Chapter 2. The Shining Beacon
The airship has landed on the platform at Beacon Academy. The students quickly flooded the central avenue where a large monument was placed.
"Wow!" Yang, Ruby, and Bruin said in amazement.
"The view from Vale's got nothing on this!" the blonde exclaimed.
Beacon Academy was a majestic agglomeration of buildings of grand sizes, each with its own purpose. There were also several large towers, but the highest one had the most interesting design: if one would pay close attention, they could see some cogs moving despite lacking a visible clock face.
The brown-haired man took off leaving the two girls behind. It was pretty exciting to be in a new place, especially one of this size. His previous academy, Haven, was decently-sized, but Beacon just topped it in all ways it could.
Bruin was inspecting the large statue in the plaza: it featured a large rock with an outcropping. Under the large stone a large Beowolf was depicted, with a Hunter and a Huntress standing on the rock. He was circling around it when he noticed a girl with dark pink hair at one of the sides of the statue. She seemed to be doing something with it.
"Um... eh..." Bruin started. He wasn't good with starting conversations with people he hadn't known.
"Seems I've been spotted," she said with a strange, sly face.
"B-Bruin!" the man quickly introduced himself, extending his hand in a welcoming gesture.
"I'm Rouge," she shook hands with him. "For someone who started a conversation, you're awfully quiet." She giggled.
"I'm not exactly good... with meeting new people. Heheheh..." Bruin scratched the back of his head, a confused smile on his face.
"But you did start talking to me," she noticed. "I wonder why."
"I noticed you were poking at the statue."
"Oh, that's because I noticed something!" she replied with excitement.
"Um, what... exactly?"
"Have you noticed something unusual about the Grimm there?" she pointed at the stone Beowolf's muzzle.
"I'm not really a Grimm expert, but that seems normal."
"Look closer," she encouraged him.
"Really," the boy closed his distance with the statue, "it's perfectly fi—"
Suddenly a fire breathed from the stone Grimm's muzzle. The boy managed to duck, but tip of his shirt caught on fire. Bruin was running around, trying to remove his shirt, while Rouge was laughing.
"F-Fire!" he yelled. "Somebody help me!"
The girl finally took pity on him and conjured a large sphere of water above him which abruptly fell on the boy. While the fire was extinguished, he was all wet. That certainly didn't bode well: the chilly water that just fell on him would be a reason he would get a cold and would sneeze for like a week at least. He hated it.
"Haven't you..." the boy coughed, "overdid it?"
"You should see yourself!" she said in between her laughs.
"Ungh..." the boy grumbled. "I have to change."
Bruin left Rouge who was still laughing, unaware of her trickery.
"What an insufferable airhead!"
Nicandra was aiming for the auditorium when she heard a girl grumbling. She turned her head a little and noticed that it was a girl who sported white bolero and dress, completed with heels. Another look and she saw that she wore her white hair in a ponytail on the side of her head. She also noticed a scar over her left eye. However, the most notable thing about her was an emblem in a shape of a snowflake. It looked quite familiar.
Then it struck her.
"Excuse me," Nicandra politely drew the other girl's attention to herself. "Are you from Schnee Dust Company?"
"Do I know you?" the white-haired girl asked her back.
"Oh, how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself: I am Nicandra Nepal," the girl extended her hand to greet the other.
"What am I? A cat?" she asked again. "How am I not recognized again?"
"I didn't mean to be rude, Miss," Nicandra apologized, confused.
"Weiss Schnee, and you better remember that," the girl who named herself Weiss replied. "Why did you interrupt me?"
"I just wanted to make sure my assumption where correct, Miss Schnee."
"'Weiss' will be enough. Might as well be just on a first name basis since we're going to be classmates," Weiss sighed somewhat angrily.
"Then feel free to call me 'Nicandra'... Weiss."
"Then goodbye," the white-haired girl abruptly said and left the other alone with her thoughts.
Nicandra remembered reading about Weiss Schnee, although not much information was available. She didn't think that the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, a company who was one of the largest producers of the energy propellant know as 'Dust', would be so vexed and distant. Nicandra theorized it may be connected with the wealth that came from the position. There were many wealthy people in Remnant who displayed a variety of not-so-friendly characteristics, and Weiss appeared to not be an exception to the rule.
She looked at her watch: there was still plenty of time before Professor Ozpin would give his speech. Nicandra decided to befriend other people as she'd end up being with three other people in a team. Looking around the lobby she noticed a boy with arm-long, light purple hair which were covering his eyes.
"Hello there," she greeted him. "I am Nicandra Nepal," she extended her hand in a welcoming gesture.
"Hi," the boy replied and shook hands with Nicandra. "My name is Thistle Sophie."
"What an interesting name," she noted.
"Thistle? I don't think so," he said.
"I am more curious about 'Sophie' actually."
"Family name, nothing special," he shrugged.
"Every name has a meaning, especially since the last war," Nicandra noted.
"Meaning or no meaning we should go. The speech is about to start."
"Oh," the girl looked behind her arm to see commotion in the auditorium. "It appears so. Let's go."
A female fox Faunus sporting large white fox ears from her long white hair was passing through an alleyway in the academy gardens when she heard a group of boys clearly harassing someone. She twitched her ears to identify the direction of the noise. It was further ahead of her, although a bit to her right. She decided to investigate it as something wasn't right.
As she continued her walk, the sounds intensified. The closer she got, the louder laughing became and cries rose.
Suddenly she came upon the view of two boys, one brown-haired wearing a silver armor and one light green mohawk wearing something that would barely pass as decent clothing, harassing a Faunus. The Faunus in question was also a female, although smaller than the boys and sported a big fluffy orange tail, she was undoubtedly a squirrel Faunus.
"I see you human boys have the strangest of ideas for having fun," the fox Faunus said with a mildly annoyed face.
"Look, Russel!" the brown-haired boy said. "Another freak of nature decided to join us." The boys burst in laugh and the brown-haired one continued to yank on the squirrel Faunus' tail.
"Please... help..." the oppressed Faunus called out.
"Shut up," Russel punched her in the face.
"Let her go or you're gonna taste your own medicine," the fox Faunus said.
"Go back to your lair," the brown-haired boy said.
Then without warning the fox Faunus performed a back spin kick on Russel throwing him away from the squirrel Faunus. The other boy went for his weapon: a large mace, and swung it, but the fox Faunus evaded it. Using her opponent's recovery time, she kicked him in the back and he fell. Next she stepped with her heel on his throat with fierce look on her face.
"I hope you enjoyed it, but pick on a Faunus one more time and I won't hesitate to go step" and she pressed her heel on his aorta, " further," and then released him. He quickly run away with his partner in crime. She now turned to the squirrel Faunus, "You okay, there?"
"Y-Yes, thank you," she replied. "I wanted to fight back, but they unarmed me before I could do anything."
"Seems like even Hunter academies aren't safe from our 'lovers'," the fox Faunus said.
"There is no safe place in the world for us, isn't there?" the squirrel Faunus voiced her concern.
"We are here to become Huntresses, people who uphold peace. We'll bring it since we chose that path," she replied but the other girl had a saddened look on her face. "Chin up, eyes forward," the white-haired girl encouraged the other Faunus. "No need to go all gloomy on the first day of school."
"R-Right," the other girl replied, with a weak smile on her face. "Name's Tangerina."
"I'm Pearl."
Then they heard someone approaching them. Pearl readied herself if it were the bullies from before, while Tangerina was looking around for her weapon for the same reason.
"Hello ladies, have you lost something?" a green-haired man with a brown bandana appeared, in his right hand was a sword.
"Give it back, thief!" the squirrel Faunus shouted at him.
"Chill out!" the man called. "I was just wondering who leaves a weapon around unattended and decided to look for its owner, okay?"
"Oh really? Then prove it," the fox Faunus requested.
"Hooow?" the man asked.
"Give it back, you big meanie!" the squirrel Faunus shouted at him again.
"Alright, alright," he then handed the weapon to the smaller girl. "Am I clean now?"
"That's up to Tangerina here, I think," Pearl pointed to the other girl who was inspecting her weapon.
"You're lucky, this time," she said.
"'This time'?" the man asked.
"She was bullied a moment ago," the white-haired woman replied. "If it wasn't for me, she'd probably spent a night in the infirmary."
"Don't belittle me," Tangerina pouted.
"I'm Zelony," the man introduced himself.
"Tangerina," the smaller girl said.
"Name's Pearl," the taller girl added.
"That's strange," Tangerina suddenly said. "Aren't you hating us or anything?" she asked Zelony.
"What kind of question is that?" he asked.
"We're Faunus, and you're a human, talking to us, in a friendly matter..." Tangerina continued.
"It's not like you attacked me or anything," he replied with a questioning look on his face.
"Why would we attack you?" Pearl asked. "But then again as Faunus we have plenty of reason to strike you down."
"That's the way some people choose," Zelony replied.
"Excuse me?" Tangerina said.
"That's the problem with people," the man answered. "They don't understand, so they choose to fight."
"You mean people fight us because they don't understand us?" Pearl asked.
"That's the way I see it. They want everything to meet their impossible standards just because they can't use their good-for-nothing brains to even try understand what they don't understand."
"That's quite... penetrative observation," Pearl said.
A few students ran past them, talking about a speech which should take place in the auditorium. Pearl, Tangerina, and Zelony gasped and soon followed after the group.
The auditorium was crowded. Zelony and his companions found some free space and waited for Ozpin to show up. At the same time, a quarrel could be heard in the distance. At its center were three girls, each with different hair color: white, blonde, and black with some hints of red.
"Looks like someone's having a rough start," Pearl commented.
Suddenly a microphone noise could be heard and Ozpin appeared in front of it with Glynda Goodwitch. Bruin turned his head towards the stand.
"I'll... keep this brief," he said as he adjusted his glasses. "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." Isn't that obvious?, Bruin though to himself. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." Another thought crossed Bruin's mind, This sounds dark. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far." I don't understand a single word... "It is up to you to take the first step."
Ozpin stepped away from the microphone and his companion approached it.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight," she said with awfully serious voice. "Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
As she said that students began to flood out from the auditorium. Bruin waited for the room to empty and left as one of the last people.
"Couldn't we go with the initiation today?" the brown-haired boy thought aloud.
"I suppose they want us go all out since they're giving us a free nighter," he heard a male voice behind him. "Zelony," the man extended his hand in welcoming gesture.
"Bruin," he replied shaking hands with him. "And the girls?"
"Pearl," the fox Faunus introduced herself.
"I'm Tangerina," the squirrel Faunus said.
"Nice tail," Bruin complimented her, but she drew his sword at him. "What's that for!?" he yelled scared.
"This lady here was bullied today," Zelony said. "Tension, is all."
"I-I didn't mean any offense," Bruin scratched the back of his head.
"You should be careful when addressing a Faunus," Pearl said and added, "Bunboy."
"That's not nice!" Bruin pouted. "What gives?"
Pearl pointed at his hair. Bruin had his long hair tied in an awful bun. The man laughed nervously.
"So, um..." Bruin said. "Wanna hang out?"
"As long us you won't yank my tail," Tangerina replied.
"It's my first time seeing a Faunus with such fluffly tail!" the boy said.
"Where have you lived? In a cave?" the squirrel Faunus inquired with an angry look on her face.
"In Haven."
"Doesn't sound like one," Zelony said and he along the two Faunus laughed.
"Wanna see your face flying off into the sky?" Bruin asked angrily.
"I would very much like to see that."
A boy with long blue hair tied in a ponytail and lush fringe suddenly appeared. He was wearing a long blue cape divided in the back into two strips. On his back was something that resembled a staff with a three quarters circle at its top, several spikes coming from the outer edge.
"Who are you?" Bruin asked, confused.
"You're really acting like an idiot," the blue-haired boy sighed.
"I asked a question, didn't I?"
"Go on, scram," Pearl demanded.
"Yeah, we were just getting acquainted," Tangerina added.
"With this excuse for a Hunter?" the blue-haired boy said.
"What's your problem!?" Zelony asked.
"If you really want to make friends, then choose people who have even an ounce of brain," the blue-haired boy replied and left them.
Bruin stood there confused. It was the first time he met that boy. Why was he so hostile towards him? He then run the opposite side the other boy left them.
"Where are you going?" Zelony shouted behind him.
"That was... really weird," Pearl commented.
"He wasn't all that nice anyway," Tangerina said. "Let him be."
"Probably," Pearl spoke.
"Shouldn't we, you know, go after him?" Zelony asked.
"We've all known each other for less than a day," the fox Faunus said. "Don't get emotional over a random guy on the first day."
"That's not very Huntress-like of you," Zelony sighed. "What now?" he added after a brief moment of silence.
"Let's hit the cafeteria, food court, or whatever they call it," Pearl suggested. "I'm so hungry I could eat a whole horse."
The other two agreed and started their search.
Rouge decided to put a stop to her pranks for a bit and decided to explore the school. She first decided to look for Garlik. It was a rather unsuccessful search so she decided to use her wind spirit to check the campus.
Some time passed and the girl started to grew restless. She paced around the hallway now. According to the campus map on her scroll, she was heading towards the library. Her cousin wasn't one for reading even though his was quite well-read.
"If you're here to use the library it's closed," a blue-haired girl suddenly said, startling Rouge.
"How unfortunate," the dark pink-haired girl commented. "When it's gonna open?"
"In two days, when we will start attending classes," the other girl replied. "I am Nicandra," she extended her hand.
"Rouge," the girl replied, but ignored the hand. "Wanted to spy on someone there?" she asked Nicandra as she herself wanted to try it to search for her cousin.
"N-No," Nicandra stumbled. "It's the first day and besides, I haven't met any particularly interesting people."
"Then consider yourself lucky, Nic," Rouge smirked.
"'Nicandra' will be enough," Nicandra's dark gaze fell upon Rouge's face. She then lightened up a bit, "You're quite self-confident."
"Well, I have backup with me," she replied and summoned an earth spirit.
"Oh my!" Nicandra exclaimed and started to inspect the creature. "What is this... creature?"
"I call them 'spirits'," Rouge replied earning a curious look from the other girl. "This one draw purely from the element of earth."
"You said 'spirits'. How many you command?"
"Four. Each one of the four basic elements that compose this very world: fire, water, wind, and earth."
Rouge petted the spirit who resembled a mole with very dark brown fur. Nicandra just looked curiously. It was a very rare gift to be able to summon personifications of land.
"Is this your Semblance?" she finally asked.
"Yep, great, isn't it?"
"Doesn't having this creature here put a strain on your Aura?"
"Very small." Rouge replied and sat down on the floor, still patting the spirit, "It's the battle I need to be careful though: the more I summon them and have them fight with me, the more of my Aura is drained. I usually mix weapon strikes with some mildly Aura-straining spells."
Then a green flying creature, similar to a butterfly, appeared in front of Nicandra, startling her. The creature approached Rouge and started to gesticulate. Nicandra simply loooked at it confused.
"Thanks, Sylph," Rouge said and dismissed both of her spirits. "Seems like I found who I lost," a sly smile crossed her face.
"Who is it that you lost if I may inquire?"
"Are you always so formal?" the spirit commander asked the other girl, her voice unamused.
"Well, yes," she replied.
"Oh boy," Rouge sighed. "See you around!" she waved to Nicandra as we was heading her way.
"Why is everyone I meet keep brushing me off?" she asked herself irritated.
The night fell, covering the campus in darkness. First year students were preparing for their sleep, some were talking, some were already asleep.
Zelony was returning from the bathroom when he noticed Bruin. The other boy seemed a bit better than when he left him, Pearl, and Tangerina. He thought for a moment and decided to talk with the boy.
"Hey, you okay?"
"I don't know," Bruin replied.
"Are you always this sensitive?"
Bruin was silent. The words of the blue-haired boy still rang within his head: 'If you really want to make friends, then choose people who have evenan ounce of brain.' True, he wasn't a bookworm or an honors-student, but that didn't mean he lacked knowledge.
He was then poked on the arm. He looked up and saw Zelony looking at him with resignation.
"Lighten up, man," he said to the sad boy.
Bruin smiled weekly, but that didn't convince Zelony.
"While brawling is not my preferred fighting style, I could punch some of that gloominess out of that thick head of yours," he suggested jokingly.
"What are you?" Bruin mumbled, Zelony barely hearing him. "Some kind of knight in shining armor?"
"Cheer. Up."
"Would you please stop this obviously pointless conversation?" a blue-haired girl suddenly appeared.
"Hey," Bruin weakly said.
"You two know each other?" Zelony asked.
"Not on the first name basis," the girl replied. "His... discipline needs work if he wants to become a Hunter."
"You're too gonna scold him?"
"Excuse me?" the girl asked confused.
"Some guy in blue appeared out of the blue a few hours ago and criticized Bruin here. By the way, the name's Zelony."
"Nicandra."
Then another girl, one with dark pink hair came, small whirlwind around her.
"Hello, Rouge," Nicandra welcomed the girl. "I see you're employing spirits for some reason."
"I wanted to take some air," she smiled.
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Zelony asked confused.
"This is Rouge, a 'spirit summoner'," Nicandra introduced the other girl to the two boys. She then went to introducing the boys to the girls, "This sorrowful person" she pointed at the brown-haired boy with empty expression" is Bruin and this cheery soul" she now pointed at the green-haired boy who was looking rather angry face "is Zelony."
"I'm not 'cheery', I'm 'concerned'!" Zelony exclaimed. "I'm just comforting the poor fellow."
"He doesn't look comforted," Rouge said. "But I think I may be able to help here," she chuckled.
"You're gonna drown me again?" Bruin asked suddenly, startling Nicandra and Zelony.
"First this Ruby child and her motley crew and now you!" another voice appeared, but it was a female one.
"H-Hello, Weiss?" Nicandra awkwardly greeted her.
"Who else did you think it was, you dunce!?"
"What's your problem?" Zelony angrily asked.
"I, and I'm certain that other people gathered here, require a good night's rest before the initiation which you refuse to give me."
Bruin rolled up in a ball, earning sad look from Zelony and Weiss and Nicandra rolled their eyes. Rouge was strangely smiling.
"I'll get going now," she said. "See you in the morning," and she walked off.
Weiss left without the word, and so did Nicandra, although they want opposite ways. That left Zelony who went for his sleeping bag which was lying somewhere around the center of the room and returned with it to Bruin. He set it few feet away from him and slipped into it.
He turned his side to Bruin. The boy seemed to fare better, although it was hard to tell for certain as he felt asleep not so long ago. While he have known the boy for less than a day, he felt that Bruin's time at Beacon would be a true test for him.
"Someone will need to toughen you up and it's not gonna be pretty."
Zelony then lied on his back, hands under his head, and closed the eyes, slowly drifting into world of dreams.
January 31st, 2015
IMPORTANT (not-so-related-to-the-story) NOTICE
I'm certain that FNDM is aware of it, but Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, is currently being hospitalized. It was not revealed to public what is the cause of this sudden turn of events, mainly due to respect for Monty and his family. Also, a donation on GoFundMe was started yesterday and the goal of 50,000 dollars was met within less than four hours which fills me with joy and hope. Even now, the donations continue and the number is quite staggering: over 146,000 dollars. It's wonderful when in times like this people come together.
Author's Notes
This is the second chapter and as promised it encompasses both parts of "The Shining Beacon". Why yes, there's little common in events between the episodes and the chapter I didn't want to be redundant with text and decided to be creative.
The next part will focus only on "The First Step, Pt. 1" since Pt. 2 is partner assignment and I don't know how should I assign partners for the primary team (I have already decided on the partners for the secondary team which was easier for me). Bruin got quite development with Rouge, Nicandra, and Zelony, and either Nicandra or Zelony would make for a good partner for him I think (although Zelony could be better because reasons). Rouge and Nicandra as partners would be... 'interesting' is not a good word, but somewhat 'engaging' since while their battle styles are similar to a degree they come from different backgrounds and actually disciplined Nicandra would be a good partner choice for pranky nature of Rouge. I'd like to get some input in it.
Replies
Awesomechainsaw: I hope that this chapter is to your liking regarding Rouge's "slightly overpowered Semblance". Also, before you ask about how she wasn't so strained after her battle with Garlik is mainly because it was a one-on-one match with a Hunter-in-training, and not a proffesional.