20

What were you thinking!?" Glynda once more yelled at Ozpin.

"You will have to be more specific…" He just sat behind his desk and was drinking a nice cup of coffee after the team announcements. And as every year, she had some choice words about his decisions. Last year she berated him for naming one of the teams 'coffee'. Surprisingly, they became the number one team in their year.

"You made a terrorist and a little girl into team leaders!"

"Well, what kind of alternative did I even have?"

"Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren would make for good leaders."

Ozpin let out a sign. He liked Glynda and appreciated her work greatly but oftentimes she just couldn't see the bigger picture.

"Glynda, let me explain. Let's start with team BLAN, should I have made mister Ren the leader, the team would definitely work well enough but as soon as they would leave Beacon, they would split apart. I think miss Belladonna will have more chances of keeping them together." He took a sip and let his words sink in.

"And team RWPY?" Glynda asked after a few moments.

That would be a bit harder to explain. "Frankly, she was the only choice."

"And how exactly was a child, the only choice? Not only are those girls more mature, both miss Nikos and miss Xiao Long were the top graduates in their respective academies." She crossed her arms and glared down at her boss.

"They may have been but you are only seeing the paper trail. Miss Nikos has barely any experience with both grimm and teamwork. Miss Schnee as well, along with some character traits that could lead to an unnecessary tension. And after having your chat with miss Xiao Long, would you expect to take orders from either of them to begin with?" He looked Glynda in the eyes. "Miss Rose may be younger but she proved that she knows her way with the grimm and can effectively take charge when necessary."

"Beacon may be a school for huntsmen but she can't go through with just killing grimm! If that was the case, we could let half of the school graduate right now. And now she is two years behind the curriculum."

"That's what teammates are for, Glynda. I'm sure everything will be fine."

-BBW-

Everything was great for Yang. She got to Beacon without troubles, was on a team with her sister and their teammates weren't annoying so far. Ruby even was chosen the team leader! A part of her mind thought it to be a sly ploy by the headmaster but the much bigger part knew Ruby would be excellent.

Screw the magic! Ruby was great without it!

As for her teammaetes…

She knew who both of them were of course, both had quite a reputation. Yang would tune in on the international tournaments from time to time simply to stay in the loop and Pyrrha's name and achievements were mentioned often. She herself didn't care that much and Ruby had no interest whatsoever, when it came to tournaments, but she did acknowledge her supposed skills. Now the only question was whether she could deliver.

Unknowingly, Pyrrha had already made a big step towards getting into Yang's good grace by trying to chat with Ruby, who was only now poking her head out of her cloak. This change had mostly to do with Pyrrha asking about her scythe.

While Ruby was babbling away and making a sales pitch to Pyrrha about upgrading her weapon to have more stopping power, Weiss was walking in the back and having a major internal conflict.

On one hand, their fool of a headmaster had made a fifteen year old brat, her leader. On the other hand, she killed a deathstalker pretty much on her own and if the pair of girls from the other team were to be believed, Ruby and Yang had killed a nevermore before she and Pyrrha had even shown up. Which seemed to be supported by the overall grimm score that was presented after the ceremony, which the pair of sisters topped with quite a gap.

Soon enough they reached their dorm. It wasn't what they expected. Four beds, two closets, two desks, a nightstand, some bookshelves, a small bathroom and one shared kitchen for the entire floor. The only one who seemed satisfied was Yang, Ruby was grumbling about the smithy being too far away from the dorms while Pyrrha and especially Weiss were more used to the spacious living spaces.

"Uh… okay team!" Ruby started out, still very self-conscious about the whole team leader thing. "Tomorrow is the start of the classes so let's get some rest and be awesome!" She quickly checked a binder she received from professor Goodwitch. "The first one is at nine, so set your alarms for whenever you need. One rule, Yang's uses the bathroom last!"

"Hey!"

"What? You take forever!"

-BBW-

Ruby woke up around four in the morning. It was probably the stress but she could still use the time. She still didn't know what Ozpin was doing but if she was now responsible for three other people she would do her damn best! They would do team training and she could give them some weapon upgrades! Pyrrha seemed really nice and Weiss would definitely be cool after having some rest. And her big sister was The best by default! But right now, she needed to check whether the staff followed her instructions when it came to moving her babies to Beacon.

At 6:00 Pyrrha's scroll started buzzing and playing a soft tone. Something that wouldn't bother those asleep further away but enough to wake her up and start her morning routine. She rose from the bed and discovered that she wasn't the only early riser on the team. Ruby's bed was empty and Yang, whose hair was now an utter mess, was giving her a questioning look while still laying on the bed with the blanket discarded and halfway on the floor. Weiss was still neatly bundled under the blanket.

'Run' she mouthed to her and took out a tanktop and sweatpants from the closet. Yang gave her a small nod before turning around and going back to sleep.

The morning jog was uneventful. When she started there was barely anybody outside except for a few people who she guessed were senior students, who were out for the same reasons as she was. When she came back to the dormitory it was a bit more lively than when she left.

CRDL filled out of their dorm and judging by their clothes were heading to the gym. She also met Blake, who was leading her team to the cafeteria and who gave her a smirk and a cryptic warning. "Be careful when you get back." Did something happen when she was jogging around?

As it turned out, there was an enormous pitch black storage locker right in front of their dorm. The thing was slightly taller and at least four times as wide as Beacon's standard lockers. When she entered the dorm Weiss was still in her bed. She is a really heavy sleeper… She thought, considering she didn't notice Ruby coming back and currently holding up one of the beds and a closet midair, each floating on a cloud of red petals, while measuring the place with a tape measure.

"Hey Pyrrha!" Ruby whisper-shouted, mindful of Weiss still sleeping.

"Good morning." She replied with a smile, still very confused about what was happening but decided to ignore it for now. She needed to take a shower before the classes and get some breakfast. Ruby would definitely explain later.

When she was drying herself she heard a scream from the main room.

"What are you doing!"

It would seem Weiss had woken up and was quite upset with Ruby remodeling their shared space.

When she stepped out, the giant locker was already inside and, how did she get it through the door? Ruby was currently sheepishly looking between the closet and the bed.

"Well… I went to check on my stuff in the morning and they just put it in the main storage and Ididn'twantsomeonedamagingit!" She blurted out in a way Pyrrha barely understood.

"You can't just rebuild the room because you don't have enough space!" Weiss continued to berate Ruby. Coincidentally, 'their' half of the room, as Weiss called it, had a rather unstable tower of dust cases.

At that moment Yang walked into the room with four plates of scrambled eggs, some bacon and toasts. Immediately getting everyone's attention by the virtue of bringing the food, looked around for a moment before her eyes settled on Ruby's special locker.

"I thought you wanted to start decorating after breakfast?" She said in a mock hurt voice.

"But I couldn't just leave my babies in the hallway!" Ruby almost cried back at her.

"Well, now that thing is inside and you don't have any more space!" Weiss continued to rip into Ruby while inching closer to the plates.

Pyrrha just released a tired sigh, gave Yang a nod and helped her put the plates down on one of the desks.

"Hey Yang, can I ask you something?" Ruby said carefully.

Yang saw how her eyes darted between her and the two beds. It wasn't that hard to deduce what she was trying to say.

"Sure, but if you start complaining about it being too hot, you sleep on the floor. Now get here, both of you."

With a small cheer Ruby smacked their closet next to her storage unit while throwing out the unnecessary bed out of the room. Weiss wanted to loudly protest but her stomach decided to embarrass her instead so she quietly went to take the last plate.

Both Pyrrha and Weiss agreed that this was probably a much better food than one in the cafeteria.

-BBW-

Breakfast helped Weiss to calm down and in the end she accepted, that as long as they were making a mess on their half, it wasn't her problem to deal with. She would still give an appropriate commentary if she felt it necessary. Pyrrha graciously offered to do the dishes, saying that she didn't have that many things to unpack. Weiss herself was also done, all of her possessions were orderly placed and now she was briefly reading through Vale's history, just in case. Yang wasn't doing anything extra, jost some historical, philosophical and mythological books. And a poster with a motorbike.

Ruby on the other hand…

Folded up schematics, plethora of tools that she vaguely understood were meant for weapon maintenance, a map of Vale kingdom with highlighted grimm nests. Weiss didn't even know whether this was public information or not. It definitely wasn't in Atlas.

They still had about fifteen minutes before they would need to head out to the class. Yang was laying on her bed and reading something on her scroll. Ruby… was sitting behind one of the desks and was switching before eyeing her and Pyrrha, and scribbling into her notebook. Pyrrha was just sitting there with a cup of tea and a serene smile on her face.

Sadly, their quiet morning was ruined when somebody angrily pounded on their doors. Being the closest, Ruby was the one to open. "Yes?" She asked before even seeing who was outside.

As soon as she opened the doors properly, she was met by a stern glare from Glynda Goodwitch.

"Ladies. While we do not intervene in what goes inside the dorms unless the laws are broken, you will be held accountable for causing the mess in the hallway and damaging the school property." She sharply gestured to the bed still laying in the hallway with her whip.

"Oh… we needed some extra space. You can take it back, we don't need it." Ruby brushed off the threat.

At the mention of extra space Glynda took a look inside. The room was surprisingly tidy, a rarity among students, especially new ones. The books she saw on the shelves were definitely better than the ones she saw inside BLAN's dorm. Or maybe they just hid them better.

The problematic items were the Mk4 reinforced storage unit that she saw during a few high profile missions and a wobbly stack of cases that were definitely filled with dust.

"Miss Rose and miss Schnee, I assume both of you had read Beacon's weapon regulation rules."

"Yeah."

"Of course."

"Then why is your dorm filled with dust and spec ops equipment?"

"Because I don't trust other people with my stuff!" Came a perfectly synchronized reply.

"Miss Schnee." Glynda decided to deal with the girls one at a time. "I assure you, your precious dust will be kept in the proper conditions according to the regulations." She pushed up her glasses for added effect. "Your dust is currently being kept in dangerous conditions and poses a danger to you, your team and the rest of the dormitory."

"If the room was bigger I would be able to store it properly." Weiss huffed out and crossed her arms. If Ruby could backtalk to her, then she would as well.

She would normally already deal with this by putting them all in detention and carrying all of the stuff herself but she was willing to let a spoiled princess acclimate for a while.

"Miss Rose, your complaints are also unreasonable. Your equipment would be completely safe." And she better never dared to bring it to her class. If she fought with an unregistered and most likely outlawed weapon she would make sure to put her on toilet duty until graduation. That would whip her into following the rules. "Or do you trust us enough to sleep here but not enough to leave your weapons in our care?"

"I can protect myself, my babies can't, at least not yet. I'm not that good with AIs." She stood protectively in front of the box, one hand on the locking console.

Weiss paled a bit. She was more than ready to defend her choices verbally but fighting one of the professors on the first day was a terrible idea.

Yang on the other hand had her eyes on Glynda and just waited whether she would move against her sister or not.

Thankfully Pyrrha rushed into the middle of the standoff and tried to diffuse the tension. "What if we make space for Weiss to keep her dust here?"

"And what about me?" Ruby spoke from behind Pyrrha.

"Well… Ruby had offered me an upgrade to my weapon and it would be better if all of the necessary equipment was on hand." She really hoped Glynda would buy it.

By some miracle, or more precisely because Ozpin told Glynda about his plans for Pyrrha, she eased her hold on the whip. "And how exactly are you going to do it?" She asked and gave both Pyrrha and Weiss a meaningful look.

It took them a moment before understanding what she meant but before they could start panicking or denying Ruby saved the day. "Bunk beds!" She shouted out and the room descended into a chaotic mess of flying petals. During the indoor storm they could hear the box open with a hissing sound, followed by four impacts after which it closed again.

When the pandemonium was over and the petals descended on the floor, the two of the beds were suspended above the other two, supported by long metal stakes.

"This will be a problem." Weiss touched the pointy end sticking out from under the bed.

Nobody noticed a tick mark on Glynda's forehead.

Yang just silently walked up to her, activated her semblance and melted the extra length down. She had done that for every stake. Such treatment gave both beds noticeable scorch marks.

Sadly, she already knew that Ozpin would call them 'youthful' and would ignore any of her complaints.

"Get to your class before I change my mind!" She seethed out and stormed off.

-BBW-

Despite all of them waking up early enough, their arrival to the class was a mad dash across the campus. Team BLAN was already there so they sat down next to them. The first class was grimm studies, something that greatly interested Ruby… for about three minutes before she realized that they were going over the ones easily found in Vale. Professor Port was making some good points but unfortunately it would always take him forever to get there. She was seated between Blake and Yang, Ren and Nora sitting next to Blake while Weiss and Pyrrha were sitting on Yang's other side. The only people in their group who were paying attention were Weiss, Ren and maybe Pyrrha, who seemed to be slowly falling asleep but still trying to take notes. Yang was reading her own book, Nora was asleep, Ilia was on her scroll and Blake-

"What was all that ruckus with Goodwitch this morning?" She whispered to Ruby.

She felt really embarrassed over causing a scene over the entire floor but she was fighting for the right thing!

-BBW-

She can't be serious! Weiss internally raged while scowling at her 'leader' talking to Blake, neither of them paying any attention to the class. And Ozpin made that irresponsible child a leader? Her mind didn't even bring up the events in the morning, mostly because she considered all of it a fever dream caused by her body badly adjusting to the new location and weather.

"... so, who among you believes themselves to be a true huntsman?" Port finished after another long tale of bygone heroics.

"I do, sir!" Weiss raised her hand and shouted out. It was time to save her team's reputation!

"Hoho, then please step forward and get ready for your opponents."

Weiss quickly changed out of her uniform, retrieved her rapier and went to the front of the classroom. Now up close she could hear a growling coming out from the large cage that the professor brought before the class.

"Good luck Weiss!" Pyrrha called out from the side.

"Bring it down!" Ruby cheered as well.

Yang just put her book to the side and gave some of her attention to the class for the first time in hours.

"Stay quiet Ruby! I'm trying to concentrate!" Weiss snapped back.

Ruby became a bit downcast but Pyrrha tried to give her an apologetic smile. Yang began to frown.

Port smashed the lock on the cage with his axe and the large grimmified pig ran free. Almost immediately it charged Weiss who barely deflected the attack. Another exchange and Myrtenaster got stuck in the bony protrusions.

"Go for the belly! It has no armor down there!" Ruby still tried to help.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss again snapped but in this moment of distraction, the boarbatusk was able to disarm her.

She narrowly rolled away from the next attack and made a run for her weapon.

She picked it up but the boar was already upon her.

Only to stumble and using that opportunity Weiss was able to stab it through its neck.

After a pitiful squeal it evaporated.

She ignored the praise from the professor, more focused on the few red petals seeping out from the small cracks in the floor.

After her battle the class promptly ended.

-BBW-

Ruby was already walking after Weiss to check if she was alright but Pyrrha was quick enough to stop her.

"She is fine, but she definitely needs time to calm down after the fight. You can talk to her later." She told her with an innocent smile.

She was certain that Weiss would be fine, but considering her treatment of Ruby during the last few minutes… Letting those two have a 'heart-to-heart' would be a disaster.

"Pyrrha is right. She will be back for the next class." Blake chimed in with a cheeky smile, something Ilia mirrored. They may have left the White Fang behind, but Weiss was treating Ruby terribly and… they both did enjoy seeing a Schnee get smacked around by a pig.

Only Ren noticed Yang leave in the same direction as Weiss but it wasn't his team so he didn't bring that up.

-BBW-

She tolerated her being bitchy in the morning. Ruby could annoy the dead when it came to weaponry. And frankly, her weapons, her problems.

But she wouldn't let the wannabe princess walk over her baby sister like this.

She was one corner away from the changing rooms. It would be a good place, no mongrels who would bother her when she gave the brat a piece of her mind.

"Oh, miss Xiao Long, fancy meeting you here."

Dammit. Ozpin was standing right at the last corner, hiding a knowing smile behind a cup.

"Good morning, I'm in the middle of something so please make it quick." Probably very disrespectful but she didn't care anyway. And if he was really a leader of a secret cult and was trying to coax her sister into joining then he deserved even less.

"So I noticed." He did expect some tension to appear and while Weiss was the most… expandable from their team, having the loyalty of the Schnee heiress would benefit him greatly. "While it's not uncommon for students to solve their problems in a more violent fashion, please, keep those to the fighting arena. The hallways are much harder to repair." The longer he spoke, the more time he would give Weiss to leave without any altercation. "Also, I doubt miss Rose would like her team to be built on fear." She may be different from Raven in many aspects but both of them were very easy to read. And to nudge in the right direction. For Raven it was her very tough love for Qrow and the one-sided rivalry with Summer. For Yang it was her sister. Although he may have jumped the gun a bit.

Hair glowing and eyes blazing red, she gave him a death glare that would make both Glynda and Raven proud.

"You keep my sister out of your mouth!" She sneered. She knew what he was trying to do. He was probably right but there was no way she would let some slimy old bastard just hide behind her. "I won't just stand on the side and let some brat who was born with a silver spoon up her ass be a bitch to her for no reason at all!"

Ozpin calmly listened to the outburst. He learned a long time ago that people did need to let out their emotions every once in a while. "Perhaps. But I made her your leader for a reason. You can't go around solving her problems, miss Xiao Long, otherwise she won't learn how to solve them herself." He sipped on his coffee and started walking away. "Besides, it's only the first day, I believe they will solve their issues by the end of the week."

/

/

/

Infodump

Old magic, dust and maidens

The world was created by magic and with magic in its core. Every living being, be it a plant, an animal or a human, were connected through this point of origin. Then came Salem's rebellion against gods and their connection to magic was severed. The world still was giving magic to the space around but there were only two people left capable of wielding it. Through countless years it condensed and crystalized near the points of emergence. Thus it became dust.

While the plantlife lost its reliance on magic easily, other species weren't so lucky. Humanity went through a complete rebirth, creating new versions of themselves that were no longer reliant on it.

The wildlife had it the worst. Very few of them were able to wield the magic but it was an essential part of their existence nonetheless. Many died of starvation. Some started feeding on grimm, consuming its corrupting essence and through the years they became what they hunted. Few flocked to the earliest dust veins and fed on the crystalized magic, hidden in the deepest caves they retain their 'sanity' to this day.

For all of Ozma's ideas, his maidens were in no way a continuation of the humanity of old. While the old humans were born with the access to the arcane, maidens' powers were more of a lockpick. They received enlarged reserves of aura and a small amount of magic within, it paled in comparison to the power Salem possessed. But it hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things. Magic was never something to be hoarded within one's body. It was meant to be spread and connected to the world around, to the world that gave life its power in the first place.

Replies:

To dodusk: Dude, I don't need that big of an ego xD But thank you, really 3

To Kyunin9: her aria affects it but in a slightly roundabout way. The further she goes the more two things are reduced. Those being the minimum amount of aura her semblance needs to function and the amount of time it takes for her semblance to reappropriate the intake of energy. Once fully invoked, it's almost instant and the costs are ⅛ of the inicial. It is a power up, because should she use the same amount of aura normally, she would receive much greater feedback but considering how much raw power she needs to finish it, it's kinda inefficient to use it just only for that.

Also, if any of you, my dear readers, figure out what exactly I gave to Yang and Ruby, please, keep it to yourself. I will address it properly once it becomes important. For now, just feel good about yourself knowing that you are superior :D