Author Notes: Sorry for the late chapter, I'm trying to upload every week but I don't know if I will be able to do that because of school. Anyways enjoy this chapter!
What It Takes
Chapter 2: The First Steps
Sylvia and Re entered Beacon Academy and were welcomed to a large room where most of the other students had already assembled in the room and were waiting for the headmaster, professor Ozpin, to make his welcoming speech.
"Wow," spoke Re in awe, "for a combat school this is quite the fancy room."
"Re this is a prestigious combat school, their rooms are going to be big," chided Sylvia, "did you really expect it to be anything less?"
"I was under the impression we were going to a school, not a castle," said Re smirking.
"Well maybe-"
She was cut off when a girl with brown hair pushed past her in order to get a space in the crowd. Normally Sylvia would have only been slightly ticked off at the girl's clumsiness, except the girl didn't even apologize to her.
Well she is about to get a piece of my mind, thought Sylvia as she started going after her. However, Re's put his hand on her shoulder.
"Come on Sylvia," Re said calmingly, "If you get mad at everything that you disapprove of you're gonna end up hurting yourself."
Sylvia shrugged off his hand but stayed where she was.
"Either that or you're gonna put someone in the hospital," joked Re.
Sylvia crossed her arms, still fuming about the utter rudeness that the brown haired girl had shown her. She turned toward the stage in the amphitheater in time to see Ozpin and Glynda appear on the stage. Ozpin was a middle-aged man with tousled gray hair and thin brown eyes. He wore shaded glass spectacles and a dark-green scarf over an unzipped black suit and a black-buttoned vest, with a green undershirt underneath. He also wore black shoes and long, dark-green pants. Sylvia certainly approved of Ozpin's choice of clothes; the headmaster of a prestigious school should always look their best. Ozpin approached the microphone and Glynda stood off to his left as Ozpin cleared his throat.
"I'll…keep this brief," he started, "you have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
Silence hit the students as they took in Ozpin's weird speech, each trying to define what he was trying to say. They were snapped out of their thoughts when Glynda approached the mic.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
And with that she walked off the stage.
"He seemed kind of…off," Sylvia turned toward the speaker, a blonde haired girl with lilac eyes. Sylvia then realized that the blonde was right. During that speech Ozpin seemed almost distracted by something.
Well regardless, thought Sylvia, he shouldn't doubt the abilities of his students, especially someone as skilled as me.
"I'm a natural blonde you know."
This came from a blonde boy, who appeared to be flirting with a girl with white hair. Sylvia rolled her eyes.
Just how desperate can guys get? She thought.
Re grinned, knowing what Sylvia was thinking, "At least you know I will never say something like that."
"No, you'd probably say something cheesier than that," Sylvia retorted with a smirk of her own.
Re laughed at this, "Well if you're done making your snide remarks, we should probably get our stuff in the ballroom and get ready for tomorrow."
Sylvia nodded in agreement and they headed off to the ballroom.
Namra entered the ballroom of Beacon Academy. The area was littered with sleeping bags from all of the first year students and their belongings. The room was dimly lit by numerous candles on the walls next to the windows, each of which had red curtains on either side. There was also a platform next to the door that she had just come through. Namra sensed that it would be very hard to find a place to sleep, but she certainly had to try. She walked over to the girls' side of the room to find a spot to place her stuff. She felt all of the students watching her as she walked to a possible spot to place her sleeping bag. She wasn't surprised at this, wearing a blindfold over her eyes catches everybody's attention. They would either assume she was blind or just an idiot.
Either way, I'm sure they all doubt my abilities to fight, Namra thought to herself, well I'll just have to show them what I can do in the field.
This was not at all new to her; she was constantly doubted due to her blindness and was constantly trying to prove herself to everyone. Prove that being blind was not a hindrance to her and that in fact it made her see more than most people. Most of the time it wouldn't work, or people would attribute it too blind luck. They all just couldn't look past her affliction and see her for who she really was. Once again, she began to think about Ozpin's speech to the students. The speech seemed disconcerting and the opposite of motivational or at least that's how most students saw it. Namra thought differently. One line especially stuck out in her mind as a challenge.
"I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy."
If there is anyone I want to prove my skills to, it's him, Namra decided to herself.
Her train of thought stopped there though as she carelessly bumped into someone on her way to a spot. Surprised by the sudden contact, Namra dropped her sleeping bag and, while backing up tripped over it. Now Namra lay in a heap on the floor with her sleeping bag at her feet. Slowly getting up, still dazed from the fall, she is greeted by the feeling of a girl's face very close to her own. Although she couldn't actually see this girl's face, Namra had a feeling that she was not happy about being knocked over.
"Watch where you're going," the girl said, suddenly recognition dawned on her face, "Hey, you're the girl who bumped into me earlier at the speech."
Namra was confused until she remembered accidently bumping into a silver haired girl before the headmaster's speech had started.
"It was an accident," Namra replied sheepishly, "sorry."
"Oh now you apologize," said the girl, her arms waving as she chewed Namra out, "You couldn't have done that earlier?"
"As I said it was an accident," stated Namra, "and I was in a hurry so I couldn't."
"You couldn't have taken five seconds to apologize?" questioned the silver haired girl, "you're just rude and clumsy. Then again I shouldn't be surprised considering the fact that you're blind."
Namra was getting angry now. Time to give her a piece of my mind, she thought.
"Well I'd certainly rather be blind than ignorant."
"I beg your pardon?" The silver haired girl cried, her voice rising, "is it being ignorant to recognize that someone can't walk on their own two feet let alone fight against the Grimm."
This girl is ridiculous, thought Namra, how does anyone put up with her?
"Please," said Namra, her voice still quite level, "I could fight circles around you."
Namra wasn't quite sure about that last part, nor was she ever so confrontational, but this girl was really getting under her skin.
"If you think I'm just gonna stand here and let you talk to me like that-"
She was moving her hands as she spoke which, coincidentally, smacked a Faunus with dark pink hair and dog ears right in the head.
Both Namra and the silver girl turned toward the Faunus and her other companion, a short girl with golden brown hair. The Faunus seemed to be rubbing her head from the blow, while Namra could feel the anger emanating from the golden haired girl.
"I'm sorry," the silver haired girl said meekly, "I didn't see you there."
"Well maybe if you were paying attention instead of mouthing off to someone over an accident than you would have been able to pay attention," the golden haired girl spat in anger.
"She nearly knocked me over twice today," defended the silver girl, "I hardly call that an accident."
"Well God forbid someone accidently does something twice," the girl mocked, "clearly that means they're out to get you."
The silver haired girl's mouth hung open in disbelief that she was being mocked by this new girl.
Seeing her advantage, the new girl pushed on, "Maybe the issue isn't the girl who caused the accident, but instead the girl who is too quick to anger and can't control her hand motions."
The silver haired girl was lost for words. Her mouth opened and shut several times as she tried to formulate words. Finally she closed her mouth and walked away, fuming.
Namra sighed, relieved that she didn't have to deal with social conversations for the rest of the night.
"Thanks," Namra said quietly to the two other girls.
She was picking up her stuff when she sensed the Faunus leaning down and whispering something in the other girl's ear. Namra couldn't quite pick it up but the other girl replied with, "Are you sure?" to which the Faunus nodded.
"We have a space available near us if you want it?" said the brown haired girl.
Namra was slightly apprehensive. She was never a fan of social situations and generally was very reserved about making close ties to people. Then again she felt she owed these two for helping her out.
"Sure, why not?" replied Namra.
"Great!" said the brown haired girl enthusiastically, "I'm Aurelia," she turned to the Faunus girl, "and this is my best friend Celestia." Celestia waved excitedly at Namra.
"Namra," Namra replied, and then followed them over to their area of sleeping bags, hoping to actually get some sleep tonight.
Re was setting up his sleeping bag on the boy's side of the ballroom. He grinned from ear to ear at the prospect of finally starting his first semester of Beacon. He knew it would be a lot of work, but he also knew that somehow he would get through it all. He knew Sylvia would be more excited to show off her skills to all the other students and professors, but he was different. He was excited about meeting new friends, hanging out with his team and just making sure his semester was as fun as possible. Re grinned wider at the prospect of it all and knew that his time at Beacon would be the most fun he had ever had.
It will be just like Signal, Re thought, except without old friends and family.
Re's grin vanished as he reflected on past events. It made his heart sad as he remembered everything, his friends who would always stand by him, the teachers who always pushed him to be his best and the girl who always kept him going. He was certainly going to miss all of the things he had left behind at Signal, but he knew he would always have the memories of them to look back on in fondness. Then again there are always the memories of-
Re shook his head snapping out of his reflection.
No, thought Re, there is no need to think about that. We're at Beacon to start furthering our dreams, which is all that matters.
Re heard a thump as a boy with brown hair, bomber jacket, green shirt and blue cargo pants placed his stuff next to Re. The boy looked up and noticed Re standing there.
"Sorry," the boy said "Is it okay if I sleep here?"
"Of course!" Re said with a grin, "After all I certainly don't own the floor here."
The boy chuckled at the joke and started unpacking his things. As he unrolled his sleeping bag he spoke again.
"I'm Basil by the way."
"I'm Re," said Re with another grin, "It's a pleasure to meet you Basil."
"Likewise," replied Basil.
Basil sat down on his sleeping bag and let out a long sigh of relief.
"Long day?" asked Re.
"Yea," replied Basil, "just glad to finally be here."
"I know what you mean," said Re, "I can't tell you how many times I've imagined myself being here, experiencing what Beacon is all about." He lay down on his sleeping bag as he continued, "It's almost surreal to actually be here finally."
"Very true," agreed Basil, "I wonder what initiation is gonna be like?"
"Well," started Re as he sat up and looked at Basil, "I think it will be somewhere between a written test and staring death straight in the face."
Basil smirked, "Some people would argue that those are the same thing."
Re laughed loudly at that, "That is true, but to be honest I don't know what to expect." Re looked out towards one of the windows, "But whatever it's going to be we will just have to be ready for it."
Basil nodded, "I certainly hope we are all ready for what is to come."
The conversation would have continued, but suddenly an argument broke out a few spaces over.
"I wonder what that's about." Basil said curiously.
"I don't know," replied Re, "Let's go see."
The two walked over and saw two guys arguing over which of them should have the spot they were standing in. The boy on the right was tall and relatively muscular with long, scraggily, jet black hair with a purple tint. He had a scraggily, black full beard and mustache, brown skin and dark gray eyes. For clothing, he wore a long, blue tunic with white cargo pants along with a red head scarf and black boots. But above all his most prominent feature was his tail. It was long and almost looked like it had armor on it. It was very similar to an armadillo tail, but longer and less rounded. Maybe it was a pangolin tail? Re wasn't sure.
The boy on the left was also tall but an inch or two shorter than the Faunus boy. This boy had white skin with dark blue eyes and scars on his chin and cheek, probably from a scrape with a Grimm. His hair was blue and of medium length. It was a bit longer in the back than the front and his bangs fell slightly in front of his face. He wore a dark blue leather jacket over a white undershirt, black jeans, blue combat gloves and blue combat boots. He certainly seemed less intimidating than the Faunus, but either way, Re knew that both were ready to fight.
"I was here first," stated the blue haired guy, a lot calmer than he was a few minutes ago.
"Well we all know that's a lie," growled the Faunus, his tail flicking back and forth, "I got here and set up by the time you came to try and steal my spot."
"Steal your spot? Why on Remnant would I want to steal your spot?"
"I don't know, I can't fathom the mind of an inferior fighter like you."
"We'll just see how inferior I am when I introduce you to the ground!"
They had started yelling again and Re knew it was time to intervene.
"Guys, listen," Re interrupted. Both of them looked up, eyes boring into Re's skull, he would have to choose his next words carefully, "Perhaps you both could share the space if you want it so much." Those were the wrong words.
"If you think I'm going to sleep anywhere near this thief you've got another thing coming!"
"Are you crazy? Maybe I should send you to the ground too!"
Both of them continued to yell at Re for a few more seconds until Basil interrupted.
"Enough!" Basil cried, "there are still some spaces left to take, why don't one of you just go sleep there instead." Basil must have sensed them about to yell again, because he quickly added, "Do you really want people's first impressions of you to be that you can't get over a simple argument?"
The two boys looked at each other, scowling intensely until finally the blue haired one said, "Fine, no point in wasting my energy so quickly anyway," and with that he took his stuff and walked off.
The Faunus glared at the blue haired boy as he walked away, but eventually the Faunus returned to his belongings and set up his sleeping bag. Re and Basil were about to walk away when the Faunus spoke out.
"That was unnecessary," he said bluntly.
Re looked at Basil, but Basil had turned his attention to the Faunus, "You know a simple 'thank you' would be appreciated. After all, we did just prevent you from getting kicked out of Beacon."
The Faunus grunted at this. Basil must have figured that was all he would get out of that, because he backed off.
"So," Re started, "what's your name?"
The Faunus stared at Re. He was certainly intimidating for a mere student starting off at Beacon. Re was starting to think he was about to get chewed out until the Faunus spoke again.
"Porphyrios," he growled, as if he was reluctant to give up that information, which, Re thought, he probably was.
"I'm Basil," Basil interjected and nudged Re to do the same.
"My name's Re," stated Re
Porphyrios grunted again in understanding. He stood up after unrolling his sleeping bag and faced Re and Basil.
"It would be best if you two left," Porphyrios indicated gruffly, "We all need to be prepared for initiation tomorrow."
Fine by me, thought Re, you're beginning to scare me
"Well good night then," said Basil.
Once again Porphyrios grunted in return, and at that Re and Basil left.
"He's right," conceded Basil, "we should probably get some rest for tomorrow's initiation."
Re grinned and nodded in understanding, "Who knows? We could end up staring death in the face."
Basil smirked, "Or we could be taking a simple written test."
"I thought you said those were the same thing?" questioned Re with a smile on his face.
Basil laughed heartily at this, "At this point I think I would prefer to fight the Grimm than take a test."
Re grinned and nodded again and with that they retired for the night, hopefully prepared for whatever awaited them at initiation.