"Did you hear? we're getting a new student today!"
"Right now? but we're almost half way through the year!"
"I hear he's a whole year younger than all the other first years. Except for that girl Ruby, of course."
"Apparently, he's a foreigner! I wonder if he can speak any other languages…"
"He better be good if he got into this school no problem while the rest of us actually had to work for it!"
Team RWBY kept hearing things like this as they walked through the halls in between classes. Transfer students wouldn't normally be such a big deal, but this new kid was supposedly admitted by Ozpin himself. And on top of that, it seemed that he had little to no academic, or any, background.
"Honestly, all this gossip about that new boy is getting somewhat irritating." Weiss complained as they walked their way to Professor Goodwitchs' class.
"Yeah, I hope this guy lives up to the hype" said Yang.
"C'mon, we shouldn't make too much of a deal out of this" Ruby countered. "Remember how nervous I was on the first day for being jumped two years ahead? we should just treat him like all the other students!"
Blake just kept walking with her team, looking rather indifferent.
They arrived to class earlier than they expected. Professor Goodwitch was standing on the sparring stage, holding a tablet and talking to a tanned boy with dark blue hair and amber colored eyes. He looked younger than the other students Ruby had seen, so she figured this must be the new student. They hadn't noticed they were at the door, and Ruby could hear their conversation from across the room.
"Sorry Prof. Goodwitch, Mr. Ozpin said I could just explore around the academy to get a feel for it before I was assigned to a team. And I'm pretty sure I got lost…"
The boy sounded a little timid, but excited. From that look in his eye, it seemed that this was his first time being in a place like this.
"That's fine, umm… Kebiin, was it?"
"That's right."
"You can stay for this class if you want. It's much more active than the lectures. You can even participate if you feel like."
The boy squeezed his arm, looking nervous.
"I guess I'll stay… but I'm trying to keep a low profile for today. I don't want everyone talking just because I'm the new kid."
Ruby looked at Yang.
"See? I told you!" Ruby said a little too loud.
The boy jumped and jerked his head toward the door, looking and the four girls. He quickly regained his composure, but looked a little embarrassed. He jumped off the stage and took a seat at the back of the room. Yang grinned at her sister and gave her a light punch on the shoulder.
"I thought you said not to attract any attention to him." Yang chuckled.
"Hey, I didn't mean to- oh, nevermind…" Ruby walked into the classroom followed by Weiss, who rolled her eyes. Blake followed in suit as the rest of their classmates began to pour in.
Kebiin sat at the back of the class, watching the other students spar on the stage. The fighting styles he had observed have been very acrobatic and flashy, unlike the militaristic straight-to-the-point style he learned from his clan. After several rounds, a large heavily armored boy was called up to the stage.
"Mr. Cardin, you may choose your opponent" Glynda said.
Cardin scanned the room. A scraggly blonde boy near the front of the room winced when Cardin's eyes traced over him, but he relaxed when Cardin's gaze continued away from him. He settled on Kebiin.
"How 'bout that kid? the newbie?"
"He has specially requested not to take part in sparring this class. Please choose someone else." Glynda told Cardin.
"Wow, I didn't expect this new guy to be such a wimp!" Cardin laughed to himself. Several others in the crowd seemed to agree.
"Mr. Winchester, I believe that is-"
"No!" Kebiin stood up. He had originally wanted to lay low, but the Mandalorian in him didn't want to back down to this obvious bully. "I'll fight him."
Glynda hesitated. "Very well then." she said.
The two combatants stood on opposite sides of the stage. The lights dimmed, and a spotlight shone on the stage. Kebiin was unarmed, while Cardin wielded a mace.
"Kick his ass Cardin!" a voice cried from the crowd. "Show him what it takes to get into Beacon!"
Cardin smirked and gave Kebiin a menacing look. He wanted to just get this over with. The countdown to the match reached zero, and Cardin charged at him. Kebiin stood still, holding his position.
"C'mon, just a little more…" Kebiin thought. "Closer…"
Cardin was just a few feet away from him, and he brought his arm back far to swing his mace. Too far, in fact. Kebiin found his opening. In the blink of an eye, he force dashed toward Cardin, barely giving him enough time to react. Kebiin Grabbed Cardin's weapon arm in mid-swing with his left hand, and drove his right elbow into his throat in one motion. Cardin dropped his mace and clutched his throat, gasping for air. He won. The time? 3.7 seconds. The room was dead silent, except for Cardin's sputtering and gurgles.
"Well done. You may choose to continue or take a seat." Prof. Goodwitch almost sounded impressed.
Kebiin got off the stage as the Professor helped Cardin to get back up on his feet. He hurried back to his spot in the back of the room. On his way, he saw an amazed expression on the face of the blonde guy who nearly panicked earlier, and the young looking girl in a red hood he saw before class give him a thumbs up.
Ruby was stunned. Her own semblance was speed, but she had never seen anyone end a sparring round that quickly with so few moves. She looked over to Jaune, who seemed even more amazed than she was. His bully had been beaten in less than five seconds by this seemingly antisocial newbie. Ruby hoped that would boost his confidence a little. A few more minutes passed, and class finally ended. Ruby tried to catch a glimpse of the blue haired boy as he left the room.
"See something you like?" Yang joked.
Ruby blushed.
"What? No!? it's just… the way he pulled that off…"
"I bet there's a lot of things he could pull off!" Yang winked at her.
"Yang!" Ruby protested
"Oh please, I'm only teasing! relax, sis!".
Ruby made a pout face as Weiss called out for them to hurry up.
"C'mon, slowpokes! we gotta get to history!"
"We can discuss Kebiin's victory over Cardin later. We should go before we're late" Blake reaffirmed.
"How'd you know his name?" Yang asked.
"Were you or were you not listening to his conversation with the Professor?"
"Fair enough. But you're right, lets go."
Kebiin regretted what he did during that fight. He had shone off, which was the last thing he wanted on his first day. Although it was satisfying to take a big guy down a notch or two. He walked through the empty halls, occasionally catching glimpses of on-going classes. He noticed what looked like a history class that was in session. Many of the students from Prof. Goodwitch's class were in there, including Cardin, the girl in the red hood, and the scraggly blonde boy. The teacher was dashing all over the room, talking a mile a minute. He was wearing a loose tie and glasses, and his green hair was stuck back as if he were sticking his head out of a moving car. He was rambling on about a war when he noticed Kebiin standing at the door.
"Ah, you must be or new student! please, take a seat! history is quite fascinating, isn't it?"
Kebiin was caught off guard by the Professor's straightforwardness.
"Sir, I'm not sure if-"
"Professor Bartholomew Oobleck! now please, I insist! it seems that team RWBY has a spot next to them open. You can just take that."
"Uh… yes sir- I mean Mr. Oobleck."
Kebiin noticed the spot next to the girls. There was the red hooded girl he saw before, a rich-looking girl with white hair, a faunus girl wearing a bow over what he presumed to be cat ears, and an incredibly attractive blonde. The blonde waved excitedly and opened up a space between her and the faunus girl. RWBY… red, white, black, yellow. The team was literally color coded. He smiled a bit and tried to ignore Cardin's gaze as he walked through the classroom to sit in the spot the blonde girl invited him to. He took his seat, and Oobleck immediately continued his light-speed lecture. What did this guy have in his coffee? liquified hyperdrive?
Kebiin earnestly tried to follow what the professor was saying, but he may as well just cheat off of another student's paper just to understand what was going on. The blonde leaned over and looked at him.
"Hey… I'm Yang" she said nonchalantly. "I hear you're new in town."
"Well I've been in town for a while, I'm just new to this part of it. Shouldn't we be trying to pay attention?"
"I also hear you're a foreigner. Do you speak any other languages?" she asked.
Kebiin thought a moment.
"Elek, Ni liser, a ru'kir vi Ke'sush' at te mirsh'nyn?"
Yang giggled.
"Oh, that is soooo cool! hey, how old are you?"
"Sixteen. Why?"
Yang turned to the red girl.
"Hear that Rubes? he's younger than the rest of the first years just like you!"
Ruby looked back at Yang and signaled for her to sush up.
"Shhh! quiet! we could get in trouble!"
The girl in white in between them scowled at both of them.
"Will you two just pipe down already? I'm trying to focus!"
"Jeez Weiss, no need to be snappy." Yang teased.
The group stopped talking for a moment and the Professor didn't seem to notice the conversation. Kebiin thought that maybe things settled down finally. The brief moment of peace was once again broken by Yang. Even if it did look a little irritating from the outside, Kebiin didn't mind the conversation. Besides, being interrogated by a hot blonde wasn't so bad.
"Sooooo… Oh! I forgot to ask you your name!"
"I already told you his name." The faunus girl said. Kebiin realized this was the first time she spoke all class. She seemed rather quiet and reserved.
"I know, but I just wanted to hear him say it!" Yang said cheerfully.
"It's Kebiin. It translates into blue." Kebiin once again pointed at his hair
"Oh neat! you could join our little group of colored missfits!"
"Yang, please. It's only his first day. You can try flirting with him after class." The faunus girl said quietly.
"Oh, fine." Yang said. "I just wanted to get to know him, y'know? sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable or anything."
"No, it's alright. I'm just not used to talking about myself this much."
"I see. Well, I could introduce you to the rest of our gang after class! What'dya say?"
Kebiin laughed a little. Her cheeriness was refreshing after what he had to live through the past few years.
"Sure, I'll take you up on that offer."
They continued to listen (or at least tried to) to the lecture. From what he understood, there had been some sort of war between faunus and humans. He knew that much of humanity hated faunus, but he never knew there was an actual war between the two up until now. The more he listened, the more he seemed to catch up with Oobleck's way of teaching. The faunus had always been treated like second class citizens over the course of history, and it was inevitable that they would rise up. After a good chunk of time passed, the bell rang.
"Alright class, remember to finish tonight's assignment by tomorrow! It will be important for understanding what many scholars believe to be the turning point of the war."
Kebiin walked through the hallways on their way to lunch with the rest of team RWBY, with Yang introducing him to all the other members. Ruby was the youngest girl in the school at age 15. She was also the leader of the team and Yang's little sister. Weiss was heir to the Schnee Dust Company and seemed to have a bit of a short temper. Blake was the faunus girl, but Kebiin soon realized that she was actively hiding her being a faunus by wearing her black bow. He made a note to himself not to bring it up with anyone but her. Assuming he actually did talk to her about it.
"So, are you going to join a team here at Beacon then?" Ruby asked.
"I definitely know I want to go here now, but I'm not sure exactly how the choosing process goes. I figured I would just talk to Professor Ozpin about it." Kebiin said.
"Well when we first chose our teams, we were launched from the sky into a forest full of monsters and got paired up with whoever we saw first." Said Yang.
"Don't forget about the matching chess pieces" Blake added.
"Huh. Sounds a bit chaotic." Kebiin remarked.
"Chaotic would be an understatement…" Weiss moaned.
They soon arrived at the cafeteria and took their seats near another four-person team. Kebiin sat across from the scraggly blonde guy he saw a few times already, a red haired girl with green eyes, a boy wearing an oriental-style green gi, and an eccentric looking orange-haired girl. Ruby introduced them as Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. Team JNPR.
"So Kebiin, what's your first impression of Beacon?" Pyrrha asked.
"It's definitely different than what I'm used to, but it's fantastic. I still need to get my uniform and get assigned to a team to make it all official though."
"Well it sounds quite exciting for you!" She paused and looked at Jaune. "So Jaune told me that you beat Cardin in the sparring ring today."
Jaune nearly choked on the sandwich he was chewing and looked around to see if anyone was listening in on their conversation. He stammered a bit as he tried to speak.
"Well uh… I didn't say he *beat* him beat him, just umm… beat him."
"Well honestly, I didn't want to fight in the first place." Kebiin said. "I just saw the way he looked at you and me and got the sense he was a bully. I didn't want to keel over to the way he called me a coward. It's hard for me to not respond to something like that."
"Well then I guess you're just a lot stronger than me..." Jaune moaned.
Kebiin took a sip of his juice before responding. "Not necessarily. I'm still new, so I don't know everything that works around here. But if you were good enough to make team leader, then to me you deserve it. In my old home, my family appreciated and rewarded skill and talent. Becoming a leader means you have both."
"Thanks… I appreciate it. Really." Jaune looked over to Pyrrha who looked like she agreed with Kebiin. Even if it was minute, he seemed a little more hopeful.
The school day soon ended and everyone was on their way to their dorms, except for Kebiin. Team RWBY waved goodbye as he walked in the opposite direction of their dorm, heading for Ozpin's office. Ruby climbed onto her bunk as the others slumped onto their beds.
"So what do you think of him?" Yang asked the others
"He seems alright, but I get this uneasy feeling around him. Almost like he's hiding something." Said Weiss.
"Why do you figure that?" Blake asked. "If he grew up on the streets like he said, he might not want to share everything."
"I don't know what it is, he just has this strange feeling about him."
"That's not much of a reason to feel unsure about him."
"I thought we already talked about this!" Ruby interjected. "It's only his first day! he's just not used to all this yet."
"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with you there, sis" Yang said. "He seemed rather open when we introduced ourselves though."
"Well I guess time will tell…" said Weiss.
It was getting dark, but Kebiin felt he had a better sense of the layout of the school thanks to Yang. He was a little far from Ozpin's office, but it wasn't anything to complain about. He continued down when he saw the silhouette of a muscular male approach him. It was Cardin. Kebiin stepped back, only to be pushed back forward by three other guys. He could take them on, but he didn't want to start any out-of-ring fights on his first day of school either.
"Hey, newbie. Y'know, everyone seems to be talking about our last round together. Now, I've been beaten before, but the way you showed me up back there… we can't have that now, can we? people might get the impression that I'm not up to the challenge here."
Kebiin didn't respond. There was no one around except for Cardin and his goons. He was completely surrounded. "It's fine". He told himself. "You've been in worse spots…"
One of the others suddenly grabbed him from behind and took his pack, dumping the contents. The first thing Cardin grabbed was the white and bronze helmet that belonged to Kebiin's father.
"Hey, give that back!" Kebiin shouted, enraged.
"Woah, touched a nerve with this thing, have I?"
He inspected the helmet, unsure what to make of it. He tried to put it on. Kebiin lost it. No mere punk was going to wear the helmet of any Mandalorian, especially his father's. He headbutted the guy who was holding him from behind, smacking his nose. He let go and clutched his face, moaning. The others moved in to punch him, but he dodged and clubbed one of their foreheads with the emitter of his lightsaber, and kicked the other straight in the gut. Cardin dropped the helmet and went straight for Kebiin's throat, but he instinctively used the force to push him across the whole hallway, landing right on his back. Cardin brought his head back up with his back still on the ground. He was shocked. He assumed that Kebiin's semblance was speed, but now he had just thrown him across a hallway without so much as touching him. Kebiin picked up his pack and neatly put everything back inside, but carried his helmet under his arm. He walked over to Cardin, who was still on the ground, and placed his boot onto Cardin's neck.
"Now you know where you and I stand. Leave me alone, or I swear on my code I will end you."
Cardin was just about terrified. The usual soft look in Kebiin's amber eyes seemed to glow with anger. He gave off an aura that seemed to taint the area around him, making him feel uneasy. This kid was pissed, alright. And all over some lousy helmet? Cardin slowly nodded and went to inspect his beaten teammates.
"Ne shab'rud'ni!" Kebiin shouted back as he walked toward Ozpin's office. It was one of the stronger warnings in Mandalorian, but even if they couldn't understand exactly what he was saying, he got his point across.
Ozpin heard a knock at his door as he took another sip of his coffee.
"Come in."
Kebiin walked in, looking agitated.
"Something the matter?"
Kebiin squeezed his own arm.
"No sir. Just had a little complication with another student. Nothing major."
Ozpin wasn't convinced, but decided not to pursue him on the subject just yet. If things got out of hand, he knew how to deal with it.
"Today we set up what will be your test for officially joining the academy. I hear that many of the students have a misconception you are already an official student and that you managed to skip all your trials. Tomorrow, you will undergo the exact same test we put all the other first years through. But first, it seems you need a weapon to call your own. You can't get by here with just an ornate metal baton."
He pointed to the lightsaber on Kebiin's belt. If only he knew what it actually was…
"Also, each student here identifies with a specific symbol. These symbols are often family crests, but it would help a great deal if you could find a crest to identify with."
Kebiin actually had several symbols he could pick. The Mandalorian skull, the crest of his specific clan, and the crest of the old Jedi order. And he knew which one to pick.
"Do you have a paper and pen, sir?"
Ozpin reached under his desk and handed him what he needed. Kebiin scribbled on the notepad for a moment before looking satisfied, showing it to Ozpin.
"Interesting. Is this of your own creation or a pre-existing crest?"
"It's a very old symbol. It was well-known from where my mom was from."
"I see. Well that'll make your transfer to this academy feel a little more smooth." Ozpin said as he folded the paper and put it in his coat pocket.
"Understood. So umm… where am I staying for the night?"
"We have a few extra dorms available." Ozpin handed him a key card with the number of the room it belonged to. "You can stay there for tonight. Just remember to tidy it up when you leave for your test in the morning."
"Yes, sir. Thanks again… for everything." Kebiin said.
"I appreciate the sentiment, but remember you still haven't joined the academy. Don't thank me just yet. Good luck on your trial tomorrow."
"I won't let you down sir!" Kebiin exclaimed. As he walked out, Kebiin whispered to himself.
"Burc'ya vaal burk'yc, burc'ya veman…". He smiled.
"I'm sorry?" Ozpin heard him.
"It's just a phrase sir. My current situation reminded me of it."
"What does it translate into?" Ozpin asked.
"A friend in need is a friend indeed."