I'm not dead, even though some of you might think that. Sorry for the delay, life caught up on me and I had 4 papers to write. In fact, I'm not even done with all my work. I just wrote this to procrastinate! Anyways, I'll stop griping and let y'all read the story!

Chapter 3: The Girl In Red

"Name's Ruby, Ruby Rose. Pilot-in-Training and daughter of Specialist Summer Rose Pilot, First Class." Ruby stuck out a friendly hand. The other girl, who Ruby recognized as the one she had run into the locker room, tentatively took it. Ruby shook it vigorously, not failing to notice the other girl's high-end leather gloves. "Nice gloves," she blurted out, "Where'd you get them?"

Weiss looked taken aback, confused by the random question. "Well, I bou-,"

She was cut off abruptly as the girl in- Ruby cried out an apology and fell on her knees begging for forgiveness. Weiss stared at the curious girl at her feet. Was this really the ice-cold killer that destroyed her entire team. It seemed unlikely, maybe Nora had made a mistake when she checked the leader boards. With an indignant 'humph', Weiss turned on her heel and stomped off.

Ruby looked up from where she was kneeling to see the white clothed girl walk off to the academy. With a shrug, she got back up and grabbed her helmet. That girl was kinda rude, like she was in the showers…I wonder what her problem is. She's be pretty if she wasn't yelling at everyone all the time.

"Hey, Ruby!" She was shaken out of her thoughts by a loud shout. Ruby grinned as she recognized the voice before someone slammed into her shoulder. Blonde hair filled her face as Yang Xiao Long fell over her 'little baby sister' and Ruby ate the dirt for the second time today.

"Yaaaaang!" The younger girl whined as she struggled to her feet. Her older sister flopped to the side and giggled. "Why do you always tackle me like that? You're embarrassing me!" A pout rose to Ruby's lips as she confronted her sister. The blonde let out a small 'ack' and averted her eyes.

"Ruby, don't pout at me," she said in a pained voice as she tried to resist the younger girl. "Can't…give…in…" Lavender eyes peeked through the blonde's hands as her will slowly faded. Soon, Ruby was rewarded as her sister's determination crumbled. "Sorry Rubes," Yang apologized, "It won't happen again."

Yang started walking away and motioned for Ruby to follow. Ruby paused to slip her helmet back on before following her sister.

"So Ruby, how was your first day?" Yang broke the silence as the pair entered the large training building. "It was okay," Ruby perked up as she recalled yesterday's events, "Oh yeah! So yesterday we did stuff with SimPods! It was soooo cool. I don't think everyone really uses their jump kits very well. Most of the people I saw stayed on the ground or used the boosts to get into windows. But I was zipping around everywhere like 'blammo bang bang' and everyone was like 'aagh bleh I'm dead'. It. Was. So. AWESOME!"

Yang laughed and tuned it out, occasionally asking other questions to keep Ruby chattering about her day. She half heard about how Ruby got Crescent Rose, her custom rifle, inspected and cleared by the quartermaster.

"Even better, he suggested improvements to her that would increase the fire rate. It won't cost me a single credit! Everything here is prepaid! Even the cookies!"

"I already know that Rubes, this is my second year here. Speaking of free things, have you made any friends yet?" She knew the red pilot had problems with making friends, her unusual obsession for weapons and tech put a lot of people off. Yang was especially sensitive to Ruby's social problems because the brawler had so few problems in her own.

"Ehh, I met a few people," Ruby looked down to her feet, "There was this white haired girl, she was real mean, but I did meet Pyrrha and some guy who was with her. I think his name was Jaune. I think it was funny that she had him as a bodyguard." Never grow up, Yang thought as Ruby immediately launched into her tale of how she met the famous athlete.

"And then she said-" Ruby was cut off.

"Wait, what do you mean it was funny Pyrrha had a bodyguard?" Yang demanded. That detail was odd.

"Oh, the Jaune-guy was following her around in full armor," Ruby pointed out. That wasn't unusual. "Why do you think he was a bodyguard?"

"Well, he was just a grunt," Ruby said nonchalantly. Yang's mind raced as she put the pieces together. "Why Pyrrha need a grunt as a bodyguard, unless he was her mysterious boyfriend!"

Ruby just looked puzzled. "Well whatever Yang, I have Combat Theory with Oobleck in a few minutes, so I gotta go." Ruby dashed off, trying to separate herself from the queen of gossip that was her sister.

Yang watched Ruby dash away and began making her way to her own class. "Never change," she smiled to herself, "Ooh right, I can't wait to tell Nora and Blake about Pyrrha's mystery man."

Weiss made her way through the white and grey hallway hurriedly, staring every other trainee in the eye as she passed by them. Never fail to put forth a strong persona, her sister's words rang in her head. Of course, her sister was always better at things like that. She was the perfect daughter her father had always wanted. Top of her class at her officer school, picked up pilot training in less than a month and already a Asymmetrical Warfare Specialist for Hammond Industries. With all that accomplished, what can I even try to achieve? Weiss felt sick to her stomach. Everybody was disappointed by her, even herself.

Somebody bumped into Weiss, knocking her out of her reverie. She looked up at the offending body and glared before realizing who had cornered her against the wall. "Hey Ice Queen, I heard some new girl wiped your team against the floor yesterday," a mocking voice was followed up by derisive laughs. "She isn't so perfect anymore, is she?" A girl spoke up this time, taunting Weiss.

Don't show weakness, even if you are overwhelmed in every direction. An opponent will take any chance to tear you down.

Weiss sighed and put on a fake smile for her audience. "Why, yes Mercury, I did lose in a match to a new girl. I assumed that a new opponent would be as bad as your team. Unfortunately, she proved to actually be skilled." The snipe was a better shot than what Weiss normally had in combat.

The green haired girl, Emerald, laughed at the boy, who flushed and crossed his arms in contempt. "Well, I don't want to keep you two waiting around, so I'll go," Weiss shouldered between the two and continued on her way down the hallway.

"We'll see who's really better in the Sims today Schnee," Mercury yelled across the hallway. Weiss ignored him and pushed on with her day.

/

Authors Note: Well? What'd you think. Y'all'd'nt've believed how much work I should have been doing instead of writing this.

I know Yang is a little OOC and Weiss is super angsty, but that'll change soon. They just had to establish character. And yes, Emerald and Mercury are bullies and that is SUPER cliché. Like really. Not a single AU where the setting is different do they fail to be schoolyard bullies. But I needed someone to be annoying to Weiss.

Extranote: I have other, non-RWBY writing experiements and was wondering if anybody wanted to read them? Just PM me for info, or if y'all want I can post it as a side project!

As always, favorite, follow, and review, s'il vous plait!