Running, dark tunnel. Rumbling, screaming, crumbling. Turn around, turn around, Ruby! They need you!
Turn around. Dark tunnel. Weiss? Blake? Yang? Chainsaw, cane, parasol.
We need you, Ruby!
Team, leaderless. Chainsaw.
Make a choice.
Blood. Cane.
Choice.
Blood. Parasol.
Simple.
Blood. Sword.
Sword.
Sword?
Ruby woke with a gasp. Her heart was hammering against her chest, and she struggled to get her breathing back under control before she woke the team. That dream— no, nightmare— was fleeting, she was only left with its vague impressions of fear, anger, and disappointment. Why was she disappointed?
Ruby shook her head free of her thoughts and checked her scroll. Her alarm would ring in about 40 minutes. She looked around the room, taking in her sleeping teammates' expressions, all of which seemed to be content. She hopped off of her bunk, her bare feet impacting the wooden floorboards with practiced silence. She gingerly walked to hers and Weiss' dresser and pulled open the top drawer, revealing a plethora of red and black, along with a few grays and off-whites. Silently, she grabbed the outfit she'd planned and headed to the bathroom, where she left the clothes on the lid of the toilet and shed her pajamas. She turned on the shower, not bothering to wait for the water to heat up. The freezing cold water kept her distracted from the lingering, ominous feelings that her dreams had left with her.
As much as she wanted to stay in the shower as it gradually became warmer, she knew that her alarm would be going off soon. She quickly finished showering and toweling herself off, and caught herself in the mirror. She'd grown a fair bit since her first year, and was now significantly taller than Weiss at 5'5", and was only an inch shorter than her sister. Her hair, too, had grown longer, and now reached to the base of her neck. Graduating had left her a few reminders of her time spent on missions with a fair few scars. Being something of a glass cannon made her easily the most prone of the group to have a broken Aura, thus also making her the most scarred.
Two long lines of slightly raised, pink scar tissue stretched from the right side of her pelvis to the front of her thigh, a mark she'd earned when a Beowolf got a lucky hit on her. Dozens of smaller scars littered her upper arms and shoulders, reminders of being thrown through various glass windows during Mountain Glenn expeditions, none of which came even close to as impressive as her crowning set, a trio of scars on her back. She turned to get a good look at them in the mirror, and felt a surge of pride when she saw them. Three gnarled lines of raised, pink skin crossed her back diagonally, a reminder that she could still hold her own when her aura was drained.
They came from a Nevermore, one which she affectionately referred to as 'Bartramb' in her memories. She'd tumbled when her Semblance had fully drained her Aura, leaving her on her hands and knees, her clothing torn and ripped and blood leaking from various smaller wounds. Bartramb had taken it upon himself to exploit her moment of vulnerability and remove her from the equation. He'd swooped over and raked her back with one of his taloned feet, leaving her screaming as the pain burned through her. She'd just barely managed to bring Crescent Rose up in an overhead arc with one arm in time to bury the head of her scythe in his lower back. She remembered emptying the rest of Crescent Rose's magazine and using the recoil the rip Bartramb's lower back apart, forcing him to land where her team could finish him off. Each scar was a reminder of her victories; Qrow had taught her that when she'd taken notice of his scar-littered arms. She was a survivor, and she had proof.
She left the bathroom with a nervous excitement. She'd grown well out of her clothes from last year, and ditched the black and red dress in favor of a more reasonable ensemble. She wore a high-neck blouse with loose sleeves, the cuffs of which were wrapped tightly under a pair of reddish leather vambraces. The blouse was tucked into a black skirt with a red trim, and both were worn under a corset with a similar color scheme. An ammo belt hung around her hips, on which a pair of large red magazines hung on her left side, and an assortment of Dust-tipped rounds hung in small loops on her right side. The outfit was completed by a pair of black thigh-highs and boots. She'd been so angry when her old lace-up boots didn't fit her anymore, but at least the new pair didn't come unlaced anymore, given that they used belts rather than laces to keep them secured.
She'd managed to not wake anyone with her morning routine, but she certainly wasn't going to keep it that way. Once again, she looked at the clock on her Scroll. Three minutes. That's close enough. She pulled the dreaded whistle from a skirt pocket and held it to her lips. Before she could blow it, however, an epiphany struck her. She slowly walked to her partner's bunk and shook Weiss from her sleep.
"Ugh, wha, Ruby what's—?" Weiss spoke blearily, "Was I having another nightmare?"
Ruby gave her a soft smile and held up the whistle in response. Weiss' eyes widened in realization, and she nearly scrambled from the bed and towards the bathroom. She muttered a small 'thank you' to her partner before crossing the threshold into where she'd be sheltered from the whistle's dreaded cry.
Yang awoke to the horrible sound of that fucking whistle, but she managed to not fall out of her bunk like last time. She covered her ears, which was just enough to make it feel like her eardrums weren't going to burst at any moment. She could feel Blake jerking and jumping out of bed below her, and she watched her partner quickly wrestle the whistle from her sister's hands and throw it across the room, where the flimsy thing shattered against the wall. Ruby looked dumbfounded, but the surprise in her eyes was replaced with smugness.
"You know I have more." Ruby stated matter-of-factly.
Blake groaned and waved her off. Despite her state of undress, she left the dorm to get her weapon from her locker, as she always did. She didn't mind being the last to shower.
Yang managed to drag herself out of her bed only after her sister threatened to use one of her many other whistles. As she moved to hers and Blake's dresser to get her clothes ready, Weiss exited the bathroom. She walked to her dresser in her underwear with her hair wrapped in a towel. It was in that moment that Yang realized that Ruby was fully dressed, and in a new outfit, too. In Patch, she mostly wore hot pants and tank tops, even when training with Qrow. Ruby caught her sister looking at her outfit and looked away sheepishly. Yang shot her a grin and a thumbs up since she was too groggy to speak.
Out of all the members of Team RWBY, Ruby was the only one who didn't get dressed in front of others, although she didn't seem to care much when people changed in front of her. The only person on the team who'd seen more than the skin of her arms, legs, and face was Yang, since they'd bathed together as children. Now, though, Ruby even kept herself hidden while at home on Patch, which Yang found rather strange, but opted not to ask her about. It's not like it was bothering anybody.
As Yang set her clothing on Blake's bed and headed to the bathroom, Ruby sat on Weiss' bed and played on her Scroll. Or, at least, it looked like she was playing on her Scroll. Really, she was watching Weiss dressing herself. In her mind, she tried to make it seem not creepy, but there was really no way of denying that what she was doing rated at least a solid six on the creepy scale. She tried to justify that she just wanted to see her partner's new outfit, and that was really most of the reason she was watching, but she also found her gaze hanging on her partner's legs and neck. Totally in a non-creepy way.
"Ruby." The voice jerked her out of her trance, and she felt the blush heating up her collar as Weiss addressed her. "Are you alright? You're staring."
Oh, Dust, that was weird. She was weird. She didn't usually stare! Why is she staring now! Still staring! "U-uh, it's nothing , I—"
"Oh!" Weiss exclaimed, "You've got a new outfit! I didn't notice when you woke me up."
Ruby eagerly took the opportunity to escape her excuses, "I did! I grew out of all my other stuff, so, yeah," She stood from the bed and held the skirt out to the side a bit, "Is it nice?"
Weiss smiled and went back to clothing herself. "I like it. It's more rugged."
Ruby beamed. That was exactly what she wanted to hear, she just hadn't realized it. Rugged. Perfect. "Thanks!"
Ruby was about to say something else when Weiss started pulling on a pair of light grey slacks. Ruby could feel herself freaking out internally. Pants? Weiss? Ruby's panic only intensified as she watched her partner tuck her dress shirt— how hadn't she noticed that before? — into her slacks. The white shirt's top two buttons were left undone, revealing a tasteful but conservative amount of porcelain skin. Ruby watched as Weiss rolled up her cuffs, revealing that they were a bright red on the inside, and pushed them up to her elbows.
To say the least, Ruby was dumbfounded.
Weiss zipped up the sides of her white ankle boots and looked back at Ruby. "You're staring again."
Ruby shook her head, "Wuh, What?"
Weiss gave a wan smile. "Is it that bad?"
Ruby jumped off of the bed and held her hands out in front of her. "No! No, it's great it's just… not a dress."
Weiss smiled and fiddled with the shirt's cuff. "It's… new," she smirked, "Father was not happy."
Ruby stood in awe at her partner, "And your hair?" She blurted out.
"It was getting in the way, and it was a hassle to wash, so instead of letting father find me 'the best hairdresser in Remnant', I cut it myself. With Myrtenaster." Her smirk intensified, "In front of my father."
Ruby blinked. "Dust, Weiss, that's… kinda hardcore."
"I know, right!" Weiss said giddily, then nervously fiddled with her collar as she schooled her expression. "I mean, yes. It is… hardcore, by my standards."
Ruby watched in awe as Weiss looped a white belt around her slacks and pulled one last thing out of her dresser. She threw it over her right shoulder and tied it across her chest and under her left arm with a silvery cord. It was a white half-cape that covered her entire right arm, and Ruby gently grabbed a corner to look closely at the embroidery on its trim, where red flowers danced around ice blue snowflakes in a beautifully made thread design. Ruby couldn't keep the whisper from escaping, "It's beautiful."
Weiss blushed and sheepishly avoided her partner's eyes. "Thank you, Ruby. I actually did the embroidery myself."
Ruby dropped the cape and her mouth hung open. "You what! You can do that?"
Weiss' blush faded, and she took on a smug expression in its place, "I most certainly can."
Ruby rushed to their dresser and yanked open her drawer, pulling out her cloak and holding it for Weiss to see, "Could you embroider my cloak?"
Weiss flinched at the request, but her surprise died quickly. "I could."
Ruby bounced on her toes, "Will you, please? Please?"
Weiss smiled at her partner and put her hand on Ruby's shoulder, her cape draping across her side as she reached out, "Yes."
"When!" Ruby exclaimed in joy as she hurriedly wrapped her cloak around her and secured it with a new Rose crest brooch.
Weiss let go of her partner and shrugged, "We'll see."
The gentle creak of the bathroom door and an exodus of steam heralded Yang's return from her shower. She was completely nude and heaved a great sigh as she strode across the room to don the clothes she had set on the bed. Her choice of clothing was relatively simple compared to the other two occupants. She chose to wear an unadorned yellow t-shirt and black joggers, along with a dark leather fur-lined bomber jacket. She retained the orange scarf she'd worn the year before, but swapped out her boots for a pair of black sneakers with yellow laces. It was a comfortable outfit meant to be easy to move around in while also providing moderate protection from the elements, or at least enough that her Aura wouldn't have to do all the work to keep her warm. The sneakers, though, would have to go if they had a mission in the snow, but she was prepared for that.
As Yang got to work tying her shoelaces into a double-knot, Blake stepped into the dorm with Gambol Shroud in hand. As soon as she walked in, she took notice of the heiress' new style. A quirked eyebrow was the only indicator that she was moderately surprised, "Woah, Weiss. That's… new."
Weiss smirked and Yang looked up, having not noticed the heiress when she'd walked through the dorm. "Oh shit! That's a good look, Weiss!"
The compliments added a hint of a blush to Weiss' face, but her reply was cut off by her partner's frustrated cry, "I got a new look, too!"
Blake and Yang looked at Ruby, then each other, then Ruby again. They shrugged, causing Ruby to whine at their flippant dismissal. Weiss, however, gave Ruby a pat on the back. "I think it looks dashing, Ruby."
Ruby blushed and beamed at her partner. "Well I think you look dashing, too."
"Get a room, lovebirds!" Yang groaned as she pushed open the door and left to get her weapons. Weiss and Ruby followed not long after her.
The Armory, or Locker Room as some students half-jokingly called it, was lined wall-to-wall with lockers, each of which held a student's weapon. No student could figure out how the lockers were ordered, since they certainly weren't alphabetical, and they had been installed before the teams were decided. They seemed to be completely random in their sequence, which is why Weiss hated it. Somehow, she always managed to arrive just in time to see Jaune and Pyrrha and, with their lockers' proximity, she had to watch as Pyrrha so obviously flirted with the boy, only for him to either miss out completely on it or get flustered and dismiss it. It frustrated her to no end to watch Pyrrha continually flounder in her romantic attempts due to his ignorance, but she also knew that the blame could equally be hers since she hadn't come upfront and said she'd liked him. Weiss couldn't fathom why they weren't just straight with each other, it'd make everything easier.
Ruby was at her side quickly, cradling her weapon in her arms and dotingly stroking it, and Weiss could see that it did, in fact have a new, much more advanced-looking, scope. The magnetic clip at the back of her belt was always a much quicker way of sheathing her weapon, but Weiss never opted for the quick and easy, which meant she usually had Ruby waiting for her to finish getting Myrtenaster in its belt frog. She'd never asked why Ruby didn't just go back to the dorm when she was finished getting her weapon, but she stopped complaining about the extra company. It was quite pleasant, now.
What was even more pleasant, though, was when she got her second weapon out of her locker. Ruby beamed, and Weiss could practically feel the joy radiating off of her as she took out Rosenwache, the cup-hilted main-gauche that Ruby had made for her on her birthday. She'd gushed about forging it and infusing it with inert Dust crystals during the winter break, the latter of which was a process she'd never done before. As a result, the silvery blade sparkled and shone more than any normal blade would, and it could also serve as a secondary catalyst for her Semblance. She sheathed it in its own frog on her left side, opposite to Myrtenaster.
"Weiss, you look so cool!" Her partner gushed. "Do you really like Rosin… Rosenwock?"
A smile crawled across Weiss' face. No one had ever said she looked cool before. "Ruby, I've been using Rosenwache since you gave it to me. Of course I like it."
"Are you sure? I can make it better, I can give it a dust chamber like Myrtenaster, or make it longer, I can make it a gun if you want, I can—"
"It's perfect," Weiss insisted, "I love it, Ruby."
And she really did. Though she'd wielded Myrtenaster for years, Myrtenaster wasn't really her weapon. Sure, by all legal means she owned it, but someone else made it, someone she didn't know. Rather than build her weapon like Ruby did, her father commissioned it from 'the best weaponsmith in Remnant'. Rosenwache, though, Weiss knew it was made with care just for her. She could picture Ruby bent over a forge for hours just to make her that dagger, imbuing it with Dust, failing miserably the first time, then trying again and again until she made something she knew Weiss would want. Weiss may not have made it herself, but it felt like hers. It wasn't made to be 'the best sword in all of Remnant', it was made to be Weiss'. She swiftly pulled the dagger from its sheath and flourished it with one hand, flipped it over, and balanced the tip of the blade on her index finger. Thankfully, her Aura kept her from getting a rather uncomfortable wound.
Ruby was, as she often tends to be, in awe of her partner. "That's so cool! Can you do any other cool tricks?"
Weiss smirked, oh she most certainly could. Plenty of time alone and/or bored in Atlas meant she had plenty of time to learn a few tricks, many of which she 'accidentally' let her father see. From the tip of her finger, she flicked the dagger into the air and above her head. As it came down, Ruby looked poised to launch at any moment should it look like she was going to be hurt, but Weiss caught it. With speed and ferocity Ruby had not seen from her, she stepped back, allowing the blade to fall in front of her face before turning her head and darting out like a snake, catching the blade of the dagger between her teeth. With steel between her teeth, she gave a sharp and practiced bow.
Ruby looked like she was about to pass out, and even Yang was looking at her with a dazed and impressed expression. She looked around the Armory, and it seemed like everyone was giving her that same look. Weiss felt a smirk creeping, and she was filled with a new sensation. She felt proud, she felt powerful, she felt—
"Holy shit, Weiss," Yang said as she gawked, "That was badass!"
Yes. Badass.
"W-Weiss, that was…" Ruby started, her voice ringing with disbelief, and a hint of a blush tinging her face, "That was so cool!"
Ruby's look of admiration was enough to make her want to do it again, but she realized she'd gotten a lot of attention within the Armory. Almost everyone was looking at her with a dumbfounded expression, probably since most of them still thought she was a prim-and-proper ice queen, despite how much Ruby has insisted that she's changed. She briefly considered doing it anyways, regardless of the attention she was getting, but the buzzing of her Scroll made her change her mind. Quickly, she sheathed the dagger and fished the device from her pocket.
Glynda Goodwitch (7:43 AM):
Today's class will be held in the Amphitheater. Make sure you bring your weapons.
Weiss scoffed. No one in Beacon left their weapons in their lockers, save for beginning freshmen. It may have been an unwritten rule, but it was one that every student of Beacon Academy followed unless told otherwise. Before Ruby could gush about her anymore, she tugged her out of the Armory by the arm. They had plenty of time to get to the Amphitheater, but Weiss intended to be early, and the fact that it was in the Amphitheater meant that she didn't need to go back to the dorm to get their notes.
Uncharacteristically, Ruby allowed Weiss to drag her down the hallways of Beacon. Usually she'd be the one doing the pulling, much to Weiss' chagrin, and using her Semblance to blast through the halls and towards their destination. Now, though, Ruby let her partner take the lead. "Did you check your scroll?" Weiss asked.
"Uh, no?"
"We're in the Arena today." Amphitheater, Arena. Different names, same purpose. No student in Beacon actually called it the Amphitheater, even when it was being used for that purpose. The Arena was where students of Beacon lived, it's where they were at their fullest. The proving ground of their skills, their weapons, their teamwork, it was a constant incentive to be better. Sadly, it was closed most of the time, only open for public addresses, school functions, and 'class'.
Everyone knew what 'class' meant if it was in the Arena: Sparring. Glynda would stand in the middle, tap on the screen of her Scroll, and call out the participants. Only rarely did everyone get to fight, and unsettled rivalries were often settled (or worsened) in the gym's sandpit, or outside of school. Being caught fighting outside of Beacon Academy was grounds for immediate suspension, however, so most favored the former.
Not that Weiss had any rivals, most people were simply too intimidated by her surname to give her any lip, and the only people who didn't fall into that category were her friends. That didn't mean she avoided fighting. On the contrary, she loved it. It was something she could constantly improve in, and Weiss always wanted to improve. She sparred in the sandpits more than anyone she knew, especially since she got Rosenwache.
Sparring became an almost daily occurrence after that, one which she most often shared with her partner. There was something more inherently right about sparring with Ruby than anyone else. For example, Yang was quick and close, and never gave her any time to recover, making the matchup pretty much moot since Yang would oppress her until she backed out of the pit or ended up eating sand, meaning that she had a shameful losing streak of 10-3 in Yang's favor.
Her matchup with Blake fared only slightly better. Since Weiss was more stationary and defensive than the acrobatic Blake, she would let the Faunus wear herself out while simply deflecting Gambol Shroud's pitifully small rounds and batting away her various clones. The Fire Dust clones, however, had been a huge problem when she'd started fighting against Blake, but she'd found out how to almost nullify their force with her inertia-dampening Glyphs. Unfortunately, it had taken a long time for her to learn that strategy, which gave Blake a sizable early lead, making her bouts won a solid 6 to Weiss' 4.
Fighting with JNPR was more hit-or-miss, though. Fighting Ren was like fighting Blake, just easier since his Semblance didn't hold much combat utility. Bouts with Nora were always unbearably humiliating, since she usually brought Nora to the brink, only to be slammed out of the sandpit with a single lucky hit. Fighting Pyrrha was about as futile as fighting General Ironwood or Winter since she was outclassed in virtually every regard, and most of their duels ended in Pyrrha simply throwing her weapons out of her hands with her Semblance. Fighting with Jaune was, surprisingly, the most entertaining.
Jaune didn't have any speed Semblance, he didn't have any Glyphs, he didn't have exploding Shadow clones. His sword wasn't even a gun. No, what Jaune had was simplicity. He had a sword, he had a shield, and he could amplify his and others' Auras. Funnily enough, they both had an unspoken agreement to use Dust and their Semblances as little as possible, if at all, when duelling. There was just something so organic about the fencer and the swordsman sparring. There were no fancy acrobatics, just one-on-one, steel-on-steel fighting. It was refreshing, which is why she preferred to fight Jaune out of all the other members of JNPR, regardless of the fact that his personality left a little to be desired.
With Ruby, however, there was no equal. Whereas Pyrrha squashed her in every battle, Ruby pushed her. Their bouts always ended with both of them a hair's breadth away from defeat, the victor usually decided in a sloppy, exhausted move or a long, exhausting play that finally paid off. In a fight they fit together like puzzle pieces, simply because their fighting styles were complete opposites. Weiss fought on the inside, mostly defensively, without much movement, and Ruby fought on the outside with reckless offense, and all of her attacks came from her momentum. The two formed an odd, but fitting dance with Ruby taking the lead and encircling her partner, attacking her from all angles, and Weiss molding and adapting quickly to each new direction of attack. Ruby would zip in towards Weiss, Weiss would cut her attack off with a Dust spell or a Glyph, Ruby would go straight through it or around it, and Weiss would adjust accordingly. Ruby would disappear in a flash of roses, and Weiss would turn around to parry the attack from behind, only to find that it had been a bluff and Ruby was now behind her. Ruby would come in from above with what was sure to be a crushing attack, only to be welcomed with multiple black Glyphs that killed her momentum, ruining her attack and delivering her straight to Weiss' sword.
Weiss revelled in the back-and-forth nature of their duels, and they both left the sandpit feeling better than ever, basking in the feeling of a hard-fought battle with neither really caring about whether they won or lost. Weiss only kept track so she could remember that, with each battle, they both improved. The score was 51-49 in Ruby's favor. Weiss wished they could've sparred over the summer so that she could even that out (not that she really cared about who won or lost), but alas, being in Atlas was pretty much the same as a house arrest sentence, and she didn't dare invite Ruby to that blasted hellhole. The poor girl would be chewed up and spit out by those monsters. No, she would have to find some other way to spar during the breaks. She had a plan in mind, however, one that father would probably be elated to hear.
Regardless, they arrived at the Amphitheater, albeit slower than usual. Weiss pushed open the door to the Arena, and noticed that the stage which Ozpin had spoken upon yesterday was gone, retracted into the floor. Yes, they would definitely be fighting. Weiss could barely contain her excitement.
Instead of pushing through the second set of doors ahead, she turned and went up the stairs into the stands. Ruby still trailed behind her as they ascended, and sat next to her when Weiss found a spot. Not that open spots were lacking, though, quite the opposite, actually. Ruby and Weiss had arrived ten minutes early, even without the use of Ruby's semblance. The arena was quite empty, save for Glynda Goodwitch, who stood in the center and seemed to be having a heated discussion with someone over her Scroll.
Ruby and Weiss strained to hear what she was saying, but it wasn't too hard since her whispers were too angry to be quiet.
"We have eight minutes until class begins, you will be here!"
They definitely couldn't hear the person's response from the Scroll, but they could tell it didn't make Goodwitch happy. Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked like she was about to throw the device.
"Do not be so flippant with me! If you don't get here in time, I will have your license suspended! Did you— Did he— Agh!"
When Glynda's expression turned into one of pure fury, they realized that the person she'd been speaking to had hung up abruptly. She grunted in frustration, then jumped when she noticed that Ruby and Weiss were in the stands and had heard her lose it at someone. Before she could make excuses, the sound of conversation thrummed through the Amphitheater, drawing her attention to the students who began to file into the stands. Glynda checked her watch, and Weiss could see her jaw clench in frustration.
The first class of the year began as one would expect it to, albeit just not in the classroom. Glynda stood in the center of the Amphitheater and addressed her students. She told them how impressed she was in their performances last year, and how eager she was to see how they would improve as they went on more missions and spent less time in class.
"However," Glynda looked at her watch again and frowned, "You will also have a new class."
The audience's response was mostly confused, with a few gorans.
"This class will not be taking any extra time out of your day, and it will, in fact, be replacing your physical education period. In light of recent developments, we have become aware of the fact that you are all Hunters, and you have been trained to fight Grimm."
A few more confused noises, Yang mumbled something along the lines of 'yeah, no shit'.
"However, none of you have been explicitly taught how to fight against other people."
Everyone who had been mumbling swallowed their words.
"Your new instructor," She glanced down to her watch again, "Should be here soon. In the meantime, I will describe the course. Instead of your physical education course with Mister Lee, your new instructor will be engaging you in a self-defense course."
A lot of people whined 'ugh, why'. Weiss frowned, she'd liked Mr. Lee. He was a buffalo Faunus of an imposingly tall stature, and with rippling muscles to boot. Despite his appearance, however, he was quite gentle and always encouraged his students to perform past what they thought were their limits. He was also the reason that her lithe form had become more toned and solid than it had been when she first walked into Beacon.
As if Glynda had heard her disappointment at the news, she reassured them, "Worry not, Mr. Lee is still going to be working at Beacon. In fact, when Ozpin offered him a substantial sum of Lien for his performance as a teacher, he refused, and stated that he would rather stay here and help all of you." Glynda smiled, a rare sight, "He will be your new counselor, and his office is adjacent to mine."
Weiss could practically feel the relief washing over the crowd of students. Apparently everyone else liked him, too.
Glynda schooled her expression. "Now, back to the matter of this self-defense course. Over the course of this semester, you will be taught to defend yourself from threats beyond the Grimm. This will not be the same as sparring. You will be placed in various realistic scenarios where you must—"
The door to the Amphitheater floor crashed against the wall as a boot forced it open.
"Hey, kids," Qrow said as he stepped to Glynda's side, "I'm your new teacher."
Ruby screamed.
