Chapter 1: The Shining Beacon
As soon as the ship landed, the sickly passenger emerged out the door and went over to the nearest trash can, hunching over it as he lost his lunch. All of the other students, including Skyler, Yang, Dante, and Ruby, walked out of the ship and headed down the paved path to the front of the school. But not before Skyler stopped and patted the nauseas guy's back out of pity.
"Thanks..." the guy moaned.
Skyler then quickly joined the rest of his friends and they all took in the entirety of Beacon Academy, "Wow..."
"The view from Vale's got nothing on this!" Dante exclaimed.
Ruby got so excited she looked like she was going to start floating through the air, "Oh my gosh, guys! That kid's got a collapsible staff! And she's got a fire sword!"
"Easy there, little sister," Yang said, pulling her sister back into reality by the hood, "They're just weapons."
"I have a fire sword, and yet you're excited to see someone else's..." Skyler muttered under his breath in mock hurt.
"'Just weapons'?!" Ruby cried out, "They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool!"
"Well, why can't you swoon over your own weapon?" Yang asked, "Aren't you happy with it?"
Ruby brought out her weapon, transforming it into its scythe form, "Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose! I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people... but better..."
Yang playfully pushed her sister's hood down over her face, "Ruby, come on, why don't you go try and make some friends of your own?"
Ruby took off her hood and pouted, "But... why would I need friends if I have you guys?"
"Way to use my words against me," Dante muttered.
"Well..." suddenly, Yang grabbed Skyler and Dante by the arms and dashed down the road with a group of random students, "Actually-our-friends-are-here-Gotta-go-catch-up-'Kay-see-ya-bye!"
Skyler and Dante barely had time to cry out in protest as Ruby's form just got smaller and smaller in the distance.
"Any particular reason why you dragged us over here and left poor Ruby to fend for herself?" Dante asked once Yang had stopped and let them go.
"Oh, please," Yang waved off, "I'm sure nothing bad will happen."
Skyler looked back just in time to see a small puff of red smoke rising back from where they left. He sweat-dropped, but decided on not saying anything about it right now.
Instead, he replied, "Add this to the list of reasons why you should never lead a team."
"Hey!" Yang huffed, her face flushing for a second while she crossed her arms, "At least it wasn't the bar you took us to."
"Ah, yes! The time where you almost killed the bartender?" Skyler retorted with a smug grin.
"She was giving you the hungry 'I want your body' look."
"How would you know what that looks like? Or why would you even care?"
A blush spread across Yang's face, her blurting out, "No reason!"
Skyler blinked confusingly before shrugging, "Whatever. Let's find where everyone's meeting up."
He started walking away and Yang let out a comedic sigh of relief. Dante just looked at her with a knowing smirk.
"Smooth."
"Shut it, Williams."
"I can't help it that you two are adorable."
Yang responded with a punch that smashed him into the concrete.
The three of them arrived in a large auditorium area, where they stood in the middle of a few random students (Dante: "Why does everyone here look like they're covered in shadows?") and waited for Ruby. Luckily, the aforementioned girl wasn't too far behind, entering the room with the Vomit Boy from earlier.
"Ruby!" Yang cried to her sister, waving, "Over here! We saved you a spot!"
Ruby said a quick goodbye to the Vomit Boy and made her way over to join them, her arms crossed while Yang said, "How's your first day going, little sister?"
"You mean since you guys ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby retorted.
"Yikes! Meltdown already?"
"Hey, don't include us on that," Dante spoke up, pointing to himself and Skyler, "We were literally dragged along with her."
"I literally exploded a hole in front of the school!" Ruby exclaimed, "And there was some fire, and I think some ice...?"
"So that's what that was..." Skyler muttered.
Yang smiled broadly, "Are you being sarcastic?"
"I wish!" Ruby scoffed, unaware of the white-haired figure (not Dante) creeping up behind her, "I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"
"You!" the figure, a female in a white dress, yelled.
Ruby squeaked, quickly jumping into her sister's arms, "Oh gods, it's happening again!"
"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" the unnamed girl scolded.
"Oh my gods, you really exploded..." Yang muttered, astonished.
"Well, it clearly wasn't too bad, because they're both fine," Skyler put in.
"It was an accident," Ruby panicked, getting down, "It was an accident!"
The girl then held up a pamphlet titled 'DUST for Dummies and Other Inadequate Individuals' into Ruby's face, who asked, "What's this?"
The girl then started listing off policies to a clueless and horrified Ruby, going faster and higher pitched with each word, "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."
"Uuhhh..." Ruby replied dumbly.
"You really wanna start making things up to me?" the girl then asked.
"Absolutely?"
Ruby was then handed the pamphlet, "Read this, and don't ever speak to me again."
"Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot," Yang tried with an apologetic smile, "Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"
Ruby put the pamphlet away, "Yeah! Great idea, sis!"
She then held out her hand and cleared her throat, "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"
The girl, Weiss Schnee, replied with fake enthusiasm, "Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and... scraggly over there!"
At that last one, she pointed at Vomit Boy, who perked up at the mention before Ruby exclaimed, "Wow, really?!"
Weiss was then dead silent, making a glare, "No."
"I, for one, am happy to see a fellow white-haired individual," Dante said, just as excited as Ruby previously was, sticking out his hand, "The name's Dante! I'd say 'pleasure to meet you', but at the same time, after what you've just said to my surrogate little sister here, I'm not sure if that would be entirely true."
Weiss glared at him in response, "Is this entire group here always this annoyingly over-enthusiastic?"
"Only on days that end in 'y'!" Skyler said, purposely sounding overly hyped to grate on this girl's nerves, which worked spectacularly.
But before Weiss could say anything, their attention was drawn to the stage, where Beacon's Headmaster, Professor Ozpin, was readying the microphone, with Glynda Goodwitch right beside him.
Ozpin spoke into the microphone, "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. 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.
As Ozpin left, Glynda stepped up to talk, "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
"He seemed kind of... off," Yang commented.
"It's almost like he wasn't even there," Ruby muttered.
Vomit Boy, who Skyler learned later was named Jaune Arc, then approached Weiss from the side, saying, "I'm a natural blond, you know!"
Weiss then face-palmed in exasperation.
The first night at Beacon, and all of the students were splayed out in sleeping bags. Ruby, in her pajamas and a sleeping mask wrapped around her head, was writing something down on paper when Yang crashed next to her, similarly dressed. Skyler and Dante sat next to them, but due to school rules, their sleeping bags were on the other side of the room (something the school apparently forgot about when assigning dorms).
"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang said with a wide grin.
"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though," Ruby replied, not looking up.
"I don't know," Dante shrugged, "We used to have sleepovers all the time when we were kids, and your dad didn't seem to have a problem with that."
"Yeah, when we were kids," Skyler emphasized, "I don't think Taiyang would approve of teenagers of the opposite sex who can be easily seduced by hormones sleeping anywhere near each other."
"Well, I know I do!" Yang purred, sneaking a glance at Skyler before turning her attention to several muscular, shirtless guys... before Jaune, dressed in feetie pajamas, passed by and waved, which made her grimace before she returned her attention to Ruby, "What's that?"
"A letter to the gang back at Signal," her little sister answered, "I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."
"Aw, that's so cuuuute!" Yang teased before getting hit in the face by a pillow.
"Shut up!" Ruby scolded, "I didn't get to take any friends my age with me to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here besides my normal group."
"What about Jaune?" Yang suggested, "He's... nice! There you go! Plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase!"
Ruby turned on her back, "Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero..."
"Are negative friends even a thing?" Skyler asked curiously.
"I personally don't think so!" Yang replied, "You just made one friend and one enemy!"
Yang was then hit in the head with another pillow, this one looking like a dog's face, before continuing, "Look, it's only been one day. Trust me; you've got friends all around you! You just haven't met them yet!"
"It's pillows like that that make me miss Zwei..." Dante muttered sadly.
The conversation was interrupted by the sound of a candle being lighted nearby, and they turned to see a girl with black hair and wearing a black bow on her head leaning against a wall, reading her book. Skyler blinked at her a few times. Why did he get a sense of... familiarity when he looked at her?
"That girl..." Ruby muttered.
"You know her?" Skyler asked out of genuine curiosity, hoping he wasn't the only one.
"Not really," the younger girl answered, much to Skyler's disappointment, "She saw what happened this morning, but left before I could say anything."
"Well, now's your chance!" Yang said eagerly, grabbing Ruby's arm and lifting her up.
Despite her little sister's protests, Yang dragged her over to the girl, loudly saying, "Hellooooooo!"
Skyler and Dante ultimately decided to stay away from that noise and went back to their sleeping bags. But as they sat down, Dante caught Skyler staring at the bow-wearing girl.
"See something you like?" the white haired male teased.
Skyler's green eyes blinked in surprise before he turned his attention back to his friend, "What? No, it's just... she looks... familiar..."
"Really?" now Dante was intrigued, now glancing at the girl, "I don't recognize her."
"So it's just me..." Skyler groaned, "Now I sound insane."
"Hey, nothing crazy about false recognition! It happens more often than you think. Don't worry about it."
"Yeah... I guess your right."
And just before the black-haired girl blew out the candle and darkened the room, she couldn't help but sneak a peak at Skyler, getting the same sense of recognition he did.
You might hypothesize that I have removed Skyler's temporary crush on Blake... and you'd be right. I have. Because that plot point went nowhere in the original book. As for their senses of recognition for each other, I'm not saying anything, because that's a spoiler. Just know that it's going to be a big plot point later on. Till next time guys!