The aerial view swept down into Beacon's great auditorium vaulted ceilings, tiered floors, every seat filling fast with students from across the kingdoms. Ruby and Kaito entered alongside Jaune, taking in the scale of it, when Yang's voice cut through the noise.
Yang: (waving) Ruby! Kaito! Over here I saved you guys a spot!
Ruby: (to Jaune) Oh! Hey, I've gotta go I'll see you after the ceremony!
Kaito: Bye bye.
Jaune: Hey, wait (he sighed as they disappeared into the crowd) Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another guy Along with nice, quirky girl to talk to?!
He stepped forward, revealing a redhead in Spartan armour standing directly behind him, hand on her hip, watching him walk away.
Yang: (once Ruby and Kaito had settled in, arms crossed) So. How's your first day going, little sister?
Ruby: You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?
Yang: Yikes. Meltdown already?
Kaito: No she literally got blown up. It was hilarious.
Ruby: Kaito. That is not funny, it was a whole experience, you absolute frick
Kaito: One day I am going to get you to say the actual word.
Yang: First stop trying to get my baby sister to swear. Second if even Kaito's saying you got blown up, how exactly did that happen?
Ruby: (scoffing) I tripped over some girl's luggage and 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!
Weiss: (from directly beside her) You.
Kaito: Meeeeee.
Ruby: (launching herself immediately into Kaito's arms) Oh God it's happening again!
Weiss: You're lucky we weren't blown clean off the side of the cliff!
Yang: Oh my God, you two weren't joking.
Ruby: (climbing back down) It was an accident! (Weiss produced a pamphlet and
held it out. Ruby stared at it.) What's this?
Weiss: (accelerating steadily in both speed and pitch) 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 familiarise themselves with this easy-to-follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field.
Ruby: Uuhhh…
Weiss: You really want to start making things up to me?
Kaito: I don't, really.
Weiss's eye twitched.
Ruby: Absolutely?
Weiss: (pressing the pamphlet into Ruby's hands) Read this. And don't ever speak to me again.
Yang: Look it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends?
Ruby: (pamphlet disappearing into a pocket) Yeah! Great idea, sis! (extending her hand with a polite clearing of her throat) Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies!
Weiss: (with sudden, suspicious enthusiasm) Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys like that tall one you were still holding onto.
Ruby: …Really?
Kaito: I think she's being sarcastic.
Weiss: (dead silence, withering glare) No.
Kaito) see I was Right
Professor Ozpin took the microphone. Glynda stood at his shoulder.
Ozpin: I'll keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge — to hone your craft, acquire new skills, and when you have finished, 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 and 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.
Around the auditorium, students murmured. Kaito produced a long, theatrical fake yawn. Yang reached over to smack him across the back of the head — her hand stopped an inch from contact, met nothing, and slid off harmlessly. She stared at it. Ruby, beside her, was paying close, earnest attention to the stage.
Glynda: (stepping up as Ozpin departed) You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed.
Yang: He seemed kind of… off.
Ruby: It's almost like he wasn't even there.
Kaito: What a wonderful speech. Not. Bleh.
Weiss: (turning to look at him) And this is where I start questioning why Beacon admitted two students who are two full years below the standard intake.
Ruby & Kaito: Ozpin offered us both the place.
Kaito: That — and I'd like to think I'm the strongest person in this building. Mostly because I am.
Ruby: (quietly, through her teeth) Kaito. Ego. Keep it in check I don't want to blow my chances at making friends.
Kaito: (noticing Weiss's expression with what appeared to be genuine interest) Oh, come on. She's kind of fun to mess with.
Students were spread across the ballroom floor in sleeping bags, the vast space softened by candlelight and low conversation. Ruby, in her pyjamas with her sleeping mask pushed up around her head, sat cross-legged writing in a journal. Yang dropped down beside her.
Yang: It's like a big slumber party!
Ruby: (not looking up) I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though.
Yang: I know I do! (she looked across the room, caught sight of Jaune in full footie pyjamas waving cheerfully at her, and groaned before turning back) What's that?
Ruby: A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised I'd tell them how things were going.
Yang: Aw, that is so cuuuute —
A pillow connected cleanly with her face.
Ruby: Shut up! The only people I know here are you and Kaito.
She glanced across the room. Kaito was flat on his back in his sleeping bag, arms folded over his chest, completely and utterly asleep.
Kaito: Zzzzzzz.
Yang: (watching him for a moment) You know… Kaito can be an arrogant jerk to people he doesn't know. But once you get past that, he's a genuinely good friend to have.
Ruby: (softly) Yep. He's the bestest friend I could ask for.
Yang: What about Jaune? He's… nice! There you go — plus one friend. That's a hundred percent increase on people you've met at Beacon.
Ruby: (lying back) Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero.
Yang: There's no such thing as negative friends! You made one friend and one enemy. (pillow 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.
They both noticed a candle flicker to life nearby. Blake Belladonna sat against the far wall, book open in her lap.
Ruby: That girl…
Yang: You know her?
Ruby: Not really. She was there this morning — but she left before I could say anything.
Yang: Well. Now's your chance. (she grabbed Ruby's arm)
Ruby: Wait — what are you doing?!
Blake looked up from her book to observe Ruby being dragged, entirely unsuccessfully resisting, across the ballroom floor. Yang released her directly in front of Blake's spot.
Yang: (singing) Hel-looooo! I believe you two may know each other?
Blake: Aren't you… that girl that exploded?
Ruby: Uh — yeah! My name's Ruby! But you can just call me Crater — (she smiled, embarrassed) — actually, just Ruby is fine.
Blake: (back in her book) Okay.
Yang: (whispering) What are you doing?
Ruby: (whispering back) I don't know — help me!
Yang: (brightly) So — what's your name?
Blake: (sighing) Blake.
Yang: Well, Blake, I'm Yang — Ruby's older sister! I love your bow.
Blake: Thanks.
Yang: It goes great with your pyjamas.
Blake: Right.
Yang: Nice night, don't you think?
Blake: Yes — it's lovely! Almost as lovely as this book. (Ruby and Yang stood there.) That I will continue reading. (They continued to stand.) As soon as you leave.
Yang: (quietly, to Ruby) Yeah. Lost cause.
Ruby: (to Blake) What's it about?
Blake: …Huh?
Ruby: Your book. Does it have a name?
Blake: (a beat, surprised) Well it's about a man with two souls. Each one fighting for control of his body.
Yang: Oh yeah real lovely.
Ruby: I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories about heroes and monsters. They're part of why I want to be a Huntress.
Blake: (with a small, careful laugh) And why is that? Hoping for a happily ever after?
Ruby: Well I'm hoping we all will. As a kid, I wanted to be like the heroes in those stories. Someone who fought for what was right. Who protected people who couldn't protect themselves.
Blake: That's… very ambitious. (the smile faded slightly) Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale.
Ruby: Well that's why we're here. To make it better.
Yang: I am so proud of my baby sister right now. (she seized Ruby in a hug and lifted her off the ground)
Ruby: Cut it out (the sisterly bonding dissolved rapidly into a whirlwind of flailing limbs and flying pillows)
Blake: (laughing slightly) Well, Ruby, Yang it's a pleasure to ha
Weiss: (arriving in her own pyjamas, surveying the chaos) What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realise some of us are trying to sleep?!
Weiss & Yang: (simultaneously, staring at each other) Oh not you again!
Ruby: Guys shh! People are trying to sleep!
Weiss: Oh, now you're on my side!
Ruby: I was always on your side!
Yang: What is your problem with my sister? She's only trying to be nice!
Weiss: She is a hazard to my health!
Blake reached over calmly, picked up her candle, and blew it out.
The Rooftop — Later
The ballroom had quieted to the low tide of collective breathing by the time Kaito slipped out.
The rooftop was empty, the night clear, and Remnant's broken moon hung overhead
He stood at the edge looking up at it, hands loose at his sides.
Still nowhere near Satoru's level, he thought,
But I'd put myself around where he was when he fought Toji right after the awakening. After the Reverse Cursed Technique came in.
He turned the thought over, examining it with the same detached precision he used for most things.
The Reverse Cursed Technique was solid now. That had cost him the night he'd finally forced it to work he'd looked, by his own assessment, genuinely terrible the following morning. Ruby and Yang had noticed. He'd given them something close enough to the truth to be technically defensible, edited out the parts that would have earned him a lecture he didn't need.
The domain was the remaining variable. He still wasn't certain how Beacon's students with their aura would respond to Unlimited Void. The mechanics weren't the same as cursed energy. He'd need to test carefully, run the numbers, work out the exposure threshold before he could deploy it without risking his own people. Four weeks, if he pushed.
He should push. The beacon Library will surely have more information I hope
Ruby and Yang won't exactly be thrilled to find out I almost got myself killed because I was goofing off.
He exhaled through his nose.
No. They wouldn't.
The moon drifted on overhead, broken and untroubled.
But I have the technique now. And I know what I'm doing here. He straightened. The initiation is tomorrow. Beacon has grimm in those forests and students who have never had to face anything like what's out there in the world.
If I'm going to protect them
His hands found his pockets.
then I'd better stop treating training like an afterthought.
After all, he was the strongest on Patch.
Time to start acting like it.