Chapter 3: The Shining Beacon Part 2

Ruby, Jaune, and I entered the inside of Beacon Acadamy's giant auditorium, filled to the brim with people. Ruby looks over when she hears Yang's voice.

"Ruby! Lana! Over here! I saved you guys a spot!" Yang called. Yang waved to us. Ruby turns to Jaune.

"Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go. I'll see you after the ceremony!" Ruby said. Ruby leaves to go be with Yang. I turned to Jaune too.

"I gotta go too. Bye, Jaune!" I called. I ran to catch up with Ruby. "Ruby! Wait for me!"

"Hey, wait!" Jaune called after us. Jaune sighs with disappointment. "Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?"

Jaune moves over to reveal a red-haired girl standing behind him with her hand on her hip. The girl had long red hair pulled back into a ponytail. She had green eyes and top, she wore a brown overbust corset with a vertical strip of lighter brown in the center. Additionally, she wore an elastic, black, A-line mini skirt and brown opera-length gloves on both arms. She wore a red ankle-length sash that wrapped around her skirt. As for accessories, there was a small circular bronze plate on her right hip opposite two pouches with both connected to a belt. The plate bore her emblem. Underneath her hair, she always wore a brown circlet adorned with a pair of small, green, teardrop-shaped emeralds on thin chains. She also sported a large bronze gorget around her neck and a bronze bracelet on the upper half of her left arm.

Once Ruby and I joins Yang, she crossed her arms. "How's your first day going little sister, Lana?" Yang asked us.

"You mean since you ditched us and we exploded?" Ruby said, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Yikes, meltdown already?" Yang said.

"No, we literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And then there was some fire, and I think some ice...?" Ruby said.

"And maybe some electricity?" I added on to Ruby's rant.

"Are you two being sarcastic?" Yang asked us as she was smiling broadly.

"No!" I shouted.

Ruby scoffs. "I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and than Lana and I sneezed, and than we exploded, and than she yelled at us again, and we felt really, really, bad and we just wanted her to stop yelling at us!" Ruby shouted. I looked over to see Weiss standing behind Ruby, glaring.

"Um, Ruby?" I said.

"What?" Ruby said. I pointed to Weiss.

"YOU!" Weiss yelled, which startled the both of us. Ruby and I quickly jumped into Yang's arms.

"Oh, God, it's happening again!" Ruby cried.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss yelled.

"Oh my God, you guys really exploded," Yang said.

"No joke," I said.

"It was an accident," Ruby said. Ruby gets down from her sister's arms. I got down from Yang's arms too, but I kept hidden behind Yang. I did not like this girl.

"It was an accident!" Ruby shouted louder this time. Weiss holds up a pamphlet titled "DUST for dummies and other Inadequate Individuals" to Ruby and I.

"What the hell is this? Is this some sort of manual?" I said.

"What's this?" Ruby asked.

Weiss begins listing off policies to us. "The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy-to-follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field." Her voice goes faster and higher pitched with each word.

"Uuhhh...?" Ruby said, backing away a little.

"You two really wanna start making things up to me?" Weiss said.

"Absolutely?" Ruby said. Weiss hands the pamphlet to Ruby.

"Read this, and don't ever speak to me again," Weiss said.

"Look, uh. It sounds like you two got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you guys start over and try to be friends, okay?" Yang said.

"But Yang, I don't want to be friends with her! She's mean! I'd rather be friends with you." I said.

"Look Lana, just give her a chance," Yang said.

I sighed. "Fine," I said.

"Yeah! Great idea, sis." Ruby said. Ruby puts the pamphlet away. Ruby extends her hand to Weiss. "Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby. Want to hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies."

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!" Weiss said. Weiss points to Jaune standing behind us. Weiss seemed enthusiastic. Maybe Weiss isn't so bad after all?

"Hm?" Jaune said when he was mentioned. Ruby smiled.

"Wow, really?!" Ruby said happily. Weiss gave us a dead silence which was followed by a glare.

"No," Weiss said. Guess I spoke too soon.

"See, I told you," I said to Yang. Yang just sighed and rolled her eyes. Our attention is now drawn to the stage, where Professor Ozpin is readying the microphone, with Glynda beside him. Professor Ozpin pushed up his glasses and cleared his throat.

"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, in need of purpose, direction." Professor Ozpin said. Students whisper among themselves as Professor Ozpin is giving his speech. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will provide that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Professor Ozpin leaves the stage when he finishes his speech. Glynda steps up to the microphone and begins giving us instructions. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." Glynda said.

"He seemed kind of... off," Yang said.

"It's almost like he wasn't even there," Ruby said.

"That was weird," I said. Jaune then approaches to Weiss from the side.

"I'm a natural blond, you know," Jaune said. Weiss puts her hand to her face in exasperation.

On the first night at Beacon, students are splayed out in their sleeping bags. Ruby is in her pajamas and with a sleeping mask around her head. Ruby is writing in her journal while I am reading one of my Wonder Woman comic books. I was startled when Yang crashed down next to us. She is similarly dressed to Ruby's clothes.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang said happily.

"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though," Ruby said, not looking up from her journal.

"I know I do!" Yang said. Yang purrs as she watches several, muscular, shirtless guys... and Jaune dressed in feetie pajamas, waving to her, which makes her groan. I laughed at Jaune's pajamas.

"Hahaha! Hey Jaune, nice jammies!" I shouted.

"Thank you," Jaune said.

Yang returns her attention to Ruby. "What's that?"

"A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." Ruby said.

"Awww, that's so cuuute!" Yang said. Yang gets knocked back when Ruby launches a pillow to her face.

"Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here!" Ruby said.

"I mean, you do know me," I said.

"Yeah, true," Ruby said.

"Yeah! And what about Jaune? He's... nice! There you go! Plus two friends! That's a hundred percent increase!" Yang said. Ruby turns on her back.

"I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to one..." Ruby said sadly.

"There's no such thing as negative friends! You just made one friend and one enemy!" Yang said. Yang is hit with another pillow, this time looking like a dog to the face. "Look, it's only been one day. Trust me; you've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet!"

The two sisters and I notice a candle being lit nearby, and the black-haired girl is seen leaning against the wall, reading her book.

"That girl..." Ruby said.

"Hey, I remember her," I said.

"You know her?" Yang said.

"Not really. She saw what happened this morning, but left before Lana or I could say anything." Ruby said.

"Well, Now's your chance!" Yang said. Yang grabbed mine and Ruby's hands and lifted us up. I began to panic. I dropped my comic book on accident.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" Ruby cried.

"Yang, stop!" I shouted. The black-haired girl looks up from her book to see Ruby and I unsuccessfully struggling against Yang's strong grip as she leads us over to the black-haired girl's spot before letting go.

"Hel-loooooo!" Yang sang. She waved to the black-haired girl. "I believe you three may know each other?"

Ruby turned her head away from Yang, crossing her arms while I hid behind Yang. I am a shy person as I mentioned before. I don't like meeting new people.

"Aren't you... the girls that exploded?" The black-haired girl said.

"Hi..." I manage to say.

"Uh, haha, yeah! My name's Ruby! But you can just call me Crater..." Ruby smiles, embarrassed. "Actually, you can just call me Ruby."

I held onto Yang's arm tighter. My heart pounded in my chest, and I don't know why but I just started sweating. Yang put her arm around my shoulder.

"It's okay, Lana. Just introduce yourself." Yang said.

I took a deep breath and said, "My name is Lana."

"Okay." The black-haired girl said. She went back to her book. There was an awkward silence.

"What are you doing?" Yang said, whispering to Ruby.

"I don't know, help me!" Ruby said. Ruby goes back to smiling.

"So... what's your name?" Yang asked.

The black-haired girl sighs as she is distracted yet again. "Blake."

"Well, Blake, I'm Yang! Ruby's older sister and Lana's friend!" Yang said. "I like your bow!"

"Thanks!" Blake said. Blake looked irritated.

"It goes great with your... pajamas!" Yang said.

"Right..." Blake said.

"Nice night, don't you think?" Yang said. Ruby and I laugh uncomfortably. This is why I do not like meeting new people.

"Yes- it's lovely. Almost as lovely as this book! Which I will continue to read. As soon as you leave." Blake said.

"Yeah, this girl is a lost cause," Yang said to Ruby and I.

"Agreed," I said.

"What's it about?" Ruby said to Blake.

"Huh?" Blake said, surprised.

"Your book. Does it have a name?" Ruby asked.

"Well... i-it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his own body," Blake said.

"Oh, yeah... That's real lovely!" Yang said sarcastically. Ruby takes a step closer to Blake.

"I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heros and monsters... They're one of the reasons why I want to be a huntress." Ruby said. Blake laughs a little.

"And why's that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" Blake asked.

"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heros in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected the people who couldn't protect themselves!" Ruby said.

"That's... very ambitious for a child." Blake's smile turned into a frown as she said that. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

"Well, that's why we're here! To make it better." Ruby said.

"Oh, I'm so proud of my baby sister!" Yang cooed. Yang hugs Ruby in the air. Ruby kicks her feet.

"Cut it out!" Ruby shouted. The forced sisterly bonding evolves into a dust cloud of fighting limbs and flying stars. Blake and I looked at each other. I tried to break up the sister's fight without getting hurt myself.

"Alright guys, take it easy..." I said. Blake laughs slightly.

"Ruby, Yang, Lana, it's a pleasure to ha-" Blake was interrupted when Weiss stormed up to us. I stared at Weiss as Ruby traps Yang's leg. Oh no.

"What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?!" Weiss yelled.

"Oh, not you again!" We all shouted at the sight of each other.

"Shh! Guys she's right! People are trying to sleep!" Ruby cried.

"Oh, now you're on my side!" Weiss said.

"I was always on your side!" Ruby shouted.

"Yeah, whats your problem with my sister?! She's only trying to be nice!" Yang shouted.

"She's a hazard to my health!" Weiss yelled.

I sighed and muttered to myself. "I just hope this day doesn't get any worse."

Blake, who rolled her eyes at the fight, simply closes her book, reaches out to grab the candle, and blows it out.

END OF CHAPTER 3.