Alright! I'm finally back! Hope you all enjoy chapter 2 of The Beacon Corps! ^_^

The trainees all remained lined up in their orderly stances, having mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety about the things yet to come. Ozpin took a step forward and into the crowd, "When I call upon you, I want you to say your name and the district your from, as well as why you wanted to be soldier." He started walking over to a tall, blond teenage boy. "Young man, who are you?"

"Jaune Arc, sir!" The young man saluted. "I come from the Vale District, and I wanted to join the military because my father and grandfather before me were soldiers as well, sir!"

"So, you want to live up to their legacy is what you are saying?"

"Yes, sir! As a member of the Arc bloodline, it is my duty to aid Humanity in their fight to survive!"

"I see. You have a strong resolve, Arc, I'm sure your ancestors would be proud." Ozpin then walked over to another young male, a little more taller than Jaune, and with burnt orange hair. "And you, young man?"

He saluted, "Cardin Winchester, sir! I too come from the Vale District."

"And why did you want to join the military?"

"To show the Faunus who's boss..." Cardin smirked, inciting a few laughs from a few of the other trainees, while a few select others took his remark personally.

Ozpin glared. "Hmmm, I don't quite see how that is a motivation. If you're serious about joining the military, realize that you have a duty to both mankind and Faunus-kind. I hope you understand that." The orange haired boy rolled his eyes and groaned, while a certain black-haired girl overheard their conversation, suddenly turning her attention to the silver-haired man.

"Speaking of which..." Ozpin continued, as he walked over to another boy, but this boy had quite a noticeable tail sticking out from behind. "Your name, young man?"

"Sun Wukong, sir!" The monkey-tailed boy saluted "I come from the Vacuo District!"

"I see you are a Faunus. Were you, let's say, offended by Mr. Winchester's remarks?"

"No sir!" Sun paused for a short moment. "A little, but, anyway, that's part of the reason why I wanted to join the military! I don't want others' opinions to decide how I should live my life or put me down. I want to be able to follow my own path, forge my own destiny. Let me be the master of my own fate!"

Ozpin smiled, "I admire your self-confidence, but don't forget the importance of teamwork and friendship as well. I'm sure you'll have plenty of comrades here that you'll learn to trust in time." He then walked to another trainee, this time, a girl who had distinguishing rabbit ears, "As for you, miss uh..."

"V-Velvet Scarlatina! S-Sir!" The bunny-eared girl nervously responded as she made her salute. "I-I come from Menagerie Village! I wanted to join because... well, I-I felt this need to help the people that are too scared to fend themselves from the Titans, a-and I want to be s-someone who was strong for them!"

"Another good reason." Ozpin replied. "Don't be afraid, you haven't even faced the most frightening of things yet." At that, Velvet was starting to get a little more nervous, but Ozpin eased her. "You'll be fine, I assure you, I won't let any of you die." With that, Velvet started to calm down a little more.

Ozpin then saw red-haired girl with fierce green eyes, "You look like a strong young woman. Your name?"

"Pyrrha Nikos, sir!" she exclaimed while saluting, "I hail from the Mistral District! I joined the military because it is a duty I swore upon myself to dedicate my life to the protection of humanity!"

"Very good, I believe you'll be an outstanding member of our squad." Ozpin replied.

After walking around, he then noticed the young, dark red haired girl with silver eyes. Immediately, Ozpin was awe-stricken.

Could this be? That girl? The one whom Summer always used to talk about?

Piquing his curiosity, Ozpin walked over to where she was standing. "Young lady, who might you be?"

"Ruby Rose, sir!" The young girl saluted. "I come from Patch Village! I want to join because I want to help people and fight for what is right! Moreover, I wish to explore what is outside the Walls!"

Ozpin, although he listened, decided to make an aloof comment, "You have… silver eyes..."

"Hmm?"

"It's nothing to worry about at the moment. But I've heard quite a few things about you, Ruby."

"Huh? How do you know about me?"

"Well, one thing is that your uncle Qrow and I go a long ways back. The other thing…" at that moment, Ozpin wasn't sure whether or not to mention Summer's name to her, because he might end up upsetting her. "Well, you'll find out another time. I wish I could tell you now, but you're not quite ready to know just yet. Other than that, I see you have quite the amazing potential. You don't know it yet, but it's there."

Ruby was a little disappointed, as she was curious if he knew her mother, but at the same time happy that she is recognized as a capable warrior.

Ozpin then continued his walk among the trainees as they introduce themselves to him

After introductions were done, Ozpin decided to continue on with what he had planned.

"All right, thank you all for taking the time to introduce yourselves to me. I can see there are a lot of you among us that are capable candidates for joining the Beacon Corps. For you are the light of hope - the beacon - for humanity as we face the impending darkness. I'll be discussing with my colleagues on who will be assigned with who. But for now, get some rest. For your training tomorrow and over the course of this next week will require all your physical stamina, as well as your mental stamina, which will allow you to push beyond your limits and increase your peak ability. Thank you all, and good evening."

With that, Ozpin leaves and the trainees head over to the mess hall for dinner.

The sounds of chatter filled the air in the mess hall, as everyone was sharing stories and enjoying their food.

"Well, he seemed… nice." Yang said as she was eating a loaf of bread. "Although sometimes you wonder if he's ever listening to you at all. I can't tell either if he's disinterested or if does listen, but doesn't show it. Oh man, now I'm kinda afraid of him if he could be listening to us right now! But I doubt he'd be the kind of person to do that. What do you say, Rubes?"

Ruby wasn't listening to her talkative older sis, and instead was fiddling her food with her fork. Her face was frowning.

"Uh, Ruby? You okay?" Yang asked, catching Ruby's attention. "Huh? Oh yeah, I'm okay..."

"What's wrong?"

"Hm? Oh nothing. Just nothing..."

As the surrounding abuzz of the other trainees started to mute out slowly, Ruby couldn't help but think to herself...

Mom…. what happened to you?

Alright, I think I'm gonna end the chapter here. Sorry it took longer for this one to get out! And sorry if this chapter seems a bit half-assed or out of place. I just got done with finals this past week, and my brain is WRACKED. I'm so tired now… As soon as I get all my ideas together again, I'll get to work on the next chapter.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed it! Read and review, criticism is welcome, don't forget to follow and fave for more! I greatly appreciate your support! See ya next time! ^_^