A/N: I may have inserted boring stuff here.
——
Inside the sleek, futuristic, steel hull of the Bullhead, dozens of aspiring Huntsmen-in-training stood restless in anticipation. Large tempered glass lined the sides of the aircraft, providing a beautiful view of the nature outside as they flew over the glistening lake and the emerald forest.
Some students were grouped together, talking with their friends; some stood alone, leaning against the wall as they closed their eyes for rest, or in an attempt to look cool, while some avoided certain people due to...understandable reasons.
"Ughh...I'm gonna...be...sick." moaned a blonde boy nearby, clutching his stomach as the ship hit a pocket of turbulence.
While some stood starstruck seeing a famous and admired individual amongst them, some tried to strike up a conversation with them...
"Um...you were so amazing in the Mistral Tournament last year." one boy stammered.
"Thank you...But if you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone for now." a girl with hair like polished bronze replied with a polite, practiced smile.
"No problem. Please rest well." He retreated quickly, satisfied with the brief interaction.
They were swiftly and politely turned down.
And some were tolerating, or rather, they were used to the antics of their friend.
"Ren! Ren, look! It's a huge castle on the cliff!" The girl's high-pitched shriek broke the somewhat peaceful atmosphere on the other side of the cabin.
"I see it, Nora." A calm, weary voice replied.
'Poor guy.' Altair cast a look of sympathy on the black-haired boy currently being vibrated into a different dimension by his hyperactive friend.
Thankfully, Altair was in the first group, talking with Yang and Ruby, though it was more like him and Yang trying to encourage Ruby that everything was going to be fine.
"I'm telling you, you'll be fine!" Yang said with her usual cheerful and confident tone. Giving her sister a gentle nudge to lighten up her spirits. "Plus you have me and Altair here! If anyone tries to mess with you, we'll send them flying!"
"I'll just dunk their heads in water if that happens." Altair calmly said while watching the hologram playing the news. He was sure the robbery yesterday would make it to the news, he had already prepared his scroll to take a video about it in order to mess with Neo.
'Your boss looks good in 240p. Maybe a different mascara, and a hat might be better for him.'
A small snicker escaped. He could already see how big of a tantrum she was going to throw at him next time they meet.
He was serious about the hat though. The hat reminded him of a disturbing movie he watched before he was dropped in Remnant.
"It's creepy." Altair muttered under his breath.
"See! Even Altair agrees with me, so you already know I'm right." Yang chirped, assuming he was agreeing with her take on Beacon's social scene.
"Ughh. I know that, but I'm just bummed out, you know?" Ruby said, her voice strained with anxiety. Her shoulders slumped, a dark cloud practically forming over her head. "I...I got in early, you know. I just don't want anyone thinking I'm special."
"You should take pride in attending Beacon early." Altair said calmly, his focus still at the news displayed at the holographic screen.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Take pride in it. Professor Ozpin judged I'm ready, I'm ahead of others my age." Ruby let out a sigh again. "It doesn't change the fact I don't know anyone here or that I left my friends back at Signal."
"Oh, you'll be fine." Yang pointed her thumb towards herself. "Like I said, me and Altair are here for you—" She then wrapped her arm around Ruby's shoulder. "—plus strangers are friends you haven't met yet! You just have to find someone interesting, then talk to them."
"Easy for you to say." Ruby groaned, trying to pry the blonde weighing her down, though she failed, leading to a silent struggle between the two sisters.
A sigh escaped her mouth. Ruby's anxiety was understandable but also a little intriguing. If it were anyone else, they would be boastful, at worst arrogant, but Ruby was different; she was afraid and anxious. She already wasn't one for social interactions, so plunging her into a cesspool of taller, judgmental teens two years older than her was a social death sentence in her eyes.
"In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted—" The news was cut off, replaced by Glynda Goodwitch's hologram.
Altair stood there, tuning out everything, choosing to focus more on the Faunus Civil Rights protest. By all accounts, Altair was a Faunus by identity, so he more or less sympathized with the treatment Faunus were getting.
He didn't really have to worry about Yang and Ruby—they were accepting of everyone—but with the White Fang around, his Faunus heritage might attract some unwanted animosity.
Not that he'd let anyone harass him without consequences, but the real concern was on the growing influence the White Fang has. As more days passed, more Faunus joined the organization; even though the group started as peaceful, it had turned into a radical militant group. It reminded him of a concept in psychology.
In psychology there's a person named Rollo May. In his lifetime he was often associated with humanistic psychology and existential philosophy. Alongside Viktor Frankl, they were the major proponents of existential psychotherapy, basically therapy for people who think too much about their existence and its meaning.
"Hey, Altair."
Aside from this, Rollo also studied [Power], more specifically [Power] in the hands of humans, how they react or use power, what happens when others don't have this power, and the conflict that comes with [Power].
In his book, Power and Innocence, he said that [Violence] stems from a lack of power, the imbalance of it, and how [Violence] is used by those seeking liberation. He defined [Violence] as a silent plea, a desperate, distorted attempt to achieve significance by those that are overlooked or suppressed.
"Hello? Yang to Snow Cone?"
It even went further to categorize the levels that [Violence] develops in, as significance and opinions of groups get ignored. And the levels perfectly mirrored White Fang's progression.
"Altair!" Having enough, Yang pinched Altair's cheeks, squishing them together.
"Whah?!" Startled, Altair snapped out of his thoughts, his head being pushed around by Yang's hands.
"What's with you? I've been calling you for a while now." Yang pouted, pinching his cheeks tighter. Seeing that he showed no reaction to the pain, she clicked her tongue and let go.
"It's...It's nothing." Altair rubbed his reddened cheek, pain stinging his senses.
"Sure." Her eyes narrowed, suspicious, but she let it go. Grabbing Altair and Ruby—whose shoulders were still slumped—she dragged them with her, heading for the cargo area to grab their stuff, as the Bullhead landed on Beacon's port.
——
The Bullhead landed, cargo and baggage ranging from crates to duffel bags littered across the platform as the students moved to get their things. Of course, some privileged few had the luxury of flying in privately.
One such individual was Weiss Schnee. She wore a white combat dress, clearly custom-made, with red velvet lining made from cotton, ensuring comfort while being a silent display of wealth.
Her...combat heels tapped the concrete floor as she walked with grace, proceeding forward like the other students. And to top it all off, she had a cart that carried all her belongings, neatly arranged into organized stacks, with the bigger luggage on the bottom and the smaller ones on the top.
'This...is the start of my dreams. Of my freedom!'
Freedom, something she sought after ever since she was born. The thing that led to her defying her father's wishes that she attend Atlas Academy, to train hard with desperate fervor, to forgo a majority of her luxury and privilege, to escape her father's influence.
And more importantly, to achieve her dreams of becoming an honorable Huntress, like how her grandfather persevered to build the Schnee family's company.
Though she was nervous, she had confidence in herself that she would shine brightly among her peers, that she would experience the daily life she always wanted, free of the Schnee family's influence, and maybe create and bond with numerous wonderful friends.
"Woooo. Little steps, Weiss, little steps."
Three minutes later...
The boxes clattered as a red-hooded girl collided with the cart.
"What are you doing?!"
——
BOOM!
A tiny explosion erupted on the platform, though the other students didn't notice, aside from Altair, who was walking with Yang and her group of friends. He briefly looked back, already knowing what caused the explosion.
"Are you sure we should've left Ruby on her own?" With uncertainty clear in Altair's voice, feeling a little guilty for Ruby's "crater-face" moment.
"She'll be fine. It's not like she'll have a meltdown." Yang jokingly whispered to him while her friends were talking amongst themselves.
'Do explosions count as a meltdown?'
"I guess you're right." Though worried, Yang's words did make sense, and with his knowledge he knew that the rocky start between Ruby and Weiss became the foundation of their strong friendship, so it'll be fine...probably.
"By the way–" Altair's arms were occupied, carrying two duffel bags in each arm; on his shoulders was Ember Celica's weapon case—carrying spare dust ammunition—and his Katana-bukuro (katana wrapped inside a cloth), plus some sleeping bags for him, Yang, and Ruby. "Why am I also carrying your stuff?"
"Cause my body's sore." Yang responded shamelessly. "Plus we're already here, so it's too late for you to give it to me." She said, pointing at the huge pile of disorganized baggage dropped by students in one section of the auditorium.
"I'm getting scammed."
"Get used to it, Snow Cone."
Shaking his head, Altair dropped off the bags he was carrying, including their weapons, neatly on the ground, making sure to group them together a fair distance away from the huge pile to avoid mixing them.
"We should hurry. They're saying Professor Glynda's already on the stage." Yang grabbed Altair's collar, yanking him away from their bags, as she walked to the direction of the training arena.
A sigh left his mouth, Altair began to accept his new life of being swept along in the antics of the people around him.
.
.
.
The arena was filled with a large number of students standing in front of the stage; though not necessarily crowded, it was stuffy but still provided enough space for exaggerated movements.
Standing in the back, near the middle of the crowd, were Yang and Altair—waiting for Ruby's arrival.
Walking into the auditorium, Ruby and Jaune were in slight awe of the scale of the room; the pillars towering over them made the room feel grand and regal, as the architecture of the building itself was elegant and imposing.
"Ruby, over here! We saved you a spot!" Yang, spotting Ruby in the entrance, waved at her, along with Altair, though he was just waving silently, unlike Yang.
Relief washed over Ruby as she saw Yang and Altair. "Oh!" Turning to Jaune, Ruby smiled awkwardly, a little guilty that she was leaving him by himself. "Hey, sorry I—I gotta go." She then walked towards Yang, waving at Jaune as she did so. "I'll see you after the ceremony!"
"He-hey, wait!" Ruby didn't stop though. Jaune, saddened by her departure, was dejected. A sigh left his mouth as he walked away. "Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find a fun, quirky girl to talk to?" Not noticing the red-haired girl behind, who has taken an interest in him.
"So, how's your first day going, little sister?" Yang said with an upbeat tone to her voice.
"You have soot on your face." Altair said as he pulled out a napkin from his robes, handing it to Ruby. "What happened?"
"Well, since you guys wanna know, I exploded because you guys left me on my own earlier!" Irritated, Ruby complained to the two as she wiped the soot off her face. Being left alone by herself led to her knocking off some luggage from Weiss' cart. Which led to a confrontation, and now she has an enemy on the first day of school.
"So a meltdown?" A chuckle came from Yang as she glanced at Altair, who was looking at her with an expression that basically said, "I told you so."
Ruby let out an exasperated sigh, feeling tired just remembering what happened earlier, something that made Yang cringe a bit, proving Altair's fears about leaving her sister alone.
"I wish." Ruby scoffed. "There was just this girl, then I knocked over some of her boxes, then there was Dust, I sneezed, and then there was an explosion, and then she yelled at me—!"
"YOU!" Weiss shouted.
"AH!" Ruby was startled and jumped into Yang's arms, while Weiss glared at her with contempt. "It's happening again!"
"You were lucky we didn't get launched off the cliff!" Weiss said, crossing her arms; her tone was mixed with irritation and anger.
Yang's eyes widened, shocked by the fact that Ruby caused an explosion. "Oh my Oum, you really exploded." she whispered.
"It was an accident!" Ruby got off Yang's arms, and then she turned to Weiss. "It was an accident, okay—!" Weiss interrupted her as she shoved a pamphlet near her face. Confused, Ruby took the pamphlet from Weiss' hand.
"What's this?"
"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 familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field."
"What?"
"You really want to start making things up to me?"
"...Yes?"
"Read the pamphlet and don't talk to me again." Weiss let out a sigh. "I don't even know why they let a child like you attend Beacon."
"Hey! I don't—" Yang was understandably angry by what Weiss was insinuating but she was interrupted by Altair, who covered her mouth before she could say something offensive.
Yang struggled for a second but couldn't pry his hand off. Eventually, she huffed and stood there, glaring daggers at the heiress. Feeling Yang calm down—at least physically—Altair kept his restraint on her as he turned his attention to Weiss.
"Ms. Schnee," Altair said, his voice calm and melodic. "while I may not be qualified to judge someone's qualifications, Professor Ozpin should have no problem doing that right?"
"Yes, but surely he must've made a mistake."
"I doubt an institution like Beacon, can make mistakes like that." Altair replied with a polite, measured smile. His composure was a sharp contrast to the chaos of a moment ago, a trait Weiss seemed to reflexively appreciate. "You should know that Professor Ozpin himself approved of Ruby's abilities to be here with us."
"But—."
"While it might seem unlikely, you shouldn't really judge someone's capabilities by their looks and temperament, especially since you know nothing of them."
"Well. Your words do carry some truth with them, but I still refuse to associate with her. While I might accept your 'amends,' I would appreciate it if she acted with more care in the future."
"It wouldn't be fair, though." Altair tilted his head slightly. "From what Ruby told us, she knocked over your luggage, correct?"
"Y-yeah," Ruby stammered.
"Yes," Weiss confirmed, her chin held high.
"And that luggage contained Dust."
"Yup."
"Yes."
Ruby and Weiss responded in sync, though their tones couldn't have been more different.
"If the luggage contained Dust," Altair continued. "it must be either powdered Dust or crystallized shards. Crystals don't typically cause explosions from just a sneeze. And if it was powdered Dust, then isn't the explosion the fault of the container's seal rather than Ruby's?"
"Yeah!" The logic finally dawned on Ruby. "If a sneeze caused the explosion, the powdered Dust must have leaked from the containers in the first place!"
"Uh... Well, of course, the containers would be at fault if they were knocked down by a klutz like her!" Weiss seemed to falter.
"If there wasn't any problem with the container's seal, then they should be airtight to prevent environmental contamination," Altair pointed out, his smile never wavering. "If they weren't, then wouldn't every shipment of powdered Dust cause an explosion every time it hit a bit of turbulence? That would be a significant liability for the Schnee Dust Company, wouldn't it?"
Weiss opened her mouth to retort, but no sound came out. He had her. Defending her stance meant admitting her family's product was faulty, but blaming Ruby entirely meant ignoring basic chemistry.
"So, it means both of you are at fault."
"What!" Ruby looked betrayed by Altair's declaration.
"...I guess..." Weiss didn't find anything wrong with Altair's logic; she couldn't even find the will to retort against him.
"It was Ruby's fault bumping against your luggage, while it was your fault for not properly handling the Dust." Altair finally released Yang, who immediately pointed at Weiss with a smug smile on her face.
"Hah! Looks like you—."
Until she was restrained by Altair again, she flailed her arms in protest, but like earlier her effort led to nothing.
"Let's leave it at that, Ms. Schnee. I would like to apologize for the inconvenience Ruby caused, I hope that you'll be able to get along in the future." Altair turned to Ruby, signaling her to apologize too.
"I'm sorry too, Weiss. I really hope we could be friends!"
Weiss let out a sigh as she bowed her head. "I...I also apologize for my conduct earlier. I look forward to having an amicable relations with you."
Soon after Weiss apologized, the microphone echoed, making everyone turn to the stage, where Professor Ozpin and Professor Glynda stood.
.
.
.
"Raven, can you give Ozpin a call?...Yeah, I didn't find any teammates."
Sigh—
——