Author's Note:

Hey guys, I'm back with the second chapter of RWBY Ink. Don't really know what else to say here… welp, enjoy!

Chapter 2

Fairy Tale Protagonist

Ruby, Jaune, and Regulus made it to the auditorium on time… somehow. The place was packed with students, all of them, chatting, yelling, fooling around. It made Regulus' head hurt. He liked peace and quiet. He could think without distractions. In this room, that was impossible.

"Ruby, over here, I saved you a spot!" someone screamed. Looking around, Regulus spotted a girl waving. It was the blonde on the airship. Of course.

"Oh, hey, I-I gotta go. I'll see you guys after the ceremony." Ruby looked slightly apologetic as she walked away to join the blonde.

"I'm gonna go too," Regulus said, looking over his shoulder as he left to find his way to the edge of the room. It was bound to be more quiet there.

"Hey, wait." Jaune sighed, shoulders drooping. "Great. Where am I supposed to find nice, quirky people to talk to."

Regulus sighed for an entirely different reason. At the fringes of the room, the roar of conversation was dulled to a hum. Looking around, he saw a few people also seeking the solace of relative quiet. Regulus liked quiet, but he was by no means an isolationist. There was the girl with the bow from earlier, but she was glaring at anyone coming within a ten foot radius of her. There was a girl wearing heavy, black armor fringed with orange. She sharpening the blade of her giant war axe. Honestly, Regulus was slightly intimidated, so he avoided talking to her. Standing to the left of Regulus was a tall faunus sporting antlers on his head. He was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed, a certain, bro-y air radiating around him.

"Hey, I'm Regulus," Regulus said extending his hand.

"Sup, the name's Jaden," the boy responded, shaking his hand in a vice grip. "How're you doing?"

"Fine," Regulus answered. "A guy threw up in my airship, and a girl blew a hole in the middle of the courtyard."

"Damn," said Jaden chuckling.

"Ahem."

Several hundred eyes turned to the stage of the auditorium, where the eccentric Professor Ozpin now stood.

"I'll... keep this brief. 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."

Regulus nodded his head in agreement. Wasted energy indeed. An average of seventy five percent of students either chicken out on initiation, or they die, slaughtered by the grimm. Some pass out of sheer luck, only to drop out when they find out they would be going on actual missions.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed," said Glynda curtly. She somehow managed to seem even more strict and no-nonsense than on her recording back on the airship. Regulus made a mental not not to cross her.

Regulus sat on his sleeping bag against the edge of the room, writing. Or at least trying to write. He was facing the same problem as in the auditorium. Who had thought of the brilliant idea to cram hundreds of hormone fueled teens into one room? A few guys were shirtless, wearing only their pajama pants, and flexing in an attempt to impress the girls. Granted, most of them were at least decently well built. You couldn't fight monsters with noodly arms. Then there was Jaune. Is he wearing a footie pajama? Regulus himself was dressed in black pajama pants, and a simple white shirt.

He gave up trying to write. It was like trying to break a concrete wall with a straw. Carefully putting away his book and pen, Regulus rolled over, looking at Ruby and the blonde who were sleeping close by.

"What are you writing?" he asked Ruby.

Ruby jumped, looking around in surprise until she saw Regulus. "Oh hey Regulus, I'm writing letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

"Aw, that's so cute," exclaimed the blonde. Ruby threw a pillow at her, hitting her right in the face.

"And this is my sister Yang," she said, nodding her head toward her the blonde.

"Hey," Yang winked seductively. Oh boy.

Regulus ignored the wink. "My name's Regulus."

Ruby sighed. "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's weird not knowing anyone here."

"What about Regulus? He seems pretty cool," said Yang, motioning to the teen. He gave a meek wave. "And Jaune? He's... nice. There you go. Plus two friends. That's a two hundred percent increase."

Ruby flipped onto her back, staring at the ceiling. "Pretty sure Weiss counts as at least two negative friends. Back to zero…"

"There's no such things as negative friends, you just made two friends and one enemy," comforted Ruby's elder sister. Regulus meekly waved again. He was feeling kind of ignored. Ruby threw another pillow in her face. "Look, it's only been one day. Trust me, you've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet."

The soft sound of a match lighting drew the trio's attention.

The girl with the bow from earlier was sitting against the wall with a candelabra lighting her book. To Regulus, it looked like a fire hazard.

"That girl…" said Ruby, trailing off.

"You know her?" Yang asked, puzzled.

"She was the one who roasted the heiress this morning," said Regulus, butting in with a slight smile. "We should talk to her." Regulus stood up, walking towards the girl.

"You'll go too," declared Yang, dragging her sister by the arm.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Ruby struggled unsuccessfully against Yang's iron grip.

"Hello~," said Yang in a singsong voice. "I believe you two may know each other?"

The girl looked up from her book with an annoyed expression. "Aren't you... that girl that exploded?"

"Uh, yeah. My name's Ruby." Ruby extended her hand, but it was ignored. "...but you can just call me Crater…" She smiled awkwardly, trailing off. "Actually, you can just call me Ruby."

"Okay," she replied curtly, looking back into her book. She clearly did not want to talk.

"What are you doing?" whispered Yang.

"I don't know, help me," Ruby whispered back. The girl could probably hear their whispering.

"So... What's your name?" Yang asked the girl.

She sighed, annoyed. "Blake."

"Well, Blake, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister, and this is Regulus…" Regulus waved for the third time. Yang trailed off for a moment, unsure of what to say. "I like your bow."

"Thanks." She was becoming more and more irritated.

"It goes great with your... pajamas," Yang said again, unable to take a hint.

"Right…"

"Nice night, don't you think?" At this point, even Regulus was getting annoyed.

"Yes, it's lovely. Almost as lovely as this book." The sisters showed no sign of leaving. "That I will continue to read." They continued standing there. "As soon as you leave," she finished, finally snapping.

"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause," Yang said to her sister.

"Which book is it?" Regulus sat beside the girl. She slightly scooted further from him.

"Huh?" She looked surprised.

"What's your book called," reiterated Regulus.

"Well it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body," she said, her eyes slightly lighting up. It seems like she really liked books.

"Ah, The Man With Two Souls," said Regulus, nodding his head. "What do you think of it?"

"I think it's written wonderfully. The author addresses many of the problems we have now in society, while also making it entertaining to read." Blake's eyes were fixed on Regulus now. "I would love to discuss some things with the author but…"

"Nobody knows who the author is," Regulus cut in. Blake nodded.

"You know who the author is don't you?" she asked. Regulus looked around furtively. Nobody except for the sisters were in earshot. Waving his arms, he motioned at them to gather around. Yang and Ruby huddled close, intrigued. Through her cold exterior, Blake was practically drooling with anticipation.

"I'm the author," he whispered, grinning from ear to ear.

"What?" screamed Ruby incredulously.

"Shh." Regulus brought his index finger in front of his lips. Ruby sheepishly covered her mouth with a hand.

"What in the world is going on over here? Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?" Dear Monty, it's the Schnee.

"I'm going to go," said Regulus, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. Without waiting for a response, he dashed back to his sleeping bag. He wasn't in the mood to deal with her right now.

Weiss yelled at the other girls, not noticing that she made more of a ruckus than the two sisters, before Blake blew out her candelabra, plunging the room into darkness. The girls, realizing how late it was, silently returned to their sleeping bags.

Ruby turned in her sleeping bag, facing Regulus. " I love books you know, Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters... They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress."

Regulus chuckled darkly. "You want to live happily ever after?"

"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves," she answered. It was rather poetic to Regulus.

"The real world isn't like some fairy tale," cautioned Regulus, he didn't want the innocent girl to turn disillusioned later in life.

"Well, that's why we're here. To make the world better." She was so innocent, so optimistic. So much like a fairy tale protagonist. Regulus was slightly jealous.

"Alright, goodnight Ruby," he said.

"Goodnight Regulus," she answered, turning over.