The two sisters exited the transport quickly with their carry ons and went to retrieve the rest of their belongings and after a quick check to make sure nothing was missing grabbed a single cart to place them in. Yang grabbed the cart and begin pushing it toward what she assumed was the direction of the ballroom and Ruby followed closely behind with some of her own baggage and only stopped when they reached the main courtyard. Yang appeared to be lost in the sheer magnitude of this place, she was tense.
"You alright?" Ruby asked
"Yeah I just… need a minute, even after so many years this place still makes my skin crawl." Ruby couldn't help but agree with that assessment. Beacon was magnificent from the architecture of its construction to the massive clock tower which dominated the skyline, it teemed with people and the gardens around the courtyard added to its beauty. Yet she felt something wrong, not with the academy itself like the city from her dream, no this was smaller, like something. Cold, pain, agony, the room was dark, quiet, empty, trapped as hungering monsters waited in the dark outside of her protective shell. Hungering, clawing scratching hands tried to reach for her through the uncaring void!
"Ruby." Yang shook her awake. She had to shake her head to get rid of the lingering feeling, what was that?
"Sorry I dozed off for a moment." Yang understood.
"What did you see?"
"I don't know exactly, I was cold, in pain, in a capsule I think there were things out there waiting to get me."
"I had similar dreams back when I was younger, right before you came along; did you see anyone, a man in Black Armor?"
"No nothing like that. Just formless monsters, I could almost make them out."
"Well it's not far off from our situation at any rate. Besides it can't be any scarier then mom's face after you almost burned down the house." Yang's reminder if that memory caused her to tense, Summer's anger that day gave the phrase Hell have no fury like a woman's scorn a completely new meaning.
"Still let's hope we don't get any more bad omens." Ruby stated somewhat recovered from her vision. The two then felt something flap it's wings and land a nearby lamp post, it's black feathered form and red eyes staring at them in strange curiosity.
"Is that a?" Yang asked
"Of course it is." Ruby replied face palming, of all the species of birds native to Vale the one known for being a bringer of bad luck and Ill omens had to be the one to land and stare directly at them.
"Caw! Caw!" And the Raven started shrieking at them, which caused others to look in their direction and some nearby Faunus to wince from the bird's sheer volume. Yang bent down to pick up a nearby pebble
"Shut up!" She tossed it at the raven and struck its leg as it flew away from the courtyard and leaving it to silence and nearby onlookers got on with their business, the sisters and raven forgotten.
"Welp, that was a thing, I'm going to take a look at the directory. Find out which way the Ballroom is."
"I could just use my semblance to get the whole campus mapped out. It won't take long."
"True but considering the sheer size of this place and all the security, someone super speeding through the the whole place might draw too much attention. Besides it's right over there by the Huntsman Memorial." Yang said pointing toward the massive statues of two huntsman, a male and female standing over the body of a Beowolf.
"Hey why don't you try and talk to someone. At least till I get back, socializing may not be the worst thing for you."
"We're literally going to a school run by a man who possibly wants to dissect us and your telling me to make friends?"
"What better time is there to find some?"
"Any other time. Besides I have you don't I?"
"But it won't always be just us, and we may well be on separate teams and you'll need to interact with at least two other people regardless." Ruby couldn't argue against that and simply sighed in recognition.
"I won't be long just talk with someone till I get back."
Yang left her then to check the directory, the courtyard was starting to become deserted with only a woman standing nearby reading a book being the only other soul remaining. So much for Yang wanting her to socialize, but that soon became the last thing in her mind as her head began to throb in pain.
Weiss Schnee walked off the airship as soon as it landed at the landing pad of Beacon academy. The fresh air was a welcome change from the recycled stuffy air that was rank with sweat and anxiety from over a hundred nervous applicants. Of course she knew there was a possibility of spies among the bunch, being the Heiress to one of the largest dust distributors on Remnant came with its fair share of challenges including the possibility of unfriendly eyes every moment of every day. Servants were already gathering her luggage onto carts for transport, between the amount of dust, clothing, books and other essentials it was all piled onto three carts with her carrying the most valuable piece of luggage she took, her Rapier Myrtenaster, she was not stupid enough to entrust her weapon to anyone.
This same weapon had allowed her defeat Arma Gigas, her father's last test that allowed her to attend Beacon academy; she felt the scar above her left eye pulse at the memory, she had to stop herself from touching it less she ruin the makeup she used to conceal it. She felt eyes on her as she walked, her pale skin, her silky white hair which was tied in a pony tail, and the emblem of a snowflake on the back of her Bolero was a dead give away to who she was.
"Hey isn't that Weiss Schnee?"
"Huh the heiress? What's she doing here?"
"Pff look at her, the pretty princess won't make it past initiation."
The hushed comments kept coming left and right, they were to be expected and Weiss didn't bother to give them a moments thought, idle musings were beneath her concern. All in all things were going well thus far, even the hot Valien weather seemed to be an improvement to the dark cold of her home in Atlas, even if it still took some getting used to.
"Lets see how long she lasts without her daddy's guards to protect her, show her we Faunus won't be pushed around." She eyed the aspirant who gave the venom laced comment, a lion Faunus that stared at her with narrow slitted eyes; She rolled her own in response. The Faunus were not fans of many of her father's methods when it came to running the company mines, but considering the White Fang cared only to draw her family's blood she had little sympathy. She still remembered hearing of many such incidents, dust trains going missing, board members being captured, assassination attempts on her family and even herself; all of this only created and fueled her distaste. She continued onwards threw Beacon's main avenue just behind the first cart which carried the majority of her supply of dust; if only she had decided to stand next to the head cart.
A girl with black and red tipped hair stumbled into the cart. She wore a long sleeved black and red trimmed dress with a high cooler and red cape attached. Packages of dust, spare and backup parts for Myrtenaster and other related equipment tumbled to the floor and in some cases opened from the crash. One such case opened and caused several dust containers to spill out with one of red fire dust landing at her feet. She put down her weapon case and picked up the vial; it was cracked and no doubt other vials would need to be replaced, she went to the one responsible who got up clutching her head as if waking up from a bad dream.
"What is wrong with you, Do you have any idea how much dust are in those bags?!"
The girl didn't answer her, at least right away as he moved her hand from her head offering the heiress a clear view of her face. She looked around for a moment to get her bearings before landing her gaze on Weiss. She froze then, something about her gaze made her seem small.
"I'm sorry, what happened?" She asked as she looked at the scattered vials of dust. Weiss simply stared; what was the matter with her?
"Are you Brain dead or just stupid? Don't you realize you could have blown up half the courtyard?!" Weiss yelled holding up the fire dust vial for emphasis. She was about to continue her verbal scolding she didn't a small trail of fire dust begin to trickle out of an unseen crack in the vial to land on the lightening dust at her feet. The two types of dust mixing together could prove very unstable in most circumstances and would have if it went by unnoticed. Weiss barely registered the movement as the red haired girl moved her hand to intercept the falling dust which landed in her palm below the vial Weiss held up. Weiss looked at the vial and quickly shifted it to stop the escaping dust, when she went to look at the girl and noticed her expression change, it was sharper, clearer; didn't look at all like the bumbling fool she saw before.
"That was close. Sorry about the mess, being here can be a bit overwhelming you know, can sometimes forget to see where you were going." Weiss certainly did not know, forgetfulness and nervousness were not habits she possessed, she was meant to show perfection in everything she did and failure to do so was heavily frowned upon, the thought to her father's reaction to her scar caused her to involuntarily flinch.
"You alright?" The girl asked,
"I'm fine." Weiss barked out somewhat defensively and a hand landed on her shoulder from behind.
"Is there a problem Ruby?" Weiss whipped around and slapped the hand off her shoulder when she heard the voice. She was taller then the red head who she referred to as "Ruby" and much more imposing besides. She was graced with a golden mane of hair, lilac eyes with bits red veining threw her irises and a comforting half smile, all of an aura of reassurance and an undertone of fear; for once Weiss couldn't bring herself to speak.
"I'm fine Yang, I just bumped into her luggage on accident."
"You always were clumsy, and judging by this mess you have outdone yourself."
"What does that mean?"
"You know what it means." Weiss finally came back to her senses and coughed into her hand to get there attention.
"If you don't mind I'd like my dust back and clean this mess." She gestured to the field of loose vials, opened cases and white luggage which littered the floor and was being cleaned up by her small group of attendants.
"Well do you want some help? Yang can get the rest of our things to the ballroom; It's only fair all things considered." Ruby offered.
"It would be prudent." Weiss replied, if nothing else it would allow her to continue toward the Ballroom quickly, there was only so much time available till the meeting at the auditorium.
"You sure you'll be alright on your own Rubes?"
"Its just some dust, me and a…" Ruby paused and gestured to Weiss.
"Weiss." Ruby nodded.
"Me and Weiss will be fine."
"Alright, just shoot me a message on my scroll if you need me."
"You know I will." Ruby said as Yang left. She turned to Weiss.
"So where do you want to start?"
Yang walked through the hallways following the line of students into the Ballroom, it was a crowded room with more people then space, but it was efficient at least.
"Name please?" Asked the attendant who was placed right inside the room with five others, each taking the names of new arrivals and sending them on their way. If he showed any of the usual unease with Yang's presence he didn't show it.
"Yang Xiao Long. I also have my sister's things with me." He looked at her with indifference or some annoyance.
"You do know it is school policy that all beacon applicants must personally check in their belongings?"
"I do, but something came up and she is being delayed, I can check in her belongings for her." He shook his head.
"School policy states otherwise you may check in your belongings but your sister's will have to remain here." Yang didn't like that idea one bit.
"What's going on here?" A woman came from behind the attendant, it the huntress from the ship.
"Miss Goodwitch! I didn't know you were here." Any indifference form the man had was instantly replaced. This woman scared him, though she supposed being called upon by a superior that was a renowned huntress would be frightening.
"I came to make certain everything went smoothly here. What seems to be the problem."
"Um she, well she wishes to check in her sister's belongings, as you know school policy is against such action. All applicants must personally check in their own belongings."
"I am aware of school policy, I'm certain Miss Rose would be here if she wasn't doing something of importance. Let her sign in." Goodwitch said flatly
"But…"
"I'm sure if the headmaster has taught us anything is that there are exceptions to every rule." She turned to Yang."
"Miss Xiao Long, if you would follow me." Yang felt uneasy at this, it seemed to convenient for her taste. She continued with some caution.
"I'm sure your wondering why I let you pass through?" She looked to Yang as they walked through the Ballroom.
"Don't expect similar favors in the future, I only did this as a favor to your mother, she was an old friend of mine and I know she worries about you; besides you coming back here is already stressful enough for you no doubt." Yang visibly tensed.
"You know what happened." It wasn't a question
"I was there, though we did not meet in person but I saw you through the observation glass." Yang suddenly felt the brass metal bars of the cart she begin to creak as she increased the pressure. This woman apparently was close enough to the headmaster to know of her previous predicament and was complacent, Yang had to physically stop herself from doing anything drastic, though her eyes were at the very least bleeding red.
"I understand your reaction. Though, I'd recommend not doing anything here. Unless you wish Ozpin to actually use some of his contingencies." The last part was whispered to her ear. She left before the Primarch could say a word, without suspicion from anyone. The conversation left Yang sheathing, she quickly placed her things in a corner of the room and grabbed The cases for Ember Celica and Cresent rose discarded the cart, the bars were partially, bent, cracked, and worn where she held them.
There were too many people here, she needed some air away from the crowd. They avoided her and any in her way quickly got out of it, the aura of barely restrained sheathing anger was enough reason for none to approach. But it was not the only emotion she felt now, it was foreign, she had not felt it sense those dark days in the labs under beacon. Glynda mentioned contingencies; was she being watched? Was Ruby? Were there men waiting for ether of them to make the wrong move and give him an excuse to capture them. Too many questions not enough answers, she finally stopped walking when she came upon the training room which was open. She needed to get her and Ruby's weapon's to lockers… but that could wait, it was open and dueling bots were waiting for aspirants, It would be a good distraction. Once she entered the dueling arena she never once notice the Raven staring at her from outside.
"And done." Ruby yelled as she collected the last of the dust and quickly disposed of it in a small vial and stored away.
"I suppose I must thank you given you cut the time it would have taken for us to clean all this considerably. Even if you caused this in the first place." Weiss states reluctantly.
"Your welcome. Hey tell you what next time you want dust ammunition let me know, you won't find any better quality ammo anywhere else.
"I doubt that highly, my family has made their fortune on production products related to dust, including ammunition." Weiss turned around time address one of her servants which gave Ruby an excellent look at the symbol on her Bolero.
"You're a Schnee?" Ruby said in realization and mentally kicking herself for not realizing; the white hair should have been a dead giveaway.
"At least you have enough sense to know about my family."
"Hey, I tend to not read much about your family now a days, especially after their less then admirable practices."
"Now what does that mean?" Weiss asked with some offense.
"You know what it means, and I'm not just talking about the Faunus mistreatment but their shoddy workmanship with dust rounds. One of them almost blew off my sister's hand!"
"One defective round is hardly a cause to doubt the quality workmanship of the dust rounds made by my family."
"If it was one or two yes. But your family tends to cuts corners where possible, the only ones you make that are reliable are those damned high quality Ivory packs of yours and those are way overpriced for what their made of."
"How would you know!"
"Because I compared them to my own work." Weiss scoffed
"Any independent forger is quick to say their shoddy craftsmanship is better." Ruby's eyes widened.
"Shoddy? My workmanship?! Please I'd bet you everything I had one of my rounds would be on par if not better then anything made in your manufactories."
"Please if anyone could produce the same quality the Atlesian military and every one of the kingdoms would be looking to other suppliers as well."
"It's funny how they don't tend to last long when they get bought out, sabotaged, and beaten by thugs." That caused the Heiress to visibly shake in frustration, in the end she simply stormed off with her entourage behind her and leaving Ruby behind in silence. Until someone started clapping, Ruby turned to the source.
It was a woman who was shorter then her by some inches, she wore mostly black buttoned vest with a shite undershirt beneath and her most prominent feature was the bow on her head, Ruby could have sworn she saw it twitch slightly.
"You have no idea how satisfying that was to watch. It's not every day the heiress of the Schnee dust company gets taken down a peg. I'm Blake." She offered her hand.
"Ruby and thanks, though I might have been a bit hard on her."
"Don't be, you should never apologize for telling someone the truth, no matter how hard it is." Ruby shrugged
"I suppose, still it's not like she's the one running it."
"Not yet at least." Blake mumbled and Ruby saw the book she had in her hand.
"What book is that."
"Hm? Oh A man with Two Souls." Ruby's face lit up at the title
"Oh I loved that book it was great, you don't see many Jekyll and Hyde Style horror stories these days."
"I know right! types of stories are so under appreciated, most people I know ether want something all action, or some sappy cliché romance novel."
"Oh have you ever read the Red Wolf by the Brothers Grim?" Ruby asked with some excitement, people she knew who enjoyed such novels were few and far between.
"That was one of the first I ever read, I still remember having nightmares about Miss Wulf from the book."
"A sadist so bloodthirsty she was a Beowolf in human skin." Ruby said quoting the novel. They were taken from their conversation by the bell. It was loud and slowly, like the bells of a church and was followed by the ringing of the PA system.
"All applicants please report to the main auditorium. Repeat all applicants report to the main auditorium."
"Cmon we better get moving, we can talk more on the way."
"Yeah sounds great. So what would you say is the best horror novel you read?"
"Ohh, that's tough, I got to say Malignant Rest, the concept of someone being in a coma and living in a literal hell made by all the bad and worst choices they made is just terrifying; I just can't imagine how someone could relive all the bad they've done over and over; I'd go insane. You about you?"
"Red Wolf would be my favorite but I'm a fan of all the books the brother's wrote. I mean people tend to forget that people can become worse monsters then Grimm."
"You got that right." Blade's voice seemed to hollow out a bit at that, as if she was remembering something. Ruby decided it would be better if she didn't pry. They eventually reached the packed room of the auditorium and one of the first things Ruby noticed was Yang waving at her like a maniac.
"Cmon." She said to Blake as she grabbed her arm down the isles till they met with Yang.
"Hey Rubes, whose this?" Ruby stepped between the two.
"Yang meet Blake, Blake meet Yang."
"Nice to meet you." Blake said.
"Likewise, though I do have to ask what happened to Weiss." Yang asked to which Ruby scratched her head in mild embarrassment.
"Well turns out she was a Schnee… and I might have said a few things."
"By that she means she gave the heiress quite the reality check on how the Schnee dust company's been growing sense her dad took over." Yang stared amazed.
"You did that? can't believe I missed it!"yang said with no small amount of pride. They were interrupted by the sound of a microphone and they saw the head aster standing there with Goodwitch behind him. Something about him felt, strange to Ruby, it was like she was staring at something…old and empty, not completely human and She could feel some of Yang's reaction to the headmaster's presence though it wasn't as immense as she thought it would be. The headmaster cleared his throat.
"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." When he spoke the sisters felt his eyes over them, like he was speaking at them directly.
"Well he's certainly optimistic." Yang started quietly with no small amount of sarcasm, she watched the Headmaster leave the stage. Miss Goodwitch took his place.
"Tonight you all will report to the ballroom to sleep for the night, you will be woken up tomorrow and be given time to eat and prepare yourselves for the final entree exam. You have until sundown today to get yourselves settled." Miss Goodwitch took a look over the students in the auditorium before dismissing them.
"It's going to be an interesting next few days." Ruby said
"Yeah, hey you guys want to get something to eat?"
"I'm afraid I'll have to pass, want to take a look around campus I'll see you all later." Blake said before leaving the sisters."
"Well it's just us again sis." Ruby states as she watched Blake walk off.
"Nah, I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of Blakey over there. But anyway let's get some food."
Authors Note: Wow this chapter took much longer then I thought to write with the holidays and such, none the less here it is. If you are enjoying this story please leave a review. I'm thinking of having some time dedicated to the legion's prior to the reunification with their primarchs, though this will probably not be many chapters. just some small chapters till they do reunite.