The window overlooked Beacon Academy in the early morning quiet, panning over to Weiss Schnee sleeping soundly in her bed. Her eyes fluttered open. She stretched, yawned
Ruby Rose appeared in her Beacon uniform, trumpet raised.
Kaito Gojo appeared beside her, trombone at the ready, dark blindfold in place, expression entirely too cheerful for the hour.
Ruby: Good morning, Team RWBY!
Kaito: GOOOOOD MORNING.
Weiss: (from the floor) What in the world is wrong with both of you
Ruby: (ignoring this completely) Now that you're awake, we can officially begin our first order of business!
Kaito: First order of business.
Weiss: (standing, brushing herself off) Excuse me?
Yang: (appearing in the doorway, arms full of pillows, pamphlets, and a candleholder, Blake beside her) Decorating!
Weiss: What?!
Blake: (lifting her suitcase) We still have to unpack. (the suitcase opened and deposited its contents across the floor) Aaaand clean.
Ruby's whistle connected with the back of Weiss's head.
Ruby: Aaalright! Weiss, Blake, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission! (fist in the air) Banzai!
Ruby, Kaito, Blake & Yang: Banzai!
Weiss lay on the floor.
The montage that followed was efficient if chaotic. Yang pinned a poster of six men in various heroic poses — THE ACHIEVE MEN — to her section of the wall. Weiss positioned a painting of the Forever Fall forest to geometrically precise perfection and stepped back, satisfied. Blake shelved her books with care, picked up a copy of Ninjas of Love, widened her eyes, glanced around the room, and put it back. Ruby positioned Crescent Rose at an exact angle against the curtains — and removed a perfectly diagonal strip from them.
Kaito contributed a single small bag to the corner, surveyed the room, and nodded once.
The music reached its triumphant conclusion. Everyone gathered to assess the result.
The beds were piled in the centre of the floor like a small, uncomfortable mountain.
Weiss: This isn't going to work.
Blake: It is a bit cramped.
Kaito: Tell me about it. And I am very glad I've got my own room.
Yang: Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff?
Ruby: Or — we could ditch the beds and replace them with bunk beds!
Weiss: That sounds incredibly dangerous.
Kaito: Sounds like a great idea.
Yang: And super-awesome!
Blake: It does seem efficient.
Weiss: Well, we should put it to a vote!
Ruby: I think we just did.
Two dings and a single buzz. Blake gave a thumbs up, Yang a double-rocker gesture, Weiss curled her fists at her sides in silent fury. They rushed the beds. Sounds of jackhammering and sawing followed until the room rearranged itself into something new — Weiss's bed sensibly on the ground beside her art, Blake's next to her books with Yang's elevated above it on stacked novels, and Ruby's hanging from the ceiling on ropes with a blanket tent over it.
Ruby: Objective: complete! Aaaaallright — our second order of business iiiiis —
The room spun. She landed on her bed. A book dropped into her lap.
Ruby: …Classes. (she produced a pencil) Now, we have a few together today. At nine, we've got to be
Weiss: What?! Did you say nine o'clock?
Ruby: Uuuum
Weiss: It's 8:55, you dunce!
Weiss was already out the door and down the hall, JNPR peeking from their doorway to watch her pass.
Ruby: (galvanised) To class!
She ran. Yang and Blake followed. Down the hall, Jaune Arc blinked at the word class and toppled Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren like dominoes. He extracted himself and sprinted.
Jaune: We're gonna be late!
Soon a white blur went past him Kaito sorrry Jaune but ur to slowwww
In the courtyard below, Ozpin watched the two teams tear through the grounds. Glynda checked her watch. Ozpin sipped his coffee.
The axe-blunderbuss on the wall framed six illustrated Grimm species behind Professor Port, a man who occupied space the way weather systems did.
Port: Monsters! Deeeemons… Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!
In the front row, Team RWBY processed this at varying rates. Blake and Yang sat up and paid attention. Weiss took notes with the handwriting of someone who had been told their penmanship would be graded. Ruby'
head rested in one hand, her eyes drifting, until Port's joke landed in the silence like a stone in a pond, and she startled awake.
Beside her, Kaito had his arms folded and his blindfold absolutely unreadable. Whether he was asleep or simply experiencing the lecture from a great philosophical distance was impossible to determine
Port: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses… (a wink at Yang, who groaned) Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why the very world!
A student in the back raised his fist. "Ayyyyyep!" He held this for a moment under the collective gaze of his peers, then sat down.
Port: That is what you are training to become. But first a story. A tale of a young, handsome man. Me. When I was a boy
The words faded into the background. Weiss glanced sideways and found Ruby deeply focused on her paper not on notes, but on a round-limbed figure with stink lines radiating off it, the words PROFESSOR POOP written underneath in Ruby's best handwriting. Ruby blew a raspberry. Yang and Blake laughed. Weiss's expression curdled.
Port: Ah-hem! (silence restored) In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity — and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!
He took a bow.
Ruby was now balancing an apple on a book, pencil held only by one finger, pulling a face. Then she was asleep again. Kaito had drifted, or was thinking, or both t he blindfold made it genuinely difficult to tell, and he gave no indication of clarifying.
Ruby was picking her nose. Weiss's building fury reached its structural limits.
Port: So! Who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?
Weiss: (hand shooting up) I do, sir!
Port: Well then let's find out! (turning to the cage, where red eyes glowed and something heavy moved in the dark) Step forward, and face your opponent!
Yang: Gooo, Weiss!
Blake: (waving a small RWBY flag) Fight well!
Ruby: Yeah, represent Team RWBY!
Weiss: (lowering Myrtenaster, turning) Ruby! I'm trying to focus.
She didn't notice Kaito sit up straighter, a frown on his features
. Ruby looked sheepish. Kaito reached over and gave her a brief, quiet pat on the back.
Port: Allllright! Let the match begin!
The cage door dropped. The Boarbatusk charged. Weiss deflected and rolled, settling into her stance as the creature studied her.
Port: Ha-ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?
Ruby: Hang in there, Weiss!
Weiss drove Myrtenaster straight at the beast's skull and the tusks caught the blade and wrenched it from her grip. She was knocked back. Myrtenaster spun across the floor.
Port: Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?
The Boarbatusk charged again. Weiss rolled clear, made it to her sword and slid, and got her hand back around the hilt.
Ruby: Weiss! Go for its belly there's no armour underneath
Weiss: (wheeling on her) Stop telling me what to do!
Ruby went quiet, visibly stung. The Boarbatusk launched itself into a spinning roll, gathering speed, driving straight at Weiss who raised a glowing circle, held it, leapt up into the snowflake symbol, and drove Myrtenaster home into its stomach. It dropped.
Port: Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training! I'm afraid that's all the time we have cover the assigned readings, and stay vigilant! Class dismissed!
Weiss walked straight out.
Jaune: (watching her go) Sheesh. What's with her?
Team RWBY looked at each other without an answer.
Ruby caught up at the corner.
Ruby: Weiss!
Weiss: (turning) What?
Ruby: What's wrong with you? Why are you being
Weiss: What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a leader, and all you've been so far is a nuisance.
Ruby: What did I do?
Weiss: That's just it you've done nothing to earn your position! Back in the forest, you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so!
Ruby: Weiss, where is this coming from? What happened to 'working together'? I thought you believed in acting as a team.
Weiss: Not a team led by you. I've studied and trained. And quite frankly I deserve better. (she turned away, hand rising toward Ruby's shoulder, then dropping) Ozpin made a mistake.
She walked away. Ruby stood in the empty corridor, the words sitting on her chest.
Ozpin: (from directly behind her) Hmm. Now that didn't seem to go very well.
Ruby: (barely holding it together) Is she right? Did you make a mistake?
Ozpin: (a quiet laugh) That remains to be seen. I mean it's only been one day. Ruby… I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. But at this moment, I would not consider your appointment to be one of them. (leaning in to look at her directly) Do you?
Ruby thought about it, genuinely. Then she smiled.
Ozpin: Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle it's a badge you wear constantly. If you're not always performing at your absolute best, what reason do you give others to follow you? (he straightened, turning) You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I'd advise you take some time to think about how you'll uphold it.
Ruby watched him go. Then she turned toward the balcony where, in the distance, Professor Port was already walking away from a quieter, stiller Weiss Schnee.
After ports speech
The sunset was still painting the rooftops gold when Kaito appeared at the balcony railing, hands in pockets, looking out at nothing in particular. Weiss didn't move.
Kaito: That was inspiring. What port said mean. He's not wrong about any of it.
Weiss said nothing, which he took as permission to continue.
Kaito: Since you're here
Ruby's my friend. You probably know that. (He kept his gaze on the rooftops, voice easy and direct in the way it always was when he actually meant something.) She might not seem like it yet, but she's going to make a genuinely good leader. That's not me being sentimental I just know her.
If she needs guidance, I imagine someone like you would be well-placed to help with that. I figured I'd let you know.
Weiss: (slowly) …Fine. I might not like you very much. But I can at least acknowledge you're a semi-decent person if you care about your friend's wellbeing that much.
Kaito) it's my job as the strongest to protect my friends. Well his cocky smile infuriated her
Byeee and remember be niceeeeeeee
Weiss scoffed
It's currently 2.36 am when I decided to Ediet and post so expect misstakes I am hella tied.