Crimson I: New Teams

"I can't believe that we actually made it!" Yang Xio Long said as she smothered her little sister with a huge hug, not bothered by the fact that the two were on full display as the newest accepted students to Beacon Academy.

"Sis! Now's not a good time!" Ruby tried to object as she struggled out. Her goal of making a good and serious first impression were quickly becoming undone.

"Really, you couldn't save the hugs for later? Did you even need to do them at all?" Weiss Schnee asked with a sigh. Blake Belladonna seemed impartial to all of this and said nothing. "We're the on display and everyone has their eyes on us, so at least try to make a proper first impression."

"That's what I was trying to-!" Ruby fought to say.

"C'mon, don't be so uptight," Yang told her white-haired teammate as she finally let her little sister go. "We've got a lot to be proud of, I mean only three teams made it through the trials this year and ours was probably the most-"

"And it seems that our final teams have also returned successfully from the entrance missions," Ozpin noted as the screen changed showing eight shadowy silhouettes.

"Wait, there were two more teams?" Ruby asked as she looked to Weiss and Yang who looked just as confused as did the majority of the attendees at the assembly. "We… we didn't see anyone else out there that made it, did we?"

"These potential students were part of a separate entrance exam in a separate woodland area," Ozpin addressed to the crowd more than Ruby herself. "As such, their trial would take longer and we can now announce that only two of the potential five teams were successful. Perhaps even a few of you had heard rumors of them from the dropouts." The heavy doors leading into the hall finally opened leaving two additional groups of four headed up onto the stage, both of them appearing a tad rough from combat after having less time to refresh themselves once their conflict had ended.

"Returning back with the platinum playing cards we have Jin Kisaragi, Amane Nishiki, Celica A. Mercury, and Kagura Mutsuki. This group will be led by Jin Kisaragi to form team JACK," Ozpin introduced as the groups made their way onto the stage.

"Looks like we'll be dancing together for some time," an effeminate man with light purple hair wearing a pink dancer's yukata said to a dark-haired man with violet eyes that was trying hard not to cringe. A bubbly red-haired girl already dressed in her academy uniform merely giggled while a tall blonde was muttering something his breath... Ruby wondered whether she was hearing bother or brother.

"Team JACK huh?" Yang repeated, before smirking. "Maybe I should try talking to that dark haired guy after we're done here." She then noticed the 'really?' look Ruby was sending her way. "What, might as well make some friends while we're here."

"Friends… right." Even if she had a comment for her sister, Ruby did realize that her first few days at Beacon had hardly been flawless, especially when trying to make new friends or even getting taken seriously.

"Kisaragi... I've heard of their family, they happen to have close ties with General Ironwood of Atlas Academy, so why is he here?" Weiss thought aloud (mostly to herself) as her eyes noticed the blonde one. "...Is he… the future head?"

Per the norm, Blake stayed silent.

"Moving on…" Ozpin said as he looked over the list. "Our fifth and final succeeding group returned the cobalt tarot cards. Tsubaki 'Izayoi' Yayoi, Noel Vermillion, Azrael, and Ragna will create team RAIN... Which will be led by Ragna the Bloodedge."

"Bloodedge? What kind of name is that?" one of the second year students asked from the crowd.

"Is that the group that everyone's been talking about?" asked another.

"Yeah, I heard from one of the nearby dropouts that a massive swarm of Grimm seamed to swarm Ragna. They didn't see the fight with their own eyes, but whatever happened he'd emerged without a scratch not even a minute later."

"Then there's Azrael; rumor has it that he fought three different giant beasts at once and took them down with just his bare fists. Then when he and Ragna arrived at the relics, he tried to fight him one on one. I have no idea how Goodwitch and Ozpin managed to break them up."

"That's insane! …But what about the girls?" the obvious elbow that the curious student received from a fellow lady student made it clear that he was already taken and needed to be reminded. "C'mon, I was just asking."

"If half the rumors about how crazy that are prove true, they're totally NOT dateable."

"Shame too, they look pretty cute." Another elbow, this one a little more deserved.

Curious what all of these rumors were really about, Ruby took a quick look at the second group. The first person she laid eyes on was a large, tattooed man with long blue hair and stubble of a growing goatee. He seemed to be looking over all of the other candidates like he was searching for potential opponents. His eyes and Ruby's met for a moment before the monster of a man smirked harshly in a challenge. Ruby could swear she heard a low growl and averted her eyes to one of the girls. This one was a young blonde who was trying to act confident with a straight back, but who was clearly sweating nervously. Ruby felt sorry for her and wondered if she could try to make friends with her soon. She then moved on to look at the redhead girl in a strange tan uniform who was staring daggers into the back of the fourth member's head, clearly showing some heavy disdain at the very least.

Ruby then got a look of the fourth member and she had to catch her breath. He was a tall man who seemed somewhat thin, but seemed to have an overall toned body despite the baggy clothing. His hair was pale and spiky and his eyes were of differing colors; a blood red right one and an emerald green left one. His jacket was crimson red and his clothing beneath was a black hakama with thin white outlines. On one of his metal belts was a large sword which seemed to have a gun's revolver on it. He looked like he hadn't slept well and stood at the front in sort of a drowsy slouch. Looking the screen, Ruby saw that this was the leader of RAIN; this was Ragna the Bloodedge. The picture on the scream looked fairly pissed for some reason, and looking back to the man himself she could see him getting to that expression.

"Ooo, so does my sweet little sister have her eye on someone after all?" Yang asked with teasing smile. "He's certainly not hard to look at, especially if the two of you are sporting the same colors."

"N-No! Not a chance!" Ruby yelled out catching attention from a few people, yet Ozpin merely continued his speech about their roles and duties that lie ahead. She tried to focus on the headmaster's words, but only managed to before glancing back to the… unusual figure.

"Something about that one's odd for sure," the blonde noted to her sister, who let out a small shriek as Yang caught her staring again. "You should go talk to him! Introduce yourself! More friends the better, right?"

"I...I guess," Ruby admitted, though something about this made her seem less than sure. Ragna let out a yawn before finally noticing that the young girl was staring at him. Ruby blushed and was at a loss at what to do now that he saw her, so she gave a goofy smile and gave the 'peace' sign with one of her hands. 'What am I doing? That was sooooo weak…'

The silver haired man tilted his head in slight confusion at first, but eventually had different thoughts as he gave a small chuckle before returning his own friendly 'peace' sign, only to be elbowed by the redhead of his group to pay attention to Ozpin's speech.

Ruby wondered if maybe this man could make for a good friend after all once she got past his scowl.

So I wanted to come back and repost the edits on this story after starting to bring it over to AO3. Don't worry, I'm leaving the account up and I'll leave all comment responses from the original posting, plus any new ones that the edits get! I'll be doing around one update a week! Ciao!