"These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void."
The morning, the first official day at Beacon. The first day of the rest of their lives. Everyone was exhausted. The floor was unforgiving. Some idiot wouldn't stop talking about s'mores and many didn't get more than an hour's worth of sleep.
Ruben was no exception. He stared at the wall before him, feeling his eyes drooping and his body giving in. He felt his mind easing and his snores beginning to brew.
"Wake up!" Yin shouted, knocking on the wooden floor besides Ruben's head. Ruben felt the knocking racking his brain. His bloodshot eyes now woke up, his eyes shooting open and his eyes staring directly into Yin's.
Yin was smiling, before poking Ruben's nose. "Morning." He said in a soft, cutesy little voice. "The sun is out, and the moon is gone-"
"Shut up." Ruben grumbled, rolling onto his back before sitting up. He scratched his goatee, letting out a loud yawn. He rolled his shoulders back, hearing Yin jumping up onto his feet and humming. The hums almost sounding like 'Sun is out, Moon is gone.' Repeated endlessly.
"Wake up lazy butt!" Another voice said, the enthusiasm in her voice almost making Ruben excited for the day.
That's right.
Her energy was so poignant that Ruben was getting a sort of jolt of energy just by hearing her. He turned to see her, wondering who he should thank for giving him enough strength to lumber through the day.
Her short orange hair cut hanging down against her cheeks, her lovely turquoise eyes. Her collared black vest ended at her waist, with a layer of red and a layer of blue underneath.
With a white sleeveless top over her vest, with a small heart made in the shirt. She tightened her white gloves on her hand, standing over the boy she woke up. "It's morning! It's morning! It's! Morning!"
He, like Ruben, didn't seem as excited for the day. His black spiky hair all over the place, with a single pink strip of hair on the left side of his head. He wore a dark green long sleeved long sleeved tailcoat with a black collar around the edges of the coat.
He ran his hand down his tan pants, before letting out a small yawn. Ruben nodded, as if acknowledging the feeling of exhaustion.
"Today's going to be a good day!" Yin said, the rest of the students waking up. Yin loomed over Ruben, grabbing his undershirt and lifting him off the ground. Yin licked his lips, taking a deep breath of air. Smelling the food cooking in the distance. The maple syrup, the golden warm hotcakes.
"I smell pancakes!" The excitement in Yin's voice nearly leaped out into being. Without another word, he threw Ruben over his shoulder and rushed them to the kitchen, mumbling the word 'pancakes' at least a dozen times.
"...What was I thinking?" Nora, the orange hair girl said, to her parter Ren, the boy she apparently woke up this morning. Ruben sat across from them, his fork running over the golden skin of the hotcake. Mixing the runny butter with the now cold maple syrup.
Ruben shot a look up towards Nora, wondering if she ever stopped talking. Without evening speaking to the girl, he gathered through her nonsense that her and Ren grew up together.
She was the motormouth girl with the quiet guy. He was the calm and she was the storm. She loved sweets, and he was still waking up.
She stuffed an entire pancake into her mouth, nibbling on it slowly. "Or so, I hope we end up on the same team together!" She mumbled with the food hanging out of her mouth, before sucking it down in a single breath and raising her finger in the air.
She must've gotten an idea.
"Ohhh! We should come up with some sort of plan! To make sure we are on the same team together!" She said, laughing in delight of her own idea. Ruben raised his eyebrows, feeling his heart stop. Teams? They were making teams today?
"Team?" Ruben asked, his appetite now officially gone. What little he ate no longer was happy in his stomach. He could feel it churning and twisting. He turned to talk to Yin, who was not sitting next to him like he thought. Yin instead was up at the front of the line. Getting what must have been thirds. Fourths. Maybe even fifths. Ruben got up, marched over to his brother to demand some answers.
"That's right..." Yin said, watching the lady pour the syrup onto the stack of four pancakes. His stomach grumbling at the sight. The mountain of pancakes tipped slightly, the syrup beginning to pool around the cakes. She pulled it away to not overdose on the maple.
She had no idea who she was dealing with.
"Don't skimp out, I want it all!" Yin said, cackling like a mad man as she continued. "More! More! Ahhhahhhahhh!"
"Hey!" Ruben grabbed Yin by the shoulder, spinning him around. Yin turned to his brother, raising a brow. "Did you kn-"
"Wait!" Yin said, looking over his shoulder at the lady. She stopped pouring the syrup when he wasn't looking, much to his disappointment. "I didn't say stop." She shrugged, continuing to pour the syrup. The cakes now drenched in the stuff and pooling in the plate. Yin turned back towards Ruben, crossing his arms and leaning in. "You were saying, bro?"
"What's this about teams?" Ruben asked, his anxiety and his mind running rampant. He could feel his heart about to burst, and not in a good way. He felt ants marching up and down his arms, his fingers twitching and wanting to scratch.
"Teams?" Yin asked, raising a brow obviously. He slowly clapped his hands against his cheeks, his eyes shooting wide open. "There are teams? I was not informed of this. No. Not. At. All. "
"Yin!" Ruben shouted, his hands curling into fists. "Are there or are there not?"
"Bro!" Yin grabbed Ruben's shoulders, staring into his eyes. Ruben felt no empathy, no calm words to soothe his ravaged mind.
"Listen. Go get dressed, get your gear. I'll meet with you to talk about this. Because right now, a beautiful lady is calling me, and she is drenched in syrup." Ruben left without another word.
Ruben sat on the bench in the locker room, his weapons resting on his lap. He ran his hand over the cool metal, feeling naked without them by his side. He wondered how he could go eight hours without his lovely babies at his side.
His babies stayed in that cold, heartless locker without their maker's hands around them. He smirked, rolling his eyes at his own weird thoughts.
He heard the sound of a locker door slammed shut, turning to see Ren and Nora walking out of the locker room together. She seemed so giddy. And he couldn't care less.
He couldn't help but laugh. The two were a pair. An odd pair, but a pair none the less.
"Weirdos, Am I right?" He heard a voice joke, turning around to see Yin. He was in his yellow leather jacket, his wild long hair combed down and his smile spotless and sincere. He walked over to Ruben, knocking his knuckles together.
He began leaning against his personal locker. "Listen, buddy-"
"Don't you want to be on my team?" Ruben asked, glancing up at his brother. Be set his weapons aside, standing up and stepping away from the bench. "I mean, we're brothers. We are suppose to have each other's backs."
"I do have you back." Yin said, sighing a bit. He ran a hand through his hair, wanting to let Ruben know lightly why he withheld his information. "I just...think you need to break out of your shell."
"Today? Of all days?" Ruben asked, letting out a shallow breath. He looked over at his weapons, scoffing. "Today, I'm not some...awkward small talking kind of guy. I'm not getting to know anyone through what ever we do today." He walked over to one of the scythes, lifting it up.
He could see himself at the forge, the schematics given to him by Qrow, and the sleepless nights be spent slaving away. Days he went without food. Without water. He raised his weapon, showing it to Yin. Yin must have seen this weapon a million times, at the very least. But this was different. It was just looking at it, or admiring it. He realized what Ruben wanted. He wanted Yin to understand it. Understand exactly what Han and Gren were to him.
"This...this speaks for me. With these, I don't need to be...me. I'm not awkward, I'm not weird. I'm not quiet. With these, I'm the best I'll ever be. And The school, those other students, and Ozpin, and Glynda." Ruben let out a huff, shaking his head softly. "You. You all will see what I'm really capable of after today."
"Ruben," Yin said, his hand up to his mouth as he tried to fight back some tears. He couldn't help but let this little speech break his heart.
"You...I know what you're capable of. The world...the world is full of people who you need to get to know. You can't be so...big and bad. Not matter how hard you try. And...eventually, you'll need to grow up and understand what it means to be on a team."
"Sorry, Dad." Ruben said, letting out a scoff. He holstered his weapon, picking up the other one. He turned to Yin, scrunching his eyes and barring his teeth. Dad would always tell him to grow up, then berate him for even trying. "I don't need to understand the world yet. I don't need to understand anything except what's expected of me. And today? It's whatever Ozpin wants of me."
"Rub-" Yin started, before hearing the sound of a spear stabbing into metal. They turned to the sound, Ruben's weapon drawn.
Moments earlier...
"Where is my locker?" Jaune said, holding the paper which told him his combination and his locker number. "I didn't put my gear in locker 636, I would have remembered to count that high." He grumbled, looking frantically for his gear. He turned to see Ruben talking to Yin, in what looked like to be a very heated conversation. He decided to talk to him later, when he's cooled off. He just needed to find his gear first. He passed several lockers, on the verge of bitting his nails and ripping out his nails. "Why does this have to happen to me?"
"So..." Winter leaned against Pyrrha 's locker, crossing his arms and letting out a small chuckle. Her beautiful red hair reaching her vibrant waist with a headpiece on top. Her heart stopping green eyes, matching her ever present breathtaking smile. She wore her strapless brown top with golden patterns in the front. He felt his eyes drop, falling onto her red miniskirt. Her brown boots reaching her mid calf and her body having various armor.
"Yes, Winter?" She asked, her voice as sweet as honey to Winter. He let a smile grow, as he turned his eyes to his nails. He inspected them, pretending to not be interested in her.
"Oh, I was simply," He shrugged, as if it wasn't worthy to say. Almost an after thought. "wondering if it was a decent idea if the two of us were on the same team? That's all. I mean," He looked over her, smirking softly. "I am positive the entire school would jump at the opportunity to be on the team with the legendary, 'Pyrrha Nikos'."
"I'm not sure. I would just like to see where the chips land when they fall, that's all." She said, turning her eyes away for a moment before facing Winter once more. She gave him a soft smile, nodding her head. "But being on a team with you sounds grand."
"Wonderful." He simply said, while on the inside he felt butterflies. His felt his heart beating fast in his chest.
"Perfect! Not only to I get the best fighter, the smartest, but also the most beautiful girl here at Beacon! This is absolutely perfect! The best deserves the best, after all." Winter thought, squealing on the inside while on the outside he seemed disinterested and bored. On the inside, he was dancing in delight. He felt as if he was walking on air.
"You know what else is wonderful?" Jaune asked, leaning next to Winter. Winter felt his thoughts disintegrate, the moment Jaune opened his mouth. He turned to Jaune, his fantasy all but forgotten. "The idea of you," He pointed to Winter. "And me on a team. Picture it. Jaune and Winter!" He wrapped an arm around Winter, his hand out and moving across the sky. "Seems to roll off the tongue well enough." Winter backed away, wiping the area Jaune touched with his sleeve.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jaune." Pyrrha said, moving in towards Jaune. Her smile was as bright as ever, and twice as sweet. Something Winter noticed almost immediately.
"So Winter," Jaune said, moving around Pyrrha and standing before him. "What do you say?"
"I believe the teams are comprised of four students each. So-" Pyrrha made known, before Jaune moved towards her with a smile.
"Well, hot stuff. Play your cards right and you maybe you can join up with the winning team." Jaune said, pointing a thumb to himself. Winter moved between them, shooting a look of scornful eyes towards Jaune.
"'Hot stuff'? Do you even have the faintest clue who you are even addressing?" Winter asked, holding his fingers up and showing how little Jaune knew. The space between his thumb and index almost miniscule.
"Not in the slightest." Jaune said, a cocky smile on his face. Winter narrowed his eyes, turning to Pyrrha . He wondered how he couldn't know her.
"This is Pyrrha Nikos," Winter started, pointing his thumb to her.
"Hello again." Pyrrha said, waving to Jaune once more.
"The Pyrrha Nikos! Graduated top of her class, won the regional tournament four years and running. The best, of the best. And you called her 'Hot Stuff'?" Winter stated, almost curious about how Jaune couldn't know about her. Jaune stood there, obviously not knowing what he was talking about.
"She is on the Pumpkin Pete's cereal box!" He shouted, almost about to lose his mind. At that moment, Jaune's mouth dropped. He pointed to her, out of disbelief.
"That's you!" Jaune said, about to squee. "They do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"
"Yeah, it is pretty cool." Pyrrha said, rotating her toe on the locker room floor out of embarrassment. "Sadly, the cereal is not very good for you."
"Knowing that, do you think you have the authority-No. The right-No. The audacity to ask her to be on your team? Mr...John? Was it?" Winter asked, thinking he probably humiliated the poor boy enough.
"Yeah...You're right..." Jaune said, drooping his head and slouching his shoulders. Pyrrha walked towards him, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"Actually Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader." Pyrrha complimented, her hands moving behind her back. Her eyes glancing at Jaune and all around the room.
"D'oh stop it!" Jaune said, feeling all warm inside. Winter felt his anger spike, his hand curling into a fist.
"Look at the time, let's go Pyrrha . Better get to Initiation." He said, waving for her to come on. She nodded, walking towards Winter. Jaune moved in front of Winter, smiling.
"The three of us would be an unbeatable team. What do you say, Winter? It's the best idea I've had today!" Jaune said, extending his hand. Winter looked at it, then called over his shoulder.
"Pyrrha , take care of him please." Without another word, a spear was sent through Jaune's hood and pinning him to the wall behind him. Winter walked past, peering down at him.
"See you on the battlefield." He grumbled out, before moving to meet the class at the cliff. Pyrrha raised her hand, her spear shooting back into her hand. She walked past Jaune, nodding to him.
"I'm sorry." She said, walking away. She sheathed her weapon, jogging to catch up to Winter. "It was nice meeting you."
"Likewise." Jaune muttered sinking onto the floor. He pressed his hand against his forehead, sighing.
"Wasn't exactly the best way to make friends if you ask me." Ruben said, approaching Jaune, a smile on his face. He lent out a hand to Jaune, helping him up off the floor. Jaune took it, being pulled up onto his feet.
"What happened?" Yin asked, watching Pyrrha walk away. His tongue in cheek as his eyes looked over the best of the best. "Is there a problem?"
"I don't get it, I thought I made them a deal they couldn't refuse. Be confident, that's what Dad always says." Jaune stated, wondering where he went wrong prior to being nailed to the wall.
"Don't get between a man and a lady." Yin said, walking away from Ruben and Jaune, raising one finger. "Rule number 1, Amigo!"
Ruben watched Yin leave, before turning to Jaune. He sighed, motioning his head to follow.
"Come on, Jaune. We better get to class." He said, walking with Jaune to initiation.
The stood beside the cliff side, overlooking the valley below. The other students looked scared, frightened. Others anxious and plagued with self doubt. Yin, Nora, and Ruben, however, were enthralled by it. Ruben, for wanting to prove himself. Yin, for wanting to get some exercise in. And Nora, for being Nora.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin said, with his mug always in hand and his expression void of all emotion. Glynda stepped forward, holding her scroll to herself. She scanned over the scroll, before she looked over the new students.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." Glynda stated, Ruben's eyes darting towards her. He felt his heart pounding, his mind once more worrying him. He thought about of Yin wasn't on his team, if he was on another team. What if something happens and he can't help Yin? What if Yin can't help him?
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ozpin noted, taking a sip of his coffee. Ruben felt his breakfast, what little he had, fighting up his throat. His knees shaking and about to give out.
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ozpin added, Ruben's heart dropping and his mind screeching to a halt. He felt his body go numb, his hearing soon leaving him and his weapons loose in his hands.
"See? I told you!" He could hear Nora over the sound of his spirit breaking.
"No no no. This isn't good. This means I have to immediately go look of Yin? What if I can't find him? Oh no no no no no. I need some air. I need air. Air. Air. Air. Wait...I'm outside. I'm surrounded by AIR AND I NEED AIR! I am about to lose my freaking mind because I am going to be alone! This is absolutely perfect. You are a lonely freak who loves weapons and who doesn't talk! How dare you think you are ready for this when you are clearly not!" Ruben thought, his mind going into overdrive. His body was shaking, his palms sweaty and his eyes as wide as the pancakes he didn't eat this morning.
"...Any questions?" Ozpin asked, before hearing nothing but silence. Ruben looked up, his heart beating in his chest.
"Wait, what? What did you say?"
"Now take your positions!" Ozpin said, as he stepped back to leave his students to their work. Gylnda nodded, gesturing her hand as the students were being sent off into the forest.
"Did you explain everything while I was having a mental breakdown?!"
Winter was launched into the air, heading directly into the dark forest.
"Where do we go? What do we find? What do we kill?"
Nora was launched next, letting her laugh echo with her as she flew.
"This can't be happening! This can't be happening!"
"See you later, bro!" Yin said, before putting on a pair of visors and was soon sent flying. Ruben unholstered his weapons and turned them into scythe form.
"This is going to reall-" He was launched as well, his words being pushed out of his mind and out of his mouth.
"Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." His voice was soon lost as he disappeared into the forest. He felt the wind beat against him, his numbness soon gone. His screams echoing.