The group finally made their way to team RWBY dorm room. Weiss held a breath before opening the door, knowing that her mother especially probably wouldn't approve of the bedding. Alas, it was too late to change anything, so she opened the door wide and made a gesture to her mother and sister to enter. There was an audible gasp not even a second later and Weiss cringed a little, fearing what would inevitably follow.

"What in the name of dust is this, Weiss?" Her mother's finger was pointed at the precariously tied Ruby's bed, of course. Not like Yang's book-supported bunk is any better, she reminded herself. Winter, on the other hand, was more than mildly intrigued. As it appeared, she was actually admiring the bed that was suspended by rope.

"Umm…", Weiss started. "The room felt cramped, so we improvised."

"And you improvised by creating two death traps?"

"Mother, I actually think it's ingenious. They are huntresses-in-training and they need to learn to live dangerously."

Weiss thought about her sister's words. I have never thought of it this way. She actually has a point. Clearly, her mother did not share the sentiment.

"Winter, a hunter is less in danger while sleeping than when in action. Sleeping on death traps is not fighting Grimm." She then turned to Weiss. "So, dear daughter, would you care to tell me which one is your bed?"

Weiss swallowed. "The… The one under the roped one."

Her mother's face tensed. "Well, I guess it is better than sleeping under the one that is supported by books. And who, if I may ask, sleeps on the bed above yours?"

Before Weiss could answer, she heard the excitable team leader answer. "Umm… I do, Miss… Mrs Schnee," she corrected herself after receiving a jab from Yang. Weiss' mother looked at her with suspicious eyes, measuring the girl from head to toe. Weiss felt uncomfortable at the sight, but Ruby seemed even more nervous, her knees wobbling again, as if she was cold or something.

"Your name was Ruby, am I correct?", the matriarch demanded, her tone icy. Ruby nodded. "Weiss tells me you're her partner and also two years younger." Ruby nodded again. "And Miss Belladonna told me your weapon is something different." Ruby's eyes flared and Weiss got scared a little, as she knew what was coming next. "Would you mind elaborating on that ?"

Ruby lit up like a lightbulb and jumped to the centre of the room, taking Crescent Rose from her belt. She held the folded weapon to show it to the two Schnee newcomers. Mrs Schnee looked at it, not understanding what was going on. "This is your weapon? It doesn't look like much."

Ruby took a breath, not believing what she heard. "It's Crescent Rose. A scythe," she said with slightly offended voice and unfolded it. Mrs Schnee jumped backwards at the loud sound of unfolding weapon while Winter remained in place and Weiss noticed her sister was slightly in awe of the spectacle.

The weapon unfolded and when the clicking stopped, it was taller than Ruby. Then the word avalanche let loose from Ruby's lips.

"It was designed by myself and custom made especially for me. It's a high-impact sniper scythe, with a blade at least as sharp and hard as titanium…"

Weiss drowned the babbling as she was used to it from earlier times Ruby started losing her composure while talking about her weapon, and fixed her gaze on her mother and Winter. Mrs Schnee looked quite interested in the weapon and listened intently, which was surprising for the heiress, as she never before saw her mother listening to someone as below her as Ruby.

But Weiss was more surprised at Winter's reaction. The younger sister looked at the weapon and sizing it up from the top to bottom and then up again, all while listening to Ruby's babble.

"... And it has an in-built twenty-millimetre bolt action rifle, and it doesn't even need to be extended to use it, like so," Ruby pressed a button and the oversized scythe swirled around, folded a little, then unfolding again until it resembled a shotgun, "and it can then be used as a more compact and convenient sniper rifle. It shoots with extreme precision as the barrel was meticulously crafted from the best material with the intention of minimizing the damage and loss of direction while the bullet is coming out of the barrel. I can also angle the scythe itself into a more reflexive position so slashing becomes more effective. I've not used it much, though, just once or twice in an encounter with some beowolves in a snowy forest..."

Ruby was done with the presentation, so she folded the weapon back into the non-lethal version and buckled it back on her belt. "And my uncle Qrow taught me how to use it. He's the best scythe wielder in Remnant. For now."

Weiss looked with interest at her mother, waiting for what she'd have to say.

Mrs Schnee gave the red-clad girl another surveying look before slowly speaking up. "Well, then. It might appear I underestimated your team, Weiss. The girls do seem like they know what they're doing. I'm sure it must be a great feeling leading this team."

"Yes!" was the immediate answer, though obviously not from the person Mrs Schnee expected. She looked at Weiss in surprise, and she could do nothing but try to disappear while looking at the floor. Mrs Schnee then looked back at Ruby, then back at Weiss.

"Weiss. Who is your team's leader?" The icy tone in Mrs Schnee's voice made even Yang uneasy, who was just stroking her hair.

Weiss pointed her finger at Ruby. "She is," she breathed out. "Team RWBY is led by Ruby Rose. I'm only her partner."

Mrs Schnee's face cleared. "Oh, well. I guess there must be a reason she was accepted here two years before her time. I would appreciate if you told me this sooner, though, Weiss."

Every person in the room save for Winter and Mrs Schnee let out a sigh of relief at those words. Weiss did lose herself in the thoughts for a moment later, though.

You never gave me a chance to tell you. "I… Apologize, Mother. I will be swifter to bring you up to date with everything that happens."

"As for you, Miss Rose," Mrs Schnee turned back to the youngest huntress, "I must say I underestimated you back at the landing platform. You definitely are more than meets the eye. I expect great things from you."

Ruby sparkled with pride at the woman's kind words.

"Well, I'm off to check in at our hotel. Winter, do you want to stay here or come with me?"

Winter seemed to think for a moment. "What were you planning to do?"

"W-Well, it's late af-afternoon," Ruby started with a stutter that nobody expected, "so I don't t-think we were going t-to do much other t-than some homework and then g-get ready for b-bed."

Blake chimed in. "You could join us tomorrow, though. We were planning on training after classes."

"I must say I expected the leader to tell me your plans, but eh. I guess that'll do. Goodbye then!"

With those words, she turned away and started walking towards the door. Blake noticed Ruby started shaking again, and when she saw where on the younger Schnee sister's body Ruby was looking, she couldn't help but smile a little at Ruby's adorableness. But the smile was quickly replaced with anger when she noticed a small huff from Winter as she left the room.

Blake held back the rage that the sassy girl evoked for long enough that she was sure nobody but her team would hear her.

"Weiss, I didn't think it was possible, but your sister is even colder than you."

Ruby lay in her bed, thinking about the rollercoaster of a day she'd just had. She woke up, went about her normal routine, did some light studying with Weiss in the library, then went to find Yang and Blake. The four then saw the Schnee's bullhead, changed into their better clothes and went out to meet the mother and sister of Weiss.

And that's where Ruby's crisis began.

Her jaw dropped when she first saw Winter. Her hair was perfect, her face was beautiful, her dress was immaculate and just how sassy she was! Ruby physically shook and her knees wobbled when she spoke. There was no way in hell that she'd be able to keep up a coherent conversation with the goddess of a girl if she was the trembling, near-wreck she was at the moment.

Hell, even Weiss' mother was easier to talk to, but in fairness she had gotten plenty of praise from the woman so far and not much else.

Her mind was just a jumble at this point. She really really, nearly even like-liked Weiss. But then, she was utterly infatuated by Winter, too. What attention she received from the girl made her feel so special, in a way she'd never felt before.

Ruby had to keep her focus though, she couldn't get distracted - they all still had to train for the tournament, anyway. And that's what tomorrow was about, anyway. She would be training with the others to get better, and hopefully impress the Schnees and show them that she was definitely the leader Weiss, Blake and Yang deserved.

Would she get Winter to notice her, though? Gosh. This was turning into one of those ridiculous animated shows that Blake often watched. She never admitted it though, but was quite passionate when she argued about it. They always had big eyes, and silly relationships… which Blake was keen on arguing about… ah, she didn't know. Yang usually poked fun at Blake for watching these shows.

Back to the point… Ruby was pretty much between a rock and a hard place.

The next day eventually rolled around, and Ruby seemed to be the third person to get up. Weiss and Blake were already fully awake, showered and dressed, and seemed to catch her just as she stumbled out of bed.

"We're going down to the food court now to get some breakfast. Anything you want?" Weiss asked Ruby with a surprisingly gentle tone. She couldn't decipher if she was speaking softly because she cared about her, or because Weiss didn't want to wake up Yang. The latter would be hard, though, because Yang was an amazingly heavy sleeper. It took nothing short of a bucket of ice cold water to wake her up from her ursa-style hibernation.

"I, uh, I'd like strawberry pancakes if they have any. Yang would want a big bowl of cereal or something like that. I don't know - she'd be fine with anything, just as long as she doesn't go hungry."

Weiss nodded and then said, "Okay then - come on Blake, lets go."

After saying their rather quick goodbyes, Ruby then got up and went to go and have a shower before her older sister did. Otherwise, she'd be sat there all day. Today was an important day, and she'd have to take extra care in making herself look good, if she wanted to appeal to the Schnees, especially a certain twin-ponytailed beauty.

Her hair seemed to be fine, almost as good as it was yesterday. Her clothes were her other best pair of combat skirt, corset and combat boot combination. With the cloak at her shoulders and a confident smirk on her face, she was just about to step outside as she remembered something, courtesy of a loud snore.

Oh yeah. Yang.

She left a message to Yang on her scroll, saying that the rest of the team had gone to breakfast. She tightened her cloak, and stepped outside and began the small trek to the food court.

It didn't take long, and soon she found herself inside the building and sat at her team's usual table. Weiss was eating a salad of some sort, because she disliked the more savoury products that the school had to offer. Blake was indulging in a light tuna sandwich, which was rather typical of the girl. Ruby sat down at her place next to Weiss where pancakes topped with strawberries were already waiting for her.

"Thanks, Weiss," said Ruby as she tucked into the breakfast that the girl in white had gotten for her. Weiss obviously wasn't that pleased that the younger girl chose to eat such a sweet breakfast, even if strawberries were her favourite food. She had too much sweet food every day, and that wasn't even counting the cookies she'd often sneak into class during the week.

"So," Blake said, "You just left Yang on snooze?"

Ruby, with a mouth full of strawberry pancake, said "Nugh-ugh.. *gulp*, Ah, I left her a message on her scroll, for whenever she wakes up."

"It's nine o clock already, Ruby, we need Yang to get up. Especially with my family around, we can't have her leave a bad impression by just sleeping there all day!"

Oh. Right.

"Well Weiss… I uh, didn't wake her up… Because I didn't want her to be cranky? I'm sorry!"

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed - something she'd become accustomed to doing having spent so much time with Ruby - and let out a long sigh. "Look, Ruby, it's fine… We'll go and wake her up later."

And by we, I mean someone who will dodge her punch with no effort whatsoever, Weiss thought. But she didn't say anything and indulged in her salad.

It didn't take them too long to finish their meal, so they didn't lose too much time. Before they got in their room, Weiss turned to her team.

"Look girls, I know waking Yang is not… The most pleasing task, but I need one of you to wake her up. I don't think I'm agile enough to dodge that powerful punch of hers. You two definitely have more experience with it than me."

Ruby and Blake looked at each other and quickly nodded. Then the door to their room opened and there was Yang, already awake. Dodged that bullet, the two dark haired girls thought.

"Heya, guys! Why didn't you wake me?"

"You looked so peaceful and I'd feel bad about it," Ruby quickly replied. Yeah, right, Weiss thought. As gracious as a whale probably.

"Ha, sis, sure. I know for a fact I look as peaceful as an enraged rhino when I sleep." You got that one right.

Blake's monotone cut in. "None of them wanted to take the punch when they woke you."

Yang laughed and said "Pfft! Don't be silly, when have I ever punched you when I've only just woken up?" Ruby proceeded to put her hands on her hips and pout. Oh my gosh. That's even more adorable than when she was squeaking.

"Like, you know, all the time when we were kids?"

"Ruby, you have no evidence."

"I have the scars to prove it."

"Jeez sis," Yang said, "that was one time. It wasn't my fault I slept with Ember Celica on. I was an excited little girl!"

"Yeah, and I was a crying little girl when you punched me. I was in A&E for the whole week."

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy those days off-"

"NOW I'M SURE THAT THIS IS A VERY LOVELY TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE," Weiss shouted, grabbing both of the arguing girls' attention, "but we do need to meet Winter and my mother. They said they wanted to see us training, did they not?"

"Oh yeah." Well, Ruby now felt rather silly. "So have we all had breakfast and freshened up?"

Yang responded, saying "Yeah, I had a shower earlier when you all left me. I was so broken up over it, I was crying my eyes out!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, not particularly caring for the blonde's well over-exaggerated story of despair, which more than likely didn't even happen. "Next time, if you want breakfast, you should wake up earlier."

"Nuh-uh, you should have woken me up earlier."

Weiss sent an ice cold glare towards Yang. "We are not having this argument again. Drop it."

After having successfully shut Yang up, the team headed down towards the locker rooms where their weapons were stored on the weekends. They could still be accessed, of course, in case any teams wanted to get some extra practice in, but for safety in and around the site, they had to be kept under lock and key so nobody was accidently maimed or shot. Surprisingly, very few people were in the locker room - it was often filled with a team or two getting ready to spar in one of the available rooms, but today it was deserted. They could even hear their own voices echoing.

"It's awfully quiet today," Blake said, breaking the silence. That wasn't something she did often.

"I guess everyone has gone to meet their families who are coming to watch for the tournaments? Like, Weiss' family came one day early," Ruby explained to her. There were very few students in the food court this morning too, and the air docks were especially busy. It didn't take much to put two and two together.

Weiss reached into her locker after unlocking it, and took out Myrtenaster. She examined the rapier up and down. It was a fine sword, with absolutely perfect weight balance and distribution, and it shone like a star in the night sky. The revolver mechanism for the dust seemed to be in perfect working order, and all the parts interlocked perfectly. She loaded in some of the dust cartridges from her bag, and made sure the barrel was working fine before giving it a final spin and locking the sword back into place. A practice swing or two later, she was ready to go.

Unlike a certain redhead.

Ruby was exceptionally nervous, and that was an understatement. Winter and Mrs Schnee had been impressed by her weapon yesterday, but what if she screwed up in the match and the two went back to thinking she was just a little girl? Winter wouldn't ever like her again, and she would probably just break down there and then if that did happen. The twin ponytails going past her waist, that sassiness… She couldn't bear the thought of it disappearing forever.

"Ruby? You getting your scythe, or, uh, what?" Yang's voice made Ruby jump slightly.

"Aha!" She rubbed the back of her head. "I was, er, just making sure that all of my maintenance stuff for Crescent Rose was in order. You know, spanners are all totally different, and it's a pain when you get 'em mixed up.. Eheh…"

Yang stretched, popping her back, and said, "Well, you should probably hurry up. We don't want to keep the ice queen waiting. I think Blake has already gone."

Right. Ruby picked up the folded Crescent Rose, and eyed it up and down. Partially unfolding it to the sniper rifle form, she gave it a quick once over with the polish to make sure it really shined. That'd catch her eye. Then, she fully unfolded it, made sure every segment of the blade was screwed in as tight as possible, cleaned the barrel and then finally folded it back up, and attached it to her back, ready to go.

"You're finally done? You take forever with that thing," Yang said, simply putting Ember Celica on her wrists, unfolding them and cocking the shotguns to make sure that they were ready. Ruby doubted she even bothered to put extra ammo in it, or even take the ammo out overnight.

Ammo which Ruby very nearly forgot, and only just remembered to run back and go and get from her locker as she was mocking Yang in her head. Whoops.

The sisters walked outside and met Weiss and Blake, one of whom was not particularly happy about the late arrivals, and set off to the docks to see if Weiss' mother and Winter had returned from their night at the hotel yet. Blake was also checking her weapon over as they walked, which was a smart idea as the many forms of the weapon made for a fairly lengthy check-up session. Of course, not as long a session as Crescent Rose's, but Ruby kept her scythe in perfect condition, so there was not much need to give it a detailed examination every time she picked it up.

"So," Yang began, "who will be fighting who?"

"Well. I thought I would have a bout with Ruby, as you two already fought yesterday, and could use the rest and motivation," Weiss replied.

"It'll also be a good opportunity for Ruby to show that she's a competent leader to your mother and sister," Blake added, omitting the 'and show off to Winter, trying to win her over' part. Though she did put a subtle emphasis on 'your sister'. What a mess she's in. Her mind must be a mess. Hopefully she won't stress over this too much.

The team seemed happy with this setup, and so picked up the pace to get to their destination more quickly. As they walked along the path, many students were walking past them with their own family visiting.

"I thought my pretty girls would await my arrival at the docks. I was hurt when I saw that wasn't the case."

Ruby and Yang turned around faster than you could say "training" at the sound of those words. There stood a man, about as tall as Yang or slightly taller, with greying blonde hair, dressed in a simple brown suit, wearing a plain yellow shirt underneath. On his face there was a neatly kept goatee. His brown eyes were happy, but tired with worry. His smile didn't show any of that worry, though.

"Daddy!", Ruby yelled on top of her lungs before jumping straight into this man's embrace. Yang followed not far behind, running into the man's open arms as Ruby clung to his neck. Weiss watched the happy family and a small tear pooled in the corner of her eye. If only my father was like this…

The trio eased off their embrace and the barrage of questions hit the man.

"How did you get here? When? Did anything bad happen to you?" Those were just a few of the questions. The man just lifted his hand and the girls stopped as if they were frozen. So much respect. They are better raised than I thought.

"Girls, girls, one question at a time. For the first one: I came here with my rowboat."

"You rowed all the way from Patch? Why?" Ruby's voice was full of concern.

"Well, what is a retired Hunter to do? I can't let these babies," he said, lifting his muscular arms, "go to waste. I can't hunt Grimm and if I went cutting trees or whatever, there would be no more trees on Patch when you two got home for vacation," he continued with a wide smile. A smile that, Weiss noticed, was practically the same as Yang's. The more Weiss looked at Yang and her father, the more obvious it became to her that the two are a carbon copy of each other, other than the gender. Hopefully he has more manners. Though that wasn't likely, at least not after the first impression and calling his arms "babies".

This man then looked around and noticed his daughters' partners. "Girls, why are you so rude? Introduce me to your friends."

"Oh," Ruby turned around, suddenly remembering that they weren't alone. She led her father to Weiss and Blake. "Dad, these two are Weiss and Blake. Weiss is my partner and Blake is Yang's. Together, we form team RWBY! Oh, and I'm the leader!", the younger girl beamed with pride.

"A Schnee is your partner, Ruby? My name is Taiyang. Pleased to meet you, fair lady," he said, kissing the heiress' hand. Weiss actually blushed slightly. He's just as much of a dolt as Ruby. He kissed Blake's hand next. "And you, Miss Blake. I like the bow, but I think you'd look prettier without it."

Blake tensed at those words just enough that Weiss could notice. He couldn't possibly…

Before anyone could say anything, Taiyang already turned around to his daughters. "Ruby, congratulations on being named the team leader. Over two obviously skilled huntresses like Weiss and Blake? That's quite a feat."

"Hey, I'm skilled too!", Yang said with a pout.

"Little dragon, of course you are. Just not as much as those two."

"You don't even know them yet!" Another pout. Blake had to admit that Yang was just as much of a dork as Ruby, only a bit older. Kinda cute, too.