EDIT (12/26/2022): Holy crap, so so sorry I accidentally entered the wrong name for Livio. I've since fixed that so I'll just point out right now that the new one is the correct name I had in my docs.

AN: Hello! Since people wanted a full length story out of the oneshot I made a little while ago, I have decided to make a whole story out of the concept! Let's hope this will go over well.

Anyways, here's the first chapter, or as I call it "Together at Last"!

Pastel "Paz" Pastel waved goodbye to her mother, who waved back.

The last few months have been rather eventful. First, Paz got an acceptance letter to Beacon Academy on behalf of its Headmaster, Ozpin himself. After a long time of seemingly endless arguing with her mother over her decision to become a huntress, that was catharsis. Within the last month, she performed her final magic show—perhaps the biggest she has ever done among the hundreds.

She'd be lying if she said she wouldn't miss performing, though. Having both a show magic Semblance to show off and countless opportunities to refine her craft was what allowed her to excel at Alsius Academy, Atlas's finest combat school named after the formerly-named institution.

In fact, Paz still remembered the times when she would face Grimm in a series of daring stunts made possible by her Semblance. As her time at Alsius and her previous experience during her magic shows would have it, she got through those with little trouble, if any.

However, what was up ahead was the most daunting challenge she will soon have to face: four years of hard work to get her license.

There was no question that she'd heard stories of students proverbially breaking their backs only to walk away empty-handed in the process. Other stories say that the four-year learning process was easy. She didn't know exactly what was in store, but she was sure she'd have to try.

Or else.

Just then, she saw the unmistakable sight of the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company herself, Weiss.

She'd sworn they met before. After all, Weiss had attended wherever Paz either visited or performed, and vice versa. On a few occasions, they even talked to each other, although Weiss always had this cold allure to her. She'd wonder why, but nothing beyond simple speculation on character.

But why was she standing there, en route to Beacon Academy, with a butler by her side? What?

'No way,' she thought to herself, 'that's her?'

Livio Pinto scratched his head. Some time ago, he had waved goodbye to his uncle Caesco, who had taught him blacksmithing back when he was still attending Pharos Academy. Eventually, his teachings led to Livio becoming a helping hand in crafting various weapons to sell to multiple people. Some days were peaceful, but others were busy and stressful. Nevertheless, his newfound experience gave him an edge in building his weapon.

'That can't be right. I could've sworn I saw her back in Atlas,' he thought.

Livio looked around himself. All he saw were dozens of unfamiliars talking about combat school, future aspirations, their worries, and many other banalities with each other.

'Not on this ship, huh?' Livio raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. 'Well, alright.' He took a deep breath, tapping his fingers against his seat. 'I suppose I could talk with her, but I don't know if I'm ready to weird her out by popping in on her unannounced.'

Emi Takaki, who had been living with her foster parents for a third of her life, pulled out her Scroll and started playing a game. It was then, a news segment touched on a peaceful Faunus demonstration gone violent. Not that it caught the bull Faunus's attention, though. She had to pop that damned last Boarbatusk somehow.

Just then, a holographic image of an adult blonde woman with glasses appeared, cutting off the news segment. She introduced herself as Glynda before she started to inform her and the students about their future duty as Huntsmen.

She also ignored that.

Thus, she continued to play her game, finally popping that last Boarbatusk half a minute after the Glynda apparition finished her speech. However, something else had caught her attention. Not the boy throwing up near her, though. Instead, her eyes looked up while she paused her game.

"Huh?" Emi, the red-haired Faunus, looked up at the ceiling as she shut her Scroll. She stood up, facing nothing. Suddenly, her hands clenched into fists for a brief moment.

"Fancy seeing you here, no?" Weiss asked Paz.

"Y-Yes," Paz replied, mentally noting her mistake off to the side. "I didn't expect you here instead of in...y'know—"

"Atlas?" The two asked each other.

"Correct," answered Weiss, "many would have expected me to continue touring around the globe. I, on the other hand, like to be a bit different."

Paz adjusted her tie. "Mmm. You know, I thought I was set on Atlas Academy myself. Then I went to Alsius."

Weiss looked around herself to see a few students already starting to gaze toward her. She cleared her throat.

"If you don't mind, I'll have to cut this short."

"Then may we meet again!" Paz exclaimed, waving bye. Weiss waved back as she made her way back to the butler.

Talan Silverstein sighed, then looked out the window. The airship was now close to Beacon Academy itself, made clear by the cliff's edge coming into view. In fact, he could practically see the campus coming closer and closer...

As soon as the ship finally touched down, the hatch opened as the bridge extended straight towards the platform on which he would start his new life away from the chaos he endured back in Vacuo.

Now, the race to see each other was off.

Paz looked around her as she stepped onto the bridge before anyone else, her heels clicking against the ground. Livio, meanwhile, joined the chorus of students exiting the ship he'd entered, but as he did, he passed by someone hurling into the trash. 'Heh, hilarious,' he thought. 'Can't say I don't feel bad for him, though. Not everyone is as used to flying, after all.'

Talan took a deep breath, then picked up the pace. 'Right, where was I?' He looked into the crowds that were crossing the other bridges to his left and right. Nothing amounted to what he was looking for, except a stroke of red hair that caught his attention. Eventually, the line of hair revealed itself to be a redheaded Faunus with twintails who was looking back at him.

Both of them nodded toward each other. 'Two more.'

The four continued their way further into Beacon Academy. The majestic sight of seeing it up close was enough to distract them for a second, prompting them to stop awestruck in their tracks. The half-neo-Gothic, half-modernist architecture of it, the seemingly immaculate yet storied construction...

Is it any wonder why students wanted to go there? Of course, Beacon was not just about its looks.

The rest needed to be seen for itself.

Nevermind that, those four people needed a place to meet.

Just then, Paz continued her way towards Beacon. At this point, her thoughts could only be described as questions about where to stop and see those three people. 'Where do I meet, where do I meet...'

She started to speedwalk despite her heels. Livio, Emi, and Talan had joined her by her side, although it seemed like she didn't notice. Passing by the lampposts and maneuvering around students, they eventually settled around one of the walls of columns that surrounded the amphitheater's entrance.

However, in lieu of a conversation, there was silence.

All of them glanced at each other with the same amazement — and confusion.

Wow.

Um, wow. I finally met all of my selves, huh?

I can't believe it. Four years of trying and four years of frustration, and holy crap, they're just...right here, standing with each other. I didn't think it'd be possible: three schools to attend and a difficult life to live out in a desert with siblings at the same time. Magic shows I had to dedicate serious energy into. Fighting with parents over the fact that I wanted to come to Beacon. And then before that, there was that first father to deal with on Emi's side.

If I told them all this, people would call me a liar, but y'know what? I'm different. I'm not just a show magician, I'm four people.

I'm a walking fairy tale, but I don't know if I'm ready to get all the attention from being, well, just that. But nevermind that, getting here at all was...let's say "hard" would be putting it lightly.

So why the hell am I here?! I shouldn't be here! Whatever, at this point, I'd give myself—my selves headaches if I ramble on about all this.

Right, so, what's the plan? Obviously, it's optimal if I all end up on the same team, but I can take being on different teams, however inconvenient that will be. However, at the end of the day, the plan is...

Wait, where did everyone go—

An explosion rocked the ground on which they stood, snapping the four out of thought.

Suddenly stepping back, they looked to see that the explosion had happened between two barely distinguishable people out in the distance. Paz, Livio, Emi, and Talan all nodded at each other, then hurried inside the amphitheater.

Well, what did they know? Most of those same strangers from before were there, patiently awaiting Ozpin's introduction speech. There were quite a few friend groups whose members talked about their time at their combat school of choice, be it Signal, Sanctum, Alsius, Oscuro...

People from around the world were here, those four included.

A man with white hair, round glasses, and a black-and-green suit walked up to the microphone, accompanied by Glynda, the woman from that ship display. Their entrance hushed them some, but that didn't stop others from talking.

Paz, Livio, Emi, and Talan all recognized the man at the microphone as Ozpin, this place's very Headmaster. Although the reason for getting to Beacon was to get the bodies under the same umbrella, getting to come to perhaps the most prestigious Huntsman Academy in the world was a nice bonus.

Admittedly, they could have just met a couple of years later without the overhead of future Huntsman and Huntress careers, but did they really want to do that?

Just then, Ozpin cleared his throat as feedback sounded out throughout the auditorium. Finally, the audiences kept their quiet.

"I'll... keep this brief," he began.

The four listened.

"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."

The four looked at each other and nodded.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

. . .

That night, Paz was folding her clothes while Emi and Talan were playing a fighting game with each other.

Sure, there was the odd student who wanted to see a magic trick. For that, she would usually pull out her wand from her pocket and perform something simple. For example, her Scroll would disappear from one of her other pockets and reappear in a watcher's own. Other than that, it was an uneventful evening, judging from people already asleep, the others preparing to sleep, and the rest cramming in the last of their leisure time.

"Yes!" Emi exclaimed. Her character had just beaten Talan's own, albeit at a low health. He was a good sport about it, though.

"Well, that was great," Talan said with a smile.

"So, wanna play again?" she asked.

"Sure!"

Livio, meanwhile, was checking out the weapon he had brought with him. It was a battleaxe that didn't seem all that special, except for a seam running from top to bottom at the center and a button near its head. He then pressed the button, resulting in it splitting into a pair of axes. He nodded, then put the two axes back together into the default battleaxe mode.

'Jericho's all good,' he thought.

"Can you show me another magic trick?" Another passerby student asked Paz, who chuckled.

"Lucky, that's the last one I'm doing," she said, then nodded while pulling out a playing card. "I'm about to make this card walk."

The student watched as Paz held the wand out to the card, which stood up on its own and started waddling towards her. The passerby nodded, and said, "Not bad!"

"Thank you." Paz pointed the wand towards the card again, this time to revert the change. The card fell on its reverse side, showing its ace of spades face. "Alright, the show's over, ma'am."

After the bystander left, she sighed. She picked up the card and put it back where it belonged: inside a compact box of playing cards she was about to put back in her luggage. Somewhere near Livio were Emi and Talan, who had just finished their second match.

"D'awww, ya got me!" Emi exclaimed.

"Hey, one more round. Then we'll see who's the winner," said Talan.

"Or two!" she winked.

Thus, the two started the next round of their match and played on. Emi's cyber ninja and Talan's twintailed hammer-axe adventurer both traded blows and parried some of each other's most devastating moves. The two continued playing on, but the excitement on their faces was fading.

Suddenly, both Emi and Talan had stopped mashing the fingers on their Scrolls as their characters came to a standstill.

'Welp, I'm bored.'

"That was fun," the bull Faunus said.

"Eeeyep." Talan yawned, then shut his Scroll. "Well, this boy here's running low, so..."

"Awww, goodnight!"

"You too."

And so Talan put away his Scroll and took off his zip-up hoodie. Emi, meanwhile, set an alarm to which she and her friends will wake up tomorrow morning.

From there, the four prepared to go to sleep, all tucking themselves into different beds of their own.

Paz slept on an expensive sleeper sofa that could fold into a briefcase, helped by one of Atlas's softest pillows and a bed sheet over her. Livio just had an inflatable air bed. Emi and Talan both brought different cheap sleeping bags in which they soon tucked themselves under.

No matter the bed, they all fell soundly asleep the same.

Paz awoke to the alarm going off from Emi's Scroll off to her side.

She stretched her arms out to the side, yawning, as she got up and walked over to Emi, who rubbed her eyes. As if right on cue, Livio and Talan were waking up as well.

Eventually, their eyes locked onto each other.

'Good morning, me,' they thought. 'Let's see what I'm capable of, shall I?'

The four smiled at each other, then got up and headed their merry ways into their respective bathrooms.

. . .

Two-by-two, Talan and Paz entered one of the locker rooms while Livio and Emi stepped foot in another.

The four went to their respective lockers and inputted their codes that they had created for themselves on the keypads. Paz's was 521, Livio's was 648, Emi forgot her code, and Talan's was 123.

Paz opened her locker and took out a box of razor-sharp playing cards. She opened up the numerous pockets on her dress cargo pants and tailcoat before storing the cards in them. In case of anything going wrong, her Aura was engaged, and she was wearing gloves, just to be safe.

Livio opened his locker door to...nothing, except a hatchet. So he took it.

Talan, meanwhile, walked away with a metal pole now in his hands.

Now, Emi's was left as she was left to stare at her own locker, thinking to herself. 'Right, what was her code again? Umm...' She slowly reached her hand towards the keypad when she stopped herself. 'Nope! Don't remember! Okay, so hers was 521, his was 648, that guy's was 123...but Emi?!'

She started tapping her foot against the floor. As she did so, she caught a brief glimpse of a hole in the wall, itself hidden by a few students passing by. 'Huh, I wonder what happened there...'

She shrugged and continued staring at the keypad. 'Shit, was it 6, was it 2... 206?' She nodded. 'So there's a 2, but a 0, maybe...'

However, when she came to a realization, her eyes widened.

'Oh, 902!' Emi quickly tapped the code on her locker, finally opening it up to a fancy, albeit overly decorated blazer with epaulets, flippable brass clasps on the shoulders, anything else she felt like tacking on.

"There we go," she muttered under her breath as she grabbed the blazer and put it on. "Never forgetting that again."

She took a deep breath, then walked away happily in a bouncy manner, but not before she shut the locker door. 'Let's hope I'm not too late...'

. . .

"Afternoon, fine ladies, gents, and everyone else," began a green-haired doctor and professor. He was wearing a name tag he had handwritten on, the resulting writing reading "Dr. Oobleck."

"Today, you will be launched straight into the Emerald Forest!"

"WHAT?!" Paz, Livio, Emi, and Talan all shouted in panicked unison.

"Ah, but you heard that right!"

"...Uhhhh..." The four friends slowly leaned over and looked at each other, their fists clenched and trembling. Clearly, they did not like what they were hearing.

"So! You'll be paired with the first person you gaze your eyes upon after landing for your four potential years here!"

At that point, they were no longer looking forward to the initiation, but rather dreading it.

'Excuse me, what. I'm getting launched, and I have to look at myself before anyone else?!'

"And after you've found your partners, you'll go ahead, slash and dash your way through the forces of Grimm, and snatch a relic from an abandoned temple at your destination!"

'He's kind to let us know and all, but hold on, the hell is he saying?!'

Their palms were sweaty.

"From that point on, get back to the top of the cliff, and then you will be graded depending on your performance — after which you will be assigned teams!"

Dr. Oobleck pushed up his glasses. "Questions?"

"Y-Yes, actually," Livio nervously spoke, to the enthusiasm of the professor.

"Excellent, let's hear 'em!"

"So you said we'll be looking for something—"

"Yes," Oobleck enthusiastically nodded, "one of the relics from the abandoned temple!"

"...Right, um..." Livio looked off to his left to see that the other students, who had just as much idea about what the professor said as he, were now being launched one-by-one from left to right.

"I'm good, I'm good!"

"Do not worry, brave future Huntsman! This is only part of the process, y'know!" Oobleck gave a thumbs up.

The four friends all placed their hands over their mouths when poor Paz got launched, prompting a muffled scream from not just her, but those other three people as well. Their bodies trembled and squirmed all the while they tried their hardest to suppress said trembling, squirming, and — of course — screaming.

Next to get launched were Talan, Livio, a few other students, and then finally, Emi.

One of the students, however, was looking at the four with concern before she focused on her own launch.