20

Chapter 20Notes:

Time for Initiation! And for those asking: This story gets a new chapter every day, and is currently written up to Chapter 58!

Chapter Text

Beacon… sure was weird.

After Professor Ozpin had made a frankly terrible speech and then directed them to all sleep in the ballroom, Ruby had mostly just clung to her sister the entire night and ignored everyone else- she did introduce Blake and Yang to each other, and she immediately caught a whiff of mutual attraction between the two of them, but decided not to say anything because it was mostly just physical attraction at the moment and she wasn't about to try and intervene in her sister's relationships. Yet. If they started hardcore pining for each other and not doing anything about it, she might have to take drastic actions to get them to open up to each other.

Either way.

It turned out that a bunch of cool people were joining the current school year of Beacon- everyone from Weiss Schnee (who had taken one look at Ruby and scurried away in a fright) and Pyrrha Nikos (who seemed weirdly ready to fight at all times) to… uh. People that weren't famous, but she'd watched in the locker rooms before bed and thought were pretty cool anyway.

Like that one orange haired, overly excitable girl who was absolutely ripped - almost even moreso than Yang (though she was shorter), and Yang was stupidly well built and had biceps literally capable of ripping through steel cable. Apparently, from hearing her introduce herself by shouting her name to the locker room, her name was Nora Valkyrie and her weapon was named Magnhild and it was a giant grenade launcher hammer. 

Either way… nothing much had happened that night. She'd heard some girl yelling a few times, but that all seemed to peter out pretty quickly- whoever it was, she didn't want to get on their bad side. It was a voice that screamed of money and connections, and Ruby wasn't good enough at legal talk to handle getting sued.

In the morning, though, while the vast majority of prospective students slept in, Yang and Ruby found themselves shuffled into the morning Initiation group at just shy of six in the morning, the sun cresting over the horizon and dyeing the sky a pale, blueish pink.

The air was crisp and clear, everyone was rubbing sleep out of their eyes and had just finished a light breakfast of whatever was handed out in the cafeteria that morning (mostly just muffins, juice, coffee, granola bars, and other light foods that would provide a good amount of nutrients without stacking on too many fats and oils). Ruby was remarkably clear-eyed due to the fact that she didn't technically need to sleep, and really just forced herself into a state of moderate dormancy most of the time. Yang was also remarkably awake, because Yang rose with the sun and also was just really good at waking up early no matter what (as long as she wasn't hungover).

Everyone else, meanwhile… well. Ruby might not have been able to actually feed on emotions, but she did draw a little bit of strength from negative emotions and the misery of waking up before dawn made her grimm bits all giddy and active with the urge to rip and tear.

No.

Save it for Initiation.

Also- she'd learned who was yelling the other night. Apparently, it was the Weiss Schnee yelling at a few of the boys hitting on her. She'd learned as much that morning when the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company had gone off on some poor, anxiety-ridden blonde guy who had been very poorly trying to flirt with her.

From what Ruby surmised, the guy's name was Jaune Arc, he had no idea who Pyrrha Nikos was beyond Pumpkin Pete's cereal, and he also reeked of inexperience, fear, anxiety, false confidence, and general self doubt and imposter syndrome. Also, his weapon was… very basic. Barely more than a sword and its sheath, though at least the sheath actually expanded into a shield.

Sword and… Shielth? No, that was stupid. Oh right- she'd seen him on the ride over. Weird how she'd forgotten already- usually she never forgot a weapon. 

Whatever- Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch were saying something and it sounded important.

"-or years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin started, motioning with his mug of hot chocolate and standing before them all as they lined up on the big metal platforms set into the cliff. Considering she could hear them humming with electricity… Ruby was pretty sure they had something to do with Initiation. She took a spot next to that Jaune guy, right at the end of the line. She wanted to stand next to Yang, but Yang had told her that they had to learn how to work apart, even if they wanted to stay together. There was no guarantee of being on the same team together, after all.

Once Ozpin had finished his first line, Professor Goodwitch took over a moment later as she adjusted her glasses. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams.' Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ozpin hummed, taking a loud sip from his mug and turning to face all of them in turn, his words punctuated by a quiet whining of gears that Ruby's ears perked up at hearing. "... That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

…

Excuse-moi what?

Ruby wasn't much of one to swear, but also fuck!

That meant there was no guarantee of finding Yang in time to make partners with her! Not unless she deliberately sought out Yang, but with how they were probably gonna be launched into the forest that would take ages once she landed, and she had no way of knowing if deliberately altering trajectory to intercept Yang in midair was allowed!

Also, Jaune was panicking, so she reached over and gave him a quick, slightly awkward pat on the back to help him focus. Because apparently she could only do social interaction if someone else was being more awkward than her first.

Great.

Either way…

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die."

Oh good. Probably the most normal thing Professor Ozpin had said the entire time.

Ruby sighed to herself, watching as Initiation commenced with a few more words about grading and the teachers watching but not intervening, blah blah blah, such and such. It wasn't really all that important, but she noticed the others dropping into ready stances as the two professors said everything- and, also, basically ignored Jaune begging for an answer as to what a landing strategy was. Poor guy.

Not ten seconds later, Ruby thumbed the button that would let her quick-release Crescent Rose from her belt and took on her standard runner's stance as she prepared to get launched, and let her muscles coil beneath her as she felt the mechanism below her whine as it readied itself and- 

KER-FWOOM!

"YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ruby whooped as she was flung into the sky, trailing rose petals in black and red as she rode the air currents and used her Semblance to launch herself up and forward as far as she could go- spinning and laughing and all but dancing in the wind as everyone below her fell in parabolic arcs into the trees (or, in the case of Jaune, managed to get pinned to one by a flung javelin that flew over half a kilometer in less than two seconds to stab through his hoodie). Yang's arc lasted quite long, seeing as she was basically running on a slight decline using Ember Celica's gauntlets and explosive anklets to propel her further and faster.

Ruby, meanwhile, was flying - so high that she could actually see the temple off in the distance, situated as it was next to a cliff with a bunch of stone ruins around it.

Hmm.

Well.

That gave her a target to head towards.

So, as she let herself fall, Ruby flicked out Crescent Rose and unfolded it into its rifle mode, slamming in a specialized tracker bullet that utilized a minute amount of Dust mix to continuously emit a frequency only she (and some animals and faunus types) could hear. She aimed carefully, making sure she wouldn't overshoot before-

KRATHOOM  

-firing said bullet off into the distance to slam perfectly into one of the temple's stone pillars.

Moments later, a high pitched ringing faintly tickled at her ears.

Success.

Heading established, Ruby let herself fall into the forest to properly complete Initiation the same way everyone else did.

After all- she had a bunch of grimm to kill and eat, didn't she?