Chapter 43: And so it begins
Yang's POV-
Beacon was awesome! They hadn't even done anything yet but Yang was already loving it. The campus was massive and looked beautiful, the city was a short ride or flight away, and there was a training area with live and wild Grimm close enough to go and get a good fight in. Some of her friends from Signal were here too, which was great since the idea of teaming up with one of the girls was a good one, and she had people to talk to. Then there was the eye candy, which mama liked, mama liked a lot. She knew there were some good looking guys and gals back home, but Beacon attracted her type like moths to a flame.
It was even better since she was here with Ruby! With her attending, cause even if she was younger Yang knew Ruby could pass whatever test they threw at her, she wouldn't have to worry about how she was doing back on Patch. Ruby was great, but she was horrible in social situations. Put the girl anywhere near a weapon and she'd turn into a nerd with a mouth faster then her Bumblebee, but a normal social yeah no.
That was partly the reason Yang dipped as soon as the Bullhead landed. Yang would watch over Ruby, there was no debate about that, but she wanted her little sister to branch out a bit and actually meet new people. Sure she had friends at Signal, but she wasn't going to be in Signal anymore, so she needed new ones.
And if she so happened to meet people that thought they could take advantage of her just because she was younger then them then Yang would have all the right to beat the shit out of them. (As long as combat class is the same.) Yang didn't think there'd be anything different, but it was Beacon so maybe they'd include stuff like fighting Grimm since the Emerald Forest was close enough to get some Grimm for them to practice against.
That aside she started looking around, searching for said aforementioned sister. Yang was pretty sure Ruby knew where they had to go, and she told her where their orientation was going to be... Well, she thought she did... Yang went over everything from before the Bullhead landed... And paled when she realized she never told Ruby where she had to go.
She was more focused on meeting up with some of her friends and letting her sister possibly meet new people that she ended up forgetting to do the most important thing. (Shit, where is she?!) Yang kept her panic inside, settling for frantically scanning the room in search of Ruby.
When she didn't immediately find her she felt her panic start to rise... And then halt as she saw Ruby being led into the room. (Oh thank fuck.) Yang did not want to get lectured by her Dad if she managed to make Ruby miss the opening orientation. "Ru...-" Before she could finish saying anything she noticed who was leading Ruby in. (Isn't that...) Yang remembered Ruby telling her about and showing her a picture of the woman that she met yesterday, but seeing her was something else.
Woman was tall, like, make everyone feel short kind of tall, and looked like a model. Then there was the fact that she was built to make boys and girls hot under the collar. Her eyes, and probably the eyes of anyone else that noticed her entering, were locked on the woman's tits... And for once Yang felt a little self conscious. (They're bigger then mine.) She wanted to call bullshit, but she had to admit that the woman was sexier then she was. (She isn't hotter though.) Her lips twitched at that.
Comedy aside, lady was some guy or gals wet dream, and she was holding Ruby's hand. That alone made her throw off the other thoughts and just stare at her. (Does Ruby have a type?) Seeing her sister so docile would've normally made her be suspicious, but Yang could see the blush on her cheeks. (I mean, she's hot, but really?) Yang was pretty sure Ruby was asexual given how little attention she paid to boys or girls her age or older, which was fine in her opinion, but seeing that made Yang question if Ruby was more into taller older women. (More to her, but I'll n...-) Yang froze when she saw the woman look at her for a moment, then look back to Ruby.
She was too far away to hear what they said to each other, but she could see the redhead point to her, see Ruby perk up and meet her eyes, then start to head towards her. That was fine and normal, Ruby probably told her what Yang looked like so they could meet up, but it was the way she handled Ruby that had Yang pausing.
She felt like the way she stood, the look she gave her sister, and the way Ruby started reacting, changed. Ruby looked up at the woman like how she looked up to Dad or Yang when they were younger and she needed to raise Ruby. The way she pat Ruby's head and then nudged her in Yang's direction made something in her twitch. Unconsciously she noticed that both of their color schemes and rose themes made them look like family. Made them look closer then she and Ruby were.
And then Ruby burst into thousands of rose petals and materialized in front of her in the blink of an eye, wide Silver Eyes looking up at her and smiling in a way she hadn't seen since she was younger. "Yang! You won't believe what happened earlier! After you left I m...-" Ruby started talking, and Yang was actually listening to most of it, but even as she did her eyes never really left the redhead that Ruby came into the room with.
Something about her rubbed Yang the wrong way and Yang just didn't know why.
-Akiza's POV-
"~I always knew you would give me Grandchildren, I was just unaware that the first would come after going to another dimension.~" At any other time Akiza would've sputtered or choked at her Mother's words, but now was not one of those times.
Akiza was more focused on Ruby and how she was acting towards the girl. She wasn't stupid, she recognized how she was treating Ruby was similar to how she treated Luna, and to a lesser extent, Leo. She could also tell it was different due to how she was caring for the girl. She was older then the twins by a few years, but in some ways she was more innocent, fragile, then they were. They'd been forced to grow up quickly during the fight against the Signers and Earthbound Immortals, while it seemed that Ruby was... Coddled, in some ways.
It didn't help that Akiza could feel the girls' insecurity and self recrimination. She hadn't read her thoughts to find out why she felt that way, but she didn't exactly need too. Ruby was 15, going on 16 in a few months, and she was now at Beacon where the first years were usually 17-18 depending on birthdays. When she got in,because Akiza had no doubt she would, she'd need to study so much in order to be caught up with everyone else. (And that's not even counting how the rest of the students will take her enrollment.) Akiza hid a scowl at that, settling up onto the stage on the opposite side as Goodwitch.
She knew what it was like to have a shit school experience, she'd had two lives worth of those to pull on, and wasn't going to let the same thing happen to Ruby... Which made her thoughts circle back to her treatment of the Little Rose.
Akiza knew she was acting maternal to the girl, yet she wasn't entirely sure why. (Her color scheme might've been the first step towards that, but there's more to it.) And there really was. Akiza was practically steps away from claiming the girl as hers and slapping the Rhodonite name onto her. Thinking that led her to looking out towards the crowd, eyes landing on Ruby and her Sister. The little one was excitingly talking to her sister and gesturing wildly as she did. Seeing that made Akiza smile, causing an annoying spike of lust that she reflexively ignored. (She just brings it out of me.) Then she saw the white haired girl that caused the explosion, making her lips twitch downward.
She felt the amalgamation that was Ozpin appear besides her and looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Any reason for you to be glaring at Ms. Schnee?"
Akiza huffed. "She waved a vial of Dust in front of Ruby then acted surprised it blew up." He, as well as Goodwitch, raised a brow at her. They could easily tell she wanted to say more then that, so she decided to say more. "She also took her stress out on Ruby and I had to hold myself back from launching her through the building." Akiza didn't feel ashamed at admitting to that, she was becoming attached to Ruby quite quickly so they would easily see her bias towards the Little Rose, though she was a bit annoyed at the Schnee for her actions before and now.
"Harboring a grudge against children is not very professional Ms. Rhodonite." Akiza's brow twitched at Goodwitch's words. "Nor is favoritism." Another twitch. While part of her was pleased Goodwitch wasn't treating her as one of those children, she was still annoyed that the woman was taking shots at Ruby.
She slightly turned her head to look at her blonde colleague, the woman looking as if she hadn't said anything wrong at all. "Mhm, and attempting to guilt trip a child is such a show of character isn't it?" Goodwitch twitched and Akiza smiled. Yes, she would not be letting that go for a while.
"A Huntress in training of Ms. Rose's caliber is to be held to a higher standard then common children."
Akiza narrowed her eyes at that. "As an instructor of the best Huntsmen Academy in the world I would assume you would also hold yourself to higher standards." The fact Akiza didn't believe she hadn't acted to said standards went unsaid yet not unheard.
Goodwitch's brow twitched and a frown visibly formed on her face. Yet before she could respond the man of the hour cleared his throat, the chatter of a room filled with teenagers dying off as he started to speak. Outwardly Akiza paid attention to his words, yet inwardly she went back to her prior train of thought. "~I for one do not see the issue. The whelp calls to you as you did to the Witch, what is there to think about?~" As blunt as that was, Akiza couldn't find any fault in it.
"~As straightforward as the Madam is, she's not exactly wrong. Ruby is an adorable little girl and seeing you treat her as your own is just lovely.~" Marjoram truly was a gem. "~Aw, thank you Aki.~"
(~What's everyone else thinking about this?~) Akiza was kind of curious about what everyone else thought. She already knew her Mother's opinion, and sort of agreed with it considering how she treated the twins, but the others were bound to say something insightful.
"~A new Sister is nice! I'm way cuter then she is but I can just teach her to be cuter.~" Well, the others were bound to say something insightful. "~Wuh, I can be insightful!~"
Without missing a beat she responded. (~Spell insightful.~) Illiyana's silence was deafening. (~But honestly, you don't mind?~) As much shit she gave the young Spirit, Akiza did care for Illiyana. It was hard not too since she was sort of Akiza's innate Ka.
Illiyana had started off as part of Akiza, but after she Bonded with her Mother Illiyana began to form. It took months for her to turn from a mass of spiritual energy to a child, two full years to become a toddler, and four to become the pre teen form she was now. They were expecting her to reach her teenage phase in a few more years, but due to her Aura being Awakened that timetable became uncertain.
So yes, she was a brat but Akiza still loved her. "~W-Well, uhh...~" Akiza could practically see Illiyana fidgeting in her soul space, the younger Spirit obviously being privy to her short reminiscence. "~J-Just do what you want! I don't care!~" Akiza mentally snorted but decided to let it be for now.
She could delve into that later. "~Well, I think it's great! She looks nice and friendly... And...~" She quieted down a bit. "~Maybe she'll help us grow some flowers?~" Adorable Jasmine was adorable. "~Akizaaa!~"
"~Oh hush dear, you know you're cute.~" Jasmine went silent at that, but Akiza could tell she was blushing given Marjoram's sudden giggles.
"~Having an heir to the Throne of Roses sounds like a marvelous idea my dear.~" Might be counting her chickens before they hatched but Akiza was happy she agreed. Queen of Thorns tittered at that thought. "~I think you're both adorable my dear. You'll most certainly be a good influence on the child.~" And now Akiza was worrying about what the woman was cooking up for that. Her only answer was more tittering from the Queen.
That wasn't ominous. Not ominous at all.
Akiza waited a bit for any other opinions, yet she didn't get any. She mentally blinked, then did a quick check of her soul space... To find her Aunt and Amara not being there? (~Uhh, where's Aunty and Amara?~) She more felt then saw the other brats start looking around, the girls apparently not knowing their third member just wasn't there.
Thankfully someone knew where they went. "~The advisor left hours ago to learn what other changes happened to your Ba. Her little apprentice followed along a few minutes ago out of boredom.~" Akiza wanted to sigh so much at that. Amara was a good girl, she really was, but she was most certainty an airhead.
She could understand why her Aunt went off without a word, the woman was a researcher of all things magical and she'd just been handed a new phenomena to explore, it wasn't a surprise she went off to explore it. But Amara getting bored and running off after her Aunt because she could? (~I want to ground her. I want to ground her so much right now.~)
The adults in her Soul all sent over various agreements. Aunt Bloom could take care of herself, she was an adult and a powerful sorceress, no matter what her attack value said, but Amara was still a child. Exploring what new things happened to her Ba after having her Aura Awakened could be dangerous. "~They will be fine.~"
Akiza blinked. She wanted to question that, because her Mother said that with a casual confidence that spoke of Divination, but before she could she noticed Ozpin finishing his speech. (Dammit.) She turned her attention back to the now, listening and watching to the children around the room, and waited for him to be done. It was inconvenient to be sure, but she'd heard the opinions of everyone that was there, and sapient.
The Rose Dragons weren't on the levels of her family, more like her favorite guard dog, so she wasn't expecting any opinions about Ruby from them. She would be surprised if they had any, pleasantly so, but not expecting it.
As soon as Ozpin finished his speech she prepared to head out, but before she could she heard Goodwitch clear her throat. Akiza turned to her coworker, eyes narrowed as she looked at her. Goodwitch just looked back before looking towards Ozpin, who blinked before raising a brow at the blonde woman. The two shared a silent conversation before he seemed to finally figure out what she wanted. "This was supposed to be given to you after Initiation," The blonde didn't seem to care about the comment. "But I will be sending you a schedule soon. Any inquires about it can be brought up to me or Glynda." Said woman nodded, and Akiza was tempted to nod back.
Akiza and Goodwitch didn't exactly have a good relationship, but the woman apparently didn't let it get in the way of their impending partnership... Which was a good thing, and she could respect that... So she'd settle for the diplomatic option for now. "Alright. I'll let you know if anything new arises." She doubted anything would, but she would allow herself to be surprised. "If you need me just call me." When the two of them nodded she turned back and walked off.
She had things to think about and a Little Rose to go pamper later.
~An hour later~
"~Akizaaa, I'm baaaaaack!~" Thankfully she was seated or else she might've slipped. Akiza had been meditating for a while, working on her Aura and integrating it with her ever present tk field. It was easy to do since the Aura shielding was basically her tk shield, just using a different power source. It was consistently keeping it up that she was having issues with since she was just introduced to the aforementioned source this morning.
But now that Amara was back she'd might as well find out what happened. (~Welcome back Amara, how was your trip?~) As she thought that she got up, feeling a bit peckish after... A few hours of meditation if her Scroll was right. (~And where's Aunt Bloom?~) She hadn't felt her Aunt return to the soul space, and since the last one to see her was Amara then it was only logical she ask her.
She felt the little witch lightly tug at her Ba, her scarlet red Aura visibly rippling for a moment, before Amara appeared in front of her and immediately glomped her. Akiza didn't mind the sudden hug and happily began reaching out to pat her Spirit's head, eliciting some happy Amara noises from the girl as she did.
Spoiler: Reminder of her appearance
The little witch didn't respond immediately, choosing to take in the hug for a bit longer, before eventually moving her head back to look up at her...
Well, she would've looked at her had Akiza's breasts not been in the way. It didn't help that Amara was 1m tall on the dot. Compared to Akiza, who purposefully stood at the funny number, Amara was tiny.
Said girl just stared at her breasts for a moment, started doing the 'stare' sound, then poked her in the tit with a pout. "... Unfair. Akiza's body is unfair." In her Soul she could hear the brats making sounds of agreement while Marjoram and Queen of Thorns tittered like the amused Aunties they were. Mother went out to go grab Aunt Bloom a while ago, and she had no idea when she was coming back. Akiza could summon the both of them back if she wanted too but that was her family, they had freewill to do whatever they felt like.
Akiza herself just used her Psychic power to detatch the little airhead from her waist and smugly smiled at her, crossing her arms beneath her bust as she did. "You'll grow up one day Amara. One day." The little witch just pouted even more at that, making Akiza smile more.
After she was done poking fun of the girl she reminded her of her questions. As she started taking steps to leave she gestured for Amara to follow her. She didn't mind being seen with her Spirits, people could guess and ponder about their existence but she wouldn't tell just anyone about their origins. Maybe when it was close for the Crimson Dragon to take dominion over the world, or if she really trusted someone, but only then. "Anyway, the trip. You have fun?"
Amara, being the simple soul that she was, instantly dropped her envy over Akiza's body and smiled widely. "Yeah! There's a bunch of new stuff in your Soul that was really freaky or cool." Akiza didn't know what to say to that. That was her Soul, what was she supposed to say to that? "There are even connections to the main realms of the Plant and Spellcasters!" Akiza tripped while the Spirits within her erupted in a roar of noise.
She caught herself with a quick application of Psychic energy, flipping herself back to look at the beaming face of Amara. The little witch looking like she did not just drop a massive bomb on her. "Fucking what?!"
After getting that dropped on her Akiza needed to take a moment to just think because holy shit was that big. She passively listened to Amara tell her about what was going on after her Aura was awoken while she focused on thinking about what that could mean for her.
The Spirit World was massive, that was obvious considering how many denizens resided in it and how strong they could get. In order for it to not end up a clusterfuck it was separated into three layers. The first was a massive landmass that served as a Hub for everyone to meet up or do some trading.
The next was a layer for each Type like Plants and Beasts having a massive Forest as the main Plane, but depending on the direction someone went they could find a sub dimension for an Archetype like the Naturia or her Rose monsters.
Then there was a sub plane for specific types like the Fusion or Synchro monsters that could be connected to the previously mentioned layer.
There was also the bits where Boss type monsters could carve out a place for themselves wherever they felt like it if they were strong enough, but that was a whole other thing.
Not all monsters got sub dimensions since not every Archetype had a massive population or power ceiling, like those thieves that showed up in GX, but those were either drifters or they just stuck around in the general Plane. So a desert could be an area with drifters, small Archetypes/standalone monsters, or just Spirits that didn't want to be in the Hub or sub dimensions, while also leading to somewhere like the Gravekeepers realm. (Or Subterror. Those fuckers have holes everywhere.) Akiza buried the grimace that almost formed at the thought of those annoying bastards.
But yes, every Archetype had somewhere to go. Though they all had a tendency to drop by the main Plane or explore it for the chance to discover new sub dimensions or realms.
So to have a connection to a main Plain of the Spirit World, to have TWO of them, was basically the same as having full access to a two floor apartment building where each apartment led to a different world. (Oh shit.) Her eyes widened when she realized something. (I can speedrun a genocide.) Akiza could basically shave off hours/days of travel time and go kick Endymion's shit in! (FUCK YES!)
The various sighs she heard in her Soul went ignored as she started to pl...- "~There will be no genocides at this time my Scarlet Rose.~" She sat down and pouted as her Mother appeared right on time to derail her dreams of well deserved vengeance. "~Wait a year, they will be vulnerable from an attack by the Despians.~" Akiza blinked, and she swore she could feel the rest of her Spirits do the same.
She knew her Mother's Divination was powerful thanks to her being the first Ka she Bonded with years ago, but to call that? And the Despians?! (~Aren't they still at war with literally everyone from their interconnected Archetype?~) The Despia Archetype was kind of in a weird situation considering how extensive it was. They were connected to like four different Archetypes from the top of her head, one of them opposing literally everything they stood for, and wanted to fuck them ALL up. They were the scary mix of 'I want to watch the world burn and dance on the grave of my enemies as it does', and 'Why don't you join us, it'll be a grand time! No? Oh I'm sorry, you thought you had a choice.' And obviously people took offense to that and went to war.
Last she'd heard the Sword Soul's were taking over since the Virtuosos or whatever the Archetype was called had taken a nasty hit and almost lost the captain of the Fleur de Lis. That was all she knew because the sole reason she remembered was because the monster was called Fleur... Akiza paused. (How the hell did I get here?)
The answer to that question was simple. "-..d so I met this cute girl who was part plant and wanted me to go down this really big hole, but I said nuh uh cause I wanted to find Teacher Bloom, and she got sad and almost ate me, which is bad! B...-" Akiza wasn't even surprised that Amara was still talking. It was what she had just heard the girl say that had made her pause.
She blinked, a certain Archetype of Plant girls coming to mind. "You met a Traptrix?" Akiza had been looking for those girls for a while. It'd been years since her first pull and she had yet to get one of those girls. She'd gotten the hole traps, yet no Traptrix, much to her frustration. It didn't help that their physical cards didn't exist yet either.
Amara paused her storytelling, blinking for a few seconds before replying. "Is that what they're called? I never asked before the girl tried to get her pretty plant thing to eat me." Akiza facepalmed.
She'd get someone to find those girls later. For now she wanted a distraction from... Whatever this was.
-Ruby's POV-
Ruby was practically vibrating in place, fighting herself against going to the forge. She was a little hungry yeah, but there was a forge right there! She liked that they offered the use of their forge for any last minute maintenance, and even though her baby didn't need it she was still tempted to give her some. (It won't take long, I can spare a half hour to give her blade a good sharpen.) But then her stomach rumbled like an angry Ursa and Ruby wanted the earth beneath her feet to open up and swallow her.
"Hmm? Sounding a little hungry there Rubes.~" Because of that. Yang hadn't left her side after the opening speech, and had even started asking her questions about Akiza after the woman stood on the stage with Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch. Ruby hadn't even known she was part of Beacon, the whole tense stare off Akiza and Ms. Goodwitch had in the interrogation room didn't exactly make that clear, so she couldn't really answer most of Yang's questions.
She may have also deflected a few about how Akiza treated her, because there was no way she was going to tell Yang about another woman mothering babying her! Though she noticed how her Sister started acting weird about Akiza whenever she deflected or answered what she did know... (Meh, probably nothing.) Yang and Akiza were good people, they'd probably get along fine!
Her stomach rumbled again, breaking her out of her thoughts and making her Sister grin at her. "Yeesh, looks like we gotta feed the beast before we end up...-" She paused. "Wait, where's the cafeteria again?" Ruby just stared at her sister. Why would Ruby know that? She was too busy answering questions and looking at the forge area to notice that.
Thankfully they were saved by a familiar, to Ruby at least, voice. "The cafeteria is a few minutes away."
They both spun to the source of the voice, Yang obviously surprised, while Ruby was already smiling. "Akiza!" Ruby quickly jumped towards Akiza, even though she still didn't know what the fuzzy feeling she had towards the older woman was, she did know that she liked having the redhead around. "You know where the lunch room is? And you're part of Beacon's staff? When did that happen? Were you always staff?" Ruby stopped, embarrassed by her sudden burst of questions to her... Friend? Acquaintance? (Are we friends?) Ruby suddenly didn't know.
Before she could think about it too much a hand gently landed on her head, patting her like a child. Her cheeks burned at that, especially at the little chuckle she heard from the woman, and she looked away. "One at a time Little Rose." Ruby heard Yang snicker and wanted the world to swallow her up again. "Yes. Yes. Don't worry your pretty little head about that. Repeat last answer." Akiza took her hand away and Ruby had to stop herself from whining at the loss of contact pouting. From the corner of her eye she saw the redhead look over to Yang. "You must be her Sister Yang. I've heard about you." Ruby blinked, she did?
Ruby looked over to Yang and saw her smile widen into that cocky smile she always had... Though there was something about it that looked... Off. "Yup, name's Yang Xiao-Long, Big Sister to the pipsqueak here." Ruby groaned at that, she was petite not a pipsqueak! "And Ruby told you all good things right?" Yang looked to her at that, but Ruby didn't remember telling Akiza about Yang.
The smile on Akiza's face grew just a bit, and Ruby swore she felt a bad feeling coming from it. "Mhm. Glynda was quite annoyed to hear about a prospective student getting away with nearly destroying a club." Yang flinched, her smile twitching, while Ruby just sighed. Akiza was staff, of course she knew about that. "I don't really mind, but expect someone to talk to you about the damages and fines you've incurred." Well... Yikes.
Ruby didn't really know what else to say to that, but for once her stomach rumbling was a good thing. "Akizaaa, where's the food?" She was a little embarrassed acting like that, but it worked.
Akiza happily led them to the lunch room, the three of them talking about random stuff as they did. They even shared a table and kept talking, which got Yang and Akiza to talk some more and... Come to a truce?
Ruby had no idea what they were coming to terms with, or why, but she just mentally shrugged and went back to eating. Yang and Akiza were weird, that was fine.
Though Akiza sneakily giving her some snacks when Yang wasn't looking made Ruby beam at the older woman. She didn't notice the way Yang frowned at Akiza whenever she did catch her giving Ruby snacks.
After they were done eating they stayed together for a bit, talking to each other and just getting to know each other better. They even found out what Akiza's job was! Assistant Professor for Combat class, which made Yang smirk for some reason. Ruby didn't get why, but she was looking forward to seeing how Akiza fought, as well as what weapon she used.
Whenever Ruby tried to learn what that was the older woman just smiled and deflected or pat her head.
They talked for a while, but it eventually had to end. When it was time for them to sleep so they could be prepared for Initiation they split up, Akiza going to the room she had on campus, which she told Ruby and Yang about, while she and Yang went to where the other potential students were. Ruby was a little nervous about tomorrow, as well as feeling a little down because none of her friends from Signal would be with her, but Yang and Akiza were around and that helped.
(Hopefully I get a good Partner and Team tomorrow.) That was her last thought before going to sleep.
~The next day~
The first person she locked eyes with was the white haired Schnee. (Oh dangit.)Last