Authors Note: Hope y'all enjoy and remember to review and let me know what you think at the bottom.

Beta: GeneralMayhem, kpmh2001

Beacon was a large school, larger than any other Huntsman Academy except perhaps for Shade. Not that many people would count the sand dunes as worth anything. Beacon didn't have the most attendees, in spite of the fact it was most people's first choice, that title also went to Shade.

The kingdom of Vacuo had an almost unhealthy reliance on the school and the Huntsmen it produced. With the official government of the kingdom so weak, Shade was left in a position of unparalleled power within the country. Concerns of corruption or the danger of so much power being consolidated in one place were short lived however, the practical demands of the desert meant that nobody could focus on such comparatively simple problems for long.

Despite Shade's larger student body, Beacon was far more expensive in its size and grandeur. Whoever had designed the school clearly possessed a vision for something far more than a simple school, and it had been granted more resources than any other Academy by the last King of Vale.

It was his project after all.

While the school's funding and attendance had risen and fallen throughout the years, the campus stayed the same. The large architecture and numerous splendid gardens could take students their entire time at the school to explore, even if they tried to see it all.

Pyrrha pulled back before thrusting forward, the simple sword she had borrowed from the arms room puncturing air as she panted for breath.

The best part about such a large school, in her opinion, had to be the sheer number of places one could find themselves alone. There were plenty of places one could go to relax or destress from the life of a Huntress. Usually she would have spent her free time in the gym, but with classes having already finished for the day, it wasn't the peaceful place she had wanted. Besides, she had already gotten her conditioning in for the day.

No, her goal now was adapting to the strangeness of her situation.

Pulling her sword back, she forced herself lower to the ground and kicked out with her feet in a motion she had practiced countless times in her last life. This time the action was slower and there was less force behind the motion than she had expected.

Placing her free hand on the ground she spun her legs around in a move that would catch her opponents legs, tripping them and forcing them to the ground if they failed to dodge. Again, the action came off as sluggish and she thought for a moment that her arm might give out before she could complete it. In the end she managed to bring her feet all the way around, landing in a low crouch, but only just barely and her body was burning in places that hadn't caught up to her new level of skill.

Standing back up, she reset herself to a basic guard and ran through the actions once more. She couldn't truly recall the number of times she had practiced the move, nor could she say how many times she had used it in a fight, but when executed seamlessly it had won her more than a few spars.

Despite the fact her body wasn't prepared, she ran through it almost without paying attention. Rather, she allowed her mind to drift as she forced her body to continue through the burning and pain that she hadn't allowed to go away since she had started her training.

She couldn't really remember how she had found the secluded area she was now practicing in, but it was one of her favourite places in Beacon. Hidden away between the main building and the study hall was a small area no larger than thirty feet across. It was clear that when designing the main school body, the study hall had been added in as an afterthought because the main building had several windows higher up that looked out into the side of a building. The garden there had likely been added to make some use of the windows.

Despite that, Pyrrha had only ever seen a few people pass by the area, and no one ever seemed to care for the plants that lined the walls or the old tree set up towards the far back, against the wall that marked the hallway connecting the study hall and the main building.

The result was a completely isolated area with only one way in and out. Most people, if they knew it existed at all, ignored it for that reason. She felt drawn to it. It was out of the way and, while it was a nicely kept area, it was rather simple when compared to the other areas of Beacon, and so it went ignored.

Or so she'd thought.

One of the perks of the secluded garden was that the sounds of the rest of Beacon were dampened by the buildings. While the day to day activities could still be heard if you listened, one could just as easily block out the distant sounds with minimal effort. The silence also made it easy to hear when somebody was nearby.

She could hear the commotion coming from one of the windows on the second floor but chose to ignore it. Beacon could be a remarkably peaceful place, but it's students were usually anything but. They would leave before long, she hoped.

It didn't take long for her hope to shatter as the two students, female students she soon came to recognize as they got louder, stayed at the window. Then, suddenly, one of them yelled something.

"Watch out!"

Pyrrha lowered her sword as she turned to look up, just as something smashed into her face and knocked her back. She fell backwards, more from shock than the force behind whatever had hit her. Rubbing her nose she glared up between her fingers to the people who had been distracting her.

"Ooh, Sorry!" Coco yelled down to her as she leaned out the window slightly. Velvet stood next to her, face as red as Ruby's cape. Pyrrha looked down to the ground next to her, seeing the camera that had hit her. Picking it up she was surprised to find it still in one piece. "We'll be down to grab it in a moment! Don't go anywhere!"

It didn't take the two of them long to find their way to the garden, by then Pyrrha was back on her feet and continued to look over the surprisingly sturdy camera.

"I'm so sorry!" Velvet squeaked as Pyrrha handed her back the camera. "I was just trying to take pictures and then Coco distracted me an-"

"Oh sure, just blame me why don't you." Coco lowered her sunglasses to the edge of her nose, looking at her teammate. "You were the one taking pictures of Amber while she wasn't paying attention."

"I-I," Velvet sputtered, unable to form words as she looked between her leader and Pyrrha. Her face turned even more red as the seconds went on. "I was-just…"

"Watching girls while they don't know you're there, tch." Coco tutted, shaking her head softly. "It's okay though, I accept you for who you are." Velvet's shoulders slumped as she groaned. Coco rolled her eyes as she pushed her sunglasses back up to cover them. "Sorry about that, it was my fault for distracting Velvet while she was trying to snap a picture of your routine."

Velvet mumbled something under her breath but she couldn't make it out.

"It's fine," Pyrrha was quick to reassure her. "I was more surprised than hurt."

"I'm sorry." Velvet looked up at her. "I should have been more careful."

"No no, it's fine." Pyrrha looked back, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head with her empty hand. "I should have been able to catch your camera before it hit me."

"Well, we need to be going at any rate." Coco interrupted, unintentionally saving Pyrrha from the battle that was social interaction. "Sorry again."

Pyrrha waved at them as they left. Once they were out of sight she groaned internally at how awkward it had felt. A moment later she picked up her sword and went back to her drills, content in the fact she could distract herself from the world.

Coco strode through the halls of Beacon as she always did, head held high and with a confidence few could match. It didn't matter that the only person to see it was Velvet. Having that kind of confidence wasn't easy and it took effort to keep it up. The trick was believing it herself, which meant the act was just as much for her own benefit as others.

Velvet walked beside her, slouched slightly and face still slightly red from their earlier encounter. They were supposed to be meeting up with the rest of their team, hence the reason why she had gone in search of Velvet. They still had time however, and since they were alone Coco decided to address 'the Goliath in the room', so to speak.

"Amber's certainly interesting, isn't she?" She'd adopted a slightly teasing tone, only because she knew how to bait her friend into talking. Velvet was shy and quiet around people she didn't know, but around her team? She had no such issues.

"Why did you have to make it worse?" Velvet groaned. "She must think I'm some freaky stalker or something now."

"What do ya mean? I thought you handled that pretty well."

"You told her I was taking pictures of her!" Velvet snapped back.

Coco couldn't help but smirk at the response, Velvet was adorable when she was worked up. "I mean, you were taking pictures of her. Weren't you?"

"That's so not the point."

Her smirk only grew. "What? I said I support you, if you wanna take pictures of women you've never-"

"Her weapon! I was taking pictures of her weapon!"

"-met I'll support you. That's what any good team leader would do." Coco nodded her head, watching from the corner of her eye as Velvet groaned once more. She couldn't keep the act up long however, and a moment later she chuckled softly. "Besides, what's so special about her weapon anyways? Looked pretty boring to me." There might have been something to say about the classics, but there was a reason most Huntsmen and Huntresses used mecha-shift weaponry. A basic sword was all well and good until you had to fight something more than three feet away from you.

"It wasn't about the weapon, it was about how she was using it." Velvet said.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't see it because you were too busy trying to steal my camera," Velvet glared at her in what was almost an intimidating look. "But she's good. Really good. I'm surprised she doesn't have a better weapon based on what little I saw."

"She's pretty dedicated from what I've seen. You'd have to be with how much time she spends at the gym every day." Coco thought for a moment. "Actually, now that I think about it, she might spend a bit too much time in the gym, not to mention the amount of training she does outside of that. There's no way that's healthy."

"That's not such a bad thing," Velvet shrugged. "We all came to Beacon to improve, maybe she's just taking it a bit more serious than the rest."

"I also don't think I've ever seen her talk to anybody, aside from the teachers anyways."

Velvet didn't immediately reply this time, instead, likely taking a moment to think if she could remember a time Amber had spoken to anyone.

"You're right but… if that's true, where's her team?" Coco didn't have an answer. "Maybe… we should try and help her."

The way Velvet said it, so quiet and unsure of herself, made it all too easy. "Aww, are you finally opening up? Or is there something else you'd like to tell me about our dear Amber?" Coco wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

It took Velvet a moment to catch her meaning. Once she did she sputtered, choked on air, and nearly tripped, all in the span of a few seconds. Glaring at Coco after she had gained her bearings.

"Either way, your right. Nobody should have to be so alone."

Pyrrha walked through the halls as calmly as she could, but the air of calm was only for show. She had to actively work to not grind her teeth and she was mentally berating herself for her failure. Today had been her first test as the Fall Maiden, and she had failed spectacularly.

Ozpin had assured her that she was already progressing faster than most new maidens, but nothing he could have said would have salvaged her pride.

The test had been so easy. The Headmaster had asked her to hit a target with ice and then fire. Both of which she had done before, but never right after one another. She hadn't expected any difficulties and yet she had been surprised. As it turned out, manifesting such contradicting elements so quickly took more control than she possessed.

She'd tried and tried until she could hardly stand. By the time the Headmaster had told her to stop, she had felt defeated. A few minutes later she had been dismissed while the headmaster stayed to speak with Miss Goodwitch.

She hadn't meant to go to the cafeteria, but as she arrived at the doors she realized just how hungry she was. Sighing, Pyrrha put on her bravest face and pushed her way through one of the doors.

A few pairs of eyes looked up to her, but once it was clear they didn't know her, most looked away. A few continued to stare for a moment, likely noticing the grizzly scar that Pyrrha often found herself unable to look away from. After a moment however, even those people looked away, and she was once again ignored by the general student body of Beacon.

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, and once again attempting to calm her anger at her own failure, she stepped towards the serving line. After a few minutes of waiting in line she managed to get her food to go, quickly making for the door as she attempted to run back to her room.

"Amber!"

Somebody was shouting from the other side of the cafeteria, drawing the attention of more than a few tables worth of students. Pyrrha ignored it, trusting that it wasn't anything serious, and continued towards the door.

"Amber! Over here!"

A moment later Pyrrha recognized the voice. Looking over she saw Coco standing and waving her arms in an attempt to get somebody's attention. A moment later Pyrrha realized it was her attention she was trying to get. She hadn't realized because she hadn't been calling her name, she'd introduced herself as Amber after all. Pyrrha made her way over to the table, trying to ignore the looks she was getting from the nearby tables.

"I called your name like eight times, what gives?"

Pyrrha blushed even deeper, she hadn't even registered most of them. "Sorry, I'm a bit distracted." There was a surprising amount of truth in her statement. "Did you need something?"

Coco shook her head. "Not really, I just wanted to see if you'd like to eat lunch with us." She held her hand out to an empty space at their table. "Consider it an apology for what happened earlier."

Velvet stiffened.

Yatsuhashi raised one eyebrow. "What happe-"

"Nothing!" Velvet quickly stated, drawing everyone's attention on to herself.

"Right… anyways," Coco continued. "Take a seat."

Pyrrha looked down at her to-go bin. She had planned on eating back in her room before heading to the gym for an hour then calling it a night. She set her bin down and sat in the empty space next to Velvet.

It beat eating alone again.

Author's Note: I read the first team CFVY book this last week to better understand the characters and I'm glad I did. Learned a lot about the characters. I gotta say, pretty good. It has a fair bit of that old V1 and V2 vibe with its sense of humour but it's got a pretty good story to it as well, recommend reading it.

As always I hope you enjoyed and encourage you to review and let me know what you think.

Sincerely SE