Hey everybody, this came a little later than intended, but I thought of about five new stories that I'm now working on (and that's excluding the other ones). So anyway, this chapter is mostly Volume 2, Chapter 2: Welcome to Beacon, which, by the title of this chapter, you could tell this is from.

Let's hop in!


Disclaimer: I do not make a profit off RWBY or Slender. Especially RWBY. Please no sue me.


She was walking around in Emerald Forest. It was a nice night; the crickets were chirping, a dog was barking somewhere, and the stars shone brightly up above in the sky. She had a smile as she turned her flashlight on and continued walking. Where she was walking, she had no idea.

A breeze picked up some leaves and startled her for some reason. Why was I scared of that? Her heart rate seemed to speed up as she continued. The longer she went, the more she felt that she could feel something behind her. Not being able to take it he turned swiftly around, her flashlight shining in the dark, but was only met with more trees and blackness.

Something pressed her to continue on. Turning away, she walked further into the forest. She couldn't hear anything anymore. No dogs barking. No crickets. No breezes. The air was still from anticipation. However, there was an oppressive weight lying on her shoulders as she continued, making it harder to walk. Many times she turned around to look behind her, but still saw nothing. She knew there was something out there.

Finally she came to a different scene. A clearing. Thank goodness. My flashlight is dying on me so maybe I can take a rest. She went further into the clearing, but suddenly a tree appeared in front of her. It was completely bare except for the main branches. She couldn't help but be transfixed by the tree. It was drawing her closer…

There! That feeling was back greater than ever. Gripping her flashlight, she spun and brought it up.

Suddenly she wished she hadn't.

It was there in front of her. Its faceless head towering over her, the flashlight bringing its unnaturalness into illumination. She froze, and in that moment it reached for her, its hand outstretched as it covered her face…


"Gyahh!" Ruby woke up with a gasp that managed to startle Weiss who had stood up a moment before, stretching with a yawn, causing her to also make an exclamation of surprise.

Yang smirked from her bed, "Geeze Ruby, I know Weiss is scary, but she's not that scary."

"Hey!" The white-haired heiress eloquently shot back.

"Wha…?" Ruby was also not very articulate and shook her head to try and get some sense into her sleep-addled and nightmare recovering brain.

"I think Ruby was just startled to see Weiss' arms in her face as the first thing she saw." Blake said.

"No, wha- I don't think… It wasn't that." Ruby said, finally making a coherent sentence. "It was just a dream." A nightmare really, except it's day now, so a daymare? Ugh, too early to think about this.

"Bad dream?" Yang asked.

"Yea…"

"Want to talk about it?"

"Nah, it's stupid. It's about that game we played last night." Ruby admitted.

"Ah-bup-bup, say no more, completely understand." Yang stretched, still in her pajamas. "So, what's the game plan for today? Last day before second semester begins. I heard that some of the other competitors for the Vytal Festival are arriving today, including those from Atlas."

"Shouldn't we revise some of our previous work?" Weiss asked. "Since it is going to be the second semester, we should study extra hard, especially you Ruby," Weiss pointed out, "as you should set a good example for the rest of the team."

"Oh come on Weiss, we deserve a break. We've been working hard all last semester…" Weiss rolled her eyes and Ruby caught the meaning. "Okay there may or may not have been a slip-up or two, but with all the crazy stuff that's been happening with Torchwick and the White Fang, we could use the distraction."

Weiss sighed, knowing that Ruby was right, but unhappy about it. They deserved at least the weekend.

Blake however was reminded that the events at the shipping docks did happen. How could I forget? The White Fang working with Torchwick and stealing massive amounts of Dust. How did the Fang come to this? What are they trying to do?

Unknowing of Blake's inner turmoil the rest of the team started talking about what they were going to do that day. "We should go to the library. At least that way we could get some studying in while we're at it." Weiss said.

"Okay, library's a good start, but then what?" Yang asked.

"Oh! We could play Remnant: The Game!" Ruby exclaimed.

"A board game?" Weiss asked with some trepidation.

"Ah sure, it'll be fun. Whadya' say Blake?" Yang directed towards the raven-haired girl.

"Huh? Oh, I uh, think we should get breakfast first before anything else." Blake said, recovering from her thoughts.

"Good idea. Maybe we can avoid a food fight like yesterday?" Weiss asked.

"Only if Nora stops throwing food at me." Yang said.

"You were encouraging her first off, and second maybe you should stop with the bad puns then."

"My puns are good, you just don't have enough appreciation for them. They're beyond your pun-prehending."

"Dear Oum," was more or less the universal message the groans gave.

"Let's just go." Ruby muttered and jumped down from her precariously hanging bed.

It was no small miracle as to how it hasn't fallen down yet. Somewhere, the person who wrote the laws on modern physics would probably be scratching his or her head trying to wrap their mind around how it was still staying up.

Anyway, it took the team a little bit to get ready as they all needed to use the shower and get dressed, but they've worked out a system which had Yang going first, since she took care of her hair the longest, then Weiss, Blake, and finishing off with Ruby because she's the fastest and honestly has the least amount of hair to worry about.

In the end they got to the cafeteria at their normal time. There was a bit of tension in the air as RWBY entered, since JNPR was already in there, and the rest of the students were afraid of another RWBY vs. JNPR nightmare apocalyptic food fight.

Knowing they could feel it, Yang loudly announced to the people in their general vicinity, "Don't worry, we're not going to play with our food today!" There was an audible sigh of relief from the other students as RWBY made their way to get their food, and they went back to their meals. Carrying their trays, RWBY headed to JNPR and sat across from them.

"Sooooo, what're you guys doing today?" Ruby asked as she set her tray down.

"Not another food fight, even if that's what you want." Pyrrha said jokingly.

"Not today, maybe an end of year one though. As a sorta' celebration."

"That'll be funtastic!" No need to mention who said that line.

"Anyway," Jaune said, ignoring the Yang, "We'll be in the library reviewing some stuff from last semester."

"See, they're doing it!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Weiss, we've been over this," Ruby complained.

"Humph." Weiss crossed her arms and turned her head. Ruby grinned a bit at Weiss' reaction, liking the way she did that.

"Anyway, we were thinking of trying a new board game out so we might see you in the library later," Ruby said, turning back to JNPR.

"Alrighty then, let's have a good last day before the second semester kicks off," Pyrrha said.

The rest of the meal was spent like how most of their meals went: Blake and Ren eating quietly with occasional input, Yang and Weiss debating certain topics of schooling and what point with Yang making jokes/puns that were either okay (never good) or made people want to throw rotten fruit at her, which they didn't because that would cause another food fight. Ruby somehow started discussing with Nora about the best pancakes there were (Nora's was original with loads of syrup and Ruby's whipped cream and strawberries), while Jaune making small talk with anyone available with Pyrrha supporting him (honestly, everyone except Jaune could see her crush on him).

Eventually it came up. Of all people it was Nora that brought it up. "So Blake, why'd ya scream last night? Were you attacked by a dog? Was that it? You should have left it to me, I'm great with animals!"

"Nora, you lost your pet hamster because you set it on the ground outside." Ren said.

"Mr. Fluffy Death will come back one day!" Nora declared.

"Wait, Blake screamed?" Jaune asked, not believing that news.

Blake had the decency to blush a little bit, "I did." She admitted.

"Whoa," Jaune murmured in awe. "What brought that on?"

"We were playing a game Ruby bought last night," Weiss said, "and let me just say that I will not be playing that again, especially with Miss. Xiao Long."

"Whoa, hey, back up there Weiss, we did pretty good. What was it, four out of eight pages? That's half of Slendy's diary right there."

They were all distracted when Jaune fell off the bench. "Jaune?" Pyrrha said in concern for her crus- leader.

Jaune peaked his head above the table so only his blue eyes were visible. "Did you just say 'pages'? As in collect all eight?"

"Uhh, yep?"

Jaune's eyes held absolute fear in them and turned to Ruby, "Why would you buy that game?!" His voice held a hint of hysteria.

"Uhh… by accident and curiosity and it was only eight lien in the store?" Ruby listed off, scratching the back of her head. "Why?"

"It's evil…"

Yang smirked, "It sorta' follows you around right?"

Jaune disappeared under the table with a whimper.

"Oh get up and stop embarrassing your team," Weiss said and kicked him under the table, eliciting an 'ouch' from Jaune. He reluctantly sat back normally on his seat.

"Sounds like you have experience with that game," Pyrrha said, her voice trying to hold back her amusement.

"Yeah… you could say that."


Flashback- Five Years Ago.

"Here Jaune, I bought you a new game!" Alexander Arc said, handing his son a game.

"Yay! Thanks Dad!" Jaune happily took the game and looked at the title.

"I should warn you, it's a little scary, but it should toughen you up." His dad warned, a smile playing on his face.

"I'll play it!" I'm not scared! Jaune thought.

Ten Minutes later…

"AHHHHHHH! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! WHERE'S ITS FACE! AHHH, WHY? I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE!"

Meanwhile outside his son's door, Alexander Arc was laughing his head off.


Return to present.

"It was… something."

"Huh, didn't realize the game was that old." Ruby thought out loud.

"Hey, drop by later and you guys could install it on your computer to play whenever," Yang offered.

"I'd like to try this game." Pyrrha said.

"Sounds intriguing." Ren commented.

"Can I break legs in this game?"

"NO." R_WY plus J_PR said at the same time.

"Aww…" Nora sat down dejected, until she took a bite of pancakes, then she was back to her normal self. Not that that version of normal applied to anyone else.

"Anyway, we've got things to do, so I guess we'll see you around!" RWBY had finished eating by then, so they got up (someone needed to nudge Blake to get her out of her thoughts) and headed back to their dorm so Ruby could grab Remnant: The Game.

Along the way however, they bumped into someone, almost literally.

"Oh, excuse me," the man said.

"Sorry! That was my fault! I wasn't watching where I was going," Ruby apologized sheepishly. RWBY took a good look at the man. He was a tall, middle aged man with black hair that had what her Uncle Qrow would call 'distinguished with experience' white hair on his sides. He was wearing a white overcoat, with a grey undercoat with a red tie. He also had a metal strip above his right eyebrow.

"That's quite alright, I'm sure you have somewhere you need to be," he said with humor in his voice.

"I'm sorry, again. I'm Ruby. And this is Weiss, Blake, and Yang." Ruby said, motioning to the rest of her team.

"I'm James Ironwood, the headmaster of Atlas' hunter school." He introduced himself.

"Oh, hello." Yang said.

"How do you do General," Weiss greeted him.

"Very well Miss Schnee," he said, familiar with the heiress.

"If I may ask, how is my sister?" Weiss asked.

"She is doing a phenomenal job and I am pleased to have her under my command," he said.

"I'm glad," Weiss nodded.

"So are you going to talk to Professor Ozpin?" Blake asked.

"Indeed, I'm on my way to his office right now."

"In that case, we won't keep you waiting. Sorry again again," Ruby said.

Ironwood gave a nod and a small smile and continued walking down the hallway.

"You dolt, you could have seriously damaged our reputation, running into the general like that!" Weiss exclaimed once he was out of earshot.

"Ah, it's fine. Besides, your sister apparently is chummy with him and she could straighten things out." Weiss just muttered to herself. "C'mon, we have stuff to do," Yang said and gave everyone a shove from behind to get them moving again.


A little while later…

The four of them were all around a square table with a board in the center. Each person had a hand of cards and different reactions. Weiss looked uncertain and confused. Yang looked confidant but was trying to keep a poker face. And Blake had her cards face down on the table and was looking preoccupied. Ruby looked at each of them before making her decision.

"Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!"

Ruby brought out a card and said, "I deploy the Atlesian air fleet!" Yang gasped. "Looks like I get to fly over your Ursi and attack your walls directly!" Ruby then made plane noises of destruction. Yes! Fear my almighty fleet!

"You fiend!"

Ruby got down to the board, "And, since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time only costs one turn." I've got this game in the bag. However she was thrown off by Yang's chuckling.

"Pretty sneaky Sis," she said, slowly bringing up a card, "but you just activated my Trap Card!" Ruby made some squeaky noise of disbelief. "Giant Nevermore!" Yang pounded her fist on the table, unfortunately knocking over every single game piece. Dang it Yang! Ruby had other problems to worry about though.

"If I roll a seven or higher, fatal feathers will slice your fleet in two!"

Ah, I got her now! "But, if you roll a six or lower the Nevermore will turn on your own forces!"

"That's just a chance I'm willing to take." Yang grabbed the dice and vigorously shook them, not taking her eyes off Ruby. She let the dice go and… a nine! "Ha!"

"Nooooooooo! My fearless soldiers!"

"Most of them are probably androids." Yang commented.

"Goodbye my friends. You will be avenged!" Ruby vowed.

"Not until I draw my rewards, which are doubled this round, thanks to the Mistral trade route." Yang gloated.

"BAH!" Ruby grabbed a piece and tossed it in frustration.

"Oh, and what's this? The Smugglers of Wind Path!?"

"BAH! BAH! I SAY!" More pieces thrown.

"Looks like I'm taking two cards from your hand!"

"HAVE YOU NO HEART!?" Ruby laid her head on the desk and moaned in despair.

Yang, acting like nothing was wrong, turned to Weiss and said, "Well Weiss, it's your turn!"

The heiress looked at her hand and then at the board. "I have… absolutely no idea what's going on," she finally decided.

Yang slid over to Weiss, "Look, it's easy! You're playing as Vacuo which means all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus."

"That sounds dumb," Weiss stated.

Yang reached out and moved Weiss' cards around, "See… you've got Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge…- oh oh! Resourceful Raider! See now you can take Ruby's discard airfleet-"

Ruby was crying rivers at this point.

"-and put it in your hand!"

"O…kay?" Weiss was still uncertain as to what was going on.

"And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance boost against natural hazards," Yang continued, "you could use Sandstorm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my Kingdom!" You have to hand it to Yang, she's good at explaining how games work even if it's against her chances at winning.

"Just know that I will not forget this declaration of war." But her threats make up for it.

"And that means…?" Weiss was still not getting the point.

"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant!" Ruby cried out, knowing exactly where she stood in this game.

That got Weiss' attention. She laughed manically. "Yes! Fear the almighty power of my forces! Cower as the pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms!"

"Trap card." Yang interrupted Weiss tirade.

"Huh?"

A few swift movements later and Yang declared, "Your armies have been destroyed."

Weiss sat down heavily, crying rivers as well. "I hate this game of emotions we play!"

Ruby glommed onto Weiss, "Stay strong Weiss, we'll make it through this together."

"Shut up, don't touch me!" Weiss said, her actions going counter to her words as she hugged Ruby, drawing comfort in their mutual despair. Secretly and unknowingly they both enjoyed it more than they appeared to.

Yang, completely oblivious turned to Blake, "Alright Blake, you're up!"

Blake was brought back to reality at the sound of her name. "Huh? Oh, umm…" She looked at her cards. "Sorry, what am I doing?"

"You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the kingdoms of Remnant." Yang explained. On the opposite corners of the table, Weiss and Ruby seemed to have broken out of their sadness and had separated, returning to their seats.

"Right…" Blake said, about as enthusiastic as Weiss was.

"Hey! Can I play?" They all turned and saw Jaune at the edge of their table.

"Sorry Jaune," Ruby apologized, "We've already got four people."

"Besides," Weiss said, or bragged, depending on how you took it, "this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt you possess." And there's the insult.

"Uhh… you attacked your own naval fleet two turns ago," Yang pointed out. Weiss just groaned.

"Bring it on Ice Queen!" Jaune challenged. "I'll have you know that I've been told that I'm a natural born leader!"

"By who, your mother?"

"A-and Pyrrha." Jaune said.

"Hello again!" Pyrrha said from the table a little away from them.

"Come on, let me play your hand for a turn." Jaune begged.

Weiss leaned back, "I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo."

"Why not? You've trusted me with way more important stuff before." Pyrrha looked up from her book as she realized Jaune wasn't being as tactful as he could be. "I mean you told us all that Blake is secretly a Fau-"

Pyrrha got to him just in time. "Fun loving person whom we all admire and respect!"

No-one was fooled and they turned to Blake to see her reaction.

She just glared. She probably would have growled a bit if it was a bit more.

"Right… that." Jaune laughed nervously, now realizing his blunder. "Ladies…" he bowed dramatically, "enjoy your battle."

"'Sup losers." Another voice came in, this time from Sun Wukong who was standing behind Blake to the right.

"Hey Sun," Ruby greeted.

"Ruby, Yang, Blake…" Sun also greeted. "Ice Queen…"

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?!" Weiss exclaimed.

They noticed another person standing next to Sun, with blue hair and a red jacket and aviator goggles on his head. "I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend."

"Uhh, aren't libraries for reading?" Blue haired guy commented.

"THANK YOU!" Ren shouted in exasperation. Someone finally gets it!

There was a loud snore and Nora woke up with 'Pancakes' coming out of her mouth.

"Shut up, don't be a nerd." Sun said.

Blue haired man cut him off, "Intellectual. Okay? Thank you." He turned to the people gathered around. "I'm Neptune," he finally introduced himself.

"So Neptune, where you're from?" Weiss asked, her tone… different. Ruby didn't like it.

"Haven." He walked over to Weiss and said softly, "And I don't believe I've caught your name, Snow Angel."

"Umm, I'm Weiss." She said, obviously flattered with the name. Now Ruby really didn't like it.

"Are you kidding me?" Jaune ground out, feeling the same way. Neptune was getting farther than he ever had. At this rate she just might give him the time of day.

"Pleasure to meet you," Neptune said.

Sun leaned over and said to Blake, "I never took you as the board game playing type."

Blake just said, "Right…" She brushed his arm away so she could stand up and said, "Well, I think I'm done playing actually." She started walking away. "I'll see you guys later."

There was silence as Sun shrugged his shoulders in the obvious question.

Nora broke the silence. "Women."

No-one could even attempt to start to point out the obvious irony to her.


Hours later…

Blake was sitting alone in Team RWBY's dorm, reminiscing about the night after the docking port incident and the talk she had with Professor Ozpin when RW_Y came in.

"Ugh! We should have never let him play!" Yang grouched.

Ruby laughed, "You're just mad since the new guy beat you. See if you had just attacked when I told you none of this would have happened."

While the two sisters didn't see Blake attempting to move away, the other member of their team did.

"Stop." Weiss commanded just as Blake's hand reached for the door handle. "Lately you've been quiet, anti-social, and moody."

"Uhhh, have you met Blake?" Yang said. She wasn't wrong.

"Which, I get, is kind of your 'thing', but you've been doing it more than usual, which, quite frankly, is unacceptable. You made a promise to me, to all of us, that you would let us know if something was wrong. So, Blake Belladonna!" Weiss whole demeanor changed as she jumped up and somehow landed on a chair, balancing it from tipping over, pointing at Blake, "What is wrong?!" After a moment, she seemed to realize what happened and jumped off the chair and put it back at the computer desk.

They all waited for Blake to explain. She was having a hard time getting it out. "I just… I don't understand how everyone can be so calm."

"You're still thinking about Torchwick?" Ruby asked, going serious.

"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it!" Once the dam had opened… "Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"

"Ozpin told us not to worry," Yang said. "Between the police and the Huntsmen I'm sure they can handle it."

"Well I'm not!" Blake shouted. "They don't know the White Fang like I do."

The team looked at each other before Weiss put out her hands. "Okay, between blowing up night clubs, stopping thieves, and fighting for freedom, I'm sure the three of you think you're all ready to go our and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells…"

"Ah, who?" Ruby asked, confused about the term.

"But let me once again be the voice of reason: we're students. We're not ready to handle this sort of situation."

"Well, yea, but-" Ruby started.

"We're not ready!" Weiss insisted, cutting her off.

"And we may never be ready!" Blake shouted again. "Our enemies aren't just gonna' sit around and wait for graduation day. They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move, and none of us know what it is, but it's coming, whether we're ready or not," Blake swore.

"Okay," Ruby started, getting into leader mode, "All in favor of becoming the youngest huntresses to single-handedly bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the kingdom of Vale… say 'aye'!" She finished all of that in one breath.

"Yes!" Yang fist-pumped, getting the energy. "I love it when you're feisty!"

"Well, I suppose it could be fun," Weiss pondered.

"None of you said 'aye'," Ruby bemoaned.

"Alright then…" Blake said, sounding happier than before, "We're in this together."

"Let's hatch a plan!" Ruby announced.

"Yeah!" Yang said, pointing to Ruby.

Suddenly a thought occurred to Ruby. "I left my board game in the library!" She said in horror. Who knows what could happen to it?

"We're doomed." Weiss said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Ruby ran out of her dorm, "Ill be right back!" She went down the hall…

And once again bumped into somebody. "Oh come on, really? Second time today?" She looked up "Oh, sorry… are you okay?"

The girl that she bumped into held out a hand for her to grab. "I'm fine. Just watch where you're going." She had brown skin and teal green hair, with deep red eyes. She was wearing a black overcoat with a black and grey plaid skirt, apparently a uniform. The grey haired man next to her was wearing similar clothes, except he had pants for the man version.

"Oh, right, sorry." Ruby took the hand and got up. "Um, I'm Ruby! Are you new?

"Visiting from Haven, actually." A new, more feminine voice came from behind the teal haired girl and she stepped aside, revealing a woman with long black hair that covered her left eye, making her yellow and orange revealed eye more prominent.

Ruby looked at her for a moment. Why do I get the feeling I've met her? Then she realized something, "Ooooh, you're here for the festival!" Then she realized something else. "Oh, but exchange students have their own dormitory."

"I guess we just got turned around," the man said.

"Ah ha ha, don't worry, happens all the time." Ruby laughed it off. "Your building is juuuuust East of here." Ruby recalled.

"Thanks." The black haired woman followed the other two who had already moved on. "Maybe we'll see you around." She said. For some reason, the way she said that sent shivers down Ruby's spine, and not the good kind.

"Yea, maybe!" She brushed it off with some effort. Then Ruby realized yet another thing. "OH! And welcome to Beacon!" She waved goodbye but they didn't look back and turned around a corner.

"Interesting people," Ruby muttered. I don't know. I got a weird vibe from around them. Maybe it's nothing, yea, that's probably it. Oh! My game! Ruby took off down the corridors again, hoping her game was still there.


Whelp, that's another chapter. Next time, it'll be Ruby's second attempt! Have some fun with that!

Anywho, another upload at midnight for me. Don't know why I chose that time for updating...

So, R.R.F.F! (Read. Review. Favorite. Follow.) And please let me hear your thoughts...

-OrangeGalen