Hello again! I wanted to say thank you as this story now has over twenty favorites and followers! I also wanted to thank anyone who spent time reading what I have wrote, when I started this I never even imagined to get more than a couple of views so I am a little flabbergasted.
I also really wanted to thank Kharaki Takan when it came to their feedback. I always love to hear anything you have to say about the story. Whether it be critism or praise. I also wanted to quickly answer the lack of leadership role for Ruby herself in this story. It mainly has to do with Ozpin's concern on how she is acting. He personally wants her to be the teams leader and is only looking for a good excuse to make it so, but he also wants to figure the girl out before he makes such a commitment. Thats why he went with a not as good leader, but someone who could still prove somewhat her ability. I feel it fits his character as being over cautious when something sticks out to him. Though I alos want to say thank you for all the feedback. Without further wait.
Of course for Ruby there had to be consequences for her actions. Not from her team for not joining them in the nightclub. No it was because she had performed vigilantism and left all her opponents lying on the street in an unconscious state. Most required medical attention as well, as she had gone solely against individuals that lacked aura. True they had tried to do unmentionable things to her, but she was the one that had aura. She was the one currently enrolled at the sole huntsman academy of the entire kingdom, and thus she had to be held to higher standards apparently. Especially since the rumor of the 'bloodied girl' had spread so fast that it was on the local news. As soon as she arrived at Beacon she was summoned to the headmasters office for her next berating by its staff. So she soon found herself at the top of Beacon tower, sitting on a chair looking at the three people in front of her.
Two she had expected, while the last was quite the surprise. One was headmaster Ozpin himself who had a neutral face that was slightly hidden behind his coffee mug. The second was professor Goodwitch who had her constant scowl across her face. Then finally the last one was her uncle Qrow who was leaning against the nearest wall and draining his flask of its intoxicating liquid. That last one she never expected, sure she had known that he was old friends with Ozpin; but of all people related to her to summon for such a thing she would have more likely expected her father. Though that did bring a little happiness to her heart as her uncle would be much more understanding of her then her dad was.
"What were you thinking going against auraless thugs and beating them across their head with one of the deadliest weapons ever designed!?" Professor Goowitch screeched out.
"It was self defense!" Ruby squeaked back at her. Yes she had enjoyed that little beat down, but if it always led to this it was not worth it.
"How come that is always your defense!?" Professor Goodwitch snapped back. "It almost seems that you seek out trouble so you can do such things!"
Ruby tried to rebuttal but was cut off by her uncle Qrow "Yeah kiddo, what were you doing on that side of town?"
Ruby wrung her hands together as she thought of her current dilemma. If she told the truth her team would be in so much trouble and she really didn't want to deal with that. On the other hand if she lied and was caught she was going to be in so much more trouble than she currently was. So in her brain the gears were turning, trying their best to find a way out of this situation that caused her the least amount of headaches. Why would she be on that side of town other than being dragged there by her team? So she came up with a last ditch effort, she got lost.
"I was walking around town looking at the sights when I got lost." she forced out as the three stared her down. She was slowly beginning to sink into her seat under the pressure of their collective gaze as the silence continued on and on.
It was her uncle that finally broke the silence when he said "Yeah kiddo, that is probably the worst lie I have ever heard in my life. And that is saying a lot as I have known your father for quite some time." Ruby just deflated at this, that was her best lie and it was found out so fast. She might be a great fighter but truthfully Ruby had absolutely no talent for the art of lying.
Professor Goodwitch pinched her brow as she breathed out, as if trying to calm herself before she finally snapped. "Miss Rose, you have been at Beacon for two weeks and you are already causing trouble. This after we allowed you here two years early under headmaster Ozpin's discretion. I am finding your childish behavior a disservice to the man and what he stands for." Ruby's head dips even more towards looking at the ground, it wasn't her fault that she couldn't prove him right, after all even Ruby herself thought she was pushed ahead too fast! Professor Goodwtich continued "For now you will be in detention for the next week. Everyday after your last class you will report to my office and we will spend the next two hours together discussing many things."
Ruby mumbled "Okay" as she continued to look down at the floor, as if trying to gain the ability to go through it and out of her current predicament.
Professor Goodwitch then threw another curveball at Ruby "Now I would have informed your team of this as well, but they were not located at their room last I checked. Do you happen to know where they are?"
Ruby instantly paled and shot back "No!" Even she grimaced at how obvious her lie was. She just got caught in a lie that ended with her getting detention, and now she lied again. Great they already think that she has some vigilante complex, why not add a pathological liar on top of it.
She heard a loud sign come from professor Goodwtich as she said "Alright, then please go back to your room." With that Ruby finally looked up as she saw professor Goodwitch wave her off. With a look of a beaten puppy, Ruby slunk out of her chair and entered the elevator. Once the doors closed the three adults looked around at each other and Ozpin finally spoke since the red hooded girl had first arrived in his office.
Ozpin looked over at Qrow and asked "So what do you think, Qrow?"
Qrow was in the middle of taking a swig from his flask and paused. Of everyone present in the room he was by far the calmest, as if he had anticipated this outcome. After he finally finished his swig he replied "She seems normal to me."
"Really, is the normal now seeking out any street thug and picking a fight with them?" Glynda shoots back at Qrow while glaring at him. She knows that any bad habits that the young girl is portraying is most likely his doing. Everyone who is aware of Ruby Rose knows that she adores her dear uncle Qrow.
"Nah, I just know why she was there.." Qrow simply replied with his usual gruff voice. The fact that he is currently staying so calm in all the recent events seems to put Ozpin at ease a little, but he still can't shake off how Ruby seems so different compared to her mother.
"So why was Ruby on that side of town tonight Qrow?" Ozpin asks in his inquisitive nature.
"Easy , she was with her team. They wanted to do something she didn't want to do. She leaves. End of the story." Qrow says.
"Oh, now how did you come to that conclusion? Maybe it's another one of your wonderful insights from drinking all day." Glynda deadpans at Qrow. The cold tone of what she said made the room visibly chillier.
"Maybe it is. After All that is what her team is doing right now as we speak." Qrow retorts.
Glynda is dumbfounded by that and thus only replies with a "What?"
Qrow sighs as he really didn't want to get his niece into trouble so early on at Beacon, but if it is to protect Ruby he knows he will do anything. True the red hooded girl was not his biological niece, but to him she was. She was the only remembrance of his partner throughout his time at Beacon, a partner that he owes his current life to. If Summer hadn't helped him and Raven through their inner demons while at school he would most likely be back at the tribe, just like his sister currently was. He would still be that cold stone killer that he was quite literally trained to be. Though on the bright side he wouldn't be able to turn into a stupid crow, while yes it is glorious for information gathering, he always felt so odd being such a creature. Why couldn't Ozpin make him something cooler like a hawk, or heck he would have even taken being a dog over his name sake. Sometimes the man has a sick twist of humor.
Even after his inner rambling was finished he realized the others in the room were waiting for him to respond. So he did just that after sighing once more "Knowing Yang she most likely went to a nightclub with her team. They probably tried to get Ruby to enter too, Yang loves trying to make Ruby get out of her shell. Though Ruby would have said no, because she is adamantly against drinking. She has been around two extremely drunk men shortly after having her entire life turned upside down and now the mention of alcohol drives her away. Plus I know the nightclub around there Yang has been to before. Clear enough for ya?"
Ozpin hummed at this "Yes it is. She has clear boundaries that others cannot cross, but is still willing to defend her teammates. I do quite like that about her, but Qrow what happened to that cherry girl that I met at the police station?"
Knowing where this was going Qrow eyed his flask and shook it a little. Only a quarter left, so he decided to down it all at once and went into his next reveal. "Never was there, it was all a facade."
"What do you mean?" Glynda asked, her cold tone slowly warming mainly out of pure confusion at everything going on. Though she already is trying to figure out a proper punishment for three of her students currently.
"She realized early on that both Yang and Tai wanted her to be a cheery girl. So she acted like it so they wouldn't be constantly on her back." Qrow drawled out, looking at his flask and wishing it still had some of its life juice left. Yet even staring at it did not allow the liquid to return so he looked up at Ozpin and continued "Look early on she felt really skittish around us. Her entire family for the first eight years of her life was only Summer, and she only found the rest after she was gone. She found it easier to fake her happiness than show her true emotion and have to deal with them constantly trying to baby her. You also need to understand that Tai wasn't in the best mental state at the time either, so the act just slid through the cracks for the family. Still has to this day."
"So why did she drop the act now?" Ozpin pondered out loud to the room. He started to take a sip of his coffee while looking at the other two to see what they might come up with.
"I think it is because she is at the final step to achieving her goal." Qrow replied for the room, making the other two look at him again. Though that was all he wanted to say about it. True he had thoughts on what Ruby truly was after, but he was not going to voice them now. She already closed off the world once when others tried to baby her, and he was not about to let that happen again after she finally opened up. While Yang may have been too young to notice the act Ruby was giving off, Tai should have been if he wasn't constantly drunk around the girl at the time. Heck, Qrow himself was drunk most of the time then, and even he noticed the act right away. At this point she had been acting so long it was actually believed to be her true personality, so now that her true thoughts are coming out it is going to roll some heads.
Heads such as Ozpin who was sitting in front of Qrow at this very moment. Throughout his lifes Ozpin had met plenty of silver eyed warriors. Some were even part of the incarnation's family. Across all of them he knew multiple facts about them. First was that most silver eyed warriors died relatively young, being that they went into the profession of fighting the Grimm. Second, the silver eyed trait itself is a dominant trait, so any kid of a silver eyed warrior will always have those eyes. Finally third, all silver eyed warriors had a spark of hope within their gazes. It was something that Ozpin attributed to the god of light's power in the eyes themselves. Even in the worst of times when the eyes looked more like steel than silver they still held the smallest glitter of that spark. The only exception to the third fact was Ruby, her eyes held no spark as if it was snuffed out. Yet despite this she was trying to become a huntress, so there should have been that light there. So what was causing this conundrum?
Despite Ozpin's inner questions the room remained silent as the other two were also in thought. Qrow's was a reflection on how it came to be this way, and what he could have done differently to his beloved niece. While Glynda's was all the ways that she could punish some students that went to a nightclub to illegally drink and most likely do some other things that she does not want to mention. She had heard of Yang's previous shenanigans from the teachers of Signal, but she had chalked that up to her graduation and excitement for getting into Beacon. Glynda knew she had done similar things when she first got accepted to Beacon, but she stopped that once in the school itself. The standards are set high at Beacon and she was not willing to take the risk and get expelled. True you can go to the other huntsmen academies and they would accept you with open arms, afterall you did make it to Beacon. Though down the line anyone that will request huntsmen will notice that black mark on your file and that could lead to some lost opportunities.
The rest of Ruby's night was uneventful, which the red hooded girl liked. She spent it mainly going over any notes from the week and finishing off any homework she needed for the upcoming week. True she was working ahead of time on it, but she would much rather finish it early than rushing at the last minute. Once all that was done she prepared herself for bed and hoped that the sandman would grant her rest. Of course with all the training she has done in her short life that had set an internal clock that favored her slumber at this time, even if her nerves were fried.
While others may have blamed her team for the punishment, Ruby did not. She understood that the team wanted to try to connect to one another and said actions were beneficial with teamwork in the future. It was a well known fact across the huntsmen world that teams with proper connections formed outside of active missions had on average fifty percent better results. Those facts alone proved that team bonding was well worth the attempts, and while it might not have been her cup of tea she still had an alright day. So that is why when she woke up at her normal five in the morning and found the drunken forms of her teammates laying in their prospective beds she did nothing uncouth to them. Even if they brought the smell of the nightclub back into their room with them. It was so strong that Ruby swore you could get drunk just off the fumes. They most likely had a fun time with Yang's suggestion and as long as they got up in time for the team training at two in the afternoon Ruby would be alright. Though that wouldn't stop her from doing her morning exercises, you should never loosen up on your training when trying to be a huntress.
She was also not surprised when she had finished her entire morning workout regimen of three hours, shower, and eating breakfast that once she arrived into her room they were still passed out. Knowing Yang they most likely got back shortly before Ruby had awoken, and they most likely had some special exercises last night that no teacher at Beacon would approve of. Though the thing that did surprise her was the sudden knock on their door at ten in the morning. Especially since to her knowledge they shouldn't be expecting anyone at all the entire day, of course Yang with alcohol could have promised many things and completely forgot about it. Ruby shivered at the thought of the time her dad almost destroyed his house when ten boys showed up one morning saying Yang had promised them a day together that day. Ruby has never seen that man that red before, or heard him yell that loudly.
Once Ruby had opened the door her surprise turned into pure fear. For the person on the other side of the door just so happened to be Glynda Goodwitch herself, the disciplinarian of Beacon Academy. The one person no one wanted to know that they got totally drunk while still underage, and especially at a public nightclub that one member of the group may or may not have destroyed in the past. In fact, why would they allow Yang back in? Is it because they are just too afraid of her at this point? Oh well those questions can wait until professor Goodwitch was not standing in front of her and giving that glare that promised pain.
"Good morning Miss Rose. I am here to talk to your teammates." Professor Goodwitch said as her eyes scanned the room past the frozen Ruby at the poor. She scanned each of the lumps still in their beds and could already smell the alcohol from the doorway. It looks like Qrow was right about where the team went last night. Though as she scanned she also noticed something else that was strange, the beds themselves. Instead of seeing four beds evenly spaced across the room she saw two sets of bunk beds, made out of the beds provided by Beacon. Creative? Yes. A waste of school property when they could have requested bunk beds? Most definitely yes. It was something she would expect from a child, but not from almost grown adults who thought they could drink already.
Once her scan of the room was finished Glynda once again looked down at Ruby, who still hadn't moved a muscle. The girl was just stuck there as the woman peered down at her and only startled when professor Goodwtich cleared her throat. This caused Ruby to look back up at the professor and the two locked eyes. Stern green met emotionless silver and despite Glynda's stern demeanor she felt a shiver roll down her spine. Many say eyes are the windows to ones soul, so what do eyes with no emotion say about a person?
"Miss Rose, as I can currently see your teammates are still asleep, do you happen to know when they arrived back to your dorm last night?" asked professor Goodwitch in her stern tone that demanded obedience.
One that was adhered to by the young woman in front of her "No I do not. When I went to sleep last night they were not her and when I woke up they were." Ruby ended up squeaking out.
"Hmm, then does your team have any plans for the day today?" The professor asked Ruby.
"Yes, we have team training today from two until four." Ruby barked out sounding almost like a private talking to a superior officer.
A tone that Glynda picked up on relatively easily. Having been around James enough in her life she has seen how the military works and finds it rather uncomfortable in a huntsman setting. So she spoke up while rubbing her temples "Ruby, I am not your superior officer here. I am your teacher, while I do command respect I do not wish for it to be at that level. Also do you think your team will actually be able to accomplish anything fruitful in training while they are like that?"
Ruby looks back into the room at her teammates and then back at professor Goodwitch who was raising an eyebrow at the young woman. Thinking throughout her brain on a way to make it sound better than it already was. Does Ruby truly think they could achieve anything when her team would either be still drunk or extremely hungover? Absolutely not. She already knows Yang is not a fun person to be around when she has a pounding headache, and she really doesn't want to see what Weiss is like. Ruby could already hear the ringing in her ears from the future screeches that she would be subject to. Yet she could not just say that it would be a waste of time, for then she would be admitting that their fun had ruined any chance at a team exercise. Something that even Ruby saw the need of after the few team skirmishes that had been held in these two weeks.
While many teams were not cohesive yet in their year it did not stop some signs to form in the other teams. Such as in JNPR's case. While Jaune himself was not a confident man, or strong man, he did have a great sense of tactics. Pair that with the skill of his other teammates that had some of the best fighters in their entire class, and they are on the level of strength in a second year team. Heck even CRDL was starting to become cohesive, though in that case it is the three trying to find ways to support their leader who was the strongest on their team. WBYR was at the bottom of the team game. While every member in it was a strong combatant that shone bright individually, they just couldn't work together. In fact at this moment the only person that was listening somewhat to Weiss's orders during battle was Ruby. Both Blake and Yang would just go in and do whatever they wanted. Had it worked for them, yes it did. Though it did show a major flaw within the team that led to poor grades for those days of class. Something Weiss was sure to make the team know about.
So Ruby came up with a lackluster answer "I mean any time spent as a team could help strengthen bonds and bring the team together."
Of course this was not the answer that the professor was looking for and she once again pierced Ruby with her gaze. "Are you saying that you expect something good to come from the training today?" she asked.
Ruby gulped and replied "Hopefully so. I mean there isn't much more that can go wrong with this team right?"
She was wrong, so horribly wrong. From the moment that they had woken up to the training time the three other women had been very irritable and that only became worse once they had to train. That led to a few problems during training, mainly Yang getting pissed off at Weiss over accidentally hitting her head. That in turn led to Yang using her semblance to punch Weiss in the gutt sending the white snowflake of a woman flying into the opposite wall. The aura reader had stated that the punch alone had taken a little over half of Weiss's aura and Weiss was not happy about that and the pain that she felt. This led to her using her glyph to literally freeze Yang's lower body to the floor. Something about needing to cool off, she was already picking up on Yang's puns. While usually Yang would laugh at such a pun, in her headache induced state she was quite livid at the idea of being frozen. So she literally exploded in fury. The fires of her body melted the ice away and the only thing that ended up saving Weiss was a well placed ribbon that tied together Yang's ankles and caused her to faceplant into the ground.
Of course this was also a bad action as now Yang was even more pissed off and had even a worse headache. She then yanked the ribbon, pulling in the black haired woman for a nice punch. Luckily, it was blocked by a glyph from Weiss. The only team building happening at the moment was between Weiss and Blake as they tried to survive the fury of Yang. Luckily for everyone involved it eventually went from a physical fight into a verbal one, and as Ruby predicted the shrieks of Weiss were piercing her ears once again. Luckily for the hooded girl it was not directed at her this time.
"Why are you trying to kill us!?" Screamed Weiss.
"Stopping yelling! You are killing my head with all of this!" yelled Yang in response.
"I am only yelling because you tried to bash my stomach in!" snarled Weiss as she pointed her finger at the blonde brawler.
"I only tried to bash your stomach in because you hit my head! You know I have a headache so why the hell would you do that!?" replied Yang in heated intensity.
"Well if you knew we had training today maybe you should have limited yourself last night!" berated Weiss.
"I didn't see you limiting yourself either Ice Queen!" replied Yang.
"Ice Queen! Did you just call me Ice Queen!?" shrieked Weiss.
"Yes I did! That is what you are, an Ice Queen with a frozen heart that only knows how to look down on everyone!" screamed Yang.
Before Wiess could retort, Blake cut in " She does have a point Weiss. We all still have massive headaches today." Weiss looked offended that Blake would attempt to defend the blonde brawler when she too was on the receiving end of some of her attacks. Though Blake also added "And Yang, Weiss is also right. We knew we had this training today and yet we all drank way too much last night. Now look at our training, it is quite literally pointless."
"Well I didn't see either of you two caring about the training today while you were having all that fun last night!" Yang yelled out.
"That's because I was too inebriated to properly think last night. Now that my mind is a little clearer I can see how it was a poor decision!" replied Weiss.
"Well you said the exact opposite last night, especially one the waitress started flirting with you!" hissed Yang.
Weiss could only stutter at this as her cheeks became more and more red. Ruby silently giggled at this, turns out a drunk Weiss is a little more open about her orientation than when she is sober. Ruby was one to happily say that she was glad to miss whatever happened last night at that club, but that was one thing she wished she could have seen. The sight of Weiss getting flirted at and her most likely reaction to it would have been the best thing ever to Ruby. Especially if it made Weiss act like this today.
Of course as everything goes in team WBYR this was only the beginning of the infighting. It eventually led to Blake getting fed up with the yelling and leaving a whole hour before the training was done. This was followed by Yang as she had made her voice hoarse throughout the fight and just wanted to try to sleep the headache off. Finally Weiss left too as she muttered about the whole day being ruined. For Ruby it was finally quiet and so she used up the last of the hour in the room, before heading to a different room to practice her fighting techniques. She could never train enough and was happy to get a little more time with it. Especially since the reserved rooms had a better system in place to replicate opponents.
Of course once the hour was up she packed up and left. She did bump into the team that was going to use it after them and found it to be CFVY, the badass second year team that sat at the top of their class. Ruby was excited to meet them, and see some of their weapons. Well she saw the brutes giant sword, and the copper haired man's gauntlet/tonfas. She didn't see any weapon with the woman who wore shades, all she saw was a purse. Then for oddest was the cute rabbit faunus who only brought a camera and took a picture of Ruby leaving. The four of them had given Ruby a questioning look as she left the room meant for entire teams to train in and Ruby only ended up shrugging. She really didn't want to get into a dysfunction of her team, and especially not to some team that was proving to be one of the best produced by Beacon in the last ten years.
Of course the dysfunction of her team was not only limited to the training room. Arriving at their room proved almost fruitless. She was ready to do some reading on some items that she had questioned from her earlier readings in history, but she could already hear the bickering down the hall. Her sister was still going at it many hours later, so she decided to head to the library until it was dark. True she left her textbook with her stuff in the room, but anything was better than walking into that raging storm. Arriving in the library she found one of her teammates there, the quiet mysterious girl named Blake. Blake also noticed Ruby's arrival and the two stared at each other in a silent agreement. They then went and did their own things, Blake reading whatever book she currently had in her hand and Ruby looking for any reference material on the era of history that the class was on. Luckily for her there was a lot about the Faunus War so she did not have to look for long.
For everything that the group tried to achieve in the last week, they were back at square one. Hopefully it was something that wouldn't be repeated, but knowing the luck of team WBYR this would not.