Chapter 8: From This Day Forward

GNMT

"Gavin Neirin, Nickell Noire, Mond Blauer, Tsuta Yoshimoto. The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Gunmetal," the screen above displayed the letters 'GNMT' above their pictures, "led by... Gavin Neirin." Gavin's expression did not change but he gave a slight nod in understanding. As Ozpin began announcing the next team, the newly formed Team GNMT left the stage. But before they exited the auditorium entirely to find their dorms, Mondy stopped them, "One sec guys I wanna see Reyn's team."

"Carmina Karenia, Saphron Raja, Reyn Boe, Mauveine Tyre," Mauve noticeably scowled at her full name being used, "The four of you retrieved the white queen pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Crimson," The letters 'CRMS' appeared on the screen and Carmina noticeably smiled at the team name, "led by... Carmina Karenia," Carmina's aviators slid down her nose revealing her shocked eyes for a moment before she recovered and gave her signature coy smile, and then Team CRMS also exited the stage and joined Team GNMT as Ozpin began naming the next students, "Cardin Winchester..."

Mondy jumped into a hug with Reyn, gushing with enthusiasm, "Reyn we did it, we're gonna be huntsman!" she cheered . Mauve was noticeably scowling again, this time at Mondy's tail, which was excitedly swishing back and forth.

"Well technically we still need to graduate, but we did officially make it into Beacon Academy, and that means I don't have to continue wearing this ridiculous outfit," Reyn said with a knowing smile.

"Awww, why do you gotta rain on my parade?" Mondy detached herself from him. "That's okay, I miss your old look anyways!" she added with a laugh, and then noticed everyone was still watching them. "What? This was a serious bet! You'll understand in the morning...," she said with a dismissive wave.

Carmina meanwhile was checking a map on her scroll."What dorm are you guys in?" Nick asked her

"157, you?"

"156, we're close," Nick noted and looked at the map. "Yeah there you are, and here we are," he pointed and drew a small diagonal line between the dorm rooms."

"Let's head there together," suggested Carmina and they all exited the auditorium just as the room exploded into cheers as the last team was announced and Ozpin ended his speech with, "It looks like it's shaping up to be an interesting year..."

On the way there Carmina was joking about how it only made sense she was chosen to be the leader. "I mean I have red hair, so I'm the obvious choice for leader of Team Crimson, right?" As they reached the dorms, Mauve spun around, "If anyone should have been the leader of CRMS, it should have been Saphron, afterall he's the one that saved you all in the forest." And with one last scowl aimed towards Mondy once again she charged into the dorm.

"Why is she so obsessed with you, Saphron?" asked Tsuta breaking the brief tension.

"Beats me... Sorry about all that by the way." Saphron scratched his head uncomfortably.

"It's alright," Carmina replied just as eight others passed them, the blonde girl waved to them.

"Hey neighbors!" she said with a cheery voice and a wave as they passed. They entered the dorms a couple doors down.

"It is getting late, we should head to bed too," Gavin commented, to much agreement, "Just remember classes start at 9, so don't be late."

As Reyn headed inside he asked Carmina, "Would you be able to help me with hair color removal and application?" which she answered with a laugh and reassuring pat on his back.

Once inside, Team GNMT observed their dorm. It was completely bare except for the four beds, their luggage which had been brought up for them, bookshelves, and a window. Gavin immediately took the darkest corner on the left, Mondy took the middle-right bed, which was bathed in bluish moonlight, Nick took the bed furthest to the right, leaving Tsuta with the bed between Gavin and simply slid off his armor and kicked his shoes off and crawled in bed still wearing his clothes from that day. Mondy headed into the bathroom to change into her pajamas. Gavin and Tsuta quickly changed into their nightwear, though Gavin took a bit longer to take off all of his accessories. Mondy came in and she laid down and curled into the fetal position, her tail hung off the bed behind her. Tsuta lied on his back, hands folded on his chest. Nick lied on his back as well, hands folded behind his head in a relaxed position, though he did not appear to be at ease. Gavin lied on his side, his back to the rest, eyes still open.

GNMT

Mondy woke up, immediately sitting up with a yawn and a pleasant stretch. Gavin was already up and in the final stages of putting his uniform on, he had his back turned to her. "Morning," he said without turning.

"Moooorning," she said, interrupted by another, unexpected yawn. She looked to over to see Tsuta's bed was empty. Just then he came out of the bathroom, he was struggling with the tie on his uniform. "Why do I have to wear this stupid noose anyways. Oh hey Mondy..." Tsuta looked over past her at Nick's still sleeping form. He picked up a piece of Nick's armor off the ground and chucked it at the bed. "Nick! Dude, everyone's getting up!" ... No result.

Mondy got up and grabbed her uniform and went into the bathroom to change. By the time she had come back out Tsuta still hadn't tied his tie and Nick was still asleep. Tsuta gestured towards Nick, "You try, I can't get him up." Just then Gavin got tired of watching Tsuta struggle and walked up to him and in a few quick movements tied it perfectly. "Uhh... Thanks..."

Mondy approached Nick, his face wasn't in the peaceful expression she expected from someone fast asleep, he appeared troubled. Maybe he's having a nightmare? "Hey Nick." Still nothing. She decided to give him a nudge. "Nick!" she poked him. He simply grinded his teeth together. "Get up," she gave his arm a shove and suddenly he shot up and violently reached in her direction, but she wasn't there anymore, she was crouched behind her bed having teleported away when she saw his sudden movement. He was breathing heavily as he realized where he was. "Oh my- I'm sorry Mondy, I didn't mean to," his voice sincerely apologetic.

"I-it's okay," she stood back up nervously and she held one arm close, in a closed off position. "Bad dream?"

"Uh, yeah. Very," he answered cryptically as he stood and grabbed his uniform and headed into the bathroom.

"Well that was kinda intense," commented Tsuta who was still a little wide-eyed.

"It's fine now, we have a couple hours before class, you can set up your stuff if you want," Gavin suggested as he started putting on his accessories like his piercings and choker, although the spikes on the latter made it difficult to wear with the buttoned up shirt so he swapped it out with a simple black band.

Tsuta and Mondy started going through their luggage, grabbing personal belongings. Both had a few books which they placed on the bookshelves. Mondy grabbed a few posters and set them up, one of which was of a certain redhead and another was an Achieve Men poster. Tsuta pointed at the first poster, "Haven't I seen her before?"

"That's Pyrrha Nikos, she's an amazing fighter from Mistral."

"She's a student isn't she?"

"Here? I doubt it if she went to any Academy, it'd probably be Haven anyways."

"No there was definitely a 'Pyrrha Nikos' who looked just like that on one of the teams. She was at the launch site, she was there where we returned the relics, she was on the second to last team assigned, JNPR, I think. Yeah they definitely said Pyrrha Nikos."

"First of all, it's creepy you know all that, secondly," She took in a deep breath, "I need an autograph! Maybe even a picture or two or three. No wait, I need to play it cool, maybe sit with her at lunch, become besties, and we can do everything together. Oh I hope Reyn doesn't get jealous, no he will understand I'm sure, after all he knows my obsession over Pyrrha, she's just too cool." She was no longer talking to Tsuta and more to herself than anything.

"And you say I'm creepy," teased Tsuta. Nick emerged from the bathroom in his uniform. "Hey Nick, we're setting up our stuff if you want to do the same."

"Uh, thanks but I'm good, I, uh, didn't bring anything."

"Me neither," Gavin chimed in, he had organized his his bedside cabinet. Tsuta and Mondy's area in the middle of the room was decorated with pictures, posters and a bookshelf had some books in it, but the sides of the room were just as bare as when they first arrived.

"Why not?" Mondy asked, hoping it wasn't too personal.

"I didn't have time to grab anything. My flight from Atlas was a last minute change in plans," excused Gavin.

"I... didn't have anything to bring," Nick admitted.

"Then what's in your bags?"

Gavin opened his to reveal it was weapon parts. And Nick simply smiled and said, "Mostly apples," which generated much confusion.

"You brought apples?" Mondy asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I love apples." Nick reached inside his bag with a wide smile and grabbed a bright red and rather delicious looking apple. "You guys want any?" They all passed on his offer. He shrugged and took a bite out of the apple, humming in satisfaction.

"Okay it's almost 8:30," Gavin announced, "Do you guys want to head over to our first class with..." he checked the schedule, "Professor Port?"

They all agreed, having finished setting up and nothing better to do. And with that they headed to class.

CRMS

The four members of Team CRMS rushed around as they hurried to get ready for class.

"Where are my glasses?" cried Carmina as she threw the contents of her bag out onto the floor, while her glasses glinted in the morning light as they sat on her night table. Saphron's tie was tied, but was severely crooked, while Mauve tried to brush her hair and fix the cuffs on her sleeves simultaneously. Reyn meanwhile tightened his black collar-choker and stood watching the others freak out. He noticed Carmina's glasses and brought them to her, which she responded to by snatching from him with a quick impersonal, "Thanks." She grabbed her uniform off the ground - it ended up there during her search for her glasses - and she charged into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

"Knew she wouldn't make a good leader," mumbled Mauve.

"To be fair, the only person who woke up in time was Reyn," replied Saphron.

"Then why didn't YOU wake us earlier?" accused Mauve.

"I-um... well I figured you guys set yourselves' some kind of alarm. And when I realized you guys weren't waking up, I did wake Carmina up."

"A lot of good that did, if it wasn't for all the noise she made getting herself ready, we wouldn't have gotten up."

Carmina exited the bathroom wearing her school uniform. "Hey at least you got up right? I'm your team leader, not your babysitter. We are all accountable."

Mauve moved to say something but Saphron cut her off, "She's right Mauve. Now let's hurry up and finish getting ready."

They continued getting prepared in silence, though the tension was tangible.

And that's where I am gonna call it quits. Honestly, I could've kept going on forever. Now that introductions of characters, weapons, semblances and character relationships is out of the way, I can just write. I will probably pick up a little bit later, just because as fun as it is for me to just write the characters interacting, I want to keep the story moving and not bogged down by filler. So I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll get my newest chapter out as soon as I can!

Please leave a review so I know what you like (or don't like) and I can make this story all the better for you!