Zwei flew through his air on His Human, "Yang's" head. He still remembered the first time he had met her, let out of the air hole filled box to look at her. He had known immediately, that she had needed his help more than anyone he had seen in his life.

Her head fur had been pulled into a pair of fake tails, her eyes bloodshot. And then he had activated his power and there had been so much pain. Sharp and jagged like someone had bitten deep into her side and torn out something important. He had immediately rushed over, cuddling up to her as fresh tears spilled out of her eyes.

They had fallen into a rhythm then, one that had lasted for four long years. He would cuddle up against her at night, so he could be there if the pain took her then, then she would go off to the only place he couldn't follow her. She would come home later and they would do things together. Sometimes it was training to fight, sometimes it was just sitting together and relaxing and sometimes, the times Zwei hated the most, they would go to the cliff with two strange stones and he would guard her as she let the pain out.

That had all changed last year, when there had been the day the pain had become worse than Zwei had ever felt it. He had rushed into the room to find Yang standing there, breath coming out in short pants, and immediately noticed the girls he had never seen before, and the thing. One was black haired and smelled of cats, while the other was two toned and smelled of not-quite-dog, while the Thing had been tall, taller than even "Tai" and looked like nothing Zwei had ever seen before and smelled of rot.

He had, of course, activated his power on them. Only to immediately snap two of the bonds. The Thing and the not-quite-dog girl. The black one hurt, badly, but it wasn't as strange as the other two. The Thing hurt so much, like there was only pain in it. Pain… And anger, it was angry, angry is a way even Yang never got at her worst. Pain like a hollow pit without an end in sight, and anger like a fire that wanted to eat everything it could. But it didn't move, didn't act on either the pain or the anger, it wasn't right, it wasn't normal. If Zwei felt hurt and angry as much as the Thing did, he wouldn't be standing there, he would be attacking people and howled until he couldn't breathe.

The not-quite-dog girl, meanwhile, hurt in a way that was different but not bad, it was that there was something there, mocking and laughing, whispering the name his mother had named him before he had become Zwei. She hurt like someone had bit her, repeatedly and deep, but that the wounds had scarred over and become something she didn't notice. Zwei might have liked her, if it weren't for that mocking thing. It wasn't her, but something else attached to her. And at the same time, he could feel the ghost of the Thing's pain and anger. They were connected in some way, he could tell that much.

Things changed with the Thing, the cat girl and the not-quite-dog girl in their lives. Yang's pain was less, and when she woke up sobbing they would go find the Things, the Wolf Thing or the Fast Thing or the Crystal Thing or the Hurt Thing and the not-quite-dog girl, Ruby, would come into existence and sit with Yang until dawn came, Zwei in Yang's lap and one of Ruby's hands held in Yang's crushing grip.

And that's how their life had been for the last year.

—

Blake landed in the treetop, drawing Gambol Shroud as she did and flipping the cleaver blade into an ice pick grip as she lept down and drove it through the back of the Beowolf's neck to sever the spine. The Grimm fell like a sack of bricks, already beginning to disintegrate as it did. Ducking under the claw strike from the second Beowolf, she switched the hand Gambol Shroud was held in and breathed out, drawing the smaller katana blade from the larger, cleaver like one in a text book iai strike that severed the Beowolf's head from its neck. Hitting the button to activate Gambol Shroud's mechashift, she brought it down and fired three bullets into the last Grimm, the burn dust in each one exploding once it hit the Grimm, leaving a triangle of scorch marks as it collapsed dead.

A small distance away, a series of bangs echoed through the Emerald Forest and, biting back a sigh, Blake began to move towards it. She didn't really want a partner, brought back bad memories of her last partner, but if she had to have one, she hoped it was Ruby or Yang. Someone she knew she had liked and could get along with. It had been all she was hoping for, minus the obvious like that Adam wouldn't find their location and kill them all (she knew, intellectually, that Tai and Qrow, at a minimum, would dismantle Adam in a fight but, well, fear wasn't rational) since Tai had sat them down and explained how Beacon worked when their acceptance letters had come in. Teams of four, further divided into two partnerships.

Blake hoped it was Yang over Ruby, if only because Ruby, who it had become absolutely clear was very individualistically minded in a fight, had looked like someone had force fed her a lemon the minute Tai had mentioned a partner. She hadn't seemed worried when Tai had brought up teams, but the minute partners were involved, she became unhappy.

She had caught Yang, later, asking Ruby (she hadn't meant to spy on them, but people tended to forget her hearing was better than a human's and she had felt it was ruder to interrupt than to listen in) what she had done during "squad" fights, which raised questions Blake hadn't asked per their unspoken agreement, and Ruby had given an almost airy "everyone took care of themselves".

So yes, Blake hoped it was Yang over Ruby, because she knew Ruby would be irritated at whoever she had got as a partner and didn't want it to be her. Because Ruby had gotten irritated enough times, normally when someone asked a question she felt was digging too deep in the equally unspoken "only Yang gets answers" agreement, to know she went from slightly detached but friendly to positively frigid when irritated

As luck would have it, it was Yang… And Zwei, though after the last year of living with him and the more rare appearances of "Chiro", Ruby's certainly as hell alien but dog-like "Kubrow" (who mostly stayed with her on the Orbiter, so he wasn't as much of a problem), Blake had built up enough of a tolerance to that she wasn't running for the hills at the sight of him. Blake stepped out of the treeline, watching Yang direct a sullen shotgun blast at the decaying Ursa. Must have nicked her hair.

"Hi, Yang," Blake said.

"Blake!" Yang said cheerfully, as if she hadn't just been shooting a corpse, spinning to look at her, "Guess we're partners?"

"Looks like," Blake said, "Who do you think Ruby is with?"

"I just hope it isn't-"

—

Weiss Schnee would be lying if she said she was happy her partner had decided to laze about as she fought Grimm, but didn't see anything she could do about it without taking her eyes off the Grimm. Instead, she brandished Myrtenaster and lunged forwards and launched a series of shallow stabs at the lead Beowolf. Ducking under the claw strike it gave in retaliation, Weiss twirled Myrtenaster before driving it upwards and through the Grimm's jaw and into its brain. At the same time, one of the other Grimm lunged at her and she caught it on a glyph, rotating Myrtenaster's chambers so it landed on burn Dust, blasting it with an explosion of fire.

The last Grimm lunged at her, only to miss as Weiss span around the attack to launch a stab through the side of its chest, piercing the heart of the Grimm in one move and letting it drop. She turned on the "Warframe", hissing "What was that?"

"What was what?" The voice from the badge on the Warframe's cloak.

Weiss puffed up, hissing, "Why didn't you help me fight!?"

"I wanted to see how you fought on your own," the voice said, "I expect anyone I'm going to have to be partnered with for the next four years to be able to fight on their own. I can't be babysitting you."

Did she think Beacon would let someone with no training into it? That would be completely ridiculous!

"And how did I do?" Weiss demanded.

"Passable, I suppose," Weiss inflated in indignation. Passable? Passable!? She had trained with the best fencing instructors Atlas had to offer, been trained with her Semblance by Winter! She was far more than passable, and as she opened her mouth to say that, the girl said, "You missed one, by the way."

Weiss turned just in time to see an Alpha Beowolf rush from the tree line, claws bared to gouge through her Aura. She started to form a glyph on instinct, but between one blink it became a moot point. As her eyes closed, she felt something whip against her head, and when she opened her eyes, Citrine was standing on the other side of the Grimm, scythe bared to one side and cloak flapping with the aftereffects of the movement.

The Grimm's teeth shattered. It had split in two horizontally lengthwise, one half of the jaw falling separate from the other as it ground to a halt in front of Weiss.

"Come on, partner," the girl said, "Let's get going. I'm Ruby Rose by the way."

—

Yang walked through the forest with a giant Nevermore flying overhead, Blake ghosting behind her. A Beowolf leapt from the treeline, only to get an earth shattering punch from Ember Celica. Stepping out into the clearing, she found Ruby, in Citrine, whirling her scythe as she cleaved through another Beowolf's head. Yang walked over to Ruby, tapping her on the shoulder and watching as Citrine's head turned towards her, "Hey, sis."

"Hey," Ruby said.

"Sis?" Weiss Schnee (god damnit) asked, "I thought you two werd- you look nothing alike!"

"We have similar facial structure," Ruby said, "Now- something's coming."

Seconds later, a Ursa burst from the trees, a girl and boy riding on its back. The boy's guns flashed in the air, and the Grimm's neck was severed.

"You noticed that?" Weiss asked.

"That wasn't what I talked about," Ruby said, walking forwards as a new pair rushed from the treeline. The boy, a blonde wearing badly fitted armor, tripped and fell on his ass as the largest Deathstalker Yang had ever seen exploded from the trees. The Grimm's tail shot down, going to impale him through the chest, and Citrine exploded forwards, catching the stinger in one hand and stopping it dead. Orange crystal began to spread from the point of contact, encasing the Grimm.

That was when the Nevermore made itself known. Three feathers flew at Citrine, only for a shell of orange crystal to form around her. Ruby exploded out of Citrine even as crystal continued to encase the Deathstalker, which was trying, and failing, to pull its tail from Citrine's grip.

"Can't you see," Ruby's voice was icy as she lifted her hand, energy gathering into a basketball sized ball. Her eyes began to glow as her spacesuit's hood snapped back like it was being hit by the wind, "I'm busy here?"

Hey Sunny, watch this.

—

What's Wrong, Kitten? You knew she wasn't human anymore!

—

This is your partner, Snowflake. A demon.

—

You really think you can stand up to this, Sunshine?

—

That? That's the gap between you two, Victory.

—

Little Lie, nothing else, beyond a malevolent laugh as Ren jerked in surprise.

—

Ready for some fun, Nora?

—

The orb of wrongness built up until it was as big as Ruby, the ground cracking around her until finally she fired it, the ground cratering under her feet. The ball smashed into the Nevermore's chest, exploding like a star and swallowing the whole thing. Ruby turned towards the now fully crystalized Deathstalker, strolling forward at a an almost board place, and tapped it. The entire thing exploded into shards, simple as that.

"Let's get these relics and finish this," Ruby said, before returning to Citrine.

—

"The leader of team JNPR, made up of Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, will be Jaune Arc!" Ozpin called, and Ruby clapped politely as the boy jerked in surprise.

He wasn't trained.

There was no doubt of that in Ruby's eyes. He wasn't trained, he didn't hold himself like someone who had an ounce of training. She didn't know how he had got in or why but…

Ruby liked him. It was easy to fight when you were trained for it, but to risk your life without any training? That was where a real hero's heart was. Stupid, reckless, but brave. And she could respect that. Reminded her of Steel Meridian. Maybe she could help him, give him a little training, just enough to survive until he found his own path.

"And finally, the leader of Team RWBY, made up of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long will be Ruby Rose!"

What.

No, seriously, what.

Ruby's hand rose into the air, a lazy gesture that didn't even begin to show how annoyed she was, "I don't want the position."

"I don't particularly care what you want," Ozpin said. Oh, that son of a Grineer… "I feel you are the best choice for leader of your team, so you'll be their leader."

Ruby gave an exhausted sigh, before glancing back at the trio and saying, "Do what you want, I don't care."

.