Vale, Beacon City: 14/06/137M, 08:36pm
Ruby waited with Six in a Vale Police Department interrogation room. She sat down looking shameful and refusing to meet Six's sunglasses-covered eyes, and he stood silently near the corner with their arms crossed and gaze not leaving the one in the seat.
Ruby counted at least a minute of this going by before the single door to the room opened for the first time since they got there and revealed the same blonde woman that Ruby had seen back on the roof.
Glynda Goodwitch.
Ruby gulped, already knowing the trouble she was in. One jaeger-classed hunter in her interrogation room was bad enough, and they were basically family. Two jaeger-classed was catastrophic.
"I hope that you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady. You put yourself and others in great danger." Goodwitch declared when the door closed behind her, assuring Ruby that she indeed was in big trouble. Unfortunately for them, and most likely for herself, Ruby didn't care.
"But I was the only one there!" Ruby protested, "I couldn't just leave them to rob the store!"
"What you should have done was contact the relevant authorities to handle the situation," Glynda replied, eyes narrowing.
"But they wouldn't have got there in time!" Ruby rebutted. "I was the only one there who could help! Torchwick wouldn't have gotten away with even more if I did nothing!"
"That may be true," Six finally spoke, instantly silencing Ruby, "but you still put yourself in danger as well as cause a lot of property damage. Damage that could be covered by a licensed hunter, which you're not."
Ruby did flinch at that one. Hopefully, dad would cover it. Hopefully.
"Well, if it were up to me," Goodwitch spoke again, "You would be sent home with a pat on the back, a slap on the wrist," Goodwitch emphasised her point by smacking her riding crop down an inch away from Ruby's fingers, which she reflectively pulled away. "And many months of community service spent repaying the damages you made. HOWEVER, fortunately for you, there's somebody here who wants to speak with you."
Goodwitch stepped aside for the door to open again and reveal a silver-haired man with small round glasses resting on his nose, a suit of dark green, and a cane with a clockwork hilt.
"So, you are the one and only Ruby Rose. Six has much to say about you." The man stated as he sat down across the table from Ruby.
"All good I hope?" Ruby flashed a worried smile.
"Mostly." The man hummed with a mischievous smile. "But the real question of the hour is where you learnt to do this." He tapped the tablet he was holding, which showed the security camera footage of Ruby beating up Torchwick's grunts.
"I'm, uh, mostly self-taught. There aren't many people who use the same style that I do. If any. The only other people with maker-type semblances are Xono and Pepper Rogue, and I don't really know them." Ruby said. "But I have had some help. Pretty much my whole family are huntsmen. My dad, older sister, uncles," she glanced at Six, who retained his stoic expression, "are all huntsmen. Or, at least training to become one in my sister's case. They've all helped me figure out how to best use my fighting style."
"Yes. I must say it is quite a unique way to fight," the man agreed. "I am very interested in how exactly it works."
"Oh, well that's simple really! It's basically-"
"Ruby." Six interrupted the teen, noticing she was going to begin rambling.
"Ah, sorry," Ruby looked down at the table, embarrassed with herself. "It's just, I really, really, want to become a hunter too! So, even if my fighting is unorthodox, I still want to do it the best that I can!"
"Hm. And why, pray tell, does an adorable young girl like yourself want to become a hunter for? To fight monsters? To be the heroine? To become rich?" the man asked.
Ruby grew silent for a moment before speaking again, a certain conviction in her voice.
"Well, my mom was once a hunter. She went on a mission once and never came back. Even if I don't remember much of her, I still remember how great she was, and how much she prided herself on being a hunter, everybody still says she did! So, I want to follow in her footsteps, and see what it really means to become a hunter. To help others, to protect people. To be my own hunter, one that stands for what hunters once were and not what they've become. I'm only at Signal Academy now, but as soon as I'm done there, I'm going to apply at Beacon, just like my sister."
The man's face grew into a large smile, a twinkle of nostalgia in his eyes. "Could not have put it better myself. Now, do you know who I am?"
"Professor Ozpin? Headmaster of Beacon Huntsmen academy and chief coordinator of the Vale Hunter association?" Ruby guessed, fully knowing she was right.
"Hello." Ozpin nodded, affirming her guess as correct.
"Um, hi...?" Ruby replied. This was becoming confusing.
"So, you want to join my school?"
"I-I'd give anything to."
"Hmm. What do you think, Six?"
Six nodded, expressing his first emotion since they got there with a smile. "She's ready."
"Okay then. Ruby Rose, I'd like to extend an invitation to you to Beacon Huntsmen Academy..."
Ruby's eyes widened and began glistening.
"…This upcoming semester."
✇ARWIT✇
Yang tapped her foot as she waited in the VPD local precinct's lobby.
Dear Ani, she couldn't leave her little sister alone for a single night without her getting in trouble, this time being arrested.
Okay, to be fair Yang may have gotten into some trouble too, but at least nobody found out about it! Except for that whole club of people, she beat up... but that didn't matter right now!
What did matter was the fact that her baBY SISTER GOT ARRESTED! Oooh, she was going to give it to that red runt when she...
"Yang!" Ruby cheered, throwing her arms up as she saw her older sister.
"Ruby!" Yang turned around, rage forgotten. She swiftly embraced her sister. "Ah! Ruby! You worried me so much! What the heck were you doing?!"
"Stopping a robbery!" Ruby replied chipperly.
"..." Yang blinked as she processed the information. "How do you get arrested for stopping a robbery?!" Yang asked irately.
"When you use dangerous semblance-generated weaponry and destroy private property." Supplied Six as he walked into the lobby.
"Oh, heya uncle Six!" Yang greeted with a short wave. Six nodded in return.
"Oh! Oh! Yang! I have some great news!" Ruby bounced as she remembered what she was going to tell her sister.
"What could count as 'good news' when coming out of a police station?" Yang questioned, looking at her small little sister.
"Professor Ozpin invited me to attend Beacon! This year!" Ruby blurted out. In response, Yang let out an enormous gasp, wordlessly gesturing at her sister.
"I... What... You..." Yang stammered before clearing her throat and pulling herself together. "OH, ANI! THAT IS AMAZING RUBY!" Yang shouted, pulling Ruby into a spine-crushing bear hug. Fortunately for her, Ruby had the foresight to create some armour on her back to avoid the spine-crushing. That did nothing for the squeezing, however.
"Thnks Yng..." Ruby wheezed, beginning to have trouble breathing.
"Okay girls," Six interrupted, "Time to get you home. I'm sure Ruby has a lot of things to do before you depart next week."
Yang (reluctantly) dropped Ruby who removed the armour and caught her breath before returning to her chipper self. "Oh yeah! I still need to pack all my notebooks, blueprints, weapon magazines... oh this is going to be so awesome!"
✇ARWIT✇
Vale, Beacon City Airspace: 21/06/137M, 09:13am
Ruby was visibly vibrating by the time she and Yang were on the airship. Yang even had to keep bringing Ruby back down to Remnant whenever she saw green glowing circuit lines appearing on Ruby's arms. Currently was one of those times.
"Ruby," Yang spoke, snapping the red generator out of her trance, again. "Ruby, you need to calm down. I know you're excited, I am too! My baby sister is coming to Beacon with me! But seriously Red, you need to chill at least until we get there.
"Nghhh...! I'm sorry Yang, but this is just the best thing ever!" Ruby said back, her vibrating slowing down. "No more pussyfooting around, it's time this girl really became a hunter."
"In training," Yang added helpfully. "So only a scout rank."
"I'll take it! Also, I still have no idea why we're taking the airship when I could have flown us there much faster than it with the Sklycer."
"Because, Red, you… um..." Yang scratched her chin in search of an answer. "Okay. I've got nothing. We should have just taken the Sklycer."
"Thank you!" Ruby threw her hands up.
"*The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities.*" The nearby news broadcast distracted the two girls from their conversation. "*If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa.*"
"Oh hey, wasn't that the guy you fought, Red?" Yang asked Ruby, pointing to the mugshot of Torchwick that was being displayed.
"*Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's faunus civil rights protest turned dark when the members of APEX, crashed the event and disrupted the ceremony.*"
Ruby frowned at that. It was a shame that so many members of an entire species turned to violence due to the oppression wrought by another species. Well, the people in that group weren't any different really… just on the other side of the metaphorical wall.
"*The notorious, racially-motivated terrorist group has now disrupted multiple...*" The broadcast was abruptly shut off and replaced with the holographic form of Glynda Goodwitch.
"Hello and welcome to Beacon." She Greeted the future students on the airship.
"Who's that?" Yang whispered to Ruby.
"Glynda Goodwitch," Ruby whispered back.
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch." The holo-Goodwitch confirmed.
"Ah." Yang nodded.
"You are among a privileged few who have received the honour of being selected to attend this prestigious academy." Goodwitch continued. "Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Hunters, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." And with that, the holo-Goodwitch faded away to reveal a bird's-eye view of Vale, and the faraway yet rapidly approaching Beacon Academy for Hunters.
"This is it, Yang!" Ruby squealed, "My journey to becoming a world-renown hunter begins here!" Looking back out the window, Ruby savoured the moment.
The moment was then ruined by a blonde boy vomiting up his lunch.
"Yeeeaaah… regretting not taking the Sklycer now," Yang commented.
✇ARWIT✇
Vale, Beacon Academy: 21/06/137M, 09:20am
With the airship finally having docked, most gave way for the airsick blonde who made a beeline for a trashcan to release what little of his stomach he hadn't already vomited up. Most of the other passengers averted their eyes, instead, focusing on the sheer magnificence of the shining academy that stood before them.
"Dang, I knew this place was shmancy, but not this shmancy!" Yang said, craning her neck to try and see the whole academy. "It's even shmancier up close!"
"Stop saying schmancy, you're ruining the moment." Ruby pouted.
"Why of course my schmancy little sister!" Yang uncompiled in an over-dramatic pompous tone.
Ruby, deadpanning, created a singular BdG and brandished it at Yang, drawing the eyes of the surrounding students.
"I will hit you with this." She threatened.
"Eh, heh, heh..." Yang sweated. Ruby knew that Yang had first-hand experience with precisely how (not!) fun it was to get hit by her BdGs. "Um, uh, hey! I think I see some of my friends over there! See you later Red!" And with that, Yang quickly took off away from Ruby's smacking range.
"Yeah, you better run!" Ruby playfully called after her, retracting the smack hand and shaking a fist at her sister. "Great," Ruby sighed, "Well, whilst I'm free of her puns, now I have no idea where to go! Ugh, what am I doing!?" Ruby buried her face in her hands.
"AH! Look out!"
"Huh?"
Ruby had no time to react as she swivelled to see a stack of padded briefcases in motion to topple down on her. Ruby yelped in surprise as she reflectively extended her Redflector and put up the shields to prevent the upcoming impact.
She felt the suitcases bounce off her shields, and heard them clatter to the ground, and after a second of standing there with eyes shut tight, nothing else happened, so Ruby slowly creaked her eyes open and retracted her Redflector.
"Oh! Oh no! I am so sorry! Please forgive me, I just… I'll just, uh, pick these up and…" Ruby was barraged by a girl's voice apologizing to her.
Looking down, Ruby saw the tall~ish form of an ashen-haired girl with a silver hoodie hunched over and picking up the suitcases and moving them onto a trolly.
"Um… uh, do you need a hand with that?" Ruby asked nervously.
"Oh, uh… nope! Everything's fine! I can just…" The girl was cut off when she dropped one of the suitcases she was moving. The girl groaned with a slump. "If you wouldn't mind, please."
Ruby resisted the urge to giggle, believing it to be in pore taste. Helping the girl stack the last few suitcases, both of them stood back up.
"Again, I'm sorry about that, I'm just a little clumsy at times and it doesn't help that I get distracted, and…" The girl stopped herself, taking a breath and refocusing. Extending a hand, she smiled. "Hi, I'm Realien Greyhawk."
Ruby gawked. "Greyhawk? As in Greyhawk Industries? As in the largest weapons producers on the planet Greyhawk?!"
"Oh, um, yes?" Realien answered, looking everywhere but at Ruby.
"Ahhhh! I can't believe it! You don't know how much I love your family's company!" Ruby then quickly transitioned from fangirling to embarrassed while sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "I'm, uh, I'm kind of a huge weapon nut myself. Pretty much designing weapons is all I do. My semblance kind of encourages it…"
Realien's face flushed, still not looking at Ruby. "Yeah… that sounds like me as well." She blinked in surprise as a thought occurred to her. "Wait… you wouldn't happen to be Ruby Rose, would you?"
Ruby stopped rubbing the back of her head and stared at Realien. "Yeeeess? H-how do you know?"
"You were the one who submitted blueprints for a modular weapon series in the company's young creator's competition!" Realien realized.
"Oh, yeah, I did." Ruby nodded. "I don't think I won it though, I never got a response back…"
"What?! No! Of course, you won! Your designs were amazing!" Realien gushed. "We're going to be releasing new models based on your concepts! I made my current weapons based on your ideas! We've been trying to find a way to contact you for months now, but you didn't leave a return address on your submission!"
Ruby continued to stare at Realien, dumbfounded, until she interrupted herself with a swift smack of the forehead.
"I can't believe I forgot to attach a return address…" Ruby whined, face in her hands.
"H-hey, it's okay! Now I've met you in person and can tell my father about you! He'll be delighted to meet you!" Realien consoled. Ruby froze.
"M-m-me!? Meet Gevriet Greyhawk?! I-I-I-I-I…" Ruby floundered at just the thought of meeting one of her biggest idols. Her face was turning redder and redder and looked to be one shade off detonating entirely.
"H-hey, why don't we think about that later, o-okay?" Realien suggested. Ruby idly nodded in response. "Okay, great! Is it okay if I get some help with my luggage? I have a lot of bits and bobs in here that I can't really lose, and I need to get them to the armoury.
"Um, yeah. Sure."
"Great!" Realien beamed. "I have a map with me, let me just..." she twisted around looking for the aforementioned map, only to lose her footing and tumble backwards with a cry of dismay, falling into somebody else's luggage.
"What are you doing?!" A shrill tone asked.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Realien rapidly apologized. "I-I should have been watching where I was going and I..." Realien looked up to whose luggage she tumbled into, stopping short when she saw who it was. "Oh, uh, hi Weiss..."
A girl with white hair, a white jacket with a red interior, a white dress and a silver rapier on her belt, looked down with a look of displeasure.
Before it morphed into an expression of joy as quickly as it did suddenly.
"Realien!" Weiss greeted in the most sickly-sweet voice imaginable, "It's so good to see you! I didn't know you were coming to Beacon!"
"That's because I didn't tell you..." Realien mumbled quietly before getting back up and turning most of her attention to Weiss, a strained smile on her face. "And, uh, you too Weiss. I didn't know you ever wanted to become a hunter."
"It was my sister who inspired me," Weiss said, "You know, her being an Atlan Specialist Hunter and all."
"Didn't she get disinherited for that?" Realien blurted out without thinking. Weiss for her part froze for a second before her own overly enthusiastic smile became a bit visibly strained.
"Y-yes," Weiss said through gritted, trying her hardest to keep her composure. "However, Father and I have come to an understanding that it'd be beneficial for the company's image if the next CEO was a hunter."
"O-oh. Okay." Realien responded. The two of them stood there for a few more silent seconds. "…Okay, nice seeing you Weiss…" And with that, Realien made to leave.
"Oh, come now Realien, we've only just met again, no need to depart so soon," Weiss said as she grabbed Realien's hand.
"I-it's fine, really, Wiess. We can catch up later." Realien insisted, feebly attempting to free her hand from Weiss' grip.
"No, no, I insi…"
"Hey! Stop that!" Ruby interjected, knocking into the pair's hands and separating them.
"Excuse you!" Weiss angrily spat. "That was incredibly rude!"
"No, what was rude was you trying to make Realien do something she didn't want to!" Ruby huffed, puffing her cheeks out.
"How dare you! Who do you think you are?!" Weiss shouted.
Ruby grinned and stuck a thumb at herself. "The name's Ruby 'Red' Rose! Mechanical genius and future greatest hunter of Remnant! Who the heck are you?"
Weiss made a long, dramatic, offended gasp at Ruby. "Who am I?! I am Weiss Schnee! Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company!"
"The who's in the what now?" Ruby asked, tilting her head.
Weiss was ready to explode at this point if her red face was anything to go by. "The Schnee Dust Company you absolute dolt! One of the largest producers and exporters of dust in remnant! Which isn't even to mention our other subsidiaries and exports!"
"…Still don't know who you are."
"AHHHH!" Weiss screamed, throwing her hands into the air and stomping off, servants carrying her, many, bags of luggage trailing after her. Ruby blinked in confusion. What had just happened?
"U-uh, Ruby?" Realien said from behind her, causing Ruby to turn. "T-Thanks for that. I wouldn't have had enough courage myself to ask her to go away.
"Eh, it's fine Realien," Ruby said with a grin. "What was with that girl anyway? She seemed a bit… pushy."
Realien sighed, her entire body drooping. "That was, as she said, Weiss Schnee. Her family's company has been trying to partner with my family's own for decades. But since neither my father nor his predecessors weren't very interested in an exclusive partnership, the Schnees have been trying to either secretly marry into my family or butter us up for a business deal for generations."
Ruby took a sharp breath. "That's, well, yikes."
"Heh," Realien chuckled, a distant smile on her face as she looked away. "Yeah. Yikes. Hey Ruby…"
"Yeah?"
"I, uh, don't say this much but, um, doyouwanttobemyfriend?" Realien asked, the last part being very rapid in a private hope that Ruby wouldn't understand her. Unfortunately for Realien, Ruby was a rapid talker herself and understood Realien perfectly.
"You want to be my friend?!" Ruby asked, eyes gleaming and face right up next to Realien's, eyes twinkling. Realien, suddenly feeling very flustered, looked away and backed up a little.
"I-it was a stupid idea, I know, I'll... I'll just leave now..." Realien mumbled.
"No, no, no! I'd love to be your friend!" Ruby quickly clarified. She stuck out her hand towards Realien. "Ruby Rose! But, uh, you already knew that..."
Realien, getting over her embarrassment, smiled warmly and took Ruby's hand to shake it. "Realien Greyhawk. Uh, but, you can call me Rea."
"Oh! Then you can call me Red!" Ruby beamed.
"Okay, 'Red', still want to give me a hand moving these to the armoury?"
"Sure thing 'Rea'!"
Rea Smiled again before turning and tripping over another person.
"Not again!" Rea cried in dismay as she fell down.
✇ARWIT✇
Vale, Beacon Academy: 21/06/137M, 09:22am
Elsewhere, having only used spotting some of her friends as an excuse to get out of dodge, Yang wandered aimlessly about Beacon's grounds looking for some sort of entertainment before the assembly being held for the first years such as herself.
'And Ruby.' Yang added as an afterthought. 'Brothers, why did I ditch her?! I'm sooooo boooored now!'
"And don't notice when they're talking out loud, apparently."
Yang looked to the side to see who had spoken, the only person there being a girl with hair not unlike her own, long and golden if not a bit darker and a bit thicker. With a black jacket, pale yellow undershirt, and khaki pants, the girl was smiling mischievously at Yang.
"I really said that all out loud, didn't I?" Yang chuckled, a little embarrassed.
The girl's smile grew a bit. "Every word."
"Well, geez. That's embarrassing. And it's my sister who's meant to be the awkward one." Yang joked.
Now with a full-on grin, the girl moved off the grass where she was standing, and next to Yang on the cobblestone path. "Name's Mars Urinoes."
"Yang. Yang Xiao Long." Yang returned. "So, this your first year at Beacon?"
"Yep. Yours too?"
"Yeah, came over here from Signal with my sister. She got moved up two years."
"Really?" Mars' eyebrow raised. "She must be pretty good, not many people get moved up a year, let alone two or at a Hunter school."
"Yeah, that's my little sister Ruby for you." Yang chuckled. "Can fight like nobody else, make weapons in her sleep, and solve math equations that make a normal person's brain hurt... but can't figure out people for the life of her."
Both girls laughed at Yang's description of her red-themed sister.
"I don't have any sisters of my own. Or brothers for that matter, I'm an only child. From what I've heard, having a sibling is a pain" Mars said to Yang.
"Huh. Well, honestly, I don't envy you. Sure, my sister may get lost in her own world sometimes, but that doesn't mean she's one of the greatest things in my life." Yang explained.
"Well, now I do envy you. Mind if I steal your sister from you?" Mars asked with a sly smile.
"Not a chance!" Yang huffed.
Both girls laughed again.
"You're pretty cool Xiao Long." Mars complimented.
"I prefer the term 'badass', but thanks anyway." Yang shrugged. "You're not too bad yourself Urinoes."
Mars nodded back with a smile. "Wanna walk and talk? We should be heading to the main hall for the first years' assembly anyway."
"Yeah sure, which way was it anyway?" Yang asked as the two began moving.
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