Chapter 4

The calm night settled over the expansive city of Vale. A calm that speaks to the unforeseen future that lie beyond the horizon, and what designs are hidden just out of sight. It was a night like this that Roman Torchwick, gentleman thief that he is, found himself walking the streets of Vale, his destination not truly known to himself. On a normal night, this walk would help calm his growing irritation with his current "boss", but he couldn't help the pervading sense of terror that filled him as he and the goons walked the streets. It was as though he knew something bad should happen, as though something bad had happened, and that feeling only grew worse as the night deepened. He wasn't the only one with this sense as he could see the goons that he "borrowed" from Junior also looked rattled with some scanning the area, trying to find what it was that was causing them such distress.

To the growing trepidation of the entire group, the night dragged on further as they grew closer to a small store, "From Dust Til Dawn" the sign above the store read. The goons surrounding Roman all looked to him, an unspoken question hanging on all their lips. Were they really going through with this? A stern nod of his head had them tamping down their fear as they headed towards the door. The shopkeeper, an old man, looked up from his register and his eyes widened as he realized who had walked through the door. "P-P-Please just take the Lien. I-I don't want any trouble."

As the shop keeper cowered, Roman walked up to him. Trying to keep his voice steady, he assured the older man. "We don't want your Lien. Grab the Dus- "

Movement caught his eye as, from seemingly nowhere, a small girl appeared. He took a moment to take in her appearance. The spaghetti strap top, the frilly headpiece, the long detached sleeves, short skirt, thigh-high stockings, and knee-high boots reminded him of someone. 'I guess Neo wasn't the only one willingly wearing that style.'

After that brief trip down memory lane, he couldn't help but comment. "Isn't it a little cold out for you to dressed like that?"

The girl rolled her eyes as she fixed the thief with a deadpan look. "Next, you're going to be asking me what I'm doing out passed my bedtime, aren't you? Well, news flash! I'm old enough to not need one."

"Kids these days," he muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Bending down to be eye level with her, he gave her a stern look. "Why don't you just head out and let the adults do their thing, okay?"

The indignant look she gave him wasn't nearly as harsh as she must have thought it was because he moved to order one the goons to take her outside when he was stopped by a gunshot going off next to him. He turned back around in time to see the shop keeper dead and the girl holding a blocky rifle of sorts. "Let's make one thing very clear." She aimed the gun at him. "I'm not here to play games. I'm here because I want you to do something for me."

Roman fixed her with an unimpressed look as he looked between the gun and the girl. He made to speak, but he found himself unable to speak. It was as though he was drowning as every fiber of his being filled with dread. He thought he heard screaming or maybe he had imagined it as he stood still, the only thing he could focus on were the glaring white eyes, so full of malice, that stared into his very being. After an eternity in that state, Roman collapsed backwards onto the floor, his hands barely holding him up, as he stared up at the girl, no, the thing, standing in front of him. He didn't need to look to know that Junior's henchmen were gone. The lucky bastards likely succumbing to whatever the monster before him had done and left him to deal with it alone.

"Now that the worthless drivel is dealt with," she started as she collapsed her weapon and sat upon the counter of the shop, "We can get to business." Roman could only sit there mortified, staring at the girl. The girl sat there, legs crossed, impatiently waiting for the man to stop wasting her time with his stupor. Eventually, he did snap out of it. Shaking his head, he slowly stood. "So, what is it that you want?" The trepidation clear in his voice as he held himself up with his cane.

Huffing, the girl hopped off the counter and strutted up to him. "It's simple. I want you to let me in on whatever your plan is for all that Dust you've been stealing. This whole being a law-abiding citizen thing is losing its novelty. Honestly, I just need to know who all is involved in the secret war that way I can get the information I need and have a little fun in the process."

To his credit, Roman didn't immediately express his confusion. He wasn't entirely sure what the girl was on about with the talk of war, but he could put the pieces together with what little he had gotten from Cinder. The only question was, who did he fear more? The girl or Cinder. He wasn't given much time to think on that question as the girl grabbed his arm, and he felt himself grow cold. The dread filling him as he fell to his knees.

"I didn't hear an answer." the girl whispered in his ear.

"I'll do it! I'll help you!" he gasped, trying to yank his arm free, but her grip was too strong. He watched in terror as black flames enveloped her hand and the searing pain shot through him. After the painful moment ended, the girl released his arm causing him to curl in on himself as he hugged his arm close. Breathing heavily through grit teeth, Roman looked up at her, "What did you do?"

"I just changed you a little. Just enough that you'll be useful to me. Nothing too bad" she said as she began clearing the register. Carefully organizing the Lien cards into separate piles, she barely spared him a glance as she counted the Lien. "You can start explaining what it is that you're doing stealing so much Dust. I doubt that it's for any charitable endeavors, then we can get into what it is that I want you to do from now on."

Roman sat there clutching his still aching arm as he gathered his thoughts. 'Do I tell her about Cinder? Fire Bitch won't be too pleased if someone tries to get in her way. Not that she's told me much of anything for why we even need all this Dust.'

"Don't think too long on this, Roman. I can assure you that anything anyone else will do to you will feel like Heaven when I find out that you lied or hid some amount of information from me. So just talk and nothing bad will happen. In fact,…" the girl trailed off as she turned back to him. Reaching out with her left hand, white flames flickering around it, she gingerly cupped his face and gently guided him to look into her eyes. "If you do a good enough job, I am more than willing to let you have a place in my world. Depending on how well you do, I might even consider letting you bring someone else along with you."

Roman's instincts had initially told him to back away from the flames, but as they drew closer, he could feel their warmth, their gentleness. Then she had touched him, and he could scarcely describe the euphoria that overcame him, the pain in his arm had been forgotten as he basked in the serenity and comfort that the gentle, warm flames brought. The thing that finally eased his reservations were those same white eyes, the ones that just mere moments ago looked so cruel, so vile, now held a gentleness to them he could scarcely place. It was like they believed in him, that they wanted him to be his best, that they'd always be proud of him. "I don't really know what the Dust is for, but Cinder, the woman organizing all this, is planning something big. She's got a couple of cronies with her: a darker girl with mint colored hair and red eyes, and a pasty boy that has grey hair and eyes. I don't know much about them, but one day they just showed up and started knocking off the competition. The two kids are about on par with some of the better graduates at the academies, while Cinder herself is probably better than the average Huntsman. That's not counting her weird Semblance that she has; she can conjure insane amounts of fire. Honestly, it feels a bit too strong to be a Semblance with how much she can do, and I'm not the only one agreeing with that. I don't know how she did it, but she managed to rope in the Vale branch of the White Fang into working for her. She's had me working with them to steal Dust from the Kingdom. Tonight is a one off, I just wanted some time away from those mangy mutts and that impossible bitch," he took a breath. That feeling, that elation compelling him further. "Though she is piloting the Bullhead in an alley nearby."

Much to Roman's dismay, the girl walked away and stopped in front of the shop's window. "So she's near here."

"Yeah." Roman confirmed. "Just behind that apartment, there's a rather large alleyway. She's there waiting. Though I do think she might be getting a little annoyed at how long this is taking."

"I doubt that very much, but it doesn't matter. This does present a wonderful opportunity though." The girl turned back around. "We can certainly make use of her to further my own goals."

Roman looked at the odd girl confused. "Care to explain how we might do that? I'd rather not be stumbling through another plan."

"Of course, I intended to explain it. The entire thing relies on your acting ability after all." The girl started. "I need to get into Beacon because that's where one of my targets is hiding out. Now~ I didn't want to really want to wait all that time, then I remembered that you showed up here. So, I started thinking and came up with the idea to potentially get myself in early. That's where YOU come in." she pointed at the thief. "Originally, I just wanted to use you to get info on the criminal underground to have a way to get at my other target, but the fact that you are currently in contact with someone that sketchy just reeks of the fact that the war playing out in the background has been taken to a more active state."

Roman blinked blankly at her. The silence palpable. "That…That is quite the leap in logic. Also, what war are we talking about? Is this some secret war with battles happening outside the Kingdoms, or is this some war where nothing is really happening, and everyone involved is effectively killing time while they think of rather stupid ways to one-up one another?"

That seemed to kill some of the girl's enthusiasm as she crossed her arms and pouted. "Mostly the latter, but I do know that something is happening because Qrow had to run out of Yang's party some months back. He was really looking forward to that vacation, but as soon as he came home he had to leave again. Stupid bird, running off and skipping out on my 'training.' How am I supposed to reveal a huge leap in skill if my trainer runs off most of the time?" She stopped for a moment before regathering her thoughts. "That is beside the point. I know that something is going on and the timely appearance of your weird "boss" points to something big happening. That's why I want to get into Beacon early and where you come in."

She marched back to the counter and started pulling out some of the Dust. "First, we need to make it look like I'm giving you a hard fight by throwing you out the window, then you'll shoot some of the Dust we set up and blow up the store. From there, we have a bit of a back and forth, then you run off and get Cinder to pick you up. I follow and you make some big attack. That's when a Huntress will step in and "save the day," which will lead to me getting a glowing recommendation for when I apply for early enrollment into Beacon. Sound perfect, good, then help me- "

"Where is the Huntress coming from? I doubt one would just be hanging around at this time of night." Roman interrupted.

The girl just smiled and chuckled at him. "That's where you're wrong. I just so happened to see a certain Headmistress of Beacon in the area before I saw you come into the store. It's the reason we're blowing up the store in the first place, to make sure she heads in this direction."

"That's incredibly good luck." Roman stated as he moved to help prep the store, when he remembered something that he should have asked sooner. "I never did catch your name."

The girl stopped for a moment before turning to him with a smile. "How rude of me. To think that I would forget such a crucial detail. Then allow me to introduce myself now. I am Aela. A pleasure to be working with you." she answered with a curtsy.

"Roman Torchwick, but you already knew that."

"Indeed. Now, let's finish this up."

Glynda Goodwitch had been longing for her day to end. Being the Headmistress as well as the primary combat instructor for one of the most prominent to academies in the Kingdoms was a taxing position for any normal person to find themselves in, but Glynda wasn't an ordinary person. She was the aide to one of the important people on the planet and involved in an age long war against an enemy that sought to bring ruin to the world as they knew. Despite all this, the past several had placed an unshakeable anxiety on her shoulders. That night nearly a decade ago had left them scrambling the lands trying to find anything they could about a new threat that had descended upon them.

The idea that some godly entity stronger than the Brother Gods had come to wipe them out had not been an easy pill to swallow, nor was it a particularly well substantiated claim. Still they came at it as though it had been real because of who had informed them of the threat, Ozpin. The man responsible for the safety that the world at large knew because of his continued efforts against the unknown leader of the Grimm. The fact that he had told them of this threat was precedent enough to give weight to the claim, but that didn't make it any easier to find this creature. They didn't know what it looked like, they didn't know where it was, and to make matters worse, it had been allowed to move unabated for ten years. Not helping matters was that they needed to consolidate power. They had redoubled efforts to find the Summer and Spring Maidens. The Winter Maiden was too frail to be expected to take part in any meaningful combat, so they needed to find a "replacement" for her.

She hated thinking about their situation like this. The idea that they could simply throw someone away just to have their power come back into play made her sick, but she understood the necessity of it. Especially with what had happened to Amber. That was a stroke of pure abysmal luck. With the plans of their enemies unknown and whether they had the same information regarding their newfound enemy not known, they had been forced to drag more people into this mess. James had easily offered up his Ace Ops and Specialist Winter Schnee as being worthwhile additions to help ease the burden on Qrow as their only avenue into the plans of their enemies.

All things considered they had managed to take well to the information being presented and showed a willingness to aid that was a breath of fresh air in the admittedly stuffy waiting game that the Brotherhood had found themselves in. So when the news that Amber had taken off from Mistral without the typical guard that would normally accompany her, the quick response made them believe that they might manage to get away with just the singular slip-up. How wrong they had been. The group had arrived too late and was only able to interrupt the theft of the Fall Maiden powers after a grueling battle. The group wasn't nearly effective enough with their leader off on a different mission and they had paid the price for that. One of their own had died ensuring their escape while Elm and Harriet were forced to carry the other two and Amber out the fight. The only Brightside being that they had rough confirmation that Salem most likely knew about the entity with the overkill reinforcements that she had sent to ensure the theft of the Maiden powers. They had records on only two of the five people that ambushed Amber, known murder Tyrian Callows and former Huntsman Hazel Rainart.

The fact that so their enemies had played their hand so aggressively had been all the confirmation they needed to know that Salem was aware of the threat and had come to the same conclusion they had. The more power they held the greater the odds they may beat this entity in a confrontation and buy themselves more time to come up with some strategy to overcome this new trial.

As Glynda continued on her aimless walk, she was ripped from her thoughts by an explosion not too far from her. On instinct, she took off, running as fast as she could. Every second it took her to get there was another second that someone innocent could get hurt. It took her just under a minute to get to where she believed the explosion came from, and what she saw was the burning wreckage of "From Dust Til Dawn". As unfortunate as the destruction of the store was, the sight playing out in front was simply bizarre.

"YOU GOT DIRT ON MY CLOTHES!"

"THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS DURING A FIGHT, PRINCESS!"

"DON'T YOU 'PRINCESS' ME!"

To say Glynda was at a loss for words would be an understatement. Roman Torchwick, infamous thief, was currently running for his life, desperately dodging attacks, from a short girl with a scythe about a foot taller than her. She might have felt more inclined to help, but she wasn't entirely sure her assistance would be necessary. She might have to step in at the end to ensure the girl didn't kill the thief, if the craters in the pavement were anything to go by. Just as Glynda had nearly convinced herself to step in, Roman took out a Dust crystal and detonated it. The resulting dust cloud obscuring him from the girl, and he ran for a nearby ladder, ascending it.

Once more Glynda made to move only for the girl to materialize underneath the thief and hook her scythe onto the roof of the building. Only after the Bullhead showed up and Roman threw another Dust crystal did Glynda intervene. Quickly shielding both herself and the girl, Glynda waited for the dust from the explosion to clear before retaliating. Using her semblance, she gathered chunks of the exploded roof and launched them at the Bullhead. As the Bullhead rocked, Roman retreated to the cockpit and a new person replaced them. Unfortunately, the shadows of the Bullhead kept their features obscured aside from the otherworldly glow that lit up the patterns on their outfit.

Taking no chances, Glynda split the rubble in three and bombarded the Bullhead from multiple angles. The Bullhead shook with increased fervor as the girl beside her shifted her weapon, into what looked to be a rifle form, and opened fire. The woman, as made evident by her stagger from the repeated rocks of the Bullhead, blocked each shot with an open hand before the patterns on her outfit glowed brighter and she unleashed a destructive wave of flame that engulfed the rubble that surrounded the ship.

Glynda's next move was cut off by a high-pitched screech below her. Quickly, she tossed the girl to safety as she jumped back out the explosion. As she recovered, the Bullhead took off.

As she watched the Bullhead disappear, she thought about the short skirmish. 'That felt too powerful to just be a Semblance. Could she be- '

"Hey!"

Turning to face the girl, Glynda finally got a good look at her and immediately knew that her night was far from over the moment she saw the girl's silver eyes. 'I already know that Ozpin is going to complicate this.'

"Are you ignoring me? I said, 'Why did you let them get away?'" the girl whined. The Headmistress fixed the girl with a heavy glare.

"Do you know how reckless your actions were tonight?"

'If I knew how annoying this was going to be, I wouldn't have gone through with it.' Ruby thought as she sat there glaring at the table in front of her, as though it held the key to escape. Said table was kept silent by the impact of the blonde's riding crop. 'Who uses a riding crop as a weapon? Either it's a kink thing or she has some serious pent up feelings.'

"Are you even listening?" said blonde asked. Ruby turned her stare to her.

"Not really. Can I go home yet?" 'And seriously rethink my plans'

To Ruby's dismay, the answer she received was not the one she wanted. "No. There is someone that wishes to speak with you." Ruby's eyes widened. 'Please don't be Yang. She will never let me live this down.'

The door to the interrogation room opened, and in walked Ozpin, a tray of cookies in one hand and a mug of something that filled the room with the aroma of chocolate in the other. 'Maybe this might be salvageable after all.' He carefully walked to the table in the room and set both items down before seating himself. "Ruby Rose… You have silver eyes."

Just as she thought things might have gone her way, she got confirmation that things could always get better. 'Sometimes I wonder how it is that immortals manage to last as long as they do when they drop such huge red flags.' Quickly averting her eyes to the tray of cookies, she couldn't help the longing she felt for them. Noticing her gaze, Ozpin pushed the tray forward. "Please, help yourself. I find that having a delicious snack after a dangerous encounter calms the nerves."

With no more prodding needed, Ruby dug in, savoring each bite. Ozpin and Glynda watched for a few seconds before he cleared his throat. "Now, what is an adorable little girl like yourself doing out so late?"

Ruby could barely suppress the twitch of her eyebrow. 'Oh yes, I'm soooo little. Excuse me, I'd like to see you try and stuff a higher dimensional consciousness into a physical form without causing immense physical strain on it. At least this one is taller than most of my vessels. A solid 4'5". I miss being 5' and a Super Saiyan. Good times.' Snapping herself out of her thoughts, she finished the cookies she had in hand. "I wanted to look at some of the new weapon catalogues to get some ideas for upgrades to Reaping Rose. My baby deserves nothing but the best."

"I see…" he calmly replied. Taking a brief sip from his mug, he once more looked at the girl in front of him. "Tell me. How are you holding up after experiencing that? I don't know many your age that find themselves put in a situation like yours."

"What?" Her response gave him some pause. Perhaps he should have been a bit clearer.

"Allow me to rephrase that. We found the bodies of at least six individuals in the remains of the store. I wanted to know if you were alright after having witnessed what happened in there. Glynda mentioned that you were rather irate with Torchwick before she intervened."

"Oh, that. Eh," she shrugs, "I wasn't really upset by any of that. He got dirt all over my outfit when he blew up the store. That's why I was mad." She thought for a moment as both adults looked at her with differing levels of incredulity, Glynda visibly so and Ozpin more subtly. "I guess it sucks that that old man is dead. He seemed pretty alright…from the like three times I interacted with him."

A long silence hung over the room as the two adults processed what she said. The two exchanging looks, as Ruby began eating more of the cookies. Eventually, Ozpin seemed to decide to move the interview along. "As eye opening as that statement is, I do believe there are other things that should be discussed." He slid a Tablet across to her with footage of her brief scuffle with Torchwick outside the store playing. "I have to ask. Who is it that trained you to use such an unconventional weapon? I only know of one such individual of particular talent with such weaponry…a dusty, old crow."

"Yeah, Qrow taught most of what I know. If he was around more often, I might have beaten that girly man." She crossed her arms, pouting. "Too bad he's constantly having to leave. Like, seriously, he comes home for a few days, then he goes back out for months. I get the harder Huntsmen missions pay more, but it seriously cuts into my training time." The rest neither caught as Ruby descended into grumbling.

Once more clearing his throat to get her attention, Ozpin made her an offer. "Since Qrow is too busy, how about coming to Beacon? I've looked at your records, and you have exceptional talent. It wouldn't do to have you stagnate now. What do you say?" Glynda could already feel the oncoming headache for all the additional paperwork she was going to have to do, but she knew that it could prove to be useful. A Silver Eyed Warrior joining them would be a boon. If they trained her properly, they could very well have another card to play against the entity.

"Sure. I was already thinking about applying for early enrollment, so this works out just great." The girl replied as she stuck out her right hand. Ozpin accepted the offered handshake. "I'm glad we could come to this conclusion, Miss Rose. Now, I believe that there is still a couple weeks before the semester starts. I hope you'll be prepared for it."

The two professors watched the girl leave, likely headed towards the docks to catch the ferry back to Patch. "I know we're getting desperate but is it really such a good idea to let someone with such a disregard for life get involved?" the Headmistress asked, the contention clear on her face.

Ozpin waited a few moments as he stared at the broken moon. Closing his eyes, he responds, "Sometimes we are left with very few options left and it is simply a matter of choosing the least damaging one. That said, perhaps we can potentially alleviate this flaw." The look he received indicated that an elaboration on the topic was necessary. "The silver eyes are a power directly linked to the want to 'preserve life' and as she will be closer at hand, we might be able to get her to reach that understanding."

"So, you want us to play therapist to her and 'correct' her behavior." Glynda stated more than asked. Ozpin let the statement hang for a moment. "I believe it to be more along the lines of guiding her to the right conclusion. With the way teams are formed, I doubt that she won't connect to someone. We might not be able to convince her to care for everyone, but we can always reinforce the idea that she should at the very least care for those closest to her and hope that it will be enough."

Ozpin started making his way back towards Beacon. "I do believe that there is still work that needs to be done and, unfortunately, it will not do itself." Sighing in defeat, Glynda followed him back.

Roman walked into the backroom of the current warehouse they were hiding out in and collapsed onto the lone sofa lining the wall, the various few items ignored. 'What a night. To think I'd find something bigger than Cinder. At least I actually get to gain from this.' He rolled up his sleeve and glanced at the place Aela had grabbed him. Staring back at him was an emerald, imbedded in his forearm. 'That is definitely different.' He tapped it and nothing happened. 'Not too sure what this all changes.'

"Roman. We need to talk."

Roman sat up on the couch and looked towards the voice as Cinder entered the room. She looked mildly annoyed, and he could guess why. "What is it? Tonight has been rough. Seriously, kids these days are just something else. Let me tell you…that girl…I know they say that looks can be deceiving, but that was too much." He knew Cinder would want to know why he ran from a little girl, and he genuinely was surprised at how aggressive Aela was in that brief fight.

"Is that all you have to say about that failure?" Cinder questioned, her eyes narrowed, and voice laced with annoyance.

Roman just rolled his eyes. "Well, now that you mention it…had I kept fighting the wannabe goth girl, that Huntress that showed up would have definitely taken me down. Do you know how loud that explosion was? I swear I thought I lost my hearing for a minute there." He shrugged. "At the end of the day, we both know that the real prize is on that SDC shipment right before the festival. The small time gigs you've had me running ragged with were all to just drive up Dust prices, so I don't see the problem if we just blow up a store or two instead of robbing 'em. Either way it gets us what we want."

He took a minute and lit a cigar. Puffing a couple times, he could see the irritation on Cinder's face. "Maybe if you told me why we're stealing it in the first place, I can get around blowing up a couple stores." To her credit, Cinder didn't immediately incinerate him. Instead, she gave him a withering glare as she stalk away. "Make sure, next time, that some kid doesn't get in the way and that you steal the Dust. We're going to need every last bit of it."

Only when Cinder had finally exited the room and he was sure that he wouldn't be interrupted. Roman opened his Scroll and found the contact of that actually had a picture. He spent a couple seconds thinking of what to send. 'Found our out, and if we do well enough. A bonus.'

'?'

Roman smiled the first genuine smile he had since taking this gig as he filled his partner in on the details.

It was 2:00 am when Ruby got home from her trip to Vale. All the lights were out the cabin as she approached. All but one that is. 'I guess someone stayed up.' As she entered, she saw Tai sitting on the sofa, Scroll in hand. "I know you can defend yourself, but I still don't think it's a good idea to stay out so late." the concern heavy in his voice.

Ruby felt a little shameful after hearing him. She fiddled around for a bit before responding. "To be fair, it wasn't exactly my fault. The interrogation took a bit longer than I thought it would." Tai's astonishment was plain to see. "I'm sorry I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you say 'interrogation'?"

"Yeah~. I might have gotten involved in a robbery and a Huntress took me in to admonish me, but it was all bad news. I met Ozpin, and he offered to let me in Beacon early!" Despite the excitement in her voice, Tai couldn't help but think that things were moving too fast. 'I knew she was talented, but I didn't think Oz would get involved with a simple robbery.' His eyes widened. 'He wants her for her eyes.' Immediately, his eyes narrowed. "Ruby, I think you should take the time to seriously consider this. You're good for your year, but I think if you skip years like this you'll end up isolating yourself."

"It's too late for that. I already agreed." She huffed before hopping up the stairs to the second floor. Stopping midway, "Still, thanks for worrying, Tai." With that she ran up the rest of the stairs and Tai sighed as he leaned back. He sat there for a long while before heading to bed.

The next day Ruby headed back out to Vale. She had received an email regarding the various texts that she needed for the upcoming year. She could have gone to the Hunter's Supply store on Patch, they likely had all the books she needed, but she wanted to explore the city a bit more. That and, if she had time, visit her new companions.

She wandered around Vale not really paying too much attention. She ad seen that there was a bookstore not too far from the dockyard. Soon she was opening its door and was greeted to the sight of several shelves of books and a counter directly across from the door. "Welcome to 'Tukson's Book Trade. 'Home to Every Book under the Sun.' I'll be right with you." The voice had come from deeper into the store, so she walked up to the counter and waited, Scroll in hand. A minute later, a large man exited through the door behind the counter, putting on the kindest, business smile he had. "How can help you, little lady?"

Ruby rolled her eyes as she placed her Scroll on the counter with the email open. "I'm looking for these books and I was wandering if you had them." The man, presumably Tukson, picked up the Scroll and scanned through the mentioned books. "I believe I should have all these that you're looking for, but I gotta say, these are some pretty complex books for someone your age."

Ruby just puffed up her chest, a smug smile on her face. "I was accepted into Beacon early." The man whistled. "Then I guess I should help our up and coming star start her year off right. I'll be just a moment." He handed back her Scroll before disappearing through the doorway behind the counter. A few minutes later he came back out with an armful of books. Setting them down, he rang them up. "That'll be 720 Lien." As she pulled the Lien out of her wallet, he bagged the books for her. After the exchange, she headed out, waving bye.

The girl wandered the streets, not really thinking of where she was going. 'I wonder if Roman is about. We didn't really get to talk all that much. Eh, he has my Scroll number.' Deciding to wait on meeting him again, she kept walking around looking for anything that really stuck out. She noted the various shops littered around the market district. 'What else do I actually need?' Checking the email again, she noted the lack of any real supplies that it mentions. 'I guess that the school supplies the students with whatever they could need in regard to weapons and whatnot.' Ruby spent the rest of the day wandering around mostly window shopping before heading home for dinner. That was how the rest of the time before the semester at Beacon started was spent, wandering Vale and occasionally doing maintenance on her weapon.

'Why is she here?' Yang Xiao Long had been rather pleased to have a break from Ruby. The two years between them meant that she could get established and have a break from dealing with Ruby's snark. Yet here she was, standing not too far away, staring out the window. 'First, "From Dust Til Dawn" burns down, and now I don't even get a break from her. Hopefully we don't get placed on the same team.' The girls weren't on terrible terms. They bickered from time to time and were capable of having fun together, but Yang wanted to strike out on her own without everyone knowing that she was close with snarky princess. She turned away and went to stand on the other side of the airship.

As for Ruby, she was leisurely waiting as she gazed upon the city of Vale. 'As much as I enjoy the little intricacies of the various worlds I've been to, you'd think they would have more things to do. I never thought I would grow bored of killing monsters, but it has lost way too much luster from the short time that I've been here. Most of them are as dumb as bricks and rely on pack tactics to get anything done, but the smart ones just run away when things get bad. Makes me wish I was back in the Duel Monsters' world. I don't know how they managed to build their civilization around a trading card game, but the fact that the entire Fate hinged on it is insane. Maybe I should bring that to my world.'

As she stood there, mentally reorganizing her world, she almost failed to notice the blonde boy stumbling in her direction. "Oh gods, I'm gonna be sick." He stumbled a few more paces before hugging the nearest trashcan, which happened to be right in front of her. The vile, wretched smell hit her, and it was all she could do to keep from gagging as she looked at the boy in disgust. 'Seriously! Ugh, why would they let someone like this in? He doesn't even look like he's any good.' The boy could hardly be viewed from how he was bent over the can, but she still felt inclined to her opinion as she left her spot for anywhere that wasn't next to puke boy.

The next few minutes of the ride felt like an eternity for all onboard as they had to put up with the incessant retching along with the smell the entire time. The blonde responsible quickly ran off the ship and latched onto the first trashcan he could find. Everyone gave him a wide birth as they departed with Ruby putting as much distance between them as she could. She broke apart from the crowd to view the courtyard. Looking around, she was mildly impressed with the architecture. The buildings were slightly imposing, and the space between each building made them all seem important. Like they each were the most important thing in the area, yet she could tell that the tower truly held that title. Jutting into the heavens, Beacon Tower stood vigilant over the city, its light shining even through the day.

'At least everyone can agree that important places should look important.' She stood there taking in the sights and reminiscing on other views not too dissimilar. Her reminiscing was cut short when a trolley of suitcases crashed into her, spilling them all over and leaving Ruby flattened on the ground. 'Ow, who – '

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Ruby turned to whoever was screaming only to find a girl in white standing over her. "What – "

"Do you know what kind of damage you could have caused?!"

"What do- "

"This is Dust mined from- "the screaming girl was interrupted by a small hand shoved into her face. Ruby scarcely took the time to breathe as the annoying girl looked at her indignantly. "First off, there is no need to yell. I can hear just fine. Secondly, I don't know why you're yelling at me when you ran me over. Thirdly- "

"I wouldn't have 'run you over' if you hadn't been standing there like a brainless buffoon. Besides, who let a child like you in here. I don't- "

"I am not a 'child'."

"Could have fooled me."

Ruby simply gave a deadpan look at the white girl that stood in front of her. She finally took the time to observe the girl before her. The frustrated girl was giving her a hard stare with her ice-blue eyes. The only flaw marring her appearance was a scar running down over her left eye. It was in this moment that Ruby saw something beneath the frustration and anger that lied at the forefront of those eyes. She stalked closer as the other girl raised a brow. Her right arm struck out and she pulled the other girl down to her level.

"What could possibly have the heiress of the largest corporation on the planet so scared?" she whispered; her tone curious.

The white girl's eyes widened as she stammered at the accusation before indignation took over. "I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to swat the smaller girl's arm away, but a wave of dread stilled motions as it filled her. It took every ounce of her restraint to keep from shaking as she stared into the eerie white eyes of girl holding her. Her mouth ran dry as the two continued to stare.

"I see." Ruby calmly replied. She released the other girl, turned, and walked towards the auditorium. As she walked, she called out. "I do hope that you try to get along with others. You'll find that being among friends makes the fear seem less significant."

The heiress was left standing there, gaping at the girl as she walked away. After a few moments like this, she shook her head and shakily went about picking up her suitcases and porting her luggage to the proper place, her thoughts solely on the odd girl and what she had said.

Ruby walked to the auditorium, her thoughts on the countless others she had seen not too dissimilar to the heiress she had just met. Upon entering, she made her way to the front of the crowd of potential students. Once she finally made her way to the front, she grabbed onto the edge of the railing to view the stage below.

Standing on stage, Ozpin cleared his throat. "I'll keep this brief." His voice resounded through the halls. "Many of you have come here in search of knowledge, some of you have come to hone your skills, and some still seek a new beginning. I assure you that you will find all of that and more while you are at this academy, but as I see it now, you are little more than wasted potential. The skills you possess may be the best of your peers, but you are still far from being prepared for the reality that awaits outside the safe haven of the city's walls. By the time you graduate, we will have forged you from the children you are into the upstanding warriors that will protect mankind as the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses."

Having said his piece, the ancient wizard walked off the stage as Glynda Goodwitch took his place. "You are to gather in the auditorium tonight. Initiation is tomorrow at eight sharp. Take this opportunity to rest, you will need to be at your best if you wish to get through tomorrow."

With that the crowd of students began dispersing, Ruby managed to spy Yang as the other girl was walking towards the doorway. Quickly, she made her way to the blonde. "Yang!" The mentioned girl turned and groaned. "Please Ruby, I'd like to get through today without a headache."

Waving her off, Ruby trotted alongside Yang. "Don't worry. I know better than to throw you off right before a big day. I want you to give it your A game tomorrow." Grabbing Yang's hand, Ruby took off. "To the cafeteria. We have got to start this off right with a big hearty meal."

Yang smiled as she picked up Ruby and took off. "Now you're talking my language."

"Onward my mighty steed!" Ruby cried out.

Having just finished getting out of the showers, Ruby made her way to her sleeping bag that she had placed by one of the windows. She gingerly plopped down as she listlessly stared out the window.

"I know we didn't really talk before, but nobody gave you any trouble, right?"

Ruby turned to the voice to find Yang laying down her own sleeping bag. She blinked owlishly. "I thought you said that you were going to hang out with your friends."

Yang sheepishly rubbed her head as she sat down. "I might have realized that you don't really have anyone to hang with. So I figured that I might as well keep you company until we have our teams assigned."

Ruby latched onto her, rubbing her head against Yang. "That's so~ cute. You thought I'd be lonely~"

Yang, for her part, let it happen as she couldn't very well deny the claim she made. After a minute of hugging Yang pulled away. "Just because I'm with you doesn't mean that I want you to sleep in my bag with me."

Ruby protested as she tried to force her way back. "But you're so warm. It's like I have my own heated pillow."

Deciding she had had enough, Yang got up and forced Ruby into her own bag. "Remember what you said about wanting me to do my best? Well I can't do that if you're using me as a pillow, besides you're plenty warm enough. I'd probably have a stroke if we both got into the same sleeping bag."

Ruby pouted as she lay there with just her head poking through. "Fine, but you have to keep me company until initiation starts."

"Deal."

"Hey, hot stuff. What do you saw we get to know each other?"

Both girls turned to the new voice that barged into their conversation. They both frowned at the sight of a blonde boy in a bright blue onesie. He looked far too cocky for the attire he was wearing. Ruby turned to Yang. "Someone you know?"

Yang looked scandalized at the comment, but the look quickly turned into a scowl as she marched up to the boy. "I don't know what you think you're doing but piss off, or I throw you through the window."

The boy chuckled nervously but still pushed on. "Playing hard to get. I get that. Kind of the cool loner type myself-" the boy was promptly interrupted by Yang picking him up and throwing him across the room. His girlish scream alerting and annoying everyone.

Yang dusted her hands as she shook her head. "Some guys just don't know how to take a hint."

"At least you didn't break anything this time. Tai would be proud." Ruby commented, sagely nodding her head.

The buxom blonde rolled her eyes as she turned back to face Ruby. "You say that as if I break things often."

The deadpan look she got hardly fazed her as she clambered into her sleeping bag. "G'night, Ruby."

"Night."

Author's Note:

Chapter 4 is finally done. I managed to finish the outline though I do need to go back and completely change the ending because I've thought of something better, but that doesn't really matter.

Last chapter I mentioned making more introduction chapters, but I couldn't think of something that would have been significant enough, long enough, and could have been added back to Ruby/Aela and her goals.

I kinda have an idea of how long I want each chapter to be. Around 8,000 words is satisfactory to me and I hope that it keeps you all entertained. There are going to be several slow parts as things pick up around the start of the Vytal Festival. Not to mention the fact that some of the parts included will be pretty bad. There were a few points in this chapter that didn't quite sit well with me, but I wanted certain interactions to happen. Hopefully you can get through it.

To Arkangel Michael: Thanks for the lengthy review. It's nice to have a review that says what they liked and how they felt about elements of the story. As for some the points you bring up; such as Ruby's relation to Tai and them. I might not have been as clear as I could have been, but I do intend to bring it back up. In regards to any Ruby vs Yang confliects, anything substantial won't be happening for a while. Hopefully I'll build it up decently. Ruby's powers are not going to be explicitly stated for a long time, but isn't exactly a secret.

Having said all that, I do hope that everyone reading this has enjoyed it. I hope you have a good day.