DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY. Obviously.
Red Reaper's Resolve
Chapter 2: Meeting
*Sniffle Sniffle.*
A young blonde girl was crying in her room. She wasn't proud of what she did.
She hated herself for what she had done.
"Yang, are you okay?" She heard a voice from the door. It was specifically her younger brother's voice.
Yang didn't want to look at her brother's face right now. How can she even face him after what she's done?
"I'm uh, coming in!" The door squeaked open slowly, it was Garnet with a look of concern on his face.
Not gazing up at him, she was still sniffling in tears. It's not that she didn't want to talk to him, she was ashamed to even be in the same room as him.
"Yang. Are you okay? Why are you crying?" Her brother sat next to her on the bed.
Yang took a quick peek at him with the corner of her tear soaked eyes. She hesitated on answering him, but she finally spoke.
"G-Garnet. Why do you still care for me? After I put u-us in danger?! I'm such an awful big sister." She asked shakily.
Garnet hesitated for a moment, most likely choosing his words carefully. "Why shouldn't I? It's not your fault grimm was near us. You were only trying to cheer me up."
He wasn't scolding her after they ventured into the woods without a concrete destination—after all, they were still young children. Of course, it's not like she was upset with him. She was simply perplexed by her younger brother's compassion toward Yang after what had occurred.
"I-I-, Garnet." Yang was now staring directly at him. Her lilac eyes were filled with sadness and confusion. "How can you not be mad about me?! After what-" Yang was cut off to find her brother giving her a hug.
Yang was shocked to say the least. She didn't deserve his hug and she damn well didn't deserve his affection.
"Yang, don't blame yourself please. I understand you're the older one… but you're still my sister. We look out for each other, and I don't want you to deal with the pain alone. We still got each other, and dad. Just please, seeing you blame yourself like this, it hurts not only to yourself, but to me too. I'm here for you, no matter what." Garnet pleaded. He was still giving her older sister a deep embrace.
Yang was still at a complete loss for words. Regardless of how she felt, she returned his hug by wrapping her arms around him. "Garnet… I'm supposed to be the big sister here. I should be the one comforting you." Yang laughed weakly. Then slowly, her tears became more intense.
Garnet was rubbing her back to comfort her more. Yang cried while her head was on his shoulder, but the tears were not of sadness.
It was tears of relief.
To say her brother was amazing would be an understatement. He was too kind, too honest, too forgiving, and too mature for his years. He was Yang's constant support system, her consolation, and her first line of defense. She could not have asked for a more ideal younger brother.
Yang would give the world to her younger brother. She vowed to protect him and get stronger so no one else can hurt him. Yang knows he can protect himself, but they'll have to get through her if they get the chance. She'll get so much stronger, it's the older siblings job right?
After more moments of tears dropping down her face, she lets go of her brother. Wiping her tears off her sullied face.
"Thank you lil bro, I feel so much better now!" Yang exclaimed, she was practically grinning now.
Garnet stared at her, then slowly formed a smile himself. "There's that smile! You're much prettier when you smile."
She lightly punched him in the arm. Seriously, her brother is way too good at giving compliments.
"Ow!" Garnet playfully said. "L-Let's go talk to dad, we can talk to him together. Maybe we can bake cookies together to cheer everyone up!"
"Y-yeah!" Yang replied. Garnet was still smiling at her, he then walked out of her room heading towards the living room. With Yang following closely behind him.
To her, her brother meant everything. He was always the one to turn situations around and to make them positive.
She loved him for that, and she was willing to do whatever it takes to protect him.
"Ohhhh I can't believe it! My baby brother is going to Beacon with me!" A certain blonde teen said. While smothering her younger brother. Since she was just about a couple inches taller than Garnet, he was the perfect height for him being smothered in his sister's chest.
It had been a couple of weeks since that evening when Garnet put an end to the attempted robbery. Of course, the same night he conveniently met the Headmaster of Beacon. The young redhead pondered whether it was a coincidence when Ozpin just happened to be present in the middle of the night.
Even he has to admit it was a little too coincidental.
Naturally, Garnet won't be upset because he practically received a pass to Beacon! He was spared the further two years at Signal. Back at Patch, he was already at the top of the Academy. According to some educators, Garnet has already received all of their knowledge.
Garnet just hopes nobody treats him any different from other students.
"Y-Yang! I'm not a little kid anymore! So stop smothering me!" Garnet said while struggling in her sister's bear hug.
It's not like he didn't enjoy it. They were just a little too old for both of them to be doing something like this.
Ever since Yang started… growing in some areas. She immediately took advantage of her growth and made embraces far too intimate than usual for Garnet.
Garnet's hormones went berserk as he entered adolescence, to the point where he would gently push her away if she tried to give him one of her Yang embraces. Given that they were siblings, it would be quite uncomfortable for others to witness a man and a woman acting in such a way in public.
Yang didn't stop her relentless smothering. In fact it only strengthened it, as soon as Garnet said something.
"C'mon Garn, don't you think you deserve an award? You stopped a robbery." Yang stated.
While that may be true, they were still in a public space! On a crowded airship no less. People were already staring at the siblings. Garnet grabbed both of Yang's shoulders and gently pushed her away.
Garnet sighed, then shook his head. "You're overestimating it, Yang. While I did stop the robbery, the leader still got away. I got help from Glynda Goodwitch."
Slightly deflated from being pushed away, Yang looked at her younger brother with a raised eyebrow. "You got help from Glynda Goodwitch? The Headmaster's assistant? Talk about luck, it's not everyday you get to see her in action."
Yang was right, while she may be a little less knowledgeable compared to Garnet when it comes to the world of Huntsmen and Huntresses. Glynda's reputation was still far and wide.
Though his older sister was still missing one crucial detail. Why were the Headmaster and Glynda conveniently in the city of Vale in the middle of the night? Were they just having a stroll in the night? No, Garnet rationalized. It wouldn't be the case, by the time the incident happened, the new semester for Beacon was nearly starting. They would still have to prepare their classes and curriculum at the very least. They'd still need to review applicants for first years. There were too many variables in play for Ozpin and Glynda to be in the same place and the same time as Garnet.
'Did they stage the robbery?' Garnet pondered. No, that's impossible.
Garnet immediately stopped overthinking too much. He didn't want to go all 'conspiracy theory' on the people he aspired to be. Not to mention they practically saved him, more so on Glynda, but it's besides the point.
He seriously owes them for Garnet being allowed to skip ahead two years to attend at Beacon. He was seriously thankful for it, he got a really big head start on achieving his dreams.
So he wasn't gonna bite the hand that fed him.
"-listening? Hello Remnant to Garnet!" Yang waved her hand in front of her brother's face. Her face showed small concern.
Shaking his head, "Sorry sis. I was uh, lost in thoughts again."
Yang sighed, "You know you do that too often. We're not even at school yet and you're already thinking too much! Just relax, like me!" Yang grinned
"Being lazy is not the same as being relaxed." Garnet jokes.
In return, he received a light punch on his shoulder from his sister.
Suddenly, a live CCT broadcast on one of the hologram panels on the airship turned on.
"This robbery was led by none other than Roman Torchwick. If you have seen him, please report it to your local authorities." The screen displayed the ginger haired criminal's mugshot. If you can even call it, the dude had an expression like he was prepared for picture day.
"That's the guy you fought right? Seems like a chump to me." Yang asked her brother, her lilac eyes flickered red when she gazed at the display of Roman.
Yang was a little too protective of her younger brother. She'd give beatings if anyone even said anything bad to him. Yang one time single handedly sent three students to the infirmary back at Signal. She did it because they laughed when Garnet showcased Crescent Rose when he made it.
Yang was like this ever since they were kids. He didn't mind it of course, but she does take it a little too far. Garnet didn't really care if he was made fun of for being too pretty for a boy and for other things. As long as they didn't harm others of course, but he was more than willing to be the mature one when it came to conflicts.
Garnet gently put his hand on her sister's shoulder to calm her. "Yeah that's him. He really wasn't much of a threat to me. Just a little crafty, he only got away because of a lady."
After Yang quelled her anger, she stared at Garnet with a raised eyebrow. "Lady?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you! When me and Glynda were fighting on the rooftop, a lady in high heels and a short dress showed up. It was too dark on the bullhead to make out a face, we didn't know who she was. What she did though really threw me off, to some extent Glynda. This lady had some sort of fire semblance that made her super strong! Not like yours but she was using these flames like a beam of sorts. It was strong as fire dust itself, she was fending off Glynda's attacks like it was nothing. If the mysterious lady weren't there, we would've definitely captured Torchwick." Garnet finished with an exasperated breath. Saying it in one breath was pretty challenging.
Yang, who was used to one of Garnet's one breath explanations, looked at him with curiosity.
"A fire semblance that's as strong as fire dust itself? Never heard anything like it." Yang pondered aloud. Garnet agrees with her, neither of them ever heard of a semblance as strong as dust.
Then the CCT hologram changed screens. The display exhibited a newswoman with silver and purple hair.
"In other news, Faunus' Civil Rights protest went dark. Members of the White Fang turned this peaceful protest violent. This once peaceful organization-" Garnet tuned out the rest of the report of what the newswoman said.
The White Fang. A faunus group consisting of faunus who were just trying to receive the same equal rights as humans.
Garnet read many news and history books regarding the faunus and White Fang. He knew the last war on Remnant, the Great War, faunus received 'compensation' after many of them were used as slaves. Though in reality, it was just a ruse to ease conflict between humans and Faunus. That ease rarely lasted obviously. Putting an entire species on a small island is hardly what you call 'equality.'
Garnet hated how unjustly faunus were treated. To him, faunus are just humans with extra body parts. In fact, he finds many faunus traits to be cute.
The young boy also read the deep history on why faunus kind were treated so badly. Apparently, back in early civilization, they were feared mainly due to some faunus with traits of dangerous animals. Humans fought them naturally, thus faunus fought back.
It was all so stupid!
Seriously, prejudices date that far back? Faunus were as intelligent as humans, if not more intelligent due to some advantages they have. They could've had peaceful meetings, talked things out, and worked together on hunting. Conflict could have easily been avoided.
Lives could've been saved.
Garnet, getting his thoughts back on track, knowing about the faunus organization. The White Fang, he did some research regarding the civil rights group.
It was formed shortly after the Great War, led by Ghira Belladonna. The man was astounding to say the least, he was smart, driven, and peaceful. He essentially paved the way for faunus to be treated the same as humans. With peaceful protests and boycotts, they were making good progress.
For some reason, he stepped down as the White Fang's Leader years ago. It was really after that when the White Fang had gotten more… violent to say the least. Not much was reported online on why Ghira resigned, some reports say he settled down with a family in the small island Menagerie.
Regardless of what happened to the White Fang, them attacking others to simply make a point is not the answer.
Shaking his thoughts out of his head regarding the White Fang. The CCT screen disappeared. Replacing the screen with a hologram of Glynda Goodwitch.
"Hello my name is Glynda Goodwitch. As you make your way towards your destination, I'd like to give a few words." The hologram stated.
This was not Glynda doing a love broadcast Garnet suspected. This was an automated message spanning across multiple airships heading towards Beacon.
"You, like others, are one of the few people who are able to have an opportunity to attend one of the most prestigious Huntsman and Huntress academies in all of Remnant. Our world is at a time of peace, and it is up to you to withhold the peace. Here at Beacon, we'll provide nothing but the best to hone your skills. What you will learn here will help you on your journey to what it means to be a Huntsman and Huntress." After the courteous message, the hologram dissipated. Leaving many murmurs on the airship.
Garnet's silver eyes sparkled modestly at the huntress' words. He honestly still can't believe he's going to Beacon two years early.
Yang reached out to Garnet. "Hey look! You can see Signal Tower from here Garn!"
Garnet headed towards the direction of his sister, in front of them was one of the many large windows of the airship.
He really can see Signal's CCT Tower on the horizon. Albeit only just a sliver of it. The main city of Vale wasn't far away from Patch. It was just a hop and a skip away.
"We're not really that far from home huh? Well, starting today, Beacon's gonna be our home." Garnet said cheerfully while beside his sister.
"Yep! Beacon's gonna be our new home now." Yang added.
Both of them are gonna be at Beacon for the next four years. Who knows what might be in store for them.
He wonders how different they'll both be by the time they graduate. Garnet could see himself just traveling around all over Remnant taking dangerous missions and helping people. It was pretty obvious what his plans were once he graduated.
He wonders what types of people he'll meet along the way too.
"Watch out lil' bro! That guy over there might show us what he ate for breakfast." Yang pointed to a blonde who was a deep shade of green.
Wordlessly, both of them decided to stand beside the windows for the time being.
As the airship both of the siblings were boarded on, it landed on one of the many docks Beacon harbored. Many of the other airships holding students arrived a little later than the siblings.
When Garnet and Yang were about to leave their ship, the blonde boy from earlier ran out first before any of the other students did. Throwing up whatever he had for breakfast into a nearby trash can.
Both of them, like many other students, faintly shuffled away when they were walking by.
Garnet felt kind of bad for the guy, instead of being amazed by how big Beacon Academy was, he was feeding the trash can.
Garnet was really taking in the site before him. Beacon was one of a kind for its structure for sure. It wasn't as technologically advanced as Atlas Academy, but Garnet preferred Beacon's structure much more. Though it was probably because this was his first time being in an Huntsmen Academy.
He compared it to Signal Academy, not a fair comparison mind you, but it was much much bigger if it wasn't already obvious. The CCT Tower here was at least five times taller than the one at Signal. It makes sense for the Tower here to be this large. It is one of the four main CCT Towers in Remnant.
Garnet looked besides him, his sister was amazed at Beacon so far, but not as much as him. He silently admitted to himself he himself was too much of a geek.
Suddenly as the siblings entered a bit of a more crowded area, a lot of eyes were on him. He could hear some whispers as well.
Whispers about him.
"Is he a new student here?"
"Such a cutie!"
"I hope he joins my team~."
"That's a guy?!"
"Damn pretty boy."
"He looks a little young to be here."
"I hope he's single!"
Garnet inwardly sighed. He honestly kind of expected this type of attention when going here.
Back at Signal, well pretty much Patch in general, Garnet was really popular. Mostly due to his looks, once he got older, girls were practically all over him. Meanwhile guys were really envious of him.
Garnet has quite the effeminate face. More so on the feminine side, he has a sharp chin and round face. He was a little bit on the shorter side though, but he suspects he might get a growth spurt in the next couple years.
He drank milk damn it!
Garnet just hopes after a couple weeks, the attention on him will cool down.
The young boy stared at his sister beside him, she had quite the intense look on her face. She was giving off glares towards anyone who was whispering about her brother.
It helped to silence for the most part. People just whispered quieter, which was good enough for Garnet.
Once the murmurs slowed down, Yang spoke up to her brother. "Eeesh. Looks like you're already popular here bro. Reminds me back at Signal, so the same applies here. If anyone gives you any trouble, tell your big sis!" Yang cracked her knuckles.
Garnet shook his head, "Yang it's okay. I'm not a kid anymore, I can handle myself. Thanks though, also you can go find your other friends now."
"Are you sure Garn? You do realize none of your friends at Signal are here too? You'd have to make new friends." Yang asked while crossing her arms.
Garnet winced at her truth. He didn't realize that! He was essentially friendless here, but so are others too.
Garnet didn't have much problems when making friends. It was just a bit of a hassle for him to make new ones.
Due to his looks, guys who offered Garnet friendship only took advantage of his popularity with the girls. Many of them using Garnet's kindness to introduce them to girls they like. Making female friends… was questionable to say the least.
At Patch, many girls only talked to him because they only wanted to go out with Garnet. Naturally, he turned them all down. Simply the fact they only liked him on a surface level. Some of them were just too shy to even talk to Garnet, thus they avoided him.
He did make a couple of actual friends, only a close knit. Those friends back on Patch didn't care how he looked or how popular he was with others.
They were friends with Garnet because of who he is on the inside.
He missed them a little bit. When he told them he was gonna attend Beacon early, they were all shocked. They even had a small get together for the send off.
Right now, he had to start all over. This time, he was more prepared for what he might expect.
"Yeah… I'm well aware of that sister. I can manage just fine though! Just, go and catch up with your friends." Garnet said while giving an approving smile at his older sister.
Yang raised a brow for a moment, returned his smile with her own. "You really are the sweetest little brother a gal could ask for! Alright, I'll go meet up with my friends. Good luck on making friends lil' bro!" His older sis gave Garnet a quick noogie before running off.
Garnet pawed his hair to fix from the noogie, only then he saw a girl with pure white hair.
Said girl had a lot of luggage.
It was so much that some of the contents fell out on one of them. There were lots and lots of vials of dust.
Garnet quickly picked some of the vials up, and made a quick glance at them.
'High quality dust. Almost the highest quality you could get!' Garnet heeded, this small vial can easily cost hundreds of lien alone.
Shaking his thoughts away, he quickly ran over to the white haired girl with a couple vials in hand.
"Um excuse me miss. Some of these fell out of your luggage." Garnet tapped the girl's shoulder.
The girl quickly turned around, Garnet quickly took note of her appearance.
She was as tall as Garnet, albeit a little shorter due to heels. Besides her white as snow hair, she also wore a white dress and white high heeled boots. The inside of the collar of her dress was pure red. Her hair was tied up to a slightly crooked ponytail just off the center of the top of her head.
The girl was beautiful to say the least. Her head was acutely round, with a sharp chin. Almost similar to Garnet's facial structure, but definitely much more feminine than his. She had pale blue eyes and skin as pale as her attire.
She looked oddly familiar.
What stood out to him the most was that scar on her eye.
As soon as the girl turned around, her face morphed into a scowl.
"What do you think you're doing you thief?! I'll let you know stealing from me is a big mistake!" The girl practically fumed.
Garnet was taken aback by her claim. "Woah woah woah! In case you haven't noticed missy, your luggage was practically dropping these things." Garnet gestured to the red vials in his hand. "Next time, learn to securely close your luggage. These dust vials can be very dangerous."
What Garnet said only deepened her scowl. "I-I… Don't you think I don't know that?!" She yanked the fire dust vials out of his hand. "Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?! What are you even doing here? We fight monsters, we're not just sparring!" The white haired girl questioned.
This was a problem, besides the girl's haughty attitude. Garnet honestly didn't know how to respond when people asked him if he was a little young to attend Beacon. Should he make an excuse or make something up?
Garnet smirked moderately at the girl, "So what if I look younger? You shouldn't judge people from how they look. Well, I shouldn't be the one saying that considering I thought you were a nice person. Not a princess with a stick up her butt." Garnet finished as he put his hands behind his head. He was gonna use his uncle's advice on how to piss off a girl.
This girl was needlessly rude. Garnet was just trying to recover her items only for him to be wrongfully accused of being a thief. For once, a girl was genuinely angry at him.
The white haired girl's face turned red, in both embarrassment and anger. "W-Were you taught any manners at all kid?! Do you know who I am?!" The girl shouted.
Before Garnet could answer, another girl showed up.
"You're Weiss Schnee, Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company." The girl said she was holding a red dust vial in one hand, and a book in the other.
The girl had long, pitch black hair. Not as long as Yang's but nearly. She wore a white and black corset vest, to the point where it shows her bare shoulders. The corset was somewhat short, it displayed a bit of her toned belly. She had white short-shorts, accompanied by black leggings. She wore short black boots. On her arms there was a black sleeve covering her left, with straps of black cloth wrapped around both of her wrists.
She was as tall as Yang, if not a little bit taller. The girl had golden eyes, there was some type of feral feeling if you stare too deep into them. She was gorgeous, Garnet had to admit inwardly. She was really slender, her clothing definitely exposed that off. There was some type of mysterious vibe she was giving off.
What stood out to Garnet the most was the bow she was wearing on her head. He could've sworn he saw it twitch.
Rattling his cognition away on the new girl, he now focused his thoughts on the reveal of the white haired girl's name.
Weiss Schnee! That's why Garnet recognized her a bit.
The Heiress of the biggest dust company in Remnant, probably the biggest and richest company in Remnant.
Largest manufacturers of dust overall. Additionally, the best dust-making quality available. They practically own the whole market for dust in general. They also own a number of businesses, properties, and even timeshares.
They put many small dust shops out of business though.
Garnet disliked their business practices. It's honestly common knowledge especially to the people who worked in lower positions in the company.
How the SDC treated faunus is unacceptable.
Garnet read accounts of the atrocities of the SDC mines and concluded that to say they were abused would be an understatement. Faunus were subjected to mistreatment, overwork, and even forced to work in appalling conditions as children.
It twisted Garnet's stomach like a vice just thinking about it.
Shaking away his thoughts, he now turned his head towards the Heiress, Weiss, she spoke.
"Finally someone who recognizes me!" Weiss exclaimed, she then took back of the dust vial the black haired girl held.
Definitely a lot more gentle than when she grabbed the vials from Garnet's hands.
"The same infamous company with shady labor rights and mistreatment of faunus." The black haired girl said in a monotone voice.
"Not to mention, the same company with controversial regulations and questionable business partners." Garnet added.
This got the raven haired girl's yellow eyes to widen a little at Garnet.
"B-Both of you… the nerve- ugh! Forget it!" Weiss angrily stormed off in one direction. Leaving both Garnet and the ravenette alone.
As both of them watched the Heiress storm off, Garnet spoke up.
"Hey, thanks for the assist back there. Honestly, I didn't expect the heiress of the SDC to be here at Beacon." Garnet stated.
The girl nodded, "It's no problem. I didn't either, though you look like you've done your research. Many people don't know the truth about the SDC."
"I've done some digging around here and there, it's a shame that it's not well known enough though to cause some change for the better." Garnet replied while shaking his head.
This got a slight smirk on the girl's face. "Couldn't agree more."
"Uh, say what's your name by the way? If you don't mind me asking?" Garnet asked hesitantly. This was his chance to make a new friend!
"It's Blake. Blake Belladonna." The girl, named Blake, said while she formed a small smile on her face.
"Name's Garnet Rose! Nice to meet you." Garnet greeted back while beaming.
'Belladonna? Is she related to Ghira Belladonna? No, it must be a coincidence. I'm pretty sure Belladonna is a fairly common last name.' Garnet thought.
'She doesn't have any faunus traits as well.'
Her bow twitched again! It sure is windy today.
"So you're from Mistral? That's cool! Heard they got tons of great seafood." Garnet replied.
Garnet and his new friend Blake were currently walking within Beacon's campus. The campus was amazing to say the least, it honestly looked more like an open garden nursery.
After having a couple of small talks with the black haired girl, she was pretty reserved from what Garnet had gathered.
Blake rarely adds comments on things, she keeps things vague, and whenever she's asked about her home, she always takes a moment whenever it comes to talking about where she's from.
Blake probably had a difficult past, Garnet can sympathize with her.
"They do have great seafood. Though I especially prefer sashimi." Blake added.
One thing for sure that Blake is passionate about, it's seafood. Especially fish.
"Say, if you don't mind me asking Blake. I'm curious what weapon you got." Garnet asked.
Garnet is a big weapons geek. He can essentially name almost every stock standard firearm in the back of his head.
Back at Patch, as soon as Garnet turned of age when handling weapons, the first thing he asked for was the creation of Crescent Rose.
His dad was a bit reluctant on seeing the initial design of Crescent Rose. Garnet still had his messy blueprint of it since he was four years old.
Many, and many red crayons were sacrificed in the making of said blueprint.
Though through sheer begging and offers of doing plentiful chores., his dad gave in and finally got him the materials to make Crescent Rose.
Inspired by his uncle's weapon, his uncle assisted Garnet naturally. He was still a teacher at Signal at the time as well, so it was all convenient.
He specifically added a sniper rifle to Crescent Rose to make up for lack of range. Using the hilt as a scope and barrel just made sense to him.
Garnet added another scythe blade at the opposite end of his weapon. Mainly for a way where he won't have to frustratingly swing his Crescent Rose at a specific direction. It was because he was able to spin easily with the weapon, he'd be left wide opened from his back side. Since he was gonna be dealing with Grimm, they usually fight in hordes. The extra blade was insurance in case he was completely surrounded.
Plus it gives it a more cruel but cool look!
"Oh my weapon? It's Kusarigama." Blake answered as she took out her weapon.
It was a black blade, with its hilt… also being a blade too. Nothing wrong with more blades.
Blake noticed Garnet eyeing her weapon with curiosity and wonder, she smirked marginally and continued. "It can transform into a handgun. The biggest feature of my weapon is it's able to contract and receive due to this long stretch of cloth on it."
The boy's silver eyes gleamed with sparkle. Already having a multitude of questions in his head. "Wait, that cloth must be really durable. What's it made out of if you're able to swing it around?"
Blake placed a hand on the cloth, she did a motion to demonstrate its elasticity. "It's carbon fiber, but it's modified to a point where it's able to expand and contract."
Oh! Carbon fiber is typically used to make garments durable. However, it was really fantastic to wield it as a weapon. Blake appeared to have gotten her weaponry from Mistral. Garnet has heard that most people find their method of weaponry to be rather inventive; he's heard of a sword that can completely coat the blade by using dust vials in its hilt!
"I see. So that's also why you have those cloth wrapping around your arm too as well?" Garnet asked, while still in astonishment.
Blake nodded, "How about your weapon?"
Garnet snapped out of his stupor the moment she asked for his weapon. He took a step back, motioned to it and morphed it into its scythe form.
"Crescent Rose is its name! It's also a high impact sniper rifle." Garnet proudly stated.
Blake looked with slightly wide eyes at Garnet's weapon, "It's also a gun?"
Garnet grinned. "Yep!"
"All students at Signal Academy fabricate their own weapons. It's mandatory since they want to teach students what it's like to maintain your own weapon." The boy expressed his gratitude to Signal for teaching their students such material. With the assistance of others, of course, Garnet was more than proud of himself for creating Crescent Rose.
"Quite an effort to make students make their own weapon. I can understand the reason for it though." Blake commented.
Garnet nodded happily, though for some reason he felt like he forgot something.
He dug into his pants' pocket and took out his scroll to check the time.
"Oh shoot! Let's head to the auditorium, sorry Blake. I didn't realize we used up so much time walking aimlessly." Garnet stifled to say, he felt pretty bad for using up Blake's time.
"Don't apologize Garnet. I didn't have much to do anyway before the Headmaster's speech." Blake replied.
"Ah alright then. Let's go straight to the auditorium, I know exactly where it is." Garnet walked towards the direction of their destination with minimal speed. Blake followed behind to keep pace with him.
They arrived at their destination.
The first thing that was immediately noticed was the colorful and albeit rowdy crowd of their fellow soon-to-be classmates.
The auditorium itself was vast. Despite the growing crowd before them, it still pales in comparison to what empty space is still being left over. It can honestly house the entire student body of Beacon.
Garnet noticed a certain blonde. She definitely stood out from the crowd, to him at least.
"There's Yang! Oh, gotta go Blake. It was nice talking to you." Garnet said politely to the black haired girl.
Blake nodded with the corners of her mouth curving up slightly. "It was nice talking to you too. See you later Garnet."
Garnet returned the nod with a smile. Then hurriedly weaved through the bustling crowd of students to make way to his older sister.
"Hey Yang!" Garnet said to get his sister's attention.
"Sup lil' bro! How's your first day of school going?" Yang asked as she was now standing next to her sibling.
Garnet considered it for a moment, all in all he can say it was actually a pretty decent first day. He made a friend, girls didn't flock to him immediately to ask him out, he enjoyed the sights at Beacon, and he can't wait for what's next!
Except there was one thing that was pretty negative about today.
Meeting Weiss Schnee.
"It's actually been pretty good, Yang. Guess what? I made a friend already!" Garnet gleed. It's honestly the quickest he has ever made a friend.
"Really? What's her na-," Yang was abruptly cut off by a shrill of a girl's voice.
"YOU! I have a word with you kid!" A very familiar voice called out.
Garnet froze. He slowly turned around to see the snow haired girl literally fuming in his direction.
Yang lowered her head and whispered to her brother, "Is that the friend you made?" His sister asked confusingly, she was also puzzled by the girl heading towards their way.
Garnet shook his head, "Uh… more like an enemy to say the least."
"I'll have you know what occurred earlier won't be tolerated!" Weiss berated towards Garnet. She was furiously jabbing a finger towards the boy.
The boy sighed, maybe he did go a little too far when confronting Weiss about her… prissy attitude. So he was gonna be the mature one and try to make things right.
Garnet readied himself, then attempted to talk to her in the most pleasant way possible. "Weiss, I know we kind of got off on the wrong foot, but I'm sorry about the things I said earlier. I'd like to make things up to you."
The Heiress looked at Garnet with a slightly opened mouth, then frowned. "G-Good! You're lucky that I let you off the hook. Next time learn some manners. Also since you know of me, I'd like to know your name. J-Just because you want to make things up!" Weiss crossed her arms expectantly.
Huh, unexpected. Garnet was sure she'd give him another 'princess fit.' For some reason, he thought Weiss would be the type of person to hand him a brochure of the SDC company.
Garnet wasn't gonna complain at all though, he didn't want to make any enemies here at Beacon.
"Name's Garnet Rose. Nice to meet you Weiss." He held out his hand, he genuinely wanted to start things over with the snow haired girl.
Weiss stared at the boy's extended hand, then reluctantly shook it. "Weiss Schnee. Also don't think I'll forgive you that easily, I expect you to pay me back in full."
Garnet rubbed the back of his head after letting go of the Heiress' hand.
It was gonna be a long school year.
"Um, hello? I'm still here!" The boy's older sister said. Garnet forgot she was still nearby!
"Oh uh, Weiss, this is my big sister." Garnet stepped out of the way to gesture to his sister.
"Nice to meet you Weisscream! Name's Yang Xiao Long." Yang greeted herself with a wave and a smile.
Weiss frowned, "First of all, don't ever call me that. Second, how are you both siblings? Neither of you look alike." Weiss asked.
Garnet decided to speak up, it was pretty common that people asked this. He was generally the one to fill someone in on their… family heritage.
"Well it's because-," before Garnet could tell Weiss, he was abruptly interrupted by the sounds of speakers reverberating through the auditorium.
The sounds of chatter all around the auditorium came to a sudden stop, as if someone put a silence spell on the crowd of students.
The Headmaster of Beacon was the one to speak up on the mic, with Glynda by his side on the stage.
"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy,"
'Kind of a… blunt thing to say, Ozpin.' Garnet inferred silently. Sure pretty much most if not all of the students here are kind of new to the whole slayer-of-monsters thing, but he didn't need to put it like that.
Ozpin continued. "-in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
Hm. Ozpin kind of has a point there, knowledge can really take you so far. He's read stories of many new graduates from Huntsmen academies struggling starting out, only about a little more than half are able to stabilize after a few or so missions. Many take missions only to be overwhelmed and suddenly become scared of being a Huntsman.
Knowledge is definitely good, but when it comes to this career. It can't prepare you for unknown variables that can and honestly will happen.
Garnet shook his head from his thoughts, and as soon as Ozpin finished his speech, he stepped off the stage. Leaving only Glynda to step up to the microphone.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow is when your initiation begins. Be ready." Glynda addressed. As soon as she was done speaking, the return of chatter amongst the students erupted again.
"That was odd. He seemed… not there." Yang commented on Ozpin's speech. Garnet honestly agrees.
Putting his palm on his chin, Garnet was deducing to himself, "He was testing us. It seems to me that he wants us to think that being a Huntsman or Huntress requires more than merely arriving at Beacon. Ozpin believes that a lot of kids believe this will be an easy task. What he meant to express when he said, 'Knowledge can only carry you so far,' is that you are the only one who can truly change what has to be done. I think that's what he meant." After Garnet was done, he glanced between the two individuals who were standing close to him.
Yang was giving off a look of thought to Garnet, she was probably trying to wrap her head around the Headmaster's speech as well.
Weiss… raised a questionable brow at Garnet. He didn't blame her though, this was the first time she witnessed Garnet in his 'overthinking' state.
"Garn, you're doing it again." Yang pointed out.
"Ah! My a-apologies, sorry, sorry. I do that often." Garnet rubbed the back of his head.
"Um. Okay." Weiss deadpanned.
Darn. Nice job on making it up to Weiss, Garnet thought.
'Tomorrow will be a new beginning. No White Fang, no attacks on the innocent, and no…' Blake's thoughts trailed off, she didn't have it in her to say his name.
The cat faunus was currently sitting in a lone corner of Beacon's ballroom, she plans on reading her book to take her mind off things. Blake was currently wearing a black yukata for her sleepwear.
Night came quickly as darkness quickly enshrouded the sky. The automatic light switches provided by Beacon would come on at a predetermined time, generally as the sun was about to set. Because the academy had so many windows that allowed sunlight to stream through the building, it was already extremely well-lit during the day. Even so, a great deal more lights came on afterwards.
Too bad it isn't her room though, there was a 'bedtime' for students in the ballroom. So the ballroom was very dimly lit, almost like a movie theater when starting a movie.
Blake wanted to read, good thing she has her own dust powered candle ready to accompany her on reading.
She turned it on, Blake adjusted the light's power with the knob on the device. The cat faunus didn't want to make other students awake by a bright light. So she made it set to a moody light level.
Finally, some time to read. The raven haired girl rarely had a moment to read, she was so caught up on making it all the way to Beacon, not to mention she had to prepare to even enroll here for months.
Blake was very surprised the Headmaster allowed her here. Despite him knowing her… origins.
'Enough thinking. Just read,' Blake quickly glanced at her book, she picked off from where she left on.
Just as she was about to be engrossed in her book, she heard voices.
"Yang stop! Just because she's technically the only friend I made, doesn't mean you can just 'test her!'"
"Sorry Garn, gotta make sure she's genuine!"
Blake sighed. It was the perfect mood to read tonight, but only for her to be interrupted.
The raven haired girl glanced up from her book. She recognized the boy, Garnet Rose, he was wearing a plain black T-Shirt with a rose symbol on it, he was wearing black shorts that barely reached past his knees.
There was a girl who was dragging him along, she didn't recognize her. She was tall, almost the same height as her, blonde girl. She wore a yellow tank top with a symbol on it with black short shorts.
Besides their appearance at the moment. The boy she just met and talked to for a bit earlier today was… interesting to say the least.
Garnet Rose, despite his appearance and feminine looks, he's someone who was genuine.
"You shouldn't judge people from how they look." The words of Garnet rang through Blake's head. She couldn't agree more, he didn't say it with a just cause. The cat faunus can really tell that he meant those words by heart.
It so happens that he is aware of the SDC's harshness. Although it wasn't unusual for people to be unaware of the actual crimes committed by that company, particularly with regard to faunus, you had to search far and wide on the CCT Network to find out about them because the SDC clearly wanted to hide the evidence of their wrongdoings.
Blake honestly had no reason to even converse with the red and black haired boy. There was this sort of air around him, he wasn't suspicious no, it also wasn't his looks, but even though he was pretty cute for a boy.
Blake had to admit that Garnet was really attractive. He can even give the majority of attractive girls a run for their money. He attracted most people's attention because of his many effeminate traits. Despite his lack of bulk, he possessed an extremely slender build and toned areas of his physique. Some of it was visible even in his pajamas, which is not unexpected considering the weapon he had shown her before was nearly twice as big as him.
That's besides the point, he had an atmosphere around him that just seemed genuine. Blake can't explain it in her mind, but it was probably just her cat faunus instincts.
It had to be.
Breaking away from her thoughts, Garnet spoke.
"Uh hey Blake, this is my older sister, Yang. Sorry in advance, she's a bit… protective." Garnet apologized with an exasperated sigh.
"Hello Garnet." She nodded towards the boy, then turned to his sister with a deadpanned look. "Hello."
"Nice to meet you! I heard you met my brother Garnet earlier. Name's Yang!" The blonde smiled.
"Name's Blake, though you've already heard of it." Blake responded. She didn't want to sound too rude or anything, she just wants to finally read her darn book already!
There was an awkward silence for just a brief moment.
Garnet was the first to finally break that silence, "Ooooookay Yang, you've met Blake and let's go back to bed." The boy slightly tugged her brother's arm. Only for his actions to be halted.
"Hold on now little bro. I'd like to know Blake a little more!" Yang insisted. Blake inwardly groaned at what she said, Garnet probably wasn't kidding she was a bit overprotective.
Blake knew that too much from having overprotective family members as well.
"So, er, I like your bow! It matches your… pajamas!" Yang commented.
Not looking up from her book, Blake plainly stated. "Thanks..?"
Yet another awkward muteness filled the space between these three. Garnet yet again broke the stillness.
"Your book, what's it about?" Garnet asked.
Blake was slightly taken off guard at the question and she responded, "Oh. It's about a man with two souls, each one fighting control over the body." That was pretty much the summary of the book, she pretty much stated the synopsis.
"Ah, that's a good one. I don't wanna spoil it though, but it's an interesting read to say the least." Garnet commented, he then continued. "I love to read books, especially ones about the heroes. One of the reasons why I want to become a Huntsman."
After hearing Garnet's comment, Blake paused for a moment. She wasn't prepared for such a naive response from him. Putting your life at danger in a huntsman's profession only because he picked up a book from one of those fairy tales? Blake believed that Garnet was much more of a child than she regarded, or perhaps he was concealing his actual goal of becoming a Huntsman.
"Why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" Blake said, it wasn't a rhetorical question.
"I'm not that naive. Happily ever afters are just a dream of what an ideal ending should be, there'll always be bumps and less than happy endeavors towards the end. I hope for all of us we'll get an ideal ending that we desire." Garnet replied.
Alright, that was the exact response she was expecting to hear from him. Blake wholeheartedly agreed, saying that happy endings with lots of sunshine and rainbows are only dreams. In the real world, there are always going to be unhappy endings in contrast to those in stories.
The cat faunus concluded, she then answered Garnet this. "I couldn't agree more. If only real life was the same as a fairytale."
"Well, that's why we're here. To make things better for others." Garnet commented, his big silver eyes were pooling with determination.
Blake caught that look in his eyes for a moment. One that she saw many times in a certain person.
It was the same look that her father had when leading the White Fang.
'He's definitely a much more resolved person than I thought, he's way too young to have that same determined look though.' Blake mused. Did something happen to him to make him have the look that he has right now? It wasn't her business though, it just reminded her of her father when giving speeches to faunus.
"Oh I'm so proud of my baby brother! Acting all mature!" Yang suddenly grabbed Garnet and put him in a… pillowy hug to say the least.
"Y-Yang stop!" Garnet tried to break free from his sister's grasp. To little to no avail.
Blake giggled slightly at the siblings. After such a somewhat serious exchange in philosophical ideals, they were all, including herself, still just young adults.
Suddenly, Weiss Schnee walked within their vicinity and complained. "Hey you two! Don't you know some people are trying to sleep!"
The siblings instantly stopped their horseplay. "O-Oh! Right. It's way past bedtime." Garnet spoke.
"Finally. I need my eight hours, Garnet behave yourself. Brute, learn to be… less affectionate towards your brother." Weiss berated, especially towards Yang.
Yang narrowed her lilac eyes, "Hey, who are you calling brute Ice Princess?"
Weiss scowled, "I'm calling you that, brute. Don't call me Ice Princess too!"
Yang and Weiss started to bicker back and forth with Garnet being the mediator between the two.
Blake sighed and closed her book. Definitely no time for reading at all now, everyone in the ballroom had a big day tomorrow. The initiation.
The cat faunus did enjoy her conversation with Garnet earlier. It was surprising to find a like minded individual, especially another human too. Maybe her intuition was right, Garnet was a lot more than what he seemed.
Shaking her thoughts away, she blew out the dust candle she had.
Thus, preparing them all to be ready for tomorrow.
A/N:
Thank you for reading!
Also thank you all for the reviews, favs, and follows! Thank you all so much.
This was a beefy one for sure, I didn't expect this chapter to be this long, over 8000 words. It was kind of a struggle to write in some areas, especially writing Blake and her interactions with others. We all know Blake was very reserved at the start of the show. She rarely spoke and for the times she does, Blake rarely speaks her heart out, for good reason.
So I hope I wrote her accurately, hopefully she wasn't too OOC. I'm still new when writing character's interactions with one another so bear with me on that please.
I wanted this chapter to focus with Garnet meeting with all his team members. Which is honestly an important part of the story.
Now then, I know what some of you might be thinking: "Where was Jaune in all of this?" One of the reasons in the statement above. Second, in the show, Jaune mostly met Ruby because he wanted to talk to a quirky girl, in the episode of The Shining Beacon. With Garnet obviously being a guy, there was essentially no reason for Jaune to talk to Garnet.
Don't worry though, in the next chapter, Garnet will meet with JNPR! I have many plans on how Garnet and Jaune becoming friends. I don't want to spoil it too much here obviously, but look forward to it! Also the initiation as well.
That being said, reviews, critiques, favorites, follows are all greatly appreciated! If you have any suggestions or advice PLEASE don't be afraid to say something, I will take it in stride to further improve my writing.
This fic is also posted on AO3 as well.
Please take care and stay safe! Until next time!