Chapter 2: The Shining Beacon

After a few hours, we finally arrived at Beacon Acadamy— I saw a view of several ships carrying students and docking at the school's entrance. As soon as one lands, I see the same boy who threw up running over to the nearest trash can, hunching over it as he loses his lunch. I went over to him.

"Are you okay, buddy?" I asked him.

"No..." The boy groans.

"You'll be fine..." I said as I patted him on the back. I then ran to catch up with Ruby and Yang.

"Hey guys! Wait for me!" I called. When I caught up with them, Ruby, Yang, me, and alongside several other students walked out of the ship and headed down the paved path to the front of the school. I took in the entirety of Beacon Acadamy with Ruby and Yang.

"Wow..." We all said.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this!" Yang said. Ruby gets so excited she becomes a 2-D, starry-eyed, floating chibi.

"Oh my gosh sis! Lana! That kid's got a collapsible staff! And she's got a fire sword!" Ruby cried.

"Geez Ruby, chill," I said. Ruby tries getting closer, but Yang pulls her sister by the hood back into realistic proportions.

"Ow! Owww!" Ruby whines.

"Easy there little sister. They're just weapons!" Yang said.

"Just weapons? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool!" Ruby said.

"Well, why can't you just swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?" Yang asked. Ruby takes out her weapon, transforming it into scythe form.

"Of course, I'm happy with Cresent Rose! I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people. But better..." Ruby said. Yang playfully pulls her sister's hood down over her face.

"Ruby, come on. why don't you go try and make some friends of your own?" Yang said.

"But... why would I need friends when I have you?" Ruby said as she pulls off his hood.

"Well..." Yang started. In a flash, a group of other students surround Yang and they all dash down the road. "Actually, my friends are here. Gotta catch up! 'Kay, see ya, bye!"

"Yang, come back!" I shouted. Ruby is now spinny-eyed and dizzy from Yang's sudden leaving.

"Wait, where are you going?! Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms?!" Ruby shouted. Ruby stops for a moment, still reeling. "I don't know what I'm doing..."

"Neither do I..." I said. Not paying attention to our surroundings, Ruby and I fell backward into a luggage cart, sending cases flying. I saw an angry girl standing over us.

"Uh-oh," I said.

The girl had white long hair that was in a ponytail. She had icy blue eyes with a grey scar on her right eye. She wears a thigh-length strapless dress with a faint color gradation from white to pale blue at the hem. A small piece of black lace sits in the front of her neckline and the hem of the dress is scalloped and stitched to resemble snowflakes, with layers of white tulle under the skirt. Over this, she wears a bell-sleeved bolero with the same color gradation as her dress from shoulder to wrist, lined in red and with a ruffled collar. On the back of the bolero is the Schnee Crest. She also wears a small apple pendant on a silver chain and thin, rectangular silver earrings. Her boots are white, wedged-heeled, and higher at the back than the front. They have a small silver decoration across the top of the foot and are lined in red. A thin white sash is tied around her waist with a pouch attached to the back.

"What are you doing?!" The white-haired girl shouted. Ruby gets up on her hands.

"Uh, sorry?" Ruby said nervously.

"Yeah, sorry." I apologized.

"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?!" The white-haired girl yelled.

"Uhh..." Ruby said while holding out a case.

"Give me that!" The white-haired girl yelled. She snatched the luggage from Ruby and opened it to reveal its twinkling-sounding contents.

"This is Dust- mined and purified from the Schnee quarry!" The white-haired girl yelled.

"What are you, brain-dead?" The white-haired girl said. She holds out a vile of red dust and shuts the case. She begins shaking the bottle. "Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!"

"I... I know..." Ruby said. Ruby starts coughing from the Dust being poured into her face. I started coughing too.

"Are you two even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What do you guys have to say for yourself?!" The white-haired girl yelled.

"I wouldn't do that. I feel a sneeze coming on!" I shouted.

"Aaaaaaaachoooo!"

Ruby and I who have now been receiving more and more Dust in our faces, finally sneeze, which erupts into a full-blown explosion of flames, snowflakes, and electricity right onto the white-haired girl. The bottle she has been holding flies over to the courtyard and at the feet of another girl who picks it up and notices the Schnee Dust Company logo on the side as she reads from a book and looks over the scene.

The white-haired girl is now covered in soot, though it quickly disappears when she stomps her foot on the ground. "Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!" She yelled.

"I'm really really sorry!" Ruby said, apologetically and nervously.

"I'm sorry too! Just please stop yelling at us." I said.

"No! Ugh, you complete dolts! What are you guys even doing here? Aren't you two a little young to be attending Beacon?" The white-haired girl yelled.

"Well, I-I-" Ruby started, but the white-haired girl cut her off.

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters so, watch where you're going!" The white-haired girl yelled.

"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess!" Ruby shouted, finally fed up.

"Yeah, leave her alone! This is just her first day, so back off! This is my first day too!" I shouted.

"It's heiress, actually." A girl said. It was the same girl who caught the bottle. Ruby, the girl, and I look over to her as she approaches with the bottle in her hand.

The girl had long curly black hair with golden eyes. She wears a black, buttoned vest with coattails and a single silver button on the front. Underneath this is a white, sleeveless, high-necked, crop undershirt and tight white spandex compression shorts that reach her upper thighs with a zipper on the front of each leg. She also wears black low-heeled boots and full stockings with a color gradation of black to purple at her ankles. Her emblem is visible on the outside of both thighs just below her shorts in white. On her left arm is a black detached sleeve with a silver cuff around her bicep, and black ribbons are wrapped around both forearms. A small, loose, black scarf is wrapped around her neck, and a gray magnetic backpack is strapped to her back, hidden by her hair. She also wears a black bow on the top.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellent in the world." The black-haired girl said.

"Finally! Some recondition!" Weiss said, smiling smugly.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." The black-haired girl said. Ruby and I started to chuckle. Weiss begins to get angry again.

"Oooh. That's a low-blow!" I said in between laughs.

"Wha- how dare- the nerve of... Ugh!" Weiss shouted. Weiss gets into the black-haired girl's face and takes the bottle from her, walking off in a huff as her helpers gather the luggage and follow.

"I promise I'll make this up to you!" Ruby called to the storming Weiss.

"Me too!" I called over to her. I sighed. "What's her deal?"

"I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day," Ruby said with a sigh. I put a hand on Ruby's shoulder to comfort her.

"Don't worry, Ruby. It will get better." I assured her.

"So... what's..." Ruby said, turning to the black-haired girl to see her walking off as well. Ruby collapses on her back sadly. I followed her, resting my head on Ruby's shoulder.

"Welcome to Beacon..." Ruby said.

"Hey Ruby, not everyone has their first impressions," I said. Ruby and I remain this way until a shadow figure comes over to us. We saw a boy holding out his hand. I took a closer look at him.

The boy had blond hair and blue eyes. He wears a wears a black short-sleeved hoodie with detached reddish-orange sleeves and a dark brown image of the bunny rabbit Pumpkin Pete trimmed in white with cute black round eyes. Covering his hoodie and hiding the Pumpkin Pete symbol is a white diamond-shaped chest plate cut off above his lower abdomen, and placed over his shoulders are a pair of white spaulders with rerebraces set under them. Below, he wears blue jeans with a white patch placed on the left knee and black sneakers.

"Hey... I'm Jaune." The boy said. Ruby and I takes his hand.

"Ruby," Ruby said.

"Lana," I said.

"Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?" Ruby said. I snorted a laugh.

Beacon inside the walls is filled with scenic trees, arching architecture, and a winding road alongside a river, down which Ruby, Jaune, and I are walking.

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" Jaune said.

Ruby laughs. "Look, I'm sorry! Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind." Ruby said.

"You have to admit it is kind of funny," I said.

"Oh, yeah? What if I called you Crater Face?" Jaune said.

"Hey! That explosion was an accident!" Ruby shouted.

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue- Ladies love it." Jaune said.

"Do they?" Ruby said skeptically.

"They will! Well, I hope they will. My mom always said that... Never mind." Jaune said. Ruby giggles before a short awkward silence falls.

"So... I got this thing!" Ruby said. She pulls out Cresent Rose and stabs it into the ground.

"Woah! Is that a Scythe?" Jaune said, surprised.

"It's also a customizable high-impact sniper-rifil." Ruby said.

"A- wha?" Jaune said.

"It's also a gun," Ruby said as she cocks it, smiling.

"Oh! That's so cool! What weapons do you have there, Lana?" Jaune asked me. I took out my God Killer sword and shield, as well as my lasso.

"This is my sword, God Killer. And this is my shield and Lasso of Truth." I said.

"Neat," Jaune said.

"So, what've you got?" Ruby asked.

"Oh! I, uh..." Jaune started. Jaune unsheathes a blade. "I got this sword!"

"Oooooh!" Ruby and I said, observing his sword.

"Yeah, and I've got this shield too," Jaune said. He gets his scabbard, raises his arm, and expands the metal into his defense.

"So, what do they do?" Ruby asked, touching the shield. Jaune fumbles with the shield as it retracts off his arm, expands, and retracts again before putting it back in place and finally shrinking it down for good. Jaune places it back on his belt.

"The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away..." Jaune said.

"But wouldn't it weigh the same?" I asked.

"Yeah, it does..." Jaune said, slumping down. Ruby giggles.

"Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, sooo... I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it." Ruby said.

"Wait, you made that?!" Jaune said, surprised.

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?" Ruby said.

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." Jaune explained.

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me!" Ruby said with a giggle. "Well, I like it!"

"I like it too!" I said.

"Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days," Ruby said.

"Yeah, the classics..." Jaune said.

"So why'd you help me and Lana back there? In the courtyard?" Ruby asked. We continued to walk down the path.

"Eh, why not? My mom always says "Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." Jaune said.

"Hmm," Ruby said. Ruby looks around the courtyard. "Hey, where are we going?"

"Oh, I don't know! I was following you two. Y-you think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some sort of recognizable landmark? Is uh, is that a 'no'?" Jaune said.

"That's a 'no.'" Ruby said. Ruby looks at me. "You, Lana?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Really?" Ruby said with a smile.

"No," I said.