"Wow. Welcome to Beacon." Yang said from beside Ruby, stepping off the airship and looking around at the massive campus of Beacon Academy.
"It is quite impressive." Ruby agreed, glancing about, as she hadn't been paying much attention to the place when Qrow had brought her here to meet Knight Ozpin. The scale of the campus wasn't quite up the Grand Cathedral and its surroundings, where she had been raised, but as far as schools went, the only larger ones she knew of were the Academies for the Air Armaments Service and Dimensional Navy, though the largest campus of the University of the Arts and Sciences in Cranagan on Midchilda came close.
"So, we're here. Now what?" Ruby asked Yang, glancing over at the blonde brawler as the two walked out into the middle of a small plaza, Ruby adjusting her gloves slightly.
"Uhhh…" Yang put her hands up in an 'I don't know' gesture. "Not a clue, but I do see a few of my friends from Signal Academy…" She glanced at Ruby meaningfully.
"Go on, then." Ruby told her, with a small grin. "I will be fine, we will meet up later. Go with your friends." She lightly pushed Yang's shoulder, who grinned in return and jogged to catch up with a small group of other students, waving and shouting a few names as she did so.
"So, according to today's schedule, we've got some time to kill before we have to report to the auditorium. Any ideas?" Ruby asked her Device as she began to turn around, noting the luggage cart behind her and avoiding it. The unfamiliar weight in the small of her back shifted slightly, and she made a mental note to reset the magnetic clamps holding Rosenkreuz, in her new configuration.
"Well, Master, we could—"
"Be careful!" A shrill voice shouted at her, and Ruby turned towards the direction of the voice.
A pale girl in a dress stood behind her, arms crossed, glaring at her. "You should watch where you're going!" She demanded of the Knight, her voice haughty.
"My apologies." Ruby responded, in the interests of not starting a conflict with other students at Knight Ozpin's school. As she spoke, she completed her turn and spotted both a familiar figure and a nice garden path where she would most likely not be bothered.
Well, hello again. I didn't expect to see you here.
"Do you even know what you nearly knocked over!?" The pale girl practically yelled from behind Ruby.
"Dust, I presume, given the labels." She said over her shoulder as she began to walk away. "I am not as blind or clumsy as one may think." And you are supremely annoying.
"Don't you walk away from me!" Fast footsteps sounded behind her, and Ruby spun, her combat reflexes acting, her left hand going to Rosenkreuz, her right coming up in front of her in a blocking position.
The pale girl stopped dead, looking at Ruby with confusion.
"My apologies." Ruby said with a small bow, letting her arms drop back down to her sides, leaving Rosenkreuz where she was. "I was acting on reflex."
The pale girl just looked at her for a few seconds, a mix of emotions visible on her face before her expression became blank, ice-blue eyes locked on her own.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it." With that, she turned and walked back to the luggage cart. Ruby caught her muttering under her breath as she did so.
"Just like Winter…"
"Huh. I didn't think that would be a reaction I'd get from her. I wonder who 'Winter' is. Or if who is the proper question."
"I didn't either, and I don't know."
Ruby shrugged slightly and turned around, to meet a familiar golden-eyed gaze, this time evidencing confusion.
"I can not say I expected to see you here. You did not mention that you also would be attending Beacon Academy." She said to the cat faunus she'd meet six weeks earlier.
"I didn't get my acceptance letter until later." Came the offhand response, as the faunus girl slowly lowered the book to reveal her face.
Ruby inclined her head in acknowledgement at this.
"Fair enough." With that, both fell silent, an uncomfortable silence developing. Finally, after a few minutes of the two standing around awkwardly, she sighed softly, and put her hand out.
"Ruby Nakajima."
The faunus girl looked at her for a few seconds, then slowly took the offered handshake.
"Blake Belladonna."
Ruby nodded again at the girl as they both allowed the handshake to break.
"It is nice to see you again, Fraulein Belladonna."
Blake looked at her with slight confusion, but before she could speak, a public address system activated, and a woman's voice spoke over it.
"All incoming students are requested to report to the auditorium. Again, all incoming students are requested to report to the auditorium."
"Apparently, we have someplace to be." Ruby noted.
***
"Ruby! I saved you a spot!" Yang called across the auditorium as she spotted the other girl entering the auditorium, accompanied by a rather handsome girl with dark hair and a bow on her head.
Ruby told the girl something, who nodded and walked off, while Ruby made her way over to Yang.
"Already making friends?" The blonde brawler asked her sister, grinning. "That's good! It's about time you started making a few."
"Acquaintances, more like." Ruby gave her a blank look. "It is a bit too early for that." Then, at the edge of Yang's hearing, she whispered something, very softly. Yang could barely make out the words, though she could tell it was in Belkan. "Ich will keine Freunde finden, weil ich Angst habe, dass ich sie verlieren werde."
"What?" Yang looked at her, blankly.
"Do not worry about it." Ruby told her, then, glancing at the stage, gestured towards it. "Ritter Ozpin is about to speak."
Why do you always call Professor Ozpin, Ritter Ozpin? And what does Ritter mean, anyway?
"I'll… keep this brief." Ozpin's voice broke into her thoughts, and she turned to look up at the stage, where Ozpin stood in front of a microphone. "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."
At this statement from the Headmaster, the students began to whisper among themselves. Yang glanced sideways for a brief moment, and noticed that Ruby was muttering to herself in Belkan.
Yang turned her head back to the stage as Ozpin continued.
"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."
With that, the Headmaster of Beacon turned, and walked away, the blonde woman next to him taking his place at the microphone.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." She, too, turned and walked off, following Ozpin out of the room.
Yang glanced back over at her sister, who hadn't stopped muttering, though after a few seconds she did, and began to walk off, in the direction Ozpin had left in, gently pushing her way through the crowd. Yang followed, curious.
"Where are you going?" She asked as she slipped between two groups of talking students.
"To speak to Ritter Ozpin." Came the response, delivered quiet enough it was hard enough to hear her.
"Why?"
"There are things I wish to discuss. Not for prying ears." She added, gesturing around.
"Can it wait?" Yang asked her. "You'll just stick out more."
Ruby stopped for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes. I will discuss things with him tomorrow, after initiation." She turned to Yang. "Any ideas on what we are supposed to do now?"
"Well…"
***
"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang slid onto her impromptu bed, which sat next to Ruby's, trying to get a reaction out of the Knight, who simply looked up from her scroll with a completely blank expression.
Both of the girls had dressed in nightclothes, Yang in a tank top and shorts, while Ruby was in a long sleeve turtleneck and sweatpants, with socks and gloves on, apparently to hide any trace of her cybernetics.
"I honestly have noted several parallels to when the Knights and TSAB personnel all end up sleeping in a single group while on exercise. Though, I have never attended a 'slumber party' myself, and this would not notice the similarities." She noted.
"You've never had a slumber party?" Yang asked, curious. That might explain why she chose the corner of the room. No one else's over here, except that girl with the bow from earlier.
Ruby's hand made its way to Rosenkreuz, and there was a very faint flash of red light, after which she lowered her hand to her lap again.
"Silencing spell active, now I can speak freely. To answer your question, no. When I lived with Lady Hayate and the rest of my family, there were few others of my age around. I went to live in the barracks with the other Church Knights for the last two years of my training. After I completed said training, I was posted onboard the Archon almost immediately." Ruby told her.
"I didn't know that." Yang admitted. "So, what was it like?" She asked, propping her head up on one of her hands.
"Living in a church barracks?"
"Yeah." The blonde brawler clarified. "I've never heard of church barracks before."
"Because your churches do not maintain armed forces." Ruby set her scroll down as she spoke. "It is not too dissimilar to how the Priesthood lives, honestly. We commonly live four to a room, with small storage spaces for each and an attached bathroom. In the accommodations at the Grand Cathedral on Midchilda where I lived, there were lounges every floor, with small kitchens as well alongside the main dining hall on the ground floor. A small library was located on the second floor, and the Grand Cathedral's main library was not too far away. There was a gym in an adjacent building, which saw quite a bit of use. The outdoor training fields also were located immediately to the east, and there were a variety of classrooms in the main building. After all, one must know more than combat to be a proper Knight." She smiled at that. "Our instructors lived with us, on the top floors of the residential building."
"Sounds like a nice place." Yang commented.
"It is. There is far, far more there, as well. The Grand Cathedral's main hall is probably the size of this building, and the surrounding buildings, a campus of a sort itself, is significantly larger than Beacon's. And it is easy to get to the nearest city, the trams run every twenty minutes, if walking or flying for a few minutes is not to your liking." Ruby still was smiling as she reminisced about her home.
I still find the similarities in timekeeping to be weird.
"You like it there." Yang stated. "You miss your home?"
"Yes, I do. But I miss the people more." Ruby's small smile left her face, and her gaze slid down. "I want to see Cinque again. I want to see everyone again, but I miss my wife the most." She admitted.
"What's she like?" Yang asked. Ruby never had told her much about the Nakajima family, or her wife.
She still wasn't entirely used to or comfortable with the idea that Ruby had married already, but she knew that it was incredibly important to the Knight, and didn't say any of her thoughts on the subject out loud. Taiyang and Qrow both had voiced their opinions, resulting in an argument that had ended with Ruby challenging them to a duel for her and her wife's honor. Taiyang had declined, but Qrow had taken her up on it, and promptly been beaten into the ground with spells. Magic was a bit overpowering when it came to duels, especially when one was unprepared for such.
"'Lady of war' is the first phrase that comes to mind. She is… She is very stoic around others, but towards her family she just… Opens up in a way you would never think she could. She seems even emotionless sometimes, but her smile… Radiant, I think, is the best description. She is very gentle, too, for a soldier. " Ruby gave a sad smile. "She is also very beautiful. At least, I think so. I am not good at describing others. You… Will have to meet her." She looked down further, then up again, and Yang could see something in her eyes she couldn't quite identify. "You will meet her." The Knight promised. "Though, I can say, like all of the Nakajimas and Scaglietti's daughters, she is very dangerous if you are fighting her." This came with a grin. "We are a dangerous family." So they're like a family of Hunters or something? Probably all Knights or Military.
"So, you married into them, right?" Yang asked, curious.
"Cinque was adopted into the Nakajima family first, then I married her. I was Ruby Yagami before that, remember?" Ruby told her.
"Right, yeah." Ruby's in a talkative mood for once. Yang mentally noted, and she wanted to learn as much as she could. "What about the rest of your family? The Nakajimas?" She clarified.
Ruby glanced off to Yang's side for a moment, then spoke in a low voice. "We are beginning to be noticed. I will dismiss the spell, do not speak of magic or other abnormal topics."
There was a brief odd feeling, as if the rest of the world had suddenly gotten louder, before Ruby spoke again.
"You asked after the Nakajimas? Well, I will tell you this, we are an odd family." The Knight admitted. "For one thing, only Genya, the father, is not a cyborg. The rest of us all are, and I have the least amount of cybernetics." A family of cyborgs? "We are also a rather large family. There is Genya, the father, I have already noted he is the only non-cyborg. He is a very kind man, always willing to help in whatever way he can. I am proud to call him 'father', if only as an in-law." Yang mentally winced at that. I'm very glad dad isn't here for this. That might crush him. Or not, given she specifically noted he's her father-in-law. She refocused on Ruby.
"Then there is Ginga, the eldest sister. I do not know her well." The younger girl admitted. "There is Subaru, who I know a bit better. She is… Unique. In many ways. She is also the one who noticed that Cinque and I were… Interested in each other, and encouraged us to… I think the phrase is 'get together'?" Ruby glanced off into space and shrugged. "Irrelevant, you understand my meaning. Another of us is Nove. She is aggressive and violent, but is also solid and dependable when it is required of her. And is significantly nicer towards her family. She was, last I heard, teaching Lady Vivio martial arts."
Who's Lady Vivio? Yang wondered. Some Church priestess or something? Or is there a Nobility system on Midchilda? Come to think of it, she never has said anything about things like that. Yang mentally shook her head, Ruby was still talking.
"There is also Deci, though she is even colder than Cinque to those she does not know, she can still 'warm up' I think the phrase is, to some others, though she is not as quiet as Cinque. I do not know her very well, either." The Knight admitted. "The last sister in the Nakajima family is Wendi. Of all my siblings, she is, without a doubt, the most talkative and the most energetic. You would never mistake her for someone else." Ruby said this with a grin.
"That is a large family. Anyone else? No mom or brothers?" Yang asked.
"No brothers. And as for a mother…" Ruby trailed off for a moment. "Quint died ten years ago. I never knew her, all I know is from her personnel file and the stories told to me from others."
"Oh." Yang couldn't really think of anything else to say, and at that point, the lights went out. Save for moonlight coming from the large windows several feet up, the only light was from a set of candles someone had lit. The girl next to them looked vaguely familiar, but Yang didn't care enough to think too much on where she'd seen her before.
"Well, I think that was a sign we should go to bed." The blonde brawler noted, letting her arm slip from supporting her head. "'Night."
"I will pray first. But, goodnight, Yang."
Right, Church Knight. She does tend to pray a lot. She reflected.
In the dark, Yang could vaguely make out Ruby shifting to a kneeling position, bowing her head and clasping her hands together in front of her, as she began to murmur in Belkan.