I can't stop. Send help please.

Swainey6- ask and you shall receive, though I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out (read the note at the bottom for an explanation)

Chapter 3: Of Idols and Friendship

"Dust is a truly amazing thing, Oscar. With a keen mind and a strong will, one can use it to change the world. If only it was held by people who were purer of heart…" -Aurelius to a curious boy before departing the port city of Point Refuge, capital of the First Triumvirate, 25 years prior to the formation of the Second

Back at Beacon

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Ruby turned to see a white-haired girl with a lopsided ponytail standing nearby. She was wearing a white dress with a red trim around the collar and had a scar on her left eye, but Ruby only noticed two things. The first, the girl was very angry and coming towards her. The second…

"She's kinda cute, but her voice sounds familiar…" Ruby thought before shaking it out of her mind and trying to focus on the task at hand, ears drooping in embarrassment as she scratched the back of her neck. "S-sorry! I kinda lost my balance…"

"You dolt! Watch what you're doing, do you realize what kind of damage you could have done?!" The girl gestured to the cases, using it as an excuse to buy time to process what she just saw. "How did she do that? There's no way anyone could have caught themselves in time to do that." "Each of these is full of Dust, do you know what that means?"

Ruby glanced at the containers. "Well, that depends on what kind of Dust is inside and how much was set off…" "I swear I've heard that voice before… Wait."

"Well, I'm surprised you'd actually know that, maybe next time-" The girl was cut off by Ruby's squeal.

"Oh my god you're Weiss Schnee aren't you?! Look, I know you're a Schnee and your family doesn't really like Faunus, but I'm a big fan of your singing! I can't believe I met you, I own all your albums, your voice is amazing! Can I have your autograph please?!" Ruby gushed out, not taking a breath in between as her tail wagged happily behind her.

Meanwhile, in a White Fang base outside Vale

A deer Faunus suddenly shuddered in the cafeteria, drawing the attention of the other occupants of the table. "Something wrong?"

He looked up at everyone else. "Y-yeah, I just got this weird feeling that a Faunus somewhere was praising that Schnee girl's singing to her face. Who the hell would do something like that?"

The other two at the table looked at each other before the cat Faunus in the group spoke up. "It's… Probably nothing… Maybe we should attack a music store and destroy all her albums anyways, just to be safe." They nodded to each other and silently agreed to bring it up with Adam at the next meeting.

Back at Beacon

"U-um…" Weiss Schnee had come to expect many things when dealing with a Faunus. She had come to expect them to be idiots, for them to be hateful, uncultured brutes that only wanted to fight, or even for them to want to kidnap her to ransom off to her family or simply kill her. What she had never expected was to have an energetic wolf Faunus proudly declare herself to be her biggest fan, gush about her singing, and then ask for an autograph. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it. She didn't have a chance to respond.

"You do know her family is more likely to throw you in a mine somewhere than show you any respect, right?" Weiss and Ruby looked over in the direction of the voice to see a girl walk up wearing a white, sleeveless shirt and a black vest over it, with white shorts and purple stockings under black boots. Ruby looked the girl in her amber eyes before a twitch drew her attention to the bow on her head.

"So she's a cat Faunus, at least I'm not the only one here," Ruby thought before responding. "Just because that's what her family would do doesn't mean that's what she would do," Ruby started, surprising Weiss. "My mom once said you should judge someone as a person, not by what family they're from or who they associate with since every family known for their kindness and charity has someone that's cruel and heartless, just as every greedy family has someone who is caring and compassionate." Before Weiss could respond, the cat Faunus continued.

"Look, I understand that you like her singing, but you should really take a step back and think rationally for a minute."

"Are you saying you've never been betrayed by someone close to you?" The girl froze, gripping her book tightly as she glared at Ruby. "D-did I hit a nerve with that one?" "L-look, I didn't mean-"

"Never say that to me again, do you understand?" Ruby nodded meekly, ears drooping, while Weiss looked between the two before sighing.

"Look, I get that you two argue about this, but we're going to be late to orientation," Weiss said before walking down the path to the main building.

Ruby's ears perked up. "Can I walk with you, please?"

Weiss let out a sigh. "Normally I'd say no" Ruby's ears dropped slightly before she continued. "But I suppose I could make an exception if you tell me how you managed to avoid landing on my luggage cart."

"Sure! I'd be glad to!" Ruby ran up next to Weiss with a smile, tail wagging happily. "You see, my primary semblance is speed-related, so it's easy for me to react to things like that. The moment my tail brushed against something I activated it and used it to catch my balance, since I didn't know what was behind me and didn't want to risk getting hurt or damaging anything. It was a good thing to, can you imagine if I'd fallen on it and one of the canisters broke open, scattering powdered dust everywhere? I'd probably have sneezed and blown up the entire landing pad! Heh…" Ruby scratched her head nervously, head tilted to the side with one ear drooping. "Good job Ruby, you meet your favorite singer in all of Remnant and now she probably thinks you're a star-struck, motor-mouthed klutz."

Weiss nodded for a moment, trying her best to keep the slight frown on her face instead of smiling at the endearing look. "Most likely, just don't do that again, dolt." Ruby pouted slightly and turned away. "At least she understands how dangerous Dust is and is willing to look past my family's reputation. Maybe I was wrong about the Faunus…" Before she could say anything else the boy from the ship stumbled off a side path, looking completely lost.

"U-uh, you guys wouldn't happen to be heading to orientation, would you? I got completely lost," the boy said sheepishly.

"Hmph, maybe you should pay attention and stay on the main path then," Weiss said, crossing her arms while Ruby hummed.

"Are you fine with him coming with us? We're heading there anyways," Ruby asked as Weiss let out a sigh.

"Fine, but if he gets too annoying, he's on his own, are we clear?" The boy nodded quietly before falling in step beside them.

Ruby smiled at the boy. "So, I'm Ruby Rose, who are you?" Weiss glanced at the girl next to her, suddenly realizing she hadn't asked for her name earlier.

"I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it," the boy said with a smile.

Ruby was doing her best not to laugh while Weiss scoffed quietly. "D-do they?" Ruby asked with a smile.

"T-they will… At least I hope so. I mean my mom always says that- never mind…" He went quiet while Ruby let out a small giggle while Weiss rolled her eyes. "So, who's the Snow Angel?" Jaune asked as suavely as he could.

Ruby glanced at Weiss, who seemed to be quickly losing her patience with the boy, before looking at him in confusion. "She's… Weiss Schnee."

"Who?" Jaune asked innocently, leaving Weiss glaring at him murderously while Ruby was left sputtering, trying in vain to understand what she'd just heard.

"W-Weiss Schnee, famous singer and heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?" "Seriously, I know not everyone likes her music, but how do you not know about the daughter of one of the richest men in Remnant?!"

"Doesn't ring a bell, are making this up Ruby?" Ruby looked over at Weiss, who looked like she was ready to either gut the poor boy or berate him for his ignorance, before deciding to try another tactic.

"I swear, if he doesn't shut up I'm going to-" Weiss looked at Ruby in confusion, noticing that she'd somehow pulled out her scroll in the literal blink of an eye and seemed to be searching for something. "She wasn't kidding about her semblance, was she?" "Ruby, what are yo-" Weiss' question was cut off by a song playing over Ruby's scroll as the girl held it up.

"They see you as small and helpless. They see you as just a child…"

Weiss let out a sigh. "Of course she'd have one of my songs ready…" She thought as she watched Ruby hum, tail swaying happily as she waited for Jaune to recognize the song.

"It sounds familiar, sorry Ruby." Ruby's ears drooped as she turned off the music and closed her scroll, putting it away.

Weiss ran a hand down her face with a sigh. "Why do I have to be stuck with these two? I mean, Ruby's… Amicable when she isn't obsessing about my singing, but Jaune…"

"You really are hopeless, aren't you Jaune…" Ruby said dejectedly before deciding to change topic. "Soo, I got this thing," She said before unfolding Crescent Rose and placing the blade against the ground, causing Weiss and Jaune to take a step back and shout at her simultaneously.

"Whoa! Is that a scythe?"

"Dolt! Be careful with that thing!"

Ruby winced. "S-sorry… But yeah, it's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle," Ruby said proudly.

"A wha-?"

Ruby heard Weiss sigh as she pulled back on the bolt. "It's also a gun"

"Oh. That's cool!"

"Isn't that a bit overkill?"

Ruby smiled. "Well, it is at close range against most Grimm, but it'll take more than a few shots of basic ammo to take out an Ursa and it can't punch through anything with armor as thick as a Deathstalker… So what do you guys have?"

After Jaune showed off his sword and shield, Ruby turned her attention to Weiss, who let out a sigh before drawing Myrtenaster, causing Ruby to smile. "This is Myrtenaster, it's a Multi-Action Dust Rapier." Weiss put her weapon away before Ruby could respond and walked into the auditorium/arena.

Ruby followed her in and looked around before seeing her sister waving at her. "Hey Rubes! I saved you a seat!"

Ruby smiled and waved back before turning to face Weiss and Jaune. "That's my sister, I've gotta go. Talk to you guys after the ceremony?"

Weiss shrugged her shoulders with a sigh. "Sure, I suppose I could find worse people to talk to…" "Even though I really wish you'd stop obsessing over my singing…"

"But where else am I supposed to find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?" Jaune muttered under his breath, causing Ruby to turn and face him.

"I don't know, maybe you could start with the redhead about fifteen feet behind you that's been staring at you since we walked in?" She said with a smirk and watched him sputter and turn around before walking off toward Yang.

Ruby sat down next to Yang with a sigh, rubbing her head. "So, how's your first day going, pup?"

"Normally, I think I'd be mad at you from ditching me, but I think I can say that it's better than I thought it'd be."

"See? I told you'd be fine. Did you make any friends?"

Ruby smiled as she tried her best to avoid squealing. "Maybe. I met Weiss Schnee and managed to talk to her." Yang laughed at this.

"Really Rubes? You honestly expect me to believe you ran into your absolute favorite singer by sheer chance at Beacon on your first day?"

"It's the truth though! I almost tripped over her luggage and blew up the docks, this other girl showed up and started saying I shouldn't be talking to her because she's a Schnee, and Weiss let me follow her over here, we helped the boy from the ship find his way over here and I made sure Weiss didn't kill him and-"

"You really don't know when to stop talking do you?" A voice asked behind Ruby, causing her to cry out in surprise.

"W-Weiss? What are you doing here?" Ruby asked while Yang went wide eyed.

"Well, the only seats left were next to you, Jaune, that girl from the docks, or a musclebound idiot with a giant mace that was harassing some girl. Of the four you're the most… Bearable" Weiss said with a sigh as she sat down.

"Oh my god you weren't kidding, were you?" Yang asked rhetorically.

"Just don't gush about my singing while we're here. I've heard enough about it for today," Weiss said with a sigh.

"R-right, sorry Weiss. Hehe…" Ruby scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, but nobody noticed the pair of blue eyes gazing across the audience with amusement.

"Interesting crowd this year, don't you think Professor Ozpin?" Bisman asked.

"We do have a promising group of potential students today. Have you finished up the preparations for the initiation exam?"

"Yeah, just about everything's set up and we're ready to go."

"Good. And Arthur…" Ozpin glanced at his subordinate. "Please keep your antics to a minimum this year. We still have students dealing with the stress of your claim from last year that they'd get straight A's in Professor Port's classes if they could find a burn crystal, a stuffed Beowolf, and Oobleck's thermos before leaving the forest."

The man shrugged. "No promises, you need to keep them on their toes after all."

Ozpin let out a sigh as he took a sip from his hot chocolate. "Sometimes I wonder if having you around is worth it. Have you been able to find anything at least?"

Arthur nodded. "Yeah, there's an island off the southern coast in the Leviathan's Gulf, some natural harbor that a number of different sources call "Point Refuge." They all agree on the site and it has a bridge leading to the mainland, but it's not the most inviting places. From what I can gather, it's bad, even compared to the other parts of the continent's coast, especially since it's in that part of the ocean, but it's the only landing site we haven't tried yet."

Ozpin let out a sigh before looking over the crowd. "I'll send a team and tell them that they're to take pictures before returning. If there's something there, I'll organize a proper expedition to look into it."

"Alright then. I'll get back to setting everything up. Good luck here, headmaster." Arthur walked off, a smile on his face at the thought of this year's prank. "After all, Ozpin never said I couldn't mess with this year's group, just that I had to keep it to a minimum…"

This is probably the best spot for me to stop for now. I need some time to think up a secondary semblance for Weiss before I can continue anyways, so I can't really proceed right now without having to rely on Weiss wanting to keep her secondary/personal semblance a secret.

So yeah, a few things to note in this. Ruby's a bit snarky in this, or she will be as things progress, simply to balance out Yang's punny personality. (I'm not sorry) Don't worry though, she's still going to be quirky, adorable little Ruby as best as I can make her. There will be a few more changes, one of them will be implied in 1-2 chapters.

Also, while Arthur Bisman might seem like a minor character because of the previous chapter, his obsession with Sanctuary means he'll be present for a lot of interesting things that happen… When he isn't teaching about stuff most of his students probably won't have an interest in or playing mind games with the students or staff at Beacon. Let's just hope his interest in the past doesn't give him any interesting ideas…

If you have any feedback or suggestions, leave a review or send me a message and I'll respond next time I'm on.