"Urrgh I am never going on one of those death traps again" Jaune moaned. Being stuck on a ship for twenty minutes while vomiting his stomach out, that was truly torture. He would rather fight a massive horde of Grimm with his bare hands then go on a Dust ship again. Sure they would get you to your destination fast and humans are always in a hurry but what about the scenic route? Just take your time and walk somewhere and take in the beauty around you on the way. If the place you need to go is on another continent, take an actual ship and enjoy the sea breeze. There was something about sailing that was calming to Jaune. Like there were no problems in the world and everything was peaceful. But no, humans needed to do everything faster and if you didn't, then you would looked at in a weird way like they have never seen another human before.
'Then there are the Grimm that are everywhere and they sometimes make the scenic route the faster one' Jaune thought with a smile. He finally got of the empty ship to seen Beacon in its full glory. The architecture was amazing giving it a look of a castle but still keeping the feeling of a school. A big plus side for Jaune was there were plenty of open fields and a lot of trees to relax under on a slow day. This place was amazing, it magnificent, it was-
'Is that a girl lying in a crater'? the young man wondered. 'Either that crater was always there or it was recently formed'. He started to walk over to the girl to help her. Like his mother always says strangers are friends you don't know yet or enemies how need a good ass kicking. As he got closer he realised that the girl was younger then he thought.
'Better remove my helmet in case she is frightened by my look' the Hospitaller mentally said while removing his helmet. It happened a lot with little kids. They would be scared by the looks of his armour. But if he took his helmet off he became a cool looking knight in the eyes of the children.
'A little human touch does wonders' Jaune thought. Or face in this case. When he almost reached the young girl he took her appearance in while putting one of the helmets eye hole through the spike on his left leg, so he had a free hand to help the girl up.
The girl had fair skinned with black, neck-length, choppy hair that gradates to dark red at the tips. She wore a long sleeved thick black blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and a black skirt with red trim. She also wore a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and red soles. She finished her outfit red hooded cloak.
"Do you need any help up"?
Ruby Rose was not having a good day. When she stopped Roman Torchwick from robbing a Dust store and was told by the headmaster of Beacon, she was so excited. Now she wished it never happened. She didn't want to be special or like her sister would say the "bee's knees". It made her feel uncomfortable. And that is not adding her bone crushing hugs with it. When the ship docked she left her on her own so that she could make new friends. That was a big problem.
She was socially awkward.
Her sister knew that and she still left her behind. She thought the day couldn't possibly get any worse.
Nope.
She tripped over some rich girl luggage. Said girl started to scream about dust and safety. She then sneezed causing a big explosion. The rich girl then got even angrier at her. It wasn't her fault she wasn't even shaking the vial of Dust like a rattler. Then this other girl came and started talked about heiresses, controversial labor and questionable business partners. It was funny to see. When the rich girl walked away frustrated she try to talk other girl only to see her walk away already. She just let herself collapse it to the newly formed crater. Yeah she wasn't have a good day.
"Do you need any help up"? She heard some say.
When she opened her eyes saw a boy with messy blond hair holding his hand out. Her attention was quickly drawn to the amazing looking armour and gigantic sword. She jumped up and got closer to the boy.
"Oh your armour looks awesome what is it made off? Is it the sword made from the same material? Did you make them yourself"? Ruby rapid fired while fawning over the armour. When she went to take a look at the back of the armour two things caught her attention. First thing was the red cape he wore.
'Red capes rules' Ruby cheered in her mind.
The second thing captivated her.
Blond brushy fox tail.
*SQUEEL*
The young huntress in training lunged at the tail.
"IT IS SO FLUFFY"! Ruby cried out happily while hugging the tail and burrowing her face in it.
"Well you are one exited little girl" she heard.
Ruby froze. She looked up to see the boy look down on her with an amusing smile on his face. She quickly jumped of his tail with a bright blush on her face.
"I AM SORRY" she squeaked out. The boy just chuckled causing her embarrassment to rise making her to hide in her hood.
"Don't worry about it" the boy said. "There was no harm done. I'm Jaune".
"Ruby" she whispered.
"So Ruby" Jaune began "to answer your questions it is made of the same metal named randite and no I had it commissioned".
"Randite"? Ruby sounded confused. She had never had of randite before. "What is that"? she asked while coming out of her hood, her embarrassment forgotten.
"It is a metal with is four times as strong as mithril but twice as heavy as steel" Jaune replied. "Its weight makes it less desirable than mithril and it can only be found on the continent Duri".
"Wait you are from Duri"?
"Yes more specifically the kingdom of Zannost".
"Wow" Ruby said in wonder. The kingdom of Zannost was the fifth kingdom of Remnant. The people of Zannost showed the world that with sheer tenacity it was possible to create settlements in places with no natural barriers. How they did it was sadly unknown because of the Great War and a disturbing incident when the war was at its end with Mistral that could have reignited it anew. Zannost answer to it was to give the finger to the Vytal pact and the other kingdoms. It closed it borders and killed anyone how tried to sneak in regardless of the persons status. Mistral, Vacuo and the newly formed Atlas couldn't care less about the situation. Vale on the other hand tried and is still trying form a stable bond with Zannost. The reason why was because it was the closest kingdom, so if there was a worst case scenario help would be there with in two hours. The relationship between the kingdoms was shaky at best but thanks to Ozpin and his ability to keep a cool head every situation, there was some good progress.
"So Ruby where are you from"? Jaune asked as he started walking.
"I am for Patch" the little reaper said while catching up to the knight.
"Never been there before".
"Oh it is a great place. Lots of space with few Grimm".
The two teenagers kept talking while walking around. They were talking about where they lived, favourite colour, what Grimm they had slain to what comic was the best. While it seemed normal, to anyone who knew the two would be amazed. Ruby had trouble talking to new people and Jaune rather not start a conversation with strangers unless it was to annoy them. Even with friends he rather listen to them then actively talk to them. Not that he disliked talking but he like peace and quiet more.
"So the reason why I didn't see you on the ship was because you were barfing in the toilet" Ruby snickered out.
"All I am saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on" Jaune replied annoyed.
"Sorry but how did you get here if you barely hold on a thirty minute ride"? ruby asked.
"I just took a boat".
"But they take way longer".
"So what, I don't get sick on a boat and I like taking the scenic route". Jaune said. "Beside you are not so good with Dust".
"Hey, that explosion was an accident" Ruby said back.
"Well I am going to be popular because my name is short, sweet, rolls off the tongue and the ladies love it"Jaune said confident.
"Do they"? Ruby said sceptical.
"They will"Jaune replied nervously. "Well, I hope they will. I mean, my mom always that, uh, never mind" The faunus finished of weakly.
Ruby just giggled. He could be a real dork sometimes. You just would not except that from the way his armour looked like.
"So what weapon do you have"? Jaune asked.
"Oh I got Crescent Rose" Ruby happily said while pulling out her weapon.
"That is one good looking scythe" Jaune whistled out.
"It is also a customizable, high impact velocity sniper rifle" said Ruby proudly.
"So it is also a gun".
"Yup".
"Nice, so what about close quarter combat"? Jaune asked.
"Uhm my scythe"? Ruby answered unsure.
"What I mean when your enemy is right in your face. A scythe of no use if your opponent inside your guard" Jaune replied.
"Well the same could be said about your great sword" Ruby shot back.
"One, it is a bearing sword and two I got Crocea Mors for that plus I got a neat trick with Grave Officium if I want to" Jaune said.
"Wait that small sword is Crocea Mors"?
"The one and only".
"Oh MY GOSH that sword is what made hybrid weapon exist in the first place" Ruby screamed. "Can I hold it please" while doing have a puppy dog look on her face. She has suddenly drawn in to a hug.
"Oh you are so adorable" said Jaune.
"urgh Please let me go".
"Sorry" Jaune said. "And here you go" while handing Ruby Crocea Mors. Ruby's eyes seemed shine like stars as she held the sword.
"Hey wait, where are we"? Ruby said while looking around,
"That is easy, the place we need to go is that way " Jaune said while pointing at one of the buildings.
"Then why are we here"? Ruby panicked. What if they were late?
"I just took the scenic way" Jaune shrugged his shoulders.
"We might be late. Come on lets hurry" Ruby dashed away.
Jaune blinked his eyes. He then started to chuckle while grabbing his helmet to put it back on.
"She took Crocea Mors with her" Jaune mumbled to himself.
He started to walk in the direction Ruby just dashed off to.
"She really needs to slow down otherwise she will miss a lot in her life".
Ruby flew the auditorium in. The little reaper looked around quickly to see if she missed anything important. When it she came to the conclusion she hadn't she let out a breath of relieve. When young girl went to wipe some sweat from her forehead she notices that she still had Crocea Mors in her hand. She quickly turned around to look for Jaune to give his sword back when she heard someone shout her name. The young huntress turned again to see who called her. "Over here! I saved you a spot"!
The girl was a fair-skinned young girl with lilac eyes and bright golden hair worn loose that fades to pale gold at the tips with a cowlick sticking out at the top. She wore a tan jacket that shows her lower stomach, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this she wears a low cut yellow crop top with an emblem on the left breast in black. The girl also wore a brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with her emblem emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath this is a longer, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side, as well as a pair of black mini-shorts. She had knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, with the right sock pushed down just below the knee. A lavender bandana is tied around her left knee. An orange infinity scarf and black fingerless gloves complete her outfit.
It was her sister Yang. Ruby looked down at the sword before going to her sister.' I will find him after the ceremony' Ruby thought. When Ruby got closer Yang took notice of the sword.
"So what with the sword Rubes"? The blonde asked.
"Oh it is Jaune's sword. I accidently took it with me when rushed over here". Ruby replied.
"Who is Jaune? New friend of yours"?
Ruby expression turned sour.
"He found me after you ditched me and I exploded" Ruby said angry.
"Yikes. Meltdown already"?
"No I literally exploded a hole in front of the school and there was some fire and I think some ice" Ruby said while looking thoughtfull.
"Are you being sarcastic"? Yang said with in a teasing tone.
Ruby scoffed.
"I wish. I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage. And then she yelled at me and then I sneezed and exploded. She then started to yell again and I felt really, really bad and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me"
"You"! The sudden loud voice startled Ruby causing her to jump into her sister. Lucky for her Yang caught her before she fell to the ground.
"Oh god, it is happening again"! Ruby sounded scared.
"You are lucky we were not blown off the side of the cliff"! The girl yelled. The girl was a pale skinned young girl with pale blue eyes and long white hair pulled back into an off-center bun tail and pinned with an icicle shaped tiara. A crooked scar runs vertically down her left eye.
She wore a thigh-length strapless dress with a faint color gradation from white to pale blue at the hem. A small piece of black lace sits in the front of her neckline and the hem of the dress is scalloped and stitched to resemble snowflakes, with layers of white tulle under the skirt. Over this she wore a bell sleeved bolero with the same color gradation as her dress from shoulder to wrist, lined in red and with a ruffled collar. On the back of the bolero was snowflake crest.
She also wore a small apple pendant on a silver chain and thin, rectangular silver earrings. Her boots are white, wedged heeled and higher at the back than the front. They have a small silver decoration across the top of the foot and are lined in red. A thin white sash is tied around her waist with a pouch attached to the back.
"Oh my god, you really exploded" Yang deadpanned.
"It was an accident" Ruby said as her sister put her down. Suddenly a folder was thrusted in her face.
"What is this"? Ruby asked.
"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Alttough not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust application and practice in the field" The white haired girl rapidly said. Ruby could only say one thing.
"Uh"?
Yup, that is the only way correct way to answers that.
"You really want to start to making things up to me"? The girl asked.
"Absolutely"
"Read this and don't ever speak to me again"
"Look it sounds like you got off on the wrong foot" Yang intervened. "Why don't you just start over and try to be friends"?
"Great idea Yang" Ruby sounded a lot happier now. She held her hand out towards the fellow student.
"Hello Weiss. I'm Ruby" The young huntress begun. "Want to hang? We can go shopping for school supplies".
"Yeah and can go paint our nails, try on clothes or talk about cute boys like tall, green and muscle over there" The now named Weiss sarcastically said while pointing at a random person.
"Wow really"? Ruby clearly didn't hear it. Weiss just deadpanned and said no. This caused Ruby to deflate in sadness. Before the situation could get worse, an off sounded microphone went off. The whole auditorium went silent and focuses their attention on the stage. The headmaster was there with the headmistress. It looked like professor Ozpin was going to say the opening speech.
"I'll keep this brief. You have travelled 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 young huntsmen and huntresses had looks of confusion, anger or dismissal. As Ozpin was walking of the stage the headmistress took over.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed".
"He seemed kind of off" Yang sounded a bit confused.
"It's almost like he wasn't even there" Ruby replied to her sister. Weiss mentally agreed with them but saw no more reason to stay. She left to familiarise the school. This left the sisters alone.
"Come on Ruby, let's find the cafeteria. I'm kind of hungry at the moment" The blonde said while walking to the exist. Ruby went to follow her sister when a hand landed on her shoulder.
"Before you go can I have my sword back"?
Ruby turn around. She saw that a cyan coloured knight was the one holding her shoulder.
"Jaune"! The red reaper shouted "Sorry I was just scared that I was going to be late so I just" Ruby was cut off by Jaune, who put a finger on her lips.
"Easy there Ruby" The armoured teen said "I understand". The knight grabbed Crocea Mors and put it back on his belt.
"So Ruby" Ruby heard her sister begin. "This is this Jaune fellow".
"Hmm, who are you"? Jaune asked the fellow blonde.
"Well Jaune I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister. I hear form her that you helped her when she exploded, so thank you for helping her" Yang said. Suddenly she started to grin. "You sure were her knight in shining armour".
"YANG"! Ruby started to hit her sister with her fists. It didn't do much as Yang was just laughing while weakly defending herself. Jaune was just standing there like a statue. What neither of the girls knew was that he was smiling. Jaune thought that the pun was bad but it was funny all the same. When Yang put Ruby in a headlock he decided to intervene.
"How is hungry? If we have to pay then it is my treat".
"Ho, already asking us? You sure are bold" Yang teased. Ruby face just lit up as she hid in her hood. This time it was Jaune who blushed, not that they could see it. He shrugged his shoulders.
"It sure would be nice".
Yang started to laugh again while Ruby hid deeper in her hood.
"So the initiation is to fling the students into the forest, find a partner how is determent by first eye contact, then find a relic and bring it back. Is there anything else I need to know"? Lurmina sat in Ozpin's office. They were going over what she needed to do at the initiation.
"No that's everything. Just don't intervene no matter what happens. We won't cuddle our students. They need to understand that help, sadly, won't always come on time and have to rely on their own skills to survive" Ozpin said.
"Say can the initiation still be change"? lurmina asked. Glynda and Ozpin looked at each other. Ozpin turned back to the fox Faunus.
"That's depends on what you have in mind Miss Lurmina".
"Well, if we are going to make the students rely on their combat skills, why not also on their survival skills"? Ozpin pondered on it. While it would be more dangerous, the idea had merit in it. It would surely root out the weaker students the death toll would be far greater as well.
"That idea is far too dangerous for the students" Glynda said angry "It is far from what they are able to achieve as they are now".
"Then I guess this generation is weaker than the previous one" Lurmina shrugged "If it is too great a risk then make the stay in the forest an option that they can refuse. And as reward for the one that decide to stay that they have priority to get into the school".
"You have brought something up that might be better than what we have now. Still, it is better if we discuss it with the others teachers" Ozpin decided.
It looks like the initiation might be different then other years.
It was night time. The students were in the ballroom find a place to sleep, getting to know one other, fooling around or already asleep. Tomorrow was the big day so it was to no one's surprise. Ruby was writing something when Yang crash down next to her.
"It's like a big slumber party".
"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though" Ruby replied.
"I know I do" Yang said while letting a purr out. There were plenty of boys half naked around flexing, wrestling each other or trying pick up some of the girls there.
"Yang, how could you? After one date and you're already searching for another man. Was I not good enough for you"? Jaune's voice came for behind Yang.
"Don't worry foxy, I'm just getting so-" Yang turned around only for the words to die in her mouth. She heard Ruby giggling next to her. There stood Jaune flexing like a pro bodybuilder.
In a bunny onesie.
A fox faunus in a bunny onesie.
What the fuck…
"I see that I left you speechless. I knew that I looked good in these" Jaune said while still flexing.
"Jaune what are you wearing" yang said but it was clear that her brain hadn't caught up yet.
"An onesie" Jaune said. Yang gave a slight disgusted look.
"Hey I will have you known that it is very comfortable" Jaune said while pointing his finger at Yang. "Anyway I just came over to goodnight before I go asleep". Jaune heard the girls say goodnight back as he when back to his sleeping place in one of the corners. Placing his back against the wall he closed his eyes he was quick to fall asleep.
"OH NOT YOU AGAIN"!
'Someone is going to get hurt' Jaune thought. He looked around to find the source to bring it future pain. He finally found that it was from Ruby, Yang, a white haired girl, and a long black haired girl. She had a large ribbon ribbon on her head and it looks like that she was going to sleep with it on.
'Faunus in disguise' The sleepy fox thought absentminded as he made his way over. The girls didn't even notice him except for the fellow Faunus when he stood behind Ruby. He put his arms around Yang and the white haired girl shoulders and pulled them in.
"Listen girls" Jaune began with startled the girls "I know you sure have a lot to gossip about but please, do it tomorrow. People are sleeping right now". Ruby and Yang looked sheepish while the white haired girl huffed and looked away. But even in his tired state he could see that she was embarrassed. The black haired one looked in approval.
"Heh heh, sorry Jaune. We will be quiet now" Ruby said.
"That's all I'm asking" Jaune tiredly replied. He went back to his corner and quickly fell back to sleep.
This time he didn't wake up till it was morning.