Yavinus here, this is the sixth chapter of my first RWBY fic, hope you enjoy it! As always, reviews and constructive criticism is always welcomed.

RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth

"I hate the uniform, seriously, it's so uninspired," Reese complained while team ABRN was walking though Haven Academy's halls after the end of the classes. "At least Beacon's uniform is way better and Shade's are literally "choose whatever you want if isn't too indecent", and the skirt it's too short, I was lucky that I'm using a short because honestly…"

"But it's comfortable enough, I like it" Nadir answered while his parent rolled her eyes. "The only uniform I don't like it's the Atleasian's ones, seriously, white clothes aren't the easiest to clean up, grey and white are a bad combination."

Bolin snorted from the exchanging of his teammates. "I think personally I would prefer my robes than this, although, this is the Academy rules and we have to go along with it we like it or not"

Arslan sighed, it was only the third day after the ceremony and she already was feeling the burden of being a leader.

"As Bolin said, these uniforms are a symbol of the Academy and we have to respect it," she said while guarding her own commentaries. Truly, she agreed with Reese with some points, the skirt was too short for her taste and the she rarely used shorts, but in this situation was necessary. "We have to perform some sacrifices in our way in life to accomplish things"

Reese sighed and shrugged, if she wanted to be a huntress, a stupid uniform wouldn't stop her, even if she was obliged to use it for four years. At least she wasn't alone in her suffering.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Nadir said while checking her scroll. "We don't have homework to do today and we have plenty of free time…"

"We could go the arcade!" Reese suggested whit clear excitement in her eyes.

"Or...we could train together and test our abilities" Arslan said while giving a serious glance to the green haired girl "We still don't know the full capabilities of each other since the initiation, so it will be better to took this opportunity and improve our own group strategies with sparring matches between each other"

"Aww, but we already did a lot of exercises yesterday," Nadir said with a tired expression. "Can we at least do it tomorrow?"

"No," Arslan answered drily "We have to do it today or not, laziness and pride are two of the greatest mistakes we can commit as huntsmen, don't forget it"

Both Reese and Nadir sighed in resignation and the group went directly to the lockers to change their uniforms and take their weapons. They were lucky that the training grounds were free to use, maybe because almost everyone took the free time as leisure and not sharpening their skills. After the warming-up, the team stood in the combat arena.

"Ok people; listen up, the matches will first between me and Reese, followed by Nadir and Bolin." Arslan said while the last two mentioned stood aside and the green haired woman was now in front of her team leader.

"So before fighting, I wanted you to show your Semblance," the leader of ABRN pointed out. "Mine is physical enchantment beyond normal capacities an Aura user can achieve, what is yours?"

Reese breathed and positioned herself concentrating her Aura. After some seconds, her feet left the ground and she seemed to levitate, even over a few inches. Arslan raised an eyebrow in front of this demonstration.

"This is my Semblance, gravity manipulation," Reese explained for a few moments before returning to the ground. "But I only managed to do levitate a few meters, but I can make objects than I hold heavier or lighter, generally the latter"

"But, that hoverboard that you use, it's uses gravity Dust isn't?" Arslan asked

"Well, because of the very nature of my Semblance, I have a great affinity with that particular type of Dust, so…" Reese grabbed her "weapon" from her back and used to ride it, now being more comfortable with it. "I prefer to use this."

"I see," Arslan concluded. Then, she positioned herself into a combat position. "Let's see how well you can perform"

The green haired woman was the first to attack, launching herself towards the team leader. Arslan dodged the incoming attack easily, but Reese didn't finish yet and with a sudden twist with the hoverboard, tried to hit her opponent with the aid of the momentum. However, the leader was capable to predict this and raised her arms to cover herself. The hit was strong, but not something that Arslan wasn't accustomed.

The team leader launched a punch towards Reese who reacted rapidly and used her hoverboard to protect herself from the attack. The green haired girl was sent though the air, but she didn't tried to stop the falling. Instead, Reese transformed her vehicle into two pistols with bayonets and shot. Arslan dodged the bullets with a series of backflips while Reese tried to assemble her guns.

Then, the sound of someone's butt hitting the ground was hear in the entire place. Reese was holding her rear with an expression of pain, while Arslan face was one of surprise and with a lack of words. Bolin's face was between worry and amusement and Nadir was trying hard not to put his right palm into his face.

"Not this again" he said with a heavy sigh.

The leader of team ABRN blinked twice before talking.

"What…What was that?!" she asked with a very obvious angry one.

"Eh…it was my special technique the "falling tree"," Reese explained while she recovered from the sharp pain "But I still can't get it right, you know?" the green haired girl finished with a nervous chuckle.

However, Arslan didn't took very well, as a vein in her head was slowly appearing and one could sense the effort in her face in not to explode in fury.

"Don't…do…that…again," she said slowly, with every word as heavy as a boulder "It…was…reckless..unnecessary"

"But, it's cool and useful," Reese tried to argue. "I mean, I still have to improve it, but when it's done, it will be epic!"

"NO!" Arslan loosed all composure. "For all instances, in a real fight, you're already dead! Doing a technique that you couldn't even managed to dominate in the first place it's a death sentence!"

Her voice echoed in the entire place, while picking up the attention of the few other students that were walking casually.

"But…but…," Reese tried to talk, but her face was lock in a surprised expression. "I can still fight"

"Maybe, but you already lost in my eyes," Arslan say while she left the arena. "Now we have to see Nadir and Bolin performance"

Reese nodded slowly while she walked with her eyes in the ground and let herself fell in a bench The leader sighed, it was harsh pointing out these mistakes that way, but necessary if the team wanted to progress.

Nadir face was stuck in a nervous expression, seeing his friend in that state. But Reese gave a shy thump up, indicating that all was alright. The young man sighed, of course, she would be all right, but in the other hand, her pride was hurt again.

"So Nadir," said Bolin while holding his wooden staff. "What is your Semblance?"

The pink haired teen was trouble by this question, his face expressing openly his feelings, "I don't know, really. Since I had my Aura unlocked, I couldn't find my own Semblance"

Bolin cooked his head, and turned his eyes to Arslan, who shrugged. Then, the young man smirked back to Nadir.

"Well, if I have to say…," Bolin teased. "I don't have mine's either, so we have something in common"

Nadir nodded, not sure about it. Arslan sighed profoundly and Reese looked at her with curiosity, before turning her eyes in the match.

The young man with the staff launched himself first, while Nadir responded with some shots from his weapon. But Bolin's reflexes were better and he managed to dodge the bullets, while sprinting against his foe. Nadir knew that he couldn't continue using the same tactics, so, he transformed his rifle into a black sword. Bolin smiled and lifted his staff, attacking Nadir using his weapon's blades.

The clashing of metal against metal was heard, a beautiful spectacle of two person fighting and testing their skills. The man with the staff was attacking in fast and quick movements, while his foe was blocking them .However, Bolin's ability in melee combat was clearly leagues above Nadir's, as the latter disarmed him with a rapid maneuver. Then, he procced to hit his defenceless with precise hits, with in the chest and another in his back using the only the wooden parts of his staff.

The duel was over, and Nadir was in the ground, groaning for the pain, even if he wasn't wounded thanks to Aura. But Bolin offered a hand and helped him to get up.

"You did well, but I see that your main strength is fighting on long ranges" Bolin noted him as Nadir was cleaning the dust in his clothes "Arslan and I could help you in that"

The pink haired boy left a nervous chuckle a gulped with this statement. Truly, their way to be huntsmen would be a looooooooog one.

"I can't believe it," Reese said while she was resting in her bed, too tired to even changing her clothes. "It's the sixth time this week that she takes us to those "special courses"…my back it's still hurting like hell, and don't even begin with that rope dart…"

It has been only five days since Arslan said that she would forge their bodies, clarifying that their performances was still not good enough for the level required. Even if they survived the initiation and passed it with flying colors. Since then, immediately after classes, they always had an extra hour of training, consisting in parrying matches that resulted in groans and rolling eyes in the skulls of their owners.

"Yeah," Nadir said. "I think she could slow down a little, but I think that you should stop trying that "falling tree" of yours, don't you think?"

Reese responded him by throwing a pillow to his head.

"Shut up, you know it will be awesome, you know it"

The boy muffled a little before throwing the pillow back to her owner. They were lucky that Arslan and Bolin weren't in the room at the moment, still in the showers. She always hates when people were talking past the midnight, saying, "Their bodies had to rest the necessary hours, otherwise, the lack of sleep would only hinder their abilities".

"So, you would tell her to stop beating our asses and not being so harsh?" Reese said while trying to remember their first encounter with the Shaolin's students "I mean, I don0t hate her, but I think she's exaggerating a little…"

"I prefer not to provoke the lioness, so, no thanks" Nadir responded "Maybe she would calm down after a month?"

Reese shrouded while sighing heavily "I'm not counting on that one, that's for sure"

The pair finished their conversation, trying to remain all the energy lost that day. After some minutes, the rest of the team arrived, already in their sleepwear that consisted in a simplified version of their usual combat clothes. They didn't talk about the day today and went to their beds directly. The only sounds now were the slow breathing of Team ABRN.

Unfortunately, one person couldn't sleep and Reese cursed her brain for no letting her rest a moment. Maybe because she was thinking too much about the events of the last days, or how her parents deal it with her absent. Not too much, that's for sure, they have always been very supportive of her and she had a lot freedom. Not of the uncaring parents or the ones that generated brats that went through life as if they were kings or something.

In the other hand, Nadir's parents were…odd, nice people, but odd. Their strange hobbies like their gallery of modern art, a collection of weird statues and the bizarre chimeras made through taxidermy was the reason she had those strange dreams after she visited their house for the first time.

Regardless, their families had a good relationship and life was generally nice. One day, she and Nadir decided that they would become huntsmen and their respective families were proud of them, when others could have reacted with doubt or even fear.

"And talking about families…," Reese thought while her eyes were watching the team leader's bed "How about hers anyway? Maybe if she could be more talkative"

Of course, being the extrovert that she was, Reese already talked about her family with Arslan and Bolin, only the surface, about how her father working in designing ships and such and her mother a medic and such. Nadir didn't say much, only that both his parents were artist and didn't dig into the juicy details.

Only Bolin demonstrated to be being mildly interested while Arslan was…not apathetic, but surely the green haired teen saw that she wasn't very interested in that. She only knew her new boss a week, but Reese already knew that she didn't like to talk about her personal life by only reading her body language.

However, she was curious about it, even against her own instinct; she wanted to ask her one day about her own past. A very interesting one, that's for sure!

Reese was about to fall to sleep, when a sudden noise only heard by her made her open her eyes. Someone was moving in their sleep and was surprised that Nadir wasn't doing it, but her own team leader. It wasn't violent or even particularly noisy, but just enough for someone awaked to heard it and much more for someone so stoic. Arslan was moving slowly, changing the position her sheets, while muttering about something that the green haired woman barely couldn't catch it.

"Don't…be…is all over there Dad….the forest is beautiful…remember the training…don't move until they have come…"

After a few minutes repeating the same words, Arslan stopped and went to her normal sleep, leaving the green haired woman with burning curiosity.

Reese didn't wanted to act as an intruder of private matters, but that strange moment sure it made her very, very curious. Maybe tomorrow she could asked her…

That day, after finishing classes, Arslan decided, to the rest of the team's surprise, to do a special type of course. Rather than doing the sparring match of the past days, she would introduce meditation techniques to Nadir and Reese.

"It will help to clear your mind of doubts and worries," she explained to them as she grabbed four small pillows to sit upon in. "Now, pay attention to me and Bolin"

She and Bolin both sat in one of the pillows, crossing her legs and putting her extended palms in her knees.

"Now, close your eyes and breathe slowly, clear your mind of any distractions"

Reese and Nadir exchanged a glance and tried to do the same. The sitting part was easy, the breathing too, but clearing your mind was a little more difficult. Calypso Academy's way of training was more straightforward, more concerned about the combat aspects and some basic mental exercises apart from the typical studies like mathematics and physics.

For Nadir it was hard because every time he was in his own mind many memories flashed through his head. Like the time people in his class were laughing at him in the first day he appeared with his hair dyed with pink , or worst, that night when he was a child and wanted to go to the bathroom at night, only to stumbled with one of the "statues" that his parents created. He immediately made it right there and only told this embarrassing incident to Reese. She was a good friend and she didn't laugh at him when she heard the story.

In the other hand, to Reese it was almost impossible trying not to think about something, maybe some new move, making some advancements with her Semblance or just thinking on playing her favourite videogame.

After an hour, Arslan opened an eye to see how her team members were doing. Bolin was normal as always, being accustomed to it, but Nadir was sweating, his position very stiff while Reese was trying very hard not to fall to sleep.

The leader of team ABRN sighed, they were good students and combatants but they seriously needed more of this to reinforce their minds and spirits if they wanted to success.

She clapped her hands once, concluding meditation. Nadir and Reese almost left a yelp of surprise and Bolin tried not to chuckle from their reactions.

"Very well, we will continue doing this tomorrow," Arslan said while walking outside the room "I will take a walk, you are free to do wherever you want until night"

And with that, she closed the door behind her.

Bolin stretched out his limbs while going towards the bed and without saying a word, he immediately began to sleep.

"So, do you want to play some games or what?" Nadir asked.

"No…" Reese said. "I don't know why, but I think I will go with Arslan and talk to her, you can play with Bolin, don't worry, I will be fine"

Bolin simply shrugged "Why not, it will be fun"

Reese went out of the room, seeing her team leader still walking in the long hall. She shouted her name as she run to her.

"Do you want some company?" she asked awkwardly "We could talk about staff, you know"

Arslan looked at her with curiosity as she walked as her teammate followed her closely. After a few minutes, they were at the outskirts of the Haven Academy and they saw other students were enjoying their leisure time.

Reese was a little nervous about the topic of her choice, maybe if it felt rushed.

"So…how are things at home, do you miss your family?"

The leader of team ABRN took her time before responding.

"Not so much, I can take care of myself and my uncles know that"

Reese cocked her head.

"You uncles?" The green haired woman "What about your parents?"

Reese noted that Arslan's face twitched unwittingly.

"They…died in a work accident when I was a child, I didn't know them very well to be honest"

Reese eyes got wide with surprise and her cheeks blushed with shame.

"I'm so sorry about that," She said while she swore herself to the end of the world for being so stupid.

Surprisingly enough, Arslan game a small smile, indicating that there wasn't anything wrong.

"It happened a long time ago, don't worry, life is just like that sometimes"

"Well, if that's so…," Reese said slowly "And why do you decided to be a huntress?"

"To protect people," Arslan answered almost immediately "This world is dangerous and only a few can face the darkness, and why did you decided to be one?"

"That's interesting, you see…," Reese explained, "When I was child, I met this awesome guy who was huntsman and the father of one my classmates. I and Nadir always loved to hear his adventures…"

"So, you were inspired by him?"

"Basically, yes" Reese said with a small smile "But also, helping people and being and hero…is awesome and the world definitely needs more people like us"

But for both of them, there were other reason apart of them. Reason that they wouldn't speak for the moment.

"Hey, about the training…" Reese said, "I think we should slow down a little, only a suggestion"

Arslan raised an eyebrow.

"Do you mean that I should go easy on you?"

The green haired teen waved her hands nervously.

"Not like that, I mean, that we should try to be a little more…patient? Less painful?" Reese began to sweat as she continued, "I mean, you are awesome and that, but I believe that you could be critical of us without being so harsh."

For her surprise, Arslan sighed and put her hand in her head.

"Yeah…I think I went I little overboard with that, while some of your ways are definitely flawed, your fighting skills are on point and with a little reinforcement you could be better," she explained while watching the sunset, "To be honest, I think that I took the role of leader too much"

"Well, I think that we're all a little nervous, don't you think?" Reese said with a small smile, the girl always found the way to see the positive things in life "But if we take things with a more relaxed attitude, we could be the most awesome team in Haven!" she finished with enthusiasm.

"But why do you say awesome all the time anyway?" Arslan tried to understand, "It's not the type of word that I should use to measure one's quality"

"Come on Arslan," Reese said with a smirk "Bolin is pretty much cool and you two came out from the same Combat Academy, you could try to be a little like him"

"Don't dream about" Arslan said with a mocking tone, "It could be the end of me, you know it."

Reese giggled, as it was the first time that her leader was acting in a joking manner since they met. Then, her eye catch two students walking towards them, one with blue hair and another who was definitely a Faunus as his tail in his back delated him.

"So, they are the two, isn't?" The blue haired one asked to his teammate.

"Yes, I heard from the headmaster." The Faunus answered.

Both girl raised their eyebrows and looked with curiosity the new arrivals.

"Sorry, what are you talking about?" Reese asked to the blue haired teen.

The young man cleared his throat before speaking.

"You see, we were talking about how beautiful you two are," he said with a smile on his face, while his teeth shined, "And my charming ways could conquer your hearts"

Arslan face was stuck between being dumbfounded and scepticism, while Reese hawked.

"I saw you two on the ceremony, Neptune Vasilias and Sun Wukong, isn´t?" the dark skinned woman asked while ignoring the flirting from the Neptune, "By the way, I think that it was something more important"

"Yes indeed," Sun said, "I heard from some professors about something related with the Vytal Festival."

"Really?" Reese was clearly curios while Arslan was cautious "What is it about anyway?"

"You see…," Sun began to explain with a small smile on his face, "I think that they were discussing about choosing a first year team as a representative team of Haven Academy, and this lucky group could go to Beacon Academy before the end of the first term"

Reese and Arslan exchanged looks of surprise.

"And…what team they would choose anyway?" Arslan asked, "There was some sort of condition or something?"

"And that's the part things goes interesting," Neptune said with the typical tone of some TV show game.

"I believe that the first team that managed to get the relics in this year initiation could be the chosen one"

Nadir was with Bolin while their respective partners were outside.

"Do you want to play some games?" Nadir asked to Bolin, who shrugged.

"Yes, but I'm not very good at them, you know," he said while stretching his arms "But I think I could learn something new"

Both students grabbed their scrolls and turned on the TV screen while Nadir selected a fighting game.

"So, you never played one?" Nadir asked.

"Nope" Bolin said while selecting a character, "But I saw people playing before, so…"

"No problem, I will teach you."

After some minutes of explanations and instructions, their virtual avatars were already fighting each other to a non-permanent death. Nadir was good on it, but Bolin was already catching on very quickly too.

"So...about you and Reese, you two seem very…united," Bolin suddenly commented, "Do are you two in some very close relationship?" He concluded with a smirk on his face.

"No," Nadir responded, for Bolin's surprise, very calmed. "I mean, we're close friends and such, but we aren't, you know, like boyfriend and girlfriend."

"I see"

"And what about you and Arslan?" Nadir asked while his character was trying to block the incoming attacks of his virtual foe "How did you met her, anyway?"

"You see, we only met her in the Shaolin Academy" Bolin began to explain, "My very first real interaction with her? Well, my ass being kicked by her"

"Seriously!?" Bolin exclaimed.

"Yeah, you see, it was my fault, I admit" the young student smiled with nostalgia, "I was a chump, I wanted to prove that I was the best and one couldn't stop me. Then, when this little girl was defeating everyone else in the Academy and I wanted to test myself and humiliate her"

"And then the tables turned" Nadir deduced.

"Yep," Bolin closed his eyes for a moment, "More like I was turned upside down and my head hit the hard ground. Aura or not, that moment was painful as hell"

"I'm imagine that," Nadir commented, "And then you became friends like that?"

"Not right off the bat," Bolin continued, "But a certain relationship began to form, from "I kicked your ass" to "Now we will try to understand each other a little better", and the rest is history"

"I see…"

"And Reese and you?" this time Bolin asked. His character health was low, but it was compensating it by using some special tactics that made Nadir's virtual avatar be cornered.

"Well, pretty normal, we met in primary, then later we met this huntsman guy and we both decided to be hunters ourselves, pretty typical" Nadir said rapidly, while trying to make a special combo

"So, nothing exciting?"

"Nope," Nadir tried to win the game against some lucky amateur, "But I'm curious about something else, I mean, I wanted to be a huntsman to protect people against darkness, but what is your motivation?"

This time though, Bolin took his time. Their fight in the game was almost finished, then, Nadir's character defeated his foe with a rapid attack, the letters "TOTAL ANNIHILATION" appeared in the screen.

"I wanted to test myself," Bolin said with a small smile. "Apart from protecting people, I want to prove my worth in the world, that's all you need to know"

"Huh, curious," Nadir said while thinking about himself.

Before any of the two could say something else, the door of their room opened, as Reese and Arslan went into it.

"So, did you two enjoyed the walk?" Bolin asked with a smile and then his face turned into an expression of curiosity as he saw the excitement of Reese eyes and Arslan's full of determination, something that didn't happen frequently.

"Guys…I think you wouldn't believe this," Reese said, "I mean, like, really, really awesome"

"I think our team will be honoured with something great" Arslan commented while she held her scroll.

"What do you mean?" Nadir began to ask when the sound of his scroll receiving a message was hear, as whit Bolin's.

"You will see" Reese said whit a wide smile.

In the four screens of the scrolls a new message.

"Congratulations team ABRN," the mail read. "You were chosen to be part of the new interchange program"

Author Notes: Yeah, surpirse ending, isn´t? As you can see, this fic would be the base for another one, a semi-au fic where these teams would be more prominent in the main plot of the series, it's an idea than was in my head for some time until now. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always reviews are welcomed. See you next update!