Ruby awoke in her room. It was dark outside but that didn't mean anything up here. The sounds of her men clamoring around upstairs told her that it would soon be time for breakfast. Ruby got up and got dressed for the day, she looked over her grey uniform to ensure everything was in place. Odd she was a captian why did her uniform have colonel's insignia on it? A rush of memories hit Ruby and she quickly sprinted out of her room in a panic. She ran to the rooms her men occupied and found them empty she rushed all over the barracks building searching frantically.
"Guys?! Where are you!?" she called out frantically, "Guys?"
"Don't you remember kid?" Ruby turned around, with eyes wide with fear, and found the ghastly bloody Stevens that haunted her still standing there, "You killed them all remember?"
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"NO!" Ruby woke up screaming. she sat strait up in bed still hyperventilating somewhat before slowely calming herself down.
"It was just a dream, just another dream." Ruby said as she calmed herself down. The dream was a new one but it held the same elements as all of her other nightly nightmares. Ruby checked the clock to find that it was two in the morning. She groaned and reached into her bag for the flask that had been her sleep aid for the last few years. She groaned again when she remembered that she had left in the bag that held Crescent Rose, the one she left with Annette. Realizing that she wouldn't get anymore sleep tonight but refusing to sit on her bed and mope, Ruby got dressed in pair of athletic shorts and a tanktop. She then went for a run around the perimeter of Beacon. She didn't use her semblance and instead forced herself to run with just her own physical muscles. She continued this for several hours pausing for a little while every now and then to work on pushups, or situps, or another excersise to keep up her strength. Once it was close to time for the cafeteria to open she went back to her dorm, took a shower and changed, feeling like she had managed to temporarily leave the ghosts of her past behind. Now she just had to act like nothing was wrong around her, very much still alive, friends of the past. Shrugging off what apprehension remained Ruby took off to the cafeteria to get some food. Upon arriving she filled a tray and picked a spot and sat down. She quickly dug into her meal and allowed herself to temporarily forget the demands of the mission.
"Ah, coffee, how I've missed you." Ruby said holding a steaming mug in front of her.
"Hey mind if we sit here?" A familiar voice said next to Ruby. Ruby froze a bit before slowly turning and nodding to her sister, Yang Xiao Long. "Thanks this is where we normally sit with our sister team." Yang said as she sat down. Ruby saw that only a few feet away and coming quickly were her other former teamates, Weiss and Blake. She mentally berated herself for being so careless as to sit in the same spot she and her team normally sat while she was still at Beacon. "Name's Yang, Yang Xaio Long, these are my teamates, Weiss and Blake, what's your name?" she said while offering Ruby a handshake. It was almost surreal, Yang, asking her what her name was. Ruby set down her coffee and quickly settled her nerves.
"Azure, well, Shade Azure but all my friends call me Azure." Ruby said taking her sisters hand and shaking it. Yang seemed to pause in thought for a moment, and Ruby was concerned that she had been made.
"Nah, that's too long," Yang said, "I think I'll call you Shae." Ruby had to restrain herself from breathing sigh of relief, she hadn't been made.
"Do you always call people whatever you want to?" Ruby asked Yang, knowing full well the true answer.
"Yup, pretty much." Yang answered.
"You'll get used to it." Weiss told Ruby. Ruby nodded her head in acknowledgement. Her former teamates looked well, Weiss had gotten rid of her mile long scowl, while Blake had gotten rid of her bow. As she looked up at them she noticed Blake staring at her.
"You have a lot of cookies on your plate." Blake said. Ruby realized she had goofed again and quickly came up with an excuse, all while cursing her own carelessness and Blake's keen intellect.
"It's my first time away from home, so I figured I would splurge a bit." Ruby said before moving to the offensive. "You got a problem with that?" Ruby said, letting a little bit of her redemption corpse side show through.
"No, I just find it surprising that anybody could eat that many calories." Blake said calmly, not rising to Ruby's bait. Ruby also realised she would need an explanation for this. Her semblance required an exctremely high metabolism, people normally wouldn't eat as much as her. An idea quickly formed in Ruby's mind.
"It has do with my semblance," Ruby said, it wasn't a lie, but neither was it the full truth.
"Oh, what's that?" Yang said grinning. Ruby knew she would have to get her tone and facial expressions just right if she was going to pull this off.
"Now now, that would be telling, wouldn't it?" Ruby said in a mistierious voice while smirking a bit.
"Aw" Yang feigned a pout.
"Where are you from Azure?" Weiss asked Ruby, "You said this was your first time away from home, Where is home?"
"Atlas" Ruby said to the group, "born and raised there" Weiss seemed to nod in understanding. While Blake took a turn asking a question.
"What brings you to Beacon?" Blake's question was one of the more difficult to answer. While her regular alias had a reason to be here Azure's was not readily obvious.
"It was highly recommended to me by my father that I travel to another kingdom and see how their huntsmen and huntresses are before I sign up as an Atlesian Specialist." Ruby said, rehersing the cover story she had come up with earlier on her run.
"Atlesian Specialist?" Yang asked. Ruby went to answer but Weiss beat her to it.
"They're students from Atlas Academy who decide to persue a military career." Weiss explained, "It's what my sister did." She seemed to pause for a bit, "But if you're considering that then you would have to be in your fourth year" She said surprised.
"That's correct" Ruby said, she could see the slight surprise on everyone's faces. "I look younger than I am."
"Oh," Yang said, "well why do you want to do the specialist thing?"
"Well my father was a career military man," Ruby said, further propagating her story from earlier, "And I want to follow in his footsteps."
"I thought you said that your father wanted you to come here before you signed up?" Blake asked.
"Yeah he's not very excited with me joining the Atlas military, want's me to 'consider all other options'" Ruby said while using air quotes.
Ruby sighed and quickly finished her food and excused herself from the group. Once she was around the corner she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay that went well," Ruby said to herself, "Lets just make it through the day without screwing up."
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Earlier that morning
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Yang was not an early riser. This didn't mean she was lazy, she just didn't enjoy waking more than an hour before class. So it was a surprise to her when she woke up around seven in the morning feeling well rested and ready for the day. She went to go take a shower and start her day when she was interupted by Blake, who was sitting on her bed reading a book.
"Weiss is in there right now, you'll have to wait a few minutes." Blake said without even looking up from her book. Yang sighed and went towards the window to get some fresh air while waiting. When she looked out the window she saw a young girl with blue hair doing a workout outside the dorms. Yang spent a few moments watching the girl and comparing her workout to the girl's, before coming to the startling realization that her workout didn't quite measure up.
"Wow, that girl is really going at it." she commented out loud.
"Yeah she's been doing it since before I got up." Blake told the blonde, again without looking away from her book. Her statement however caused Yang to go wide eyed with shock. While Yang was not an early riser, Blake was, which meant that this girl had been running an extremely intense workout session for several hours now. Yang was begining to wonder if she was looking at another android right now. She rejected that idea because an android wouldn't need excersize, but the fact still remained the girl was unbelievable. The shower soon opened up and by the time Yang was done with her shower the girl was gone, but Yang's interest had been piqued. Added to the fact was that she hadn't recognized the girl at a distance. Soon everyone was ready and team WBY left for the cafeteria earlier than they normally would. Once Yang had gotten her tray she headed toward the spot where they usually sat with team JNPR. Only there was already someone sitting there, Yang quickly realized it was the blue haired girl from earlier. Yang smiled a bit at the chance to get to know someone who could work out as much as her.
"Hey mind if we sit here?" Yang asked, from there the conversation continued fairly well. The girl was certainly interesting. The girl, Shae, was overly polite most of the time, but she would have random bouts of being almost rude. She seemed guarded to Yang, like a girl who cared just a little to much about what people thought of her.
"I just find it surprising that anybody could eat that many calories." Blake said to the girl who seemed to hesitate a brief moment before answering.
"It has to do with my semblance." Shae said after a moment. Yang thought that perhaps the girl had decided to open up to them.
"Oh, what's that?" Yang said. The girl turned to look at her and gave a misceivious smile.
"Now that would be telling." She said, clearly playing with them. The conversation continued and eventually Shae finished what was left of her food and left the table.
"Hey Blake, when's combat class?" Yang asked the faunus girl.
"It's second period, right before lunch." Blake replied. Yang's smile grew at that, she wanted to see what this exchange student was made of.
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