of events.

"That's Weiss Schnee, heir of the Schnee Corporation, a company notorious for its Dust mines and export." A foreign and calm voice stated out from behind the two red clad teens.

They turned to find a girl with long black hair and eyes colored a shade of yellow similar to Foxy's, only much more vibrant. She had a black bow on her head and a book in her hand. "The Schnee family is also rather notorious for unfair labor treatments.. Especially to Faunus..." Her eye narrowed a bit in confusion as she stared at the scene in front of her. "Which is why I find myself confused as to why she would converse so... casually to one."

Before Foxy could clear up Weiss and Freddy's connection, Bonnie decided to cut in as he walked towards her from the side. "Well well well, do my ears and eyes deceive me or does that voice and hair belong to a kitty cat I've met before?"

The black haired girl's eyes widened as she spun to find Bonnie grinning at her cheekily.

"Y-you!"

"Heya Kitty."

"I already told you, it's Blake!"

"And I already told you, Kitty sounds better." The lavender haired Faunus grinned. "Didn't expect you to end up coming here though. Always thought you looked more like the farm girl kind, or maybe the librarian kind, but a Huntress? Now that's a surprise. Faunus Shelter you told me about got boring?"

Blake Belladonna was still frozen in shock that the boy that helped her so many years ago was standing right in front of her. Still with that cheeky tone and with that amused glint in his rather dull red eyes. She quickly recovered from the shock as she nodded slowly. "Y-yeah... you can say that. I thought I would be more useful as a Huntress."

Bonnie barely twitched as he felt something odd about her heart beat. His ears picked up on her heart rate quickening a bit, not from the surprise. She was lying about something. He shrugged anyway. "Well, guess we'll be seeing more of each other eh, Kitty."

Blake's eye twitched as he said that damn nickname.

"Erm, so you two know each other too?" Ruby questioned rather meekly, even more confused and surprised at the turn of events.

"Wait, is this the cute cat Faunus that ye said ye were helpin' at the train station?" Foxy asked as he raised his eyebrows, his words eliciting a blush from Blake.

"Yep, this is her. Blake, meet Foxy, one of my brothers, the other one is over there with the Ice Princess-"

Weiss felt a sudden urge to strangle a hare as she chatted with Freddy.

"-and this is Ruby, a socially awkward weapon geek that Foxy recently adopted into his equally awkward social circle now consisting of three." Bonnie finished, ignoring Ruby's embarrassed look and Foxy's annoyed expression.

"...nice to meet you?" Blake said slowly, rather confused.

"E-erm, yeah, you too Kit-Blake!" Ruby corrected herself quickly when she noticed the cat Faunus' eyes turn deadly. She looked up to the bow on Blake' head nervously. "S-so, erm.. is the bow covering your Faunus ears or.. do you have a tail or claws..?"

"I wear the bow to cover my cat ears, thank you." Blake said, frowning that someone found out so quickly thanks to Bonnie. "I'd rather not get prejudiced in this place."

"O-oh no worries! I don't have anything against Faunus! I think they're cool! They've got night vision and they have better hearing and I heard they heal faster and-"Ruby rambled, trying to salvage the conversation. Blake's face couldn't look more confused at how awkward Ruby was. Though, she could tell the younger girl was telling the truth. And her eyes shined with innocence, something that Blake thought wouldn't last long considering how grueling and bloody being a Huntress was. Though it was rather endearing to the feline Faunus.

Either way, Blake grew a small smile as she chuckled. "It's fine Ruby."

"O-oh good! That's good! Everything's fine!" Ruby exclaimed, smiling awkwardly.

Bonnie bit the inside of his cheek as he struggled not to laugh from all the absurdity of the situation.

"E-erm..." a male voice slowly called out from behind them. They turned to find a boy their age wearing simply blue jeans and light plate armor of sorts with a sweater underneath, and shaggy blonde hair covering his eyes. "D-do any of you guys' k-know where the assembly hall is?"

The group was silent for a moment before Ruby sniggered a bit.

"Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

Bonnie burst out laughing.


#Minutes later#


The rather multi colored group of teens walked into the assembly hall, each one with a different gait in their steps.

Freddy was calm and relaxed.

Bonnie was bored and indifferent.

Foxy and Ruby were barely trembling with excitement and awe.

Blake was silent and watchful.

Weiss was elegant and graceful.

And the blonde boy, who introduced himself as Jaune Arc, was a trembling nervous wreck.

"Calm down Jaune, you act like you are about to be served up for dinner." Freddy said, chuckling a bit.

"Doubt he'd taste good. Probably barely has any meat on those bones." Bonnie muttered low enough that only the Faunus of the group could hear it.

"S-sorry, it's just... I-I've never been around s-so many people..." Jaune said quietly.

Eventually, the group found their way into the crowd of students, where they met up with Yang who was staring at the group in surprise.

"Huh, I'll be damned, my socially awkward sister turned into a people magnet!"

"Dang it Yang, you ditched me!" Ruby complained as she mustered her best glare.

"Sorry, my friends really wanted to catch up! At least you made some new friends, right?" Yang asked as she looked at Blake, Weiss and Jaune.

Weiss simply raised a pale brow before crossing her arms. "I wouldn't say 'friends'. Acquaintances is more proper."

Blake nodded a bit, a small smile as she turned to look at Ruby. "We've only recently met, but I wouldn't mind being friends with you."

"M-me too." Jaune said shyly as he tried to smile at Ruby.

The scythe wielder beamed a smile at this before looking at Yang with a smirk. "See, I told you I was capable of making friends!"

"I thought you said your only friend was Crescent Rose?"

"That's different, she's my baby! Who else will I cuddle and play with?"

"I could think of five different dirty jokes for that sentence, but you're too young to know them."

The conversation died down as Professor Ozpin stepped up on a stage, to deliver his speech.

"Thank you all for coming." He started off, after taking a sip from his ever endless mug of coffee. "You are all gathered here with the notion of becoming Huntsmen and Huntresses, the very protectors of this world from the forces of Chaos. Grimm, humans, and others. You came here, expecting to be heroes. Legends." His voice turns a little dark. "Let me tell you this, legends are only told decades after the heroes and their enemies have passed away. So tell me, will you be remembered in legends as heroes? Or villains? Or perhaps will you not be known by history at all and fade into it like dust in the wind?"

The entire auditorium is silent as they hear his speech. Undeterred by their differing reactions, most of which was unnervement, he continued.

"Remember this, what you will learn here will only take you so far. It is not just words, but actions that make heroes what they are. It doesn't matter that you're here to learn from us. What matters is what you will use the knowledge you acquire here for." He slowly steps away, taking a sip from his mug before going on. "I pray for the world's sake, you use it wisely."

With that rather ironically grim speech, he walked off, before Glynda Goodwitch took his place to announce that the students would be sleeping in the ballroom tonight.


#A while later, night time#


Numerous sleeping bags were scattered around the large room, moonlight faintly piercing through the large windows as people settled into their bags, chatted around or slept.

A certain group had their sleeping bags arrange near each other, next to one of the large windows, as they sat around and talked a bit.

Blake sat on hers while reading her book, an interesting novel that recently hit the shelves which was known as Undertale, a story about a human child who became lost and ended up in an underground society full of monsters, yet the child tries to go around and become friends with them, despite the fact that quite a few were trying to kill him.

Blake raised her eyes from the book to look at Yang for a bit. She got to the chapter in which Sans, a living skeleton with a passion for pranks and terrible puns, was introduced. And from what she could observe from Yang, the blonde fighter had a similar taste for bad puns.

'I guess that makes Ruby Papyrus. Hm.' The Faunus girl hummed mentally before looking back down to her book.

"Hey, where's that sister of yours?" Yang asked as she stretched a bit before turning to look at Bonnie, who laid down on his sleeping bag with head phones on and his eyes closed. "She beat me to the auditorium and then she ran off again before you guys met me there."

Bonnie hummed before focusing his hearing, letting his rabbit ears focus on the large room's voices, trying to pinpoint Chica. If he couldn't hear her, then she was either asleep, or not in here at all. Eventually, he picked up on her voice.

"-and then I grabbed a huge fish with my feet and took its scales off in less than a minute, all with my talons!"

"That's so awesome! This one time, I skinned an Ursa Major after softening it up a bit with my weapon and then the rest of its family came and I skinned them too, not the cubs of course cuz they're so cut-"

Bonnie cracked open an eye wearily as he let his hearing return to normal. "She's somewhere in here... apparently she made a friend and they're telling stories to each other."

"Wait, did you pick up on her voice with your ears?" Yang blinked in surprise. "That's.. Actually pretty cool. You hear a lot of interesting things with those?"

"Eh, I can regulate how sensitive they are to be honest. So if I wanted to, I could just make myself deaf and not need to listen to anyone. I can hear a lot of things, especially if I focus. I can hear all of your heart beats for example, and I can hear the pages of Kitty's book being turned." The red eyed lapine Faunus explained as he closed his eye.

"Whoa..." Ruby muttered in awe. "That's... so cool! You're like a super hero!"

"He is, isn't he?" Freddy chuckled as he read his own book, sitting next to Weiss as she leaned on him a bit and wrote something in her journal. Freddy's deep blue eyes turned in their sockets to stare at his purple haired brother's form, crinkling in amusement. "Rabbit Man, with the power to hear everything."

"Bear Man, with the power to never shut the hell up." Bonnie tiredly retorted.

"Hey, don't speak to him like that you floppy eared rapscallion!" Weiss exclaimed as she looked up from her journal to glare at Bonnie, who simply raised his left arm and gave her the one fingered salute, making her grit her teeth and causing Yang to chuckle.

"...I never thought I'd see the day." Blake suddenly said from her spot as she stared at Weiss with a raised eyebrow. "A Schnee defending a Faunus. I guess life is full of surprises after all."

"Well pardon me, but not every member of my family is full of Faunus hating bigots. Though most of them are like that..." The heiress said as her brow twitched in irritation. "My father however doesn't mind them, except for the White Fang as they cause nothing but chaos in this world. No offense to Faunus kind in general, but some animals need to be put down."

Blake felt a bit of anger rise inside her at the insult to her old organization before she reminded herself mentally that she was no longer one of them. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before staring back at Weiss. "What IS your connection to him anyway? If most of your family is full of Faunus haters, then how did they allow you to be friends with Freddy?"

"That would be because our parents were partners when they were at Beacon." Freddy said with a small smile. "We first met when my father took mother and my siblings to a large party, where Weiss and her own parents and sister were in attendance. I kept Weiss company and then asked our fathers if we could schedule regular meetings."

"That must not have gone well with most of your family..." Ruby said quietly as she looked at the white haired girl.

"It honestly didn't go well with them at all, but they couldn't exactly do anything to stop it, though they tried." Weiss muttered before smiling up at Freddy. "However, try as they will, nothing can separate me from Freddy."

Yang smirked as she wiggled her eyebrow at the heiress. "Ooh, sounds like someone is more than just friends with him."

To her surprise, Weiss's reaction was not the expected blush and stutter, but was instead a rather proud smirk of her own as she sat up straighter.

"Of course we are. After all..." Weiss closed her eyes before placing her hand on Freddy's.

"He IS my fiancé."

Blake dropped her book.


I am sure there were quite a few twists and turns in this chapter. Again, I apologize for taking so long...

Now, some of the story telling in this may be a bit off, like grammar errors and sentence structuring that needs revision. That may be because I typed most of this while sleepy and partially delirious.

Still, I hope some of you enjoyed this. And thank you all once again for your support of not only this story, but my health as well. I promise I will do my best to write this story... until the inevitable time come when I have to bid you all adieu and place this book on the shelf.

Whether the story will end up for adoption or not will remain to be seen.